Woke up at 5:50am and went to work. While at work I listened to Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me, the popular news quiz show by NPR. This episode was not only one I liked but one in which I attended I was there in the audience with my in-laws and wife, before we were married. The show featured Drew Carrey as the celebrity guest. I remember it was at the Chase building in downtown chicago. It was an hour or so long but each minute was gut-bustingly funny. I really liked meeting Paula Poundstone. She's quite a character.
At 3:30 I booked it to my car and was on my way home. On the way, during the bright, sunny and surprisingly warm day, I had my window down and the radio on. I was listening to NPR, my favorite station. I guess I wanted a double dose seeing as how I listened to their forty minute show. A lot of really good bits got cut from that episode of Wait! Wait!
I noticed that NPR was asking for donations. The segment went on for twenty minutes. Now, I love NPR, but the whole segment reminded me something about publicity. I hate self-promoting myself. I feel ashamed and sometimes a tinge of what feels like narcissism hits me whenever I tell people to check out my blog or to buy my books. I've done it so much, I feel like I'm way past the point of begging but actually pleading with people. There's got to be a better way to market oneself.
On a positive note, I checked my kindle sales and found that 4 copies of Mr. Dead Eyes sold. 4 copies isn't a lot for two weeks, but its something. One of my friends revealed, on Facebook, that she bought my book on kindle. She actually owns a copy of my first print of the book, way back in 2006 when I thought I knew what I was doing but was still learning. Back then I was working with Iuniverse. Now I'm with Createspace. They feel like a better, sharper, well-qualified group and are affiliated with Amazon. Before, I designed the cover myself, stupidly making it too complicated. This time around, I found that a vast majority of books get their covers at IStockPhoto or Dreamstime. Which are pretty good companies when You're trying to find a cover that fist your story. With the kindle version of Mr. Dead Eyes, not only did I take it through another grinder wheel of edits but I also just let the picture do the work. I picked some fonts that I liked and that was pretty much it.
Just by comparing the covers you can see how far I've come in the way of sharpening the look of my novels.
Around 7:00pm, I was watching a movie called Fat Head on Netflix instant. This movie supposedly debunks Super Size Me by saying that fast food is good for you and can actually make you lose weight if you eat enough of it. Like a cow and some magic beans; I ain't buyin' it. Not only does the narrator of this documentary shove all this stuff in your face, but he does it with a snarky and somewhat self-satisfied smart-alec tone. I questions some of the doctors he visited and, if in fact, any of this rings true. But hey, it's America. He can make his film if he wants too but man, I doubt people are really digging deeper into this.
For dinner I had a double cheeseburger with fries and a Dr. Pepper. I'm really not trying to be hypocritically but, damn, that movie made me hungry as all hell.
I listened to some more Jodi Picoult Podcasts and then decided to read on my kindle, since I haven't done it in a while. After reading some more I decided to read the first chapter of Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult. She's good at painting a picture, I remember vivid details about her other book Perfect Match when my wife recommended that one as well.
Afterwards I called a friend from a previous job, called my in-laws and set up a movie night with my brother on Sunday. My brother's really funny. He loves this idea of a beard hat; a hat that protects your beard in the winter. He's planning on getting one in black. On Sunday, if all goes well, my wife will be watching Lethal Weapon for the first time with me and my brother.
The night ends with me combing over several of my writing projects. I can honestly say I have too many. I din't write much. 349 words. They weren't even that good. Wasn't the right time to dive in, I guess. I'll try again when the waves of words are more welcoming.
No comments:
Post a Comment