Life is but a dream.

I had a weird dream last night where I was this depressed, crazy person for whom this life I'm leading -- Linda, the store, the writing, the blog, -- all of it was a delusion.

My family had just rescued me from a cult, and I had deep amnesia. My sister tells me, "You had this whole thing built up about a woman named Linda, who as far as we can tell was some girl you met at the library and had a couple of conversations with -- you were basically stalking her."

We have a small vacation house on the coast, where the family had gathered to rescue me.

My family was taking care of me, and I could tell they were tired of it. My mom was still alive, but had Alzheimers, and on and on...

Very detailed.

I've mentioned this before, but when I had depression in the 70's, I slept most the day away and I had vivid dreams, where life was pretty good.

Apparently, I dream the opposite of whatever I am.

Or you people are all an illusion.

Speed kills, especially in the fog and ice.

One thing I've noticed when we have a tragedy involving young people, you'd better not say anything critical on the KTVZ site.

"It's an accident!" you'll get screamed down. "Let the family grieve in peace!"

The implication is, an "accident" means it's no ones fault. Also that you are casting aspersions on the victim's character. (When it's often obvious from the mourning that they were outstanding young people.)

I understand not wanting to find fault so soon after the tragedy. I understand that the family is hurting.

Then again, after the incident is when people are paying attention. Rather than say, "accidents" happen, we should be saying "mistakes" happen, and they don't mean the person making the mistake is a horrible person. But that the mistake shouldn't be repeated, if possible.

And I am very, very sorry for your loss.

Anyway, I saw a documentary years back where they had put cameras in 16 year old girls' cars, and just let it roll. It showed them nearly clipping pedestrians and running red lights and going the wrong way, all the while chattering cheerfully to their friends.

It was terrifying. Their tiny attention span, their lack of concern, the sheer exuberance and craziness of their behavior. The documentary made the case that it was hormonal, that it was where their immature brains were at. A couple of years later, and the same girls were fine.

The footage was terrifying enough that when they showed the same girls the footage a few years later when they were college age, they were mortified.

(This isn't even counting the added danger of alcohol.)

This latest accident sounds like it might have involved excessive speed, and most certainly involved dangerous conditions, and it might be a time to turn to young people and say, "When the conditions are dangerous, you need to slow down."

Anyway, that horse (letting 16 year olds drive) is out of the barn and halfway down the road, and not all 16 years are that way. I'm actually impressed they've managed to put some restrictions on them, at all.

I guess as a parent you hope they'll show good judgement, and cross your fingers.

I reject your label and substitute my own.

There's a rumor that Amazon is thinking of opening a brick and mortar store in Seattle.
Supposedly more of a boutique kind of store than a super store. As a test for a possible chain.

They certainly have the brand name.

But wouldn't that be ironic?

**********

It's funny, but it seems like a bunch of books are coming out extolling the virtues of being alone, and of being an introvert, (though not necessarily both at the same time.)

Being alone allows a person to reflect, to concentrate.

Turns out that having a small group brainstorm may not actually be as useful. Which runs counter to the current notions of incubators and innovative small companies. This seems obvious to me. I certainly never saw a small group in the classroom that ever accomplished much. Heh.


I was reading an article about how the emphasis changed early in the century from "character" to "personality" and how the cult of extroversion took over. If you were not extroverted, you somehow had an inferiority complex.

I remember the father of a friend of mine in Jr. High, telling me I had an inferiority complex.

Well, gee, thanks. I didn't really have one until you told me so.

I was a full adult before I started rejecting these notions. Before embracing my privacy -- my aloneness. I like being by myself, thank you. And no, I don't feel inferior to you.

Different, maybe. Secretly, I harbor a superiority complex.

In fact, I think there are huge advantages to being self-directed.

For me, too much social activity actually seems to knock me off my center.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's interesting to see all these validations of the conclusions I had already come up with. Maybe the current generation won't get labelled quite so much.

Monday Mops.

DVR'd the game and whipped right through it.

