Thanks, B&N readers

I've had a few sales on Barnes & Noble over the past week or so.  This is rare for me; I make steady sales at Amazon and Apple, but B&N is sort of a dead zone.  I'd love to get some momentum going there, but I've never been able to figure out how to do it.  So these past few sales are meaningful to me, and I appreciate them.  Thanks, B&N readers.  :)

Adventures in formatting

I made some formatting changes to Buddy and Mr. Wilson.  Nothing major; I removed the indentations from the first paragraph of each scene in Mr. Wilson, and I changed Buddy from block paragraphs to conventional indented ones.  All my published works should now have identical formatting.  I think.

Between all that and the household chores, I didn't get any work done on the current book.  :(  I'm also having second thoughts about a particular scene I was writing but now might abandon.  *sigh*  Such is revision.

On the plus side, Calibre continues to be an awesome program.  I don't even bother using the online epub validator anymore because I have complete faith in the epubs Calibre produces.  They turn out flawless every time.  And the "Edit ToC" button is the bee's knees.  Thanks, Mr. Goyal!  :D

Mars is looking big

I went for a walk after dark tonight and noticed a bright orange spot in the sky.  I assumed it was Mars due to the color, but I was struck by how large it looked.  It's usually smaller, but at the moment, it looks at least as big as Jupiter.  I'm guessing Earth and Mars are currently on the same side of the sun.

Then again, it could be artificially large due to alien activity.  Hmm...  :o

Only a few astronomical objects were visible.  Summer nights around here are usually very humid, and that limits visibility.  Lots of racket, too, from insects and bullfrogs.  Didn't hear any nightjars, though, which is a shame, because I enjoy hearing the Chuck-Will's-Widow.

For those of you who like sky-watching, or think you might like it, I recommend the Stellarium program.  It's free, and it's awesome.  Tells you what you're looking at in real time.

Update

I'm feeling much better now.  The fever broke yesterday, and in dramatic fashion.  I went to the bathroom, and then as soon as I finished and stepped back out the door, I started getting dizzy and seeing stars.  It all came on awfully fast, too.  I made it to a chair just in time to keep from doing a face-plant on the floor.  One of my legs actually gave out completely, and I didn't sit down so much as I had a controlled fall into the chair.  Sweat immediately popped out all over my body, and that's when I knew the fever had broken.  I sat there for a few minutes, covered in sweat, half-conscious, barely able to move, until the spots in my vision faded.  It was kind of a surreal moment.

But all's well that ends well, I guess, and I'm mostly back to my usual self now.  I've got some weird muscle pain/stiffness in the back of my neck, and a slight tickle in my throat that makes me cough occasionally, but that's it.  I haven't done any writing-related work since Thursday, but I'll be getting back on that horse in a few minutes.

The rumor going around is that Walmart will roll out its Kobo-fueled ebook store this September.  I hope it's true, and I personally can't wait.  I love the idea of Walmart shoppers finding my work there.

I'm working on a cover for a Free Space trilogy box set.  I plan on making this box set available only on Kobo to start with.  The only reason I'm doing it at all is so I can take advantage of some of Kobo's promotions that prefer higher price points.  Kobo's interface is easy to use, and the people there are top notch, and I'd love nothing more than to get some traction there.

One more thing about Kobo: I received an email from their payment partner today.  I'll be getting my first deposit from Kobo tomorrow.  This is a milestone for me because Kobo requires a certain threshold before they pay out, and my sales there have been too sporadic to meet that threshold.  May's sales put me over the top, so tomorrow I get paid.  :D

As far as book 3 of Wheel of Fire goes, my illness has obviously delayed everything by a few days.  Now that I'm lucid again, I'll get back to work on it, but no promises about when it'll be finished.

That's all for now.  Time to go splatter some guts in zero-g.

I've got a fever

Unfortunately, I don't think "more cowbell" will help.  I've got that general achy feeling all over.  During the night, my feet were cold and the rest of my body was hot.  I'm trying to drink a lot of fluids.  And I'm trying not to walk around or stand too much, because that's when the static appears in my vision and passing out becomes a risk.  I've got an ice bag on the back of my neck right now.

Hopefully I'll be human again soon.

On a lighter note, thanks to all the readers who picked up a copy of Caverns of Mercury during the sale.  Hope you enjoy it!

Patty Jansen's 99-cent sale

It's that time again: book discount!  All books are 99 cents.  My own Caverns of Mercury is among them.  Check it out:

Direct link:

http://pattyjansen.com/promo/7-8-july-2018-99c-promo/

The first book in the Free Space trilogy is free, and the third book is $2.99, so this sale lets you get the whole trilogy for just four bucks.

Promotions like this are a great way to support the indie author community, so please consider giving a new (to you) author a try.  And if you have any friends who read science fiction and fantasy, pass the link along to them.  They might find their new favorite authors.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting indie authors like me.  :)