I should call this the occasional blog since I only drop by every couple of years. Oh well, it's some show when I do.

In the hospital at El Centro today. Waiting to see if I'm going to have my coloniscope today so that I can go on to San Diego and get heart stents. . .yeah, I've had a heart attack since I last posted here. That happened last year about this time and I spend 8 days in the hospital here then. I haven't been worth a damn since, something I hope to get squared away. It's Tuesday and I've been here since Friday trying to get this mess straightened out. I suspect if I go to SD that will require a couple days over there, so it will amount to a week no matter how you cut it. Time and money, time and money. This will hit my wallet for a couple grand just like last year, no doubt about that. But maybe worth it if I can begin to feel human again. So damn sick and tired of feeling sick and tired all the time. Don't know for sure how much improvement there will be. I hope to at least be able to do a little fishing, that doesn't require a lot of labor. I've had no stamina, unable to walk 5 feet without getting winded and out of breathe. Scary scene, smothering or so it seems at times.

Hmmm, a little late posting again. Oh well, c'est la vie, eh?

Got right back

Hell yeah, breezed in here with no problem. May again one of these days. Every 9 months or so.

Damn

Been locked out of here with problems logging in. Think I've got it all fixed now. More later.

Little piece of "prequel"

This is a PDF bit of my Parallel Blues prequel, going back to the time Claude Longwood is 18 years old. Hope to finish this one day down the line.

Old barns

Storm damage

As you can see, it's difficult to tell how much damage is done until that tree is removed. Doesn't look good though.

Checking in

No post for a long time. Was sick for almost a month, a case of walking pneumonia I think, but somewhat better now. Took a round of Cipro which seemed to clear up the deeper congestion. Now, just normal old breathing problems, which are severe enough.

And, bad weather to spare. Storms, rain out the ass. Big wild cherry tree down across the back of my house and on my travel trailer. Don't think it did a lot of structural damage (can see one broken rafter on the outside roof of the bathroom), but can't tell until it's cleaned up. Insurance man supposed to come in the morning to look at it, and my brother Jerry will come with his chain saw and remove it when he gets time.

Also, a number of other tree tops down in the back yard, blown off the fence line to the west. Wind in the 70-80 mph range, those trees can't bear up to that. Weather better now, anyway, though I think we had a little shower blow through early this morning.

Apparently, the gov picked off bin Laden a few days ago. I say apparently because they've offered no real proof of it. Obama decided not to show pictures of him with his brain hanging out; either because we're too immature to see such things, or because it might inflame the Islamic world and make them wish to hurt us. Like they don't anyway.

If the government is so afraid of retaliation, maybe they shouldn't kill any more terrorists. Maybe we should all hide in a hole. But isn't that the goal of terrorism, to terrify us to the point where we can't lead normal lives?

Seems to me they win if that's the case.

Adjustments

As predicted, I changed books prices. Let's see if Parallel will sell for $9.99, since it wouldn't for .99. Stranger things have happened.

Giving up the Thundersandwich.com domain in a couple days. Damned if I'll pay that inflated annual fee "NoMonthlyFees" has now stuck on it. When I first bought space from that shitty outfit about 11 years ago, the deal was $200 upfront and no other fees except for $35 annually to renew the domain name--way too much for a domain name, in any case. And then after a couple years they stuck on an additional $35 "administrative" fee, doubling the initial deal. And now they've tacked on another $50, all this for 600 MB of space. Way unreasonable. Below is a little note I intend to send them the day my site expires:

I see you're offering new customers a year's free ride--which explains why you have made such an effort to rid yourself of old customers by charging a ridiculous price for the miniscule amount of space provided. Course, it pays to suck in the new rubes so you can later jack up the price on them as you have those of us who fell for that "$200 and no monthly fee" BS a decade ago. No doubt such practices will garner you tons of fans who spread word of your piss-poor support and "don't sass our techs or we'll drop your site" intimidation techniques. It got to the point that when my sites went down, I didn't bother to submit a ticket but waited several days for them to come back on their own. It's easier than dealing with those short-bus riders you employ.

Screw 'em and the chicken they rode in on. Sometime later this year I'll buy another domain and space, but it won't be for a 'zine site. I flirted recently with trying that again, but the thoughts of dealing with all those egos cooled the temptation pretty quickly.