Ironically, I cut the huddles and commentary, but this time I didn't cut the commercials.

Only one commercial made me laugh, and that was the cheetah one. The vampire one was clever, but I'd seen that the night before.

Game itself wasn't very impressive to me. Seemed decided by fouls, and punts and kickoffs (almost perfect by the Giants), more than anything.

**********

Downton Abbey just seems really simple minded this year, and way more soap opera-ish. It just doesn't have the depth, for some reason.

The modern Sherlock that followed (watched a few minutes of it because I'd seen it before) reminded me how good it was. I'd wish they'd get some new episodes going. Though Bilbo may be busy.

**********

Keeping up the pace on the rewrites. 27 chapters down, 3 to go. I still have to write the last chapter.

I'm now contemplating hanging on for one more go through. It needs -- something -- to get it over the threshold, but I'm not sure what...

I want to sleep on it.

It was this luxury -- or this show of patience -- that I didn't have back in my previous writing life.

**********

The John Carter movie just looks bad. I hope I'm wrong. What's wrong with "Princess of Mars?" anyway? You know, the real title. I've got a bad feeling about this...

**********

I kind of wish the media would drop the whole political bloopers thing.

Even the Perry, "oops" moment. I mean, we've all drawn a blank before.

It really doesn't get to the core issues, does it? A milli-second of a secondary performer sticking out her middle finger that hardly anyone noticed? Freudian slips? Are these things really worth pages of analysis?

Give it a rest.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 2/6/12.

It's official that Typhoon is closed.

I'm adding Gatsby 's to the closed list, because
it's had butcher paper in the window for awhile
now.

By the way, the new front to the Penny's Galleria looks great.

91 openings, 86 closings. I think that may be the closest the two numbers have come, percentage wise.

Also interesting how many of the same names are on the two lists. Maybe that 50% number I've always heard about New businesses closing in the first two years, is closer than I thought.

***UPDATE: La Magie Bakery. Coming.
***UPDATE: Arts Central. Going.

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

La Magie Bakery, Bond St., 1/6/12
Brother Jon's Ale House, Bond St., 12/10/11.
What Lola Wants, Wall St. , 12/2/11.
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails

(List begun, Fall, 2008.)

BUSINESSES LEAVING

Arts Central, Brooks St., 2/7/12.
Typhoon!, Bond St., 2/5/12.
Gatsby's, Minnesota Ave., 2/5/12
The Dog Patch, Minnesota Av. 1/9/12.
Bend Mapping, Bond St., 1/9/12.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St. 1/9/12 (Moving into Tres Jolie)
Bond Street Grill, Bond St., 11/20/12.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 10/11.
Azu, Wall St., 10/25/11.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Av., 10/11.
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro

(List begun, Fall 2008.)

Here's how I feel about...

Here's how I feel about religion:

It's my business and no one else.

***********

Here's how I feel about politics:

I lean toward the liberal, but I want it to work.

**********

Here's how I feel about writing:

I think I'm almost good enough.

**********

Here's how I feel about working:

It's engagement with life and with others.

***********

Here's how I feel about money:

I need it for security, not luxuries.

**********

Here's how I feel about age:

Damn. That sure snuck up on me!

**********

Here's how I feel about family:

Too far away.

**********

Here's how I feel about friends:

Hard to make and hard to keep.

**********

Here's how I feel about friendship:

"What? You want me to do something?" (Which may explain the previous.)

**********

Here's how I feel about my life:

Self-directed. (Which may explain the previous.)

**********

Here's how I feel about books:

Organically attached.

**********

Here's how I feel about digital:

Not attached.

**********

Here's how I feel about the internet:

Unexpectedly social. (Or social substitute.)

**********

Here's how I feel about Google:

Spoiled.

**********

Here's how I feel about T.V.:

Too much good stuff.

**********

Here's how I feel about movies:

Life's markers.

**********

Here's how I feel about growth:

Ignore it. Bend is still underneath.

**********

Here's how I feel about Bend:

Crisp and vibrant. Home.

