Monthly Archives: October 2010

Oct
12

Prolo-wha?

Posted in back pain, grumpy as fuck | 14 Comments
Aren’t you all so lucky? You get to see an x-ray of my spine with a big honking needle sticking out of it. (Doc found it very funny that I wanted to blog about it, but there it is. Next time I’ll see if he can’t get a shot with a regular camera so you can see me in all my glory.) Yes, that needle is sitting on the bone. Yea, it doth sucketh mightily. So, yeah. It hurts like a bitch. The numbing stuff hasn’t quite worn off yet, so I suspect things will be a bit worse later on tonight or tomorrow. And round two starts in two week. Huzzah!… Read more
Oct
11

When the Cockleshell Shatters…

Posted in concert, roger waters, the wall | Leave a comment
 Got a chance to go see The Wall last night (put on live by Roger Waters). I’ll admit I was somewhat familiar with the story, but I hadn’t seen it in its entirety and certainly never live in the Pink Floyd heyday of the 80’s. That being said, there’s something much more visceral about being able to experience it directly. The concept lends itself to such a metaphoric grace that I think you almost *have* to see it live to appreciate all the different levels. For a piece that’s thirty years old, its messages about war, government, capitalism and just the inner turmoil of one person’s fight against the world still hold true. Not to mention the dichotomy of nature vs nurture. How much of who we are is based on our experiences as children? What integral part of our make up can be blamed upon our situation vs our ability to adapt? From… Read more
Oct
10

Marketing 101

Posted in blog | Tagged , | Leave a comment
I’ll admit I don’t know much about the whole marketing/promo scheme of things when it comes to books. I’m familiar with going to cons and finding row upon row of tables stocked with all kinds of things – bookmarks, postcards, light-up boobies, pens, feathers, candy…anything and everything to get people to stop and pick them up, on the off chance another book might get sold. Of course, the big question here is does such marketing actually work? And no one really seems to know the answer. Plenty of people insist that it does and plenty don’t. We’ve all heard stories of writers who spent a small fortune on marketing gewgaws that seemed to make no difference…and then did almost no marketing at all next time around and sold a ton. Was it because of the venue? Or perhaps nothing more than the fact that by the second book, people knew… Read more
Oct
10

Marketing 101

Posted in brush of darkness, marketing | 14 Comments
I’ll admit I don’t know much about the whole marketing/promo scheme of things when it comes to books. I’m familiar with going to cons and finding row upon row of tables stocked with all kinds of things – bookmarks, postcards, light-up boobies, pens, feathers, candy…anything and everything to get people to stop and pick them up, on the off chance another book might get sold. Of course, the big question here is does such marketing actually work? And no one really seems to know the answer. Plenty of people insist that it does and plenty don’t. We’ve all heard stories of writers who spent a small fortune on marketing gewgaws that seemed to make no difference…and then did almost no marketing at all next time around and sold a ton. Was it because of the venue? Or perhaps nothing more than the fact that by the second book, people knew… Read more
Oct
8

One Of These Things is Not Like the Others

Posted in clearly I need something more constructive to do with my time, geek, no sleep 'til brooklyn, shouldn't I be writing? | 5 Comments
When I went to Disney World for RWA this year, I picked up a few little gifts for the kids. Among them was a set of little princess dolls for Lucy. She hates them. I don’t know why, but they’ve remained in my suitcase for nearly two months now. Untouched. Unloved. So I took them out this weekend and gave them a quick once over. And you can see they’re all sorta rosy and vacant looking. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel. And then there’s Belle. Poor Belle. Belle looks…sallow, compared to the others. Wan and pale. The outcast. Is it because she’s French? The solo brunette in the bunch? The one princess who wasn’t bespelled in some fashion? It took me a while, but then I figured it out. Clearly, Belle is some sort of undead doll. I’d say zombie…but she’s French. So, I think by all the tropes that exist,… Read more