Well, sheeeeet

The .99 cent experiment isn't working out too well thus far. I've sold some books since I dropped the prices--thing is, the books I've sold are the $9.99 murder book, not the cheaper ones. So much for the bargain price shit. Probably raise the prices back up in a few days, not that it matters much one way or the other.

After a week or so of beautify 80-degree weather, we're going back into a cold phase again. Cloudy and only in upper 40s-low 50s today and getting down into 20s tonight. Temp set to stay in 50-60 range for the next week, with several days of rain.

Spring, my ass.

Update

I've seen several mentions lately that writers have been cleaning up on Kindle with .99 cent books. Not much profit in that, however apparently they sell more like hot cakes than do overpriced files. Volume is the name of the game.

So, I decided to lower the price of all my Kindle book to that, with the exception of the murder book; it's the best seller I have on there and I'd be foolish to drop it to .99 cents, though I might back it off a bit from the current $9.99.

I have sold a few Kindle copies of the vampire book for the $7.00 price (and a few paperback as well), but nary a Kindle copy of Parallel Blues or Smoke and Thunder has been downloaded. This move may not help that situation much, but then when something isn't selling period, it can't hurt it much either.

I was thinking yesterday that some sort of instructional "how-to" thing would probably do very well in the Kindle realm. And then I remembered that many years ago, when I was in the mobile home manufacturing business, I wrote a "buyer's guide" concerning manufactured housing -- things to watch out for, to avoid, to insist upon. I'm going to find that thing, which is here somewhere in the mountains of old paper files and manuscripts I've gathered over the years. Will transcribe it and place it on Kindle and then sit back and become one of those ".99 cent Kindle millionaires" I've been reading about. (Won't hold my breath because I don't look particularly good in blue. Hell, don't look particularly good in ANYTHING at this point.)

Going to Camden for a few days tomorrow. Hope I can find that old manuscript, because I'll have plenty of time to work on it; no Internet at her place, though we're planning to correct that before too long. (Spent about an hour searching for it, found about 7 pages but couldn't locate the rest. Did find a ton of old correspondence from fellow writers dating back over 35 years...knew I had that stuff, just didn't know exactly where it was.)

Oh, well. I can start over on that.

Damn, I love this shit!

Book just keeps on selling on Kindle! Can't beat $7.44 a pop. Let it roll.

That's the way it goes: first your money and then your clothes

Well, lived through the two recent bouts of tornadoes and bad weather, the last this morning. It sure as hell wasn’t as bad today as a few nights ago, when there was hardly a county in West Tennessee that wasn’t under a warning at some point; the front covered the whole state north to south and had tornadoes embedded all the way up and down as it progressed east. Getting close to springtime in Dixie, that’s for damned sure. And the weather lets you understand that fully. It was about 70 early this morning, but the passage of the front has brought temp way down so that it’s chilly now. But, supposed to warm back up to mid-60s tomorrow, I think.

Gwen’s landlord has advised her that she must start spending at least half-time at her apartment, or the lease will be broken and she will be evicted. I think that’s horseshit, but there are provisions such as one must advise management immediately of leaks and such so as to avoid extensive damage. Anyway, brought her over here Saturday and she’s going home Wednesday. I’ll probably stay a day or so over there, maybe just overnight. The situation demands that I get the old beater running again; been parked in drive with a dead battery last few months, since we’ve been using her van.

Spending a bit of time alone may wind up being productive in the long haul. I can’t write when someone is around, too much noise and confusion. And I do want to write a couple more books before I check out. Not planning to check out any time soon, but then you never know.

Thank God, the most expensive time of year has passed. Everything comes due at same time: house and car insurance, county and city property tax, domain fees. I let Jim Chandler.net go, screw it. TS domain will come due early in April and I’ll likely keep it another year, but will later buy another domain at a more reasonable price.

I’d advise anybody to avoid that damned NoMonthlyFees.com outfit; they sure as hell haven’t lived up to the agreement made about a decade ago when I first acquired my domains from them. And very little space for the price they’re now charging, although they’re drawing in new suckers at a lower fee than what we old customers are expected to pay. Down the road, the new suckers will get stuck as well.