**********

Here's how I feel about Linda:

Everything.

blah, blah writing blah blah.

Sorry, another boring writer's blog.

I've done 27 chapters over the last 9 days. 7 chapters still to rewrite. I have 1 chapter, the last, to write from scratch.

I've been locked in my room, writing at least 6 hours, up to 10 hours per day. I've left the house only once.

My brain is drained. I started strong, but I'm limping to the finish.

I've been diligent. But this has been a great reminder of how much time I used to devote to writing, and why I couldn't knock off a novel in my spare time. It requires all my attention all the time, or it slips away.

I don't know if the book is ready for primetime, yet. Or even good enough to submit as a pilot. I know I've improved it, incrementally at least.

I'm pushing through to the end of the rewrite, by Tuesday. Take two days off, go to work, and then come back and write the last chapter. Then go to work again, then come back and decide what I want to do.

Should I try to run through it again? I'm sort of inclined that way, right now. I had thought I would be done, but now I can see how much work needs to be done.

I think there was some self-deception here. I thought I could take the second draft, and pass it along. But now that I've actually almost finished it, I'm thinking it needs more work.

Here's the thing. If at the beginning of the second draft, you had told me I might need to do yet another run-thru before passing it along for vetting, I might have despaired. But now that I'm actually done, it doesn't seem quite so daunting.

I don't want to waste my critiquers -- I know from past experience that you only get that one chance at it.

We'll see.

I'm finding that even the small amount of written criticism by my writer's group has been hugely helpful.

Yesterday, I came to a dramatic scene, and one of the critiquers wrote "boring."

Harsh, but when I looked at, totally true.

So I ramped up the drama, had the character make a rousing speech, and the scene works much better.

The best criticism is when I'm told I've not done enough to dramatize the scene, or I've done too much boring explaining.

A blank page is hard to dig into. Having some criticism, any criticism, is like finding a path up a cliff. Something I can work with.

The other thing I've noticed, and this is more in the way of copyediting, but it's amazing how easy it is to missed dropped words. (or backward words, heh.) Nine people may have read the manuscript, but only one finds the error.

When we read, we tend to fill in so much that I think a simple dropped "a" or "the" can be totally overlooked. Even more complex words can be completely missed.

I'm assuming that other writers find this whole process easier, or they aren't as lazy as me, or both. Or there would be less books in the world. Or maybe there are just so many people. Something.

I'm impressed by other writers, I can tell you that.

Is writing a craft or an art?

To me, writing a novel is more a craft than an art.

Not to get all mystical, but the art is either there or it isn't. It is your creative soul on display.

The craft part, though. That's on me.

I have to learn that part. Some of it comes by instinct, by reading, by copying others.

Most of it comes through experience.

Because I'm lazy, most of the craft part of writing has come by slow accretion. Actually, that's not quite fair to myself. I took a lot of writing classes early on; and I think I read every book on creative writing in the Deschutes Library. (None of which agree with each other, by the way.)

But since then, I just want to get on with the writing, and my weaknesses become exposed in the process and then I try to fix those weakness by learning a little craft.

I've been conscious in writing this book of dialogue, in particular. What sounds natural and what doesn't. How much dialogue can be used to advance the story. To reveal character. And just to facilitate the nuts and bolts of the plot.

I think I've always felt every line of dialogue had to mean something. Say something. But I've been very aware lately of how often in the mystery books I'm reading, there will be a simple line like, "I'll meet you there." "Let's go." "How you doing?"

You know, simple stuff.

And it works.

I was watching Fringe last night. It was the best-written Fringe I've seen so far; up to the best X-Files writing. I was trying to diagnose how they were being so effective at telegraphing emotion and meaning in such a skimpy teleplay.

I noticed that what wasn't said was as important as what was said.

Anyway, that's the kind of learning I mean by craft.

And the even harder part of applying that learning to what I do.

Steady progress on the book.

I've been making steady progress on the book. Small improvements as I write the second draft.

