Definitely a busy one in our little corner of the universe!
Lisa is leaving for her double conference trip on Saturday. It was originally just going to be a one conference trip but then she was asked to present at the other one. So she's got one where she's been invited to present and another where she's working on making contacts and setting up for the job she really wants when she grows up...
(Ok, ignoring her comments about when I'm going to grow up and continuing the bragging) She should also be getting bumped up to a higher position with Quality Matters soon (they're the ones who invited her to speak by the way). This is something that's been very good for her (even if it is tiring some times).
She is on hiring committee for the university (again) and hoping to be done with her dissertation this year (leading to some speculation on several peoples parts about where we will be next year (even without me using our moving to scare our bishop...)).
The conference trip is actually going to be a bit of a challenge for reasons that I'll be talking about in my Wordsmeanstuff post on Friday (no, I'm not going to say it here, because if I don't there's 0.0000001% chance somebody who reads this blog will go and read that blog....)
So next question (and one not addressed in the WMS post...). What will I be doing while Lisa is gone... (thanks to Akinius)
The week Lisa is gone is the first week of National Novel Writing Month (I may have mentioned that before) so, as much as possible, most of my other writing projects will be on hold while I bust out a 50,000 plus word book in thirty days (actually 26 since I try to take Sundays off...).
I will also be doing camera stuff for three or four videos that are on my list to get done. Three of the videos are associated with the chainmaille book so I need to bust those out quick! The fourth one is actually another shop project video that's tied to another project I'm working on (but more about that later (if I talk about and work on that one I'm up to seven book projects on the running list and my official limit is five...).
Note: if the city burns down while Lisa is gone it's not my fault this time! Nothing (almost nothing) I'll be working on involves fire (ok, except that one... and that one... and maybe that one... and the kid in the book might set something on fire (it still won't be my fault if the city burns though... I was working on some other project at the time...))
Speaking of the chainmaille book... you'll notice I haven't really mentioned the chainmaille book or the Kickstarter project. Kickstarter isn't really going too well. But I'm not bitter.
Actually a couple of things have happened behind the scenes that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't launched the Kickstarter and had it follow the course it has so far...
One way or another, Kickstarter or no Kickstarter this thing is launching!
Why I chose something from Starblazers (and even more so a Starblazers Pachinco machine) is something for another post, but I'd like to thank SonicBoom for the clip.
I found the solution to my 'doing this as an ebook' issues and funding that will definitely help with some test kits for select testers. So if the Kickstarter goes it goes. If it doesn't it's actually way easier for me to do it the other way (so actually if you want to slow me down, make the Kickstarter go through...). My royalties will actually be higher on the ebook too (We're talking $2.00 to $3.50 per copy on a $5.00 ebook versus to $1.00 to $1.50 per copy on a dead tree edition...). I'm still planning on the release date I listed in the Kickstarter (April Fools Day just seems right!).
Can I actually pull it off? There are only 156 days left.
That's it for this week.
Till next time... Remember...
Insanity is a sane reaction to an insane world!
Monday, October 26, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
The Adventure Continues... (again?) (pretties below...)
First off I'd like to thank everyone who has shared the information about the Kickstarter campaign (Chainmail Bottle Carriers). Friday's blog post here got the most views of any that we've put up in a while. (Yay!)
I also realized that I really don't have an indication of who has shared anything along, so if you did and you want to let me know post a comment or send an email to psknewone@yahoo.com.
The good news (for me) is somebody has definitely checked out the Kickstarter.
The bad news (for me) is that the only response I've gotten is two outside people who've offered to promote the Kickstarter for cash...
The bad news (for other people) is that I'm about to ask people to do something again...
The good news (for other people) is 1) I'm going to get this out of my system and then the rest of the post is good stuff; 2) for the most part what I'm asking is painless; 3) I've actually improved the low dollar rewards on the Kickstarter.
So what I'm asking is... 1) again if you're so inclined, tell people about and/or share the project. 2) I need one brave soul to break the ice and make a pledge! I would do it myself, Lisa would do it, but if any account that's got my name on it contributes the whole thing gets shut down (it's an ethics thing... and Kickstarter's rules.).
Now, I've actually sweetened the pot. Five dollar contributors now get the PDF of the finished book when it comes out.
