Category Archives: Writing

Mulling It Over

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As the giveaway promotion for The Long Look draws to a close, it’s really too soon to draw any solid conclusions, especially the main one: Are they worth it? It’s something I admit to curiosity about, and in a few days maybe I’ll have the perspective to draw a more solid conclusion.

As you can guess, free books aren’t scored quite the same as bought books; they’re kept on a separate list. Even so, in that list TLL rose to the second overall position in the Action and Adventure category, and broke the top ten in a couple of others. The cumulative score for the book dropped below a thousand for the first time…ever (and in the cumulative score, less is definitely more).

So far as the promo goes, I did about as well as I expected to do, perhaps a little better. The idea was to try and get the book before a wider readership, and the promotion at least technically accomplished that. Will it have any long-term effects?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Post-It Note

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For those not on the Reader’s List*, and just so you know, First in the Laws of Power Series,The Long Look, is having a special for the next five days, wherein it is completely free. This should be the case for all markets, but my login doesn’t let me verify whether it’s set properly for the UK, Canada, and Elsewhere. It should be, and I’ve queried Amazon to check.

For those who already own the book, I’ll try to make it up to you somehow. Probably by finally finishing the last book in the series as soon as possible.

*What I’m calling the mail list, because it’s what I’m hoping is a more accurate description of its intent and function…and if you’re not on it, why not?

Alarums and Excursions

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Buttlermilk Falls

I’d heard of this falls pretty soon after we moved here. With First Reader’s mobility issues and then Covid and then…well, it took a while. But after a new knee and some instructions from friends, we finally found it. Buttermilk Falls, which I presume is so named because of the whitewater effect. It’s quite beautiful, but this was as close as we could get without crossing the creek, which was at high water and rushing a bit itself. When we first arrived I assumed the roar I heard was from the falls, but no. The creek dives underground about 100 yards from the falls, and I have no idea where it comes out. No bridge, of course. We plan to come back later when the creek is tamer. I’d definitely like to get closer to the falls.

My plant ID app got a workout there and back. I’m more familiar with the undergrowth down south, but a lot of the native plants here are still strange to me. Let’s see…Canadian Nettle, White Snakeroot, Common Burdock, Black Ash, White Ash, American Linden, Red Oak. A nice walk through nature, and I hadn’t been in the woods (any woods) in a long time.

Today was primary day, and oddly enough, the first primary I’ve ever voted in. I’ve been a registered Independent for most of my voting life, but finally had to put my smug aloofness away and pick a side. Cruel Fascism or Flawed Democracy. Hardly a choice at all.

Writing is Like…

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Chess

People write for a lot of reasons. It occurs to me one of my primary motivations was something along the lines of “I can never find enough stories of the kind I want to read.” I’ve always found a lot, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a certain point in the process of being a voracious reader (as I started out when I first learned to read) that there simply aren’t enough. So the solution was obvious.

Make my own.

I’ve been doing that for a long time now. It also remains one of my primary metrics for evaluating any particular book or story: “If I didn’t write this, would I want to read this?” And when the answer is an unequivocal YES, then I know it’s a successful story by my own standards. How it fares in the market is another matter, and frankly, not my problem.

This “make your own” mindset applies to other things as well: bread, boxes, garden arches, whatever. Which brings me to the above picture. See, I once played chess. A lot. I was on my college team, though it was informal and we only played one inter-collegiate tournament (I won my game, so there). Still have an episodic interest, usually chess problems and suchlike noodling. I once had a nice tournament quality chess set, but it didn’t make the move to NY, and every now and again I found myself missing it. Thought about getting a new one. Then I remembered I had a 3D printer and a rudimentary knowledge of computer aided design(CAD).

So, with some valuable online instruction and a little time, I made my own. Most of the pieces were easier than I expected. Except for the knight. The knight required a little drafting skill, but after five iterations I got something I was happy with. So there they are.

Next time I feel like setting up the board, I’ll be ready.

Obsessing Serially

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Long time readers will know that we’ve been here before. For those who aren’t, I’ll lay it out: I’m a serial obsessionist. Meaning that I grab on to intense interests that may last for weeks, months, even years. I’ve found this to be a useful trait for someone trying to be a writer. For example, I spent a few years in the literature and history of classical Japan. The result was the Yamada Monogatari series from Prime Books. Even when such interests don’t inform an entire series, they usually make their way into numerous books and stories, either giving the initial impetus or fleshing them out with new information, or both.

All of which brings me to the item above. On one such whim, I acquired a 3D Printer, as I’ve also mentioned before. There’s an entire sub-culture dedicated to creating designs strictly to be brought to life on such devices. One can spend an awful lot of time tracking them down online and doing just that. And yet…

You know what’s really fun, and doesn’t get old nearly as fast? Learning the basics of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and creating your own designs. Like that vase above. Nothing really special about it, except that particular design with those particular proportions is something I created myself. I mean, it’s just a vase. It won’t win any design awards, but I’ll lay odds it’ll hold flowers and look good doing it. Also, I have a tsuba (Japanese sword guard) that is normally stored in a specially made box, only the box got broken in our move to New York state some years ago. For my next project I’m going to recreate that box in PLA down to the millimeter. And the best part?

Actual printing of such items takes hours.

Leaves plenty of time for writing.