It's more like chipping away at a block of granite. I can see how much still needs to be done.

The question is, how much am I willing to do? How much improvement can I make?

I'll probably finish this second draft in the 12 day period I gave myself. Then I'll take a 5 day period to write the last chapter. Then, I think, I'll probably read the whole thing aloud to myself and see how it sounds. (Reading aloud seems to catch all kinds of awkward phrasing.) Maybe another 5 day spurt.

So, pretty much the rest of the month.

Then I'll print up a few hard copies and try to get some other people to critique.

My request of them will be to make as many changes, cuts, suggestions, as possible. So that I'll have something solid to bounce off of in the third draft of the book.

Then?

We'll see. If it still isn't good enough, I may have to step back and give it a little time and then come back again and see if it can't be improved.



Later: I'm bogging down. I'm about 2/3rds of the way with 4 days left. I took a day off in the middle to do errands.

There is some pretty lame dialogue that I can't seem to fix. So I'm doing my best and moving on. The book kind of veers in a strange direction about halfway through, and I'm not sure it works, but again -- I've traveled too far down that plot to turn back. I can either try to make the silliness less silly or more, but I don't think I can leave it alone.

Some things I'll just have to save for the final draft.

I'm trying to make this good enough that I won't feel like I've presumed on my critiquers better natures.

Writing in stages.

This is the first time I've written a book in distinct stages.

Before it was just a big mess. All seven early books were a hodgepodge of effort. Rewriting early chapters, adding on, rewriting again, changing everything, tacking on the last chapters, rearranging, rewriting, adding.

I've been very careful to do it differently this time.

The first draft is the brainstorming draft. Getting the plot down. Adding elements as I go along without actually rewriting anything. Some chapters come full blown, others are kind of threadbare.

The second draft has been trying to fit all the pieces together, make them consistent, and concentrating on continuity. Also trying to flesh up parts that needed it, and cutting down parts as needed. Trying to smooth out the rough patches.

I'm not sure how the third draft is going to go, and until now, I don't think I ever thought I'd even considered a fourth draft. But...if it isn't good enough, probably best I give it a little time and try again.

I'm noticing that the latter half of the book gets less attention than the first half, so I'm going to try to trick myself and write the next draft starting halfway through the book, so I burn all the early energy on the second half for once.

When 1.00 rent is too much.

Arts Central is leaving a 1.00 rent per year.
I've always maintained that cheap rent isn't the be all and end all.

**********

Digging in sand is bad for you? My god, how did any of us survive our youth?

**********

Greg Oden has a career in knee surgery.

**********

Going to DVR the Superbowl. Nobody tell me.

**********

I don't know why I don't like to Twitter.

**********

So the the city council has finally decided that current infrastructure is more important than building for future growth. Took them long enough.

**********

No legal proof, Lance. But I still think you're a fraud.

**********

Alan Moore is a grump. But he has earned the right to be a grump.

**********

Our retirement account is up about 10% lately. It's just funny money. It could just as easily disappear tomorrow. Probably will.

**********

Our cat is getting about a quarter cup of food a day, and she still isn't losing weight. I think she's stopped moving at all. (she's still breathing, that's not what I meant.)

**********

As soon as I read the jobs report, I went to check out the Doubters. (Not the Haters, the Doubters.) They seemed to agree it was real improvement. Of course, you have to ignore the real 20% rate, but still....

**********

Linda loves making bookmarks for her store (The Bookmark, heh.) She sells them for 1.00 and donates to a food pantry. We get tons of catalogs which give her raw material. I suspect she puts at least a 1.00 into making them (not even counting time) but she enjoys doing it.

**********

That's it. I'm not kissing anyone from Prineville.

**********

I have to admit, Las Vegas is probably worse off than us.

Improve every draft beyond expectation.

There is an important aspect to writing that I never see anyone comment on.

How improvements to the manuscript happen out of sight.

I've noticed in my writers group, that there are those who bring a story and get critiqued, and who only change the story slightly in response. Or they don't change it at all.