I bet he lives in a cardboard castle under the bridge

I don't know the creator of the above photo, but he or she damned sure recognized part of what's wrong in this country.

Old Man Winter hangs on

My side/backyard after one of the three snows we've had recently. Temp down in the low single digits last night, freaking North Pole weather. But, hopefully, that is changing now. Forecast calls for near 70 by the end of the coming week. I'm ready for some springtime, or anything other than this ass-busting cold! At least I discovered that the guy who installed my new bathroom plumbing did a hell of a good job insulating pipes. No freeze ups at all. In years past, every pipe back there would have been frozen at such temps, probably even broken.

Things are changing and evolving on a number of fronts, none of which I intend to get into much at this point. Only the Shadow knows, and he ain't talkin'.

Life's a shit sandwich and every day we take another bite

Couldn't complain about yesterday's weather, sunny and mid-60s. Spent afternoon on porch, first time in months, had a few brews. Supposed to be in 60s again today, but cloudy and rain moving in later; that rain may turn to snow by Tuesday. So, our sunny respite has been short and sweet.

That little bit of sunshine is about the only positive thing I have to report. Same old same old, too negative to get into here. Suffice to say that shit must change at some point. Outcome of everything pretty much in doubt at this point.

But then, when is it not?

Hanging fire...

My first impulse is to go on and on about this terrible weather we're having. But what the hell, whining about it isn't going to improve things. Spring will show up one of these days down the line. For about a week. Then we'll head right into a sweltering summer that I will be inclined to bitch about.

If I were a rich man, think I'd head back to Hawaii. As I recall, the climate there was near perfect all year around. I remember roaring through the countryside on my old '49 Indian motorcycle, the smell of pineapples assailing my nostrils. It was still an idyllic paradise in the fifties, no so overdeveloped like today. I suppose today it would be just another commercialized version of hell.

You can't go home again, for damned sure. Well, you can, but it's never the same as your remember. Few things are ever as good (or as bad) as memory would have us believe.

I can't say the writing is going badly. It's not going at all, other than for about a page I wrote the other day, which may turn out to be the opening of a new novel. I haven't done anything more on the next true life book either, beyond that short start.

Just haven't felt the inclination to do much of anything lately, and also haven't felt well physically. The reason for the latter is apparent to me, but thus far I haven't made the changes necessary to begin a cure. The old body can stand just so much abuse before it begins to rebel. Mine seems to be well beyond that point.

Way things are going I may well outlive America. The country is going down the shitter in a rush. With this weak incompetent we have running things, that can only get worse.

I'm too old to worry about it, but you younger folks need to begin learning to speak some form of Chinese. They're going to own us economically first, and then militarily. Kissing their asses at state dinners (and allowing them to sneak in anti-American piano tunes) won't appease those sons of bitches.

Foul weather & other considerations

Big blizzard turned out to be pretty much of a bust. Got about an inch and a half to two inches, most of which is disappearing in the sunshine today -- sunny, but high of only 29 expected, so no sudden warm spell.

It was 12 degrees when I got up at 7:30, and may go down into the single digits tonight. I’m sick as hell of this cold weather, but what can you do but suffer through it. At least my gas bill wasn’t as high as dreaded -- only $117, got it yesterday. I was expecting well over $200, so that was a bit of good news.

Haven’t written anymore. Current atmosphere here on the southern front isn’t conducive to doing anything creative. Things aren’t going particularly well on the domestic scene, for a number of reasons I don’t wanna get into here. Suffice to say that this old boy could make some serious changes in the very near future if things don’t improve.

New batch of books I ordered sometime back scheduled to arrive today. Took them long enough to get printed, but I can understand shipping delay because of weather.

I was chatting with Carl Mann the other day and he wants one. Also recently heard from McGinley, one of the circuit judges featured in the book, said he enjoyed the read. I’m not sure if any of the murderers read it -- I got that letter from Harris and she said she hadn’t read it, although her husband has. He damned sure didn’t like it, as I well know from his letters and a phone conversation we had.

Well hell, some folks would complain if you crushed their nuts in a golden vice.

This 'n' that

My speculation on the Titans situation was ass-backward. In reality, Fisher stays and Young goes. Just another case of how tricky appearances can be and how it never pays to jump to conclusions. What seems obvious seldom is. You'd think I would have learned that after walking this old sod for almost 70 years. But I'm a slow learner in some instances.