I'd really like to get to the 30% mark (which brings us to a 90% chance that other people are going to jump in and bring it the rest of the way) but for now I'll be satisfied with one contributor... (will it be you?)
Ok now that part is done and we can get on to things that are really scary...
Orange bell pepper Jack o' lantern. The store was having a sale and it just seemed right!
Not scary enough?
How about...
A maniac with a knife!
Real knife, part time maniac... I got the knife at a local rock show as a reward for getting the book together and the Kickstarter running. I've learned a lot on this project already so I'm calling it a win. The question is just how big of a win.
We also got other goodies...
This one is Lisa's prize. Those are actual crystals in tiny cracks in the rock. Love to tell you where to get one, but the supply is some what limited (especially now that the quarry they come from is closed (unsafe for mining)).
One of my other goodies for the trip...this one is going to be put to work pretty quickly but after it's cut the pieces are tumble polished, so the finish pictures are at least a month out if I started cutting right now (actually 37 days because the current tumbler load still has a week to run...).
In other news Lisa's getting closer to proposing her dissertation and collecting data. She's debating on timing and whether going to graduation is really important to her. I want to tell her it is (but of course she expects that out of her husband (she might believe some of you guys better)).
As always, more to say and more going on, but I've babbled on enough for now...
As my parting thought...
When the negative people start showing up and going all Laman and Lemuel with their "I told you you couldn't do it" talk; tell them what I tell them...
Until next time,
Take care, but take the good risks too!
I also realized that I really don't have an indication of who has shared anything along, so if you did and you want to let me know post a comment or send an email to psknewone@yahoo.com.
The good news (for me) is somebody has definitely checked out the Kickstarter.
The bad news (for me) is that the only response I've gotten is two outside people who've offered to promote the Kickstarter for cash...
The bad news (for other people) is that I'm about to ask people to do something again...
The good news (for other people) is 1) I'm going to get this out of my system and then the rest of the post is good stuff; 2) for the most part what I'm asking is painless; 3) I've actually improved the low dollar rewards on the Kickstarter.
So what I'm asking is... 1) again if you're so inclined, tell people about and/or share the project. 2) I need one brave soul to break the ice and make a pledge! I would do it myself, Lisa would do it, but if any account that's got my name on it contributes the whole thing gets shut down (it's an ethics thing... and Kickstarter's rules.).
Now, I've actually sweetened the pot. Five dollar contributors now get the PDF of the finished book when it comes out.
I'd really like to get to the 30% mark (which brings us to a 90% chance that other people are going to jump in and bring it the rest of the way) but for now I'll be satisfied with one contributor... (will it be you?)
Ok now that part is done and we can get on to things that are really scary...
Orange bell pepper Jack o' lantern. The store was having a sale and it just seemed right!
Not scary enough?
How about...
A maniac with a knife!
Real knife, part time maniac... I got the knife at a local rock show as a reward for getting the book together and the Kickstarter running. I've learned a lot on this project already so I'm calling it a win. The question is just how big of a win.
We also got other goodies...
This one is Lisa's prize. Those are actual crystals in tiny cracks in the rock. Love to tell you where to get one, but the supply is some what limited (especially now that the quarry they come from is closed (unsafe for mining)).
One of my other goodies for the trip...this one is going to be put to work pretty quickly but after it's cut the pieces are tumble polished, so the finish pictures are at least a month out if I started cutting right now (actually 37 days because the current tumbler load still has a week to run...).
In other news Lisa's getting closer to proposing her dissertation and collecting data. She's debating on timing and whether going to graduation is really important to her. I want to tell her it is (but of course she expects that out of her husband (she might believe some of you guys better)).
As always, more to say and more going on, but I've babbled on enough for now...
As my parting thought...
When the negative people start showing up and going all Laman and Lemuel with their "I told you you couldn't do it" talk; tell them what I tell them...
Until next time,
Take care, but take the good risks too!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
What All the Noise is About
Yesss, I know I missed my usual Monday post this week (with everything going on I thought that might happen). It's all for a good cause though. One of the projects I've been hinting about and babbling about is live and about to take flight!
There are a few folks out there that have previewed this for me already, and I'd like to thank them again (you know who you are). I really did consider what you had to say with this.
What am I talking about? Well...
Watch the video and see!