There are others who take the criticism to heart, and the next time they read the same chapter it's improved by leaps and bounds.

This latter group are the more likely to be published, I noticed. Eventually. That is, I'm not surprised when they later get published.

I'm assuming that the next draft, whether I heard it or not, also improved. And the next.

It's that talent of constantly making genuine improvements that eventually makes a manuscript readable.

But the critiquers are always going to be behind the evolution.

That's why I think people can so often be surprised when a person they read has some success. Because they read the lessor copy, the incomplete, the unfinished work.

Even the last draft -- the one no one ends up reading but the publisher -- can be a big improvement, the final embellishment may make all the difference.

So friends and family read earlier, unfinished and unpolished versions of the final draft. And it's always going to seem wanting.

I've mentioned this before, but I once read a book about Erle Stanley Gardner's writing process. (Perry Mason's creator).

The book showed an example of the first draft of a story, and I'd think: Hey, that's pretty good.

Then it would show the writer's thoughts on that draft, and the improvements he thought he should make. The second draft was twice as good as the first.

Then ...there would be a third round of improvements, and it would be even better. Often, there was that final spark that made it something special.

I've always taken this as an object lesson. It's why I welcome critique, because I can use the remarks to improve what I've done. EVEN IF I think the criticism is off base, it still helps me think about what I've done.

I'm not saying that every draft I make is an huge improvement -- in fact, there have been times when I think I've gone backward.

The real object lesson here is to not get discouraged by early drafts, or by early responses.

To value all criticism, because that gives you something to dig into. A blank wall has nothing to grab onto.

Because it may very well be that you'll vastly improve it by the end. But you can't there without starting, and starting is always going to seem wanting.

I'm over halfway through my second draft, and in a way, whether it's any good or not is still a moot point.

The real point is to make it Better. To improve it.

And then try to do it again.

That's really all I Can do: try to make it better until I can't.

Technology or magic?

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law.

So by that reasoning -- Any practitioner of advanced technology is indistinguishable from a wizard.

The wi-fi on my laptop stopped working yesterday afternoon.

Since my desktop computer stopped working ages ago, this was a disaster. Netflex stopped working a couple weeks ago; so did Linda's desktop, and our cellphones and Ipad --though we could still get 3 G.

But not having internet service was the last straw.

So I called my wizard friend, Aaron Leis.

I only hesitated to call him for help, because I'm always afraid he'll think the only reason I'm friends is because he's a wizard. (Though a wizard is a good friend to have, indeed.)

He came over and waved his magic wand and fixed everything in a matter of minutes. A few mumbles and magic words and it was all up an running, and while he was at it, abracadabra, he fixed them even better!

I just laughed.

Even when he explained what he did, it still seemed like magic to me.

There is something that just tickles me, makes me feel good, about seeing someone who is so casually competent at something. It gives me hope for the future. And it isn't even his real job, just something he does on the side.

He started talking about passwords, and telling us in great enthusiasm about what he's read and researched, and I could tell it's that kind of passion and interest that has made him a wizard.

I'm telling you, every household needs a wizard -- otherwise you have a house full of broken or dysfunctional devices.

If I set out today to try to learn what he knows, I wouldn't get even a fraction of the way there.

Same with my friend Jared. They have the magic.

I swear, if I could do what these guys do, nothing would stop me. Heh.

Alas and alack.

January, 2012 results.

We beat January of last year by 2%. Pretty tiny increase, but a win is a win, I guess.

I feel the weather really hammered us this year. We had some incredibly slow days. My guess is sales would've been at least 10% better without the horrid weather.

Normally I hate blaming such a random factor, but this slop was the worst kind of customer turnoff. (A reminder to me that that exact same kind of weather could've hit mid-December to devastating effects -- which is why I need to hedge my bets instead of going all in.)

The 20% increase at Christmas was great -- except so many of the bills come due in January.

That makes 7 months in a row I've beaten last year, which equals the previous increase that I had in the middle of the recession. As I've said before, these increases are usually built on decreases -- I will really only believe the recession is over when I have increases over increases.