No matter. We're bracing for either a dusting of snow or a blizzard. The weather forecasts for this part of the country are never spot-on. According to the most recent projections, we're slated to get a dusting to an inch, while 75-80 miles south of here they could have up to 8 inches. What happens depends on the movement of a low coming out of Texas. If it moves along the gulf coast as models now project, the heavy snow line will lie south of us. If it makes a northward turn in Mississippi or Alabama, that line will move further north. (Current projections.)

Doesn't matter much to me which happens. I've laid in plenty of food, smokes and some 45 to get me through whatever happens. I can eat, drink and smoke. What more does an old dog need. Course, I will be unhappy if somehow an unexpected ice storm (or snow too heavy) breaks down utility lines and we wind up without this addictive creation called the Internet. That would be a serious cross to bear.

I have a hard time remembering how we functioned before this magic came to be. I vaguely recall sitting and waiting for snail mail communications from this or that person, in response to letters I had banged out on an old manual typewriter. Some folks could tell you about the long and insane letters I wrote in such fashion. I know that at least one person who comes here was victim to more than one of them.

Got a start on my next book, but have done very little of it. At least I know where I'm headed with it, even if I've made only a bare step or two in the right direction. Well hell, that old "every journey begins with one step" BS. Cliché, but it's true--which is why it became a cliché. And I'm in no big hurry anymore to do anything. I ran to keep up with the world for a long time. Now, if it passes me I couldn't give a good rat's ass less. We're all headed to the same destination anyway.

Getting off to a good start

The new year apparently got off to a good start yesterday, as I sold 4 murder books on Kindle. Love to do that every day, but don't think that will happen. And, I started the new book, which will also be a true life work about murder and mayhem. That formula seems to work better than anything else I've ever tried book-wise; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I received a thank you card Saturday from a local woman. I don't know her, but I know that her 13-year-old son was murdered about 12 years ago and the killer has never been caught. She had read my murder book and praised it, and my willingness to not gloss over the screw-ups by authorities. She's obviously not satisfied with the effort law enforcement has made in trying to find the killer of her son; she said she knew who the killer was, but nothing has been done about it. I haven't spoken with her yet, but there might be a book in her situation. It would be very difficult to write, as the case is still listed as open and thus the authorities wouldn't cooperate worth a damn. But I could do it from her point of view and if it made the authorities look bad, that would be their problem.

Meanwhile, waiting to watch Colts cream Titans in the second game today. I hope they do, as a loss (combined with a Jag win) could put the Colts out of the playoffs. Tennessee has nothing to gain by a win.

I doubt a win would save Jeff Fisher's job at this point--Bud Adams' Christmas card bore a pictures of him with his arm around Vince Young, not Fisher. The writing seems to be on the wall there, although Fisher does have one more year on his contract. I doubt that will keep Adams from firing him, probably right after the loss today.

I like Fisher, but the play calling this year has been miserable. All they wanna do is try to run Johnson on the first couple of downs and then pass on third and long. It hasn't been working worth a shit, though CJ does have more than 1,300 yards this season. Nothing like last year for sure.

post-Xmas

Well, Christmas has come and gone for another year. Can’t say I’m sad to see it finished. Besides the expense and aggravation, it depresses me because I always think of those who are gone. I recall the great holiday gatherings we used to have here and the fine meals Mom cooked. Now, everybody is busy with their own things and no big family dinners; hell, I didn’t even see either of my brothers over Christmas, though I saw one a few days before.

Did hear from my kids and my sister as usual. Guess I should be happy I was still around for another Christmas--that gets more uncertain every year and, in truth, always surprises me somewhat.

Anyway, I made a less-than-traditional Southern Christmas dinner this year -- fixed enchiladas, Spanish rice and refried beans. Damned good and plenty left for today, so about halftime of the Titans/KC game, I’ll make a kitchen run (not counting my runs for beer). Judging by the game thus far, it’s going to be a long day for Titans and their fans...if they have any left.

Book is still selling. I saw associate editor of the paper at the store Friday and she said about half of that last shipment I took down there was gone. Maybe I need to start ordering a couple hundred at a time. Sure as I did, sales would probably stop and I’d wind up with an excess of books. Strange, but the Kindle version is selling better than the paper on Amazon. Noticed this morning that I’d sold another one in the UK. That’s cool, get full 70-percent on those, unlike those in other places where the royalty drops to 35 percent.