I'm setting up a Kickstarter campaign here:
There are a few folks out there that have previewed this for me already, and I'd like to thank them again (you know who you are). I really did consider what you had to say with this.
What am I talking about? Well...
Watch the video and see!
I'm setting up a Kickstarter campaign here:
to fund this project. This is kind of the ultimate small press as I am putting this out myself.
If you're not familiar with Kickstarter here's how it works...
I set up the page (here's the link again...https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1094327337/chainmail-bottle-carriers-book), people go to it and if they like the project they get to contribute money and I give them something in return. What I'm giving to people is all on the page... If the funding goal is met by my deadline (3:00 AM November 15th, 2015) I get the money, put out the product and send out rewards. If the funding goal isn't met everybody walks away and nobody is out anything (it cost me my time but I learned a lot so that's a net gain already...).
I set up the page (here's the link again...https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1094327337/chainmail-bottle-carriers-book), people go to it and if they like the project they get to contribute money and I give them something in return. What I'm giving to people is all on the page... If the funding goal is met by my deadline (3:00 AM November 15th, 2015) I get the money, put out the product and send out rewards. If the funding goal isn't met everybody walks away and nobody is out anything (it cost me my time but I learned a lot so that's a net gain already...).
I'm only running the campaign for thirty days because statistically that's the best length for the campaign, and I'm ending it on November 15th to accommodate paydays and spending habits (I've done my research).
Now, here's a lesser known statistic and where I could use some help from you guys... If a project can get to 30% of it's goal ($754 in my case) the project is 90% likely to go all the way. It's kind of about people seeing it and believing it will go.
At this point it's as much about spreading the word as it is about money (actually for a future project I'm planning to do a Kickstarter specifically as a marketing thing...). If you can and are willing to put some money in that's great (again if we can hit $754 the probability of getting the rest is 90%). You will be getting some goodies out of it.
But... there's an even bigger way you can help! If you're willing to help put the word out about the project that is truly huge! I saw a thing today where someone brought in $10,000 because three people were willing to talk about his stuff.
Under Kickstarter rules I can't actually offer anyone money or other financial rewards, but I'm willing to barter with people here. I'm willing to offer some goodies, some of the stars I mentioned on the KS page, shiny rocks, and so on for people who are willing to tweet, put this on facebook or otherwise send some attention my way (there is a share button right under the video on the page (on about the same level as the location and my picture...).
If somebody really comes through with promoting this I've got a few bigger items that I could shake loose (like a couple of these carriers...)
Don't worry if I include a bottle it will be a brand new never used one... if someone really really comes through... I don't know we'll have to see on that!
No pressure, I'm not asking for anything that you're unwilling to give. I'm not asking for anything that I wouldn't do (or haven't done) myself.
I'm also very willing to share my experience and provide help in setting up a Kickstarter campaign for one of your projects. If you've never been down this road a little previous experience and advice can't hurt. And if you have been down this road, then you know the value of an extra set of eyeballs (again thanks to my previewers).
So this is the madness of the moment. I think it's pretty cool and one way or another I'm going to succeed with this thing eventually. I'm giving you a chance to get in on the act too (and yes, I really am going to list all the contributors in the back of the book).
There isn't a lot here about Lisa's projects or other stuff like that. Look for that stuff next week.
And, if you want to help Lisa out... try sending her a supportive text or email. This grad school thing is tuff!
Well this is my report.
Until next time remember,
You don't know what you can do to until you try.
And, thanks for all the support!
Monday, October 5, 2015
I finally get vacations...
I finally get vacations...
Thursday and Friday were the days for Lisa's conference in Boise so I went along and for two days (not counting parts of Wednesday and Saturday...) I was able to relax get away from this whole publishing and marketing end of the writer thing...
But maybe I don't...
When it comes to the actual writing part of being a writer I got more done on my two vacation days than I would in three days at "work"...
The writey wordy stuff...
As of today I'm back hard at it. I shoot the video for the Kickstarter tomorrow, I finished a short story that I started on the trip and I dug up a couple thousand pages of research for another book I've got in the works.
I am very much looking forward to the day that I can send the shirt and tie people part of writing (marketing and such) back to what ever _ _ ll it comes from and get back to just hardball writing (until the next one is ready to be shoved out the door and then I'm write back here (pun intended (Hey... I have to suffer, everybody suffers!)))
