Category Archives: Uncategorized

Good Luck With That:
Hubris in Pricing Indie Author's Books

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My wife belongs to several writing and reading groups on Facebook (as do I, of course) and she engages with many of them. She is constantly sharing with me the idiotic stuff some writers do and say. Recently, there was a conversation on one group where an author was selling a 90 page book for $18, and my wife, Melissa, pointed out that this was a ridiculous price. The author balked, and said that Melissa cared more about the price per page than the quality of the writing. My wife responded: Melissa Walker : here’s what it’s about to me…Let’s … Continue reading →

Laws We Need

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I’m starting a new hashtag (Is hashtag supposed to have a hashtag on it?) #LawsWeNeed Got a million ideas, but will start with: Rx drug companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV. *Why are they marketing toward the consumer & not medical doctors? You know why. #RxDrugs #CyberWar is declared the same as any other war, with the same ramifications, legal, Constitutional, and otherwise. #LawsWeNeed #MotherEarth is declared a living being & accorded the same rights as humans. We cannot violate her without enforced legal consequences. (Because right now, she is being repeatedly gang-raped) #LawsWeNeed Every #ElectionDay is … Continue reading →

“Defund the Police” is Misleading:
and an unfortunate choice of phrase

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Let’s be clear. The perhaps well-meaning “Defund the Police” movement (most notably on Twitter) is NOT a Democratic movement, nor WISE. It’s an extreme, and extremes are terrible choices. The most extreme among the Defunders want to eliminate cops. If there are no cops at all, what happens when your daughter or grandmother calls for help when a man is following her on a dark street? When someone is trying to break in? What happens when there’s an active shooter at a grade school? We need to maintain law and order, but that phrase has also been both usurped and … Continue reading →

Wets Talk about Webby Witing:
Pantsers, Planners, and Plotting

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The argument begins like this… “When you write intricate plots, you always have to change things and rewrite and it’s hard to just write that story straight through.” “Not for me,” says the irritating pantser who goes from start to finish. You’ve probably guessed I’m not a pantser, but a planner. While I do allow creative things to take over, and do embrace that happy accident that solves a plotting problem, I am, at the heart of it all, a technical writer. I’m also whole-brain, and often my right brain and left brain are embroiled in hand-to-hand combat. While those … Continue reading →

An electrical meltdown looms: how can we avert disaster?:
Keith Harary

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by Keith Harary You might find your car dying on the freeway while other vehicles around you lose control and crash. You might see the lights going out in your city, or glimpse an airplane falling out of the sky. You’ve been in a blackout before but this one is different. In critical facilities across the country, experts predict that it is only a matter of time before the electrical infrastructure holding society together undergoes catastrophic failure. According to the most recent report of the United States Congressional Commission appointed to assess the risk, published July 2017, we face the … Continue reading →

All Bets Are Off

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NEW RELEASE, May 2019! Steve 5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning! May 19, 2019 “WOW! I am so glad I got to read this book. Fantastic storyline and great characters. It is my opinion that this book /series would be a great movie. A must read.” November, 2022. The U.S. power grid is taken down. Franny Sullivan-Sky is on the road, trying to find the daughter lost to her for sixteen years. She and her partner Jack are following the best lead they’ve had, when the grid goes down. But no matter how dangerous it is, Franny cannot turn back … Continue reading →

All Bets Are Off: After Words:
Thoughts on my current post-apocalyptic novel.

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Thoughts on my current post-apocalyptic novel. Available May 2019 My paranoia began with the trump administration. Many Americans felt immediately in peril when that dangerous orange buffoon stole the election. I had heard the buzzword infrastructure, and warnings about how it was failing, but until the last few years, I wasn’t even sure what infrastructure really was. I thought it just meant roads and bridges. When I learned that it also included, most crucially, our utility/electrical grids, and then when there were reports that Russian hackers had infiltrated our grid and were just perched there, able to attack at any … Continue reading →

Impeachment & the Fever Dream

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Every day, now, I fight the urge to flee to wilderness, and hide until all this is over, one way or another. Election night, 2016, was devastating. It was like that carnival ride where you spin around and the floor drops out from under you. Since then, I’ve developed all sorts of health issues, including a depression I couldn’t shake. I finally had to take medication for that. Since the election, I’ve developed an interest in survival skills, in keeping a go-bag and emergency supplies “just in case.” Now, I’m not a full-fledged prepper, but I am a survivor, and … Continue reading →

Avenatti AveNAUGHTY AveNOTti

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Jumping from the idea of power, directly into a powerful position, is often the seedling that overgrows into a sort of Kudzu of Corruption. All due respect, Mr A, this is not your A-game.

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Out of this world…

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I think I just might be in love with KB Draper’s writing. Dramedy is difficult to pull off, but so is this genre of adventure-comedy, which I would call “Adventurdy.” Since I am both a reader and a writer, I have two categories in which to sing her praises. First, as a reader: Spirits Smirits is immediately engaging, laugh out loud funny, and a happy circus of quirky humans, clever monsters and universal themes that will have you on tenterhooks drying out after feeling you have experienced everything right along with the main character. And that main character is a … Continue reading →

Is it Goodreads or Badreaders?

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I’ve always believed that every ill in our society falls under one or more of three categories: Greed, Ignorance or Zealotry. I was faced with an example of one or more of these while updating my author page on Goodreads. I came across a negative review, quite by accident, of one of my earlier books. Against my better judgment, I read it, and was horrified. The reviewer, obviously, did not like my book, and that’s fine, in and of itself, but this reviewer made statements that were patently false. She claimed the character in my book was “helping a pedophile.” … Continue reading →

What Happened

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This blog is from both of Us. My words in black, Melissa’s in red. So, here’s a funny thing…I guess you could say it’s WHAT HAPPENED. We preordered– SHE preordered. Though I won’t complain. …Hillary’s book, expected it on the 14th, but this morning it still wasn’t in the mailbox… (our morning starts about 3pm these days). I’m about to send Amazon a snarky note– Then it hits me, I say, “Oh!” and me and my birthday-suit jump out of bed and jiggle down the hall to the foyer… I do so enjoy the fact that she sleeps au naturel. …where there is … Continue reading →

Simple Procedures I Get to Sleep Through

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Today, I had a dentist appointment, to get a tooth pulled and cavities filled. That’s what I get for avoiding dentists for–what? 15 years? I’ve been fortunate, since I have always enjoyed healthy teeth, but I should have gone to a few of those appointments along the way. I accept the mantel of shame in that regard. We had to go to Springfield, so we didn’t get home until evening. When I laid back in the awesome Chair-I-Wish-I-Had-at-Home, It soon became apparent that they were not sure why I was there. Seems the VA had not sent over the records of the checkup … Continue reading →

Inflatable Travel Companion

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Most of my adult life, I’ve wanted a full-sized female mannequin posted in my foyer. Not just for comedic value. For practicality. I’m very utilitarian. I figured I could use her to hold the stuff I need by the door. She could wear my hat, hold my keys, my bag, my jacket– either wearing it or draped over one stiff arm. Or I imagined I could just put her in the house somewhere and dress her up in different outfits. Since my wife and I are always talking about our future life on the road in a travel trailer, throwing … Continue reading →