Back on track

market, publishing, software, writing

With computer problems, not much done, most immediate on the agenda:

• To Jean Lauzier and the Book Tour next month, this week should get the material together, more I hope.
• Back to WVU: and the MFA Short Story, specially to Grumps, Raven and Susan F of the Sisu
• Tales of Chestamovarado : A collection of my short stories; I’ve postponed this far too long. Begun ten years ago - ten? Good Grief !. I wanted to develop the first of them with WVU/MFA classrooms… They must be at week sixteen there by now, or more.

The little e-book, on mistakes writers make about firearms is only sixty pages is hardly a book, but I’m pushing it for several reasons:

• I think it is genuinely useful and has actually turned out better than I thought, for it’s purpose: a quick reference to guns and their working specially suited for writers that are not gun enthusiasts (and even anti-gun). I daresay that I’ve often found among my fellow gunslingers that many are not very well versed outside their particular area.
• The ‘marketing’ experience is brand new to me. Much of it goes against the grain and I suspect most writers feel the same. Peddling one’s wares like groceries. It distracts time from creative work (although there are many I know that can think of marketing as creative work and it well maybe, as in advertising). Somehow I think we have to come to terms with it. Staying honest. Telling it on the mountain is fine if there’s really something to tell - and there is someone listening!
• The marketplace has always been there. Writers used to be shielded from it by agents and publishers, but not for beginners, not nowadays and perhaps never. But being forced to look at it I’ve found many feature of it interesting and intriguing. Nowadays is the key word: At this time when Amazon, Penguin and other big publishers and retailers are going digital: we “live in interesting times”. More about that later.
• I do miss the company of that wonderful group at Writers Village U. and often feel that the time hassling with this computer and software crashes could be spent better there.

At least the ‘Image’ inserting thingum is working on this WordPress installation: It hadn’t been and with great trepidation I reinstalled WP 2.5 - apparently without dropping anything on the way - and picking up whatever had to be. .

Windows XP Pro SP2 Bless Bill and Company (Praise Gates! no blasphemy intended, just sarcasm): This Windows had to be re installed from scratch (see post below) When I get Ubuntu I’ll be throwing it out of the window.

Now someday, I’ll have to learn formatting. And the original web page, BYKNIGHT.COM: I’ve yet to work on that (Komposer or Dreamweaver, that is the question - any answers?)

Your comments are welcome

Q

admin @ April 14, 2008