On other fronts Lisa is pushing closer and closer to proposing her dissertation. Then she gets to deal with the human subjects committee AKA "the murder board" (whether that's a statement about how I feel about them or what they do to projects is up for debate...). And then she can do the actual gather data part of the research...
Lisa is also gearing up for her double conference trip at the beginning of November.
I'm not going on that one because of costs and my NANOWRIMO project. That would be a novel of no less than 50,000 words in one month. Since I don't intentionally write on Sundays that would be 1923.08 words per day for a whole month... (remember that hardball writing I was talking about). And that's not counting blog posts, emails, or any of the other wordy stuff I have to do.
The shiny pretty stuff...
Writing isn't all that's going on...
The first shipment of stuff on my business account got here today. Now I have to build the stuff and figure out a better storage system (so I can keep the business shiny and the personal shiny separate better...). Some of this is for things for the ETSY store we're opening and some is for the Kickstarter (more about that in a week or so...)
This also happened...
We broke down and bought the half a hog bundle as part of a local grocery stores case lot sale... 50 pounds of pork... How much meat to we have? I have no idea I lost count around 45 meals... (and that's not counting the pork stock we will be making with the bones...)
Woodn't you know (pun intended again...)
Naturally we stopped at one of our usual rock connections in Boise...
And part of Arizona came home with us... Apparently the tumbler is going to be back in operation soon...
And of course Lisa got into the act...
With a nice little piece of jade.
The biggest over all piece is mine (and onyx)...
But that's because I have a plan for it that involves making something for Lisa (to be seen later).
Annnd we'll end where we began...
With petrified wood... and me wondering whether I get this vacation thing or not...
That's it for today. Till next time...
Life is like a box of chocolates...
You'd have a pretty good idea what your going to get if you'd only read!
Thursday and Friday were the days for Lisa's conference in Boise so I went along and for two days (not counting parts of Wednesday and Saturday...) I was able to relax get away from this whole publishing and marketing end of the writer thing...
But maybe I don't...
When it comes to the actual writing part of being a writer I got more done on my two vacation days than I would in three days at "work"...
The writey wordy stuff...
As of today I'm back hard at it. I shoot the video for the Kickstarter tomorrow, I finished a short story that I started on the trip and I dug up a couple thousand pages of research for another book I've got in the works.
I am very much looking forward to the day that I can send the shirt and tie people part of writing (marketing and such) back to what ever _ _ ll it comes from and get back to just hardball writing (until the next one is ready to be shoved out the door and then I'm write back here (pun intended (Hey... I have to suffer, everybody suffers!)))
On other fronts Lisa is pushing closer and closer to proposing her dissertation. Then she gets to deal with the human subjects committee AKA "the murder board" (whether that's a statement about how I feel about them or what they do to projects is up for debate...). And then she can do the actual gather data part of the research...
Lisa is also gearing up for her double conference trip at the beginning of November.
I'm not going on that one because of costs and my NANOWRIMO project. That would be a novel of no less than 50,000 words in one month. Since I don't intentionally write on Sundays that would be 1923.08 words per day for a whole month... (remember that hardball writing I was talking about). And that's not counting blog posts, emails, or any of the other wordy stuff I have to do.
The shiny pretty stuff...
Writing isn't all that's going on...
The first shipment of stuff on my business account got here today. Now I have to build the stuff and figure out a better storage system (so I can keep the business shiny and the personal shiny separate better...). Some of this is for things for the ETSY store we're opening and some is for the Kickstarter (more about that in a week or so...)
This also happened...
We broke down and bought the half a hog bundle as part of a local grocery stores case lot sale... 50 pounds of pork... How much meat to we have? I have no idea I lost count around 45 meals... (and that's not counting the pork stock we will be making with the bones...)
Woodn't you know (pun intended again...)
Naturally we stopped at one of our usual rock connections in Boise...
And part of Arizona came home with us... Apparently the tumbler is going to be back in operation soon...
And of course Lisa got into the act...
With a nice little piece of jade.
The biggest over all piece is mine (and onyx)...
But that's because I have a plan for it that involves making something for Lisa (to be seen later).
Annnd we'll end where we began...
With petrified wood... and me wondering whether I get this vacation thing or not...
That's it for today. Till next time...
Life is like a box of chocolates...
You'd have a pretty good idea what your going to get if you'd only read!
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