May sound mercenary, but a book like this is all about money, not arty-farty jive. Next one I write will be all about money as well. Living in Obamanation as we do, it’ll come to that for everybody. Course, those of us on Social Security don’t get a raise again this year because inflation hasn’t increased. Maybe not by the measures they use, but if you buy anything today you won’t have a problem realizing it’s more costly than it was in the past.

Meanwhile, Obama is on his umpteenth vacation of the year, this time 11 days in the state (allegedly) of his birth. I don’t regard myself a “birther,” one who is firmly convinced the man isn’t an American citizen, but it’s odd that he wouldn’t clean things up for all those who believe that by simply allowing release of his original birth certificate, and not some short form little thing with a 1986 laser print notice on bottom and no evidence of a fold.

It’s the same story with his college transcripts. Could be that he, like John Kerry, just doesn’t want it known that George Bush made better grades; that kind of thing has to be embarrassing as hell to elitists who regard Bush as a moron. Of course, some speculate on more nefarious problems with the refusal to release university records and even think that perhaps they show Obama was a foreign student who gained some perks (beyond plain old affirmative action) because of that status.

No President of the United States, no matter what political party, should be able to hide anything about his or her past. That should all be an open book. And it is in most cases, because the media don’t give a pass to regular old folks in office, or at least not those of the Republican persuasion. Indeed, they go out of their way to dig up every little doubt available. And that wouldn’t be a problem if it were applied evenly, but it’s not.

Still rocking on!

Got a call from the Banner moments ago. Yeah, they've already sold out the last batch of books I took own there and they need more. Fortunately, I got a new shipment in yesterday so I'm ready for them. All I can figure is, placing all those little ads throughout the paper is causing people to notice it. Also, sold one of the vampire books on Kindle couple days ago. Things are looking up in Jazzboville!

Cold!

Man, we’re seeing some brutal late fall weather here in Dixieland. Lows in teens, highs barely above freezing. Some of the prognosticators said we were going to have a mild, wet winter but I think they screwed the pooch. Course, it’s not winter yet so things could change. I wouldn’t hold my breath until that happens, however, because I don’t look particularly good in blue--especially when it’s my complexion we’re talking about.

Still nothing new creatively in the hopper. Truth is, I’ve been too busy caring for a sick woman to even worry about it. She’s been bed-ridden for most of a week with a shoulder pain problem...result of a childhood injury. What the hell, an evil stepfather slung her into a wall when she was three and shattered her shoulder...I’d love to get that bastard in a small locked room for about fifteen minutes. The asshole is dead now, which is good--saves me the bother of having to located and kill him. People who treat kids that way are the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth. I was a drunk, evil sumbitch much of my life, but I never mistreated my kids or anyone else's.

Sold a Kindle copy of the murder book in the UK. I thought maybe a poet there who earlier bought Parallel Blues might have purchased it, but he said he didn’t. Guess people everywhere are interested in murder, since it’s a universal happening. Some folks need to be killed, but many times it happens to those who don’t.

Sudden Upsurge

Big run on my murder book locally all of a sudden. I took a batch to the Banner last Tuesday and Friday they were calling me to bring more. The paper has been running numerous little ads for the book the past couple of weeks and it seems to be paying off. I had to order another shipment last night and will likely be out before they get here.

Meanwhile, noticed that another sold on Kindle yesterday evening. I also got the vampire thing on there now, not that I expect it to set the world on fire. I'll be satisfied if it sells 500 copies a week. . . Hell yeah, I'd be way more than satisfied. heh

Temp dropping now and more cold weather on the way. This winter is getting off to a shitty start and can only go downhill from here.

A first...

No great roaring success as of yet, but I've sold the first murder book on Kindle. Hasn't been live there long, so maybe things will kick into gear. Good royalty, 70-percent of the purchase price in fact.

Got couple more things to put on there when they're ready, then move over and format some stuff for B&N's similar download service. Hell, a guy could screw around with this shit and make beer money.

Course, he'd probably be someone who drinks a hell of a lot less beer than I can hold.