I'm alive

I made it through the various family get-togethers unscathed.  :D

I've got some plans for next month.  Stay tuned for announcements over the coming weeks.

Also, I'm going to really try to get book 3 out as soon as I can.  I hate that it's taking so long.

My goal for book 4 is to have it be just a little shorter.  I think the 100k-110k range is ideal.

That's all for now.  Take care, folks.  :)

One down

Watched Die Hard last night.  It's a Christmas tradition.  It's simply not Christmas until Hans falls off the Nakatomi building. 

Now I need to make time for Trading Places.  If I can, I'll try to squeeze Death Race in there, too.

One down, two to go.

Speaking of Trading Places, it was a long time before I truly understood what was happening in the climactic scene on the floor of the commodities exchange.  Once I learned a few basics about finance, though, the pieces sort of fell into place.

Fun fact: a few years ago, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed, and it contained "the Eddie Murphy rule," a regulation of insider trading.  The allusion is to the movie Trading Places.

Four attempts

From what I've read, Georgia has attempted to invade Florida four times.  All attempts failed.

The first one was during the War of Jenkins' Ear.  The Georgians besieged St. Augustine but were forced back.  The Floridians would later return the favor and invade Georgia.  They, too, were turned back at the Battle of Bloody Marsh.  Stalemate.

The other three attempts occurred during the Revolutionary War.  Squabbles relating to military strategy resulted in the duel between McIntosh and Gwinnett.  The war in Georgia was a disorganized mess, though Clarke's victory at Kettle Creek would set the stage for the war's turning point at King's Mountain.

Florida and Georgia would find themselves in opposition again during the War of 1812, but the action there involved federal troops, not Georgia militia, so it wasn't technically Georgia vs. Florida.

Anyway, I find this stuff interesting.

Seasonal blues

My niece came down with the flu just in time for Christmas.

An appliance stopped working.  I don't know why.  Naturally, it's out of warranty.

My exercise habits have fallen off, and I'm in terrible shape.

I was using super glue on something and accidentally got glue where I shouldn't have.  I spent a few minutes trying to remove the excess glue with a toothpick and mineral spirits.  Didn't get all the glue off.

The heel on my boot has started to peel away.

*sigh*

This time of year is tough enough already.  The cold weather and reduced sunlight give me the blues.  Add in all these extra little problems and annoyances, and it just beats me down.

There was a time when I could handle this stuff better, when I could take all the little things in stride and keep going without falter.  Those days seem like a lifetime ago.  They seem like they're from another person's life, not mine.  I look at photos of myself from high school, and I don't even recognize that kid.  He looks so confident and happy.  I envy him.

Four months.  I just need to hang on for four months.  Then spring will be here, and hopefully my soul will be renewed along with everything else.

Closing out the year

I've got the presents for the niece and nephew wrapped.  That's the good news.  Unfortunately, the stuff for my parents might not arrive in time for Christmas.  I think I screwed up the shipping when ordering.  *sigh*

The current work-in-progress is coming along, but it's crawling.  I'm embarrassed by how long this thing is taking.  I'll endeavor to do better for book 4.

On the plus side, book 3 will be the longest book I've published, and the war gets cranked up in earnest, so it's got a lot of action.  It's space opera, but this one has a mil-SF feel.

Just finished a couple of Kobo promotions.  Made a few sales on what is normally a dormant retailer for me.  And I've got another promo with them that just started, so hopefully I'll get some sales there, too.  Thanks for the promotional opportunities, Kobo.  :)

Overall, the holiday season has slowed sales a bit.  They seem to have picked up in recent days, though, so maybe folks are getting all their decorating and shopping finished.

Looking forward to a productive and lucrative 2019.  :D

Sometimes the sniffles are good

There are occasions where I'll write something that leaves me teary-eyed or sniffly.  That's when I know I've hit the mark.  That's when I know I've hit an emotional chord, at least with some non-zero subset of readers.

I just got done with such a scene.  I hope the readers get hit in the feels as much as I was.

Things you don't expect to read

I was reading the New Georgia Encyclopedia's page about the Siege of Savannah, and I came across this gem of a line:

They crossed the open area, swarmed into the ditch, hacked their way through the sharp-pointed abatis, and planted the flags of South Carolina and France on the earthworks.

It's not every day you hear about the flags of South Carolina and France being planted anywhere at the same time.  In fact, you sort of never hear that.

This battle was one in which one side--the British--did everything right, and the other side--the French and Americans--did everything wrong.  Prevost was on his game.  D'Estaing, not so much.  Almost a flawless victory for the British.  In the end, it didn't matter, but it could have if things had gone sour elsewhere.

What was I thinking?

I'm still line-editing, and I had to do some minor surgery on a scene.  Several goofs.  I must have been tired or something when I wrote it.

It's fixed now.  And those goofs will never see the light of day.  Still, though, it's embarrassing.

In other news, I've got a few Kobo promotions coming up.  I expect to make a few sales as usual.  I still don't have "traction" on Kobo yet, but I love the customer service people there.  Wonderful folks.

Even the simple things don't work

I remember a time not so long ago when machines worked reliably.  People expected the things they bought to last.

Today, though, we're in a more "disposable" culture.  It feels like we've forgotten how to do things we shouldn't have forgotten how to do.

My parents recently bought an appliance.  That appliance's digital clock doesn't work.  Oh, it functions.  It just doesn't count time accurately.  It loses a minute or two every day and steadily falls behind the actual time.

This boggles my mind.  How can a digital clock function yet not keep correct time?  I mean, it's digital.  It's electronic, not mechanical.  There aren't any springs or moving parts to wear out.  There's not a friction issue.  It should either work perfectly, or it shouldn't function at all, right?

Digital watches were dirt cheap back in the 1980s, and they kept perfect time.  We're moving backwards.

Thanks, readers!

Patty Jansen's latest promotion is winding down--it's still December 2 in some parts of the world--and the results have been better than I expected.  This time last year, I saw a real lull in sales and downloads, presumably due to Thanksgiving and everyone being busy with Christmas shopping, decorating, and all the other stuff that goes on.  I've been anticipating something similar this year, and I had tempered expectations this time.  But I've been pleased with this weekend's promotion.  Thanks, everyone.  :)

In other news, I opened a new tab in my browser a little while ago.  I was going to google something.  Then I remembered a chore I had to do, so I stepped away from the computer for a few moments.  When I returned, I couldn't for the life of me remember what I was going to google.  There was just a blank white page with a search box mocking my memory lapse.  *sigh*  Ah, well... it'll either come back to me, or it won't, I guess.

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading, folks, and thanks for supporting my work.  :)