***Comics were strong. The continuing effects of the New 52.

***Books were up. This is the first month I've kept tract of used versus new books, and I was astonished that new books by far outsold used books. I'm guessing that I sold a few more used books than the register showed because of old habits -- the new books button used to be just the "books" button.

Still, it's pretty clear I was overestimating my used book sales and underestimating my new book sales, which makes me feel a bit better about spending so much on new books.

I'd thought the used books were supporting the new books, but the new books have been performing all along.

***Cards were up slightly.

***Card Game were down significantly. It kind of feels like the new interest has leveled off. I also think my main competitor has gained throughout the year as he's become established and found by the gaming community. (Plus, he seems to have decided on a discounting strategy.)

***Games were up slightly.

***Graphic Novels up slightly.

***Toys about the same.

I should be able to beat last year in February, knock wood, because I have an extra day to get there.

Wednesday Wats.

I got to admit. I didn't understand the Savvy Shopper article in the Bulletin today. Those guys could have just as easily shopped from a thrift store and looked the same. Instead it was all "branded" clothing.

Huh? So you'll pay 5 to 10 times more to look sloppy? Er...I mean casual?

**********

I've got to say, it looks to me like Romney is trying to buy the presidency.

And before you all jump all over me -- they are ALL trying to buy the presidency.

That's the problem.

**********

Housing prices are still dropping.

Just saying. In case you happen to read a lot of real estate blogs -- who would lead to believe the opposite.

**********

You know what I wish economic reporters would do? Not just tell me when a economic gauge goes up or down, month to month -- because what you get are constant, "Confidence is Up!" "Confidence is Down!" (for example) as stories. But what that doesn't tell you is if the Up gauge was up say 10 points, and the down gauge was down 2 points, followed by another up gauge of 10 points, and another down gauge of 2 points.

So instead of pointing to the obvious trend upward (or just as easily downward) what the reader gets is, Up, down, up, down.

I know trends aren't always obvious, but where they are....make it clear.

**********

Eagle Crest is taking on the Holiday Inn brand?

Hilton Hotel in the Old Mill?

So much for our unique destination resorts. Turns out, we're just like everyone else.

**********

So Amazon's stock dropped yesterday, for some silly reason like they grossed 17 billion instead of 18 billion or something like that.

But, their overall strategy of "growth" is "intact."

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I think this is a very, very dangerous strategy on Amazon's part.

But they're HUGE! And getting HUGER!

So what, if they aren't making big profits? Instead, if I read it right, 1 penny on the dollar.

Here's the thing; think of it as a poker game. You win a hand, you put it all back, you win another hand, you put it all back, you win another hand, you put it all back.

So, say you started with a hundred, and now you've got 100,000.

But if you lose the last hand, you lose it all. Every freaking cent. Doesn't matter how big your stack got.

I don't see retail as much different, and I actually have a very specific example of that: if you'll pardon me, sports cards.

In the first 5 years I carried sports cards, they expanded exponentially. So every dollar I made was plowed right back in to buying more product. For five years. And I had incredibly impressive sales results. I borrowed money from the bank twice. I opened three more stores.

Then it all crashed. Not only didn't I make money, I was suddenly losing money.

What I had told myself was that the day would come when I could take my foot off the accelerator and start earning profits. Instead, that chance disappeared.

I don't see why Amazon is any different. A new technology, a new business model, could come along at any time and take a significant percentage of their market -- and it won't matter how big they got, if they start losing money and never made money.

It's just churning cash.

Do as we say! Wait....don't do it!

Flashback about 8 years ago or so.

Manga is all the rage. Teens and pre-teens line the aisles of Barnes and Noble and Borders. The cheap little books are selling like hotcakes.

And most comic books stores have been left in the dust.

Most of them simply missed the boat -- not understanding them, or caring for them.

Other comic stores (like me) tried, but it was hard keeping up with the onslaught of books without return privileges. We were left with too many clunkers for it to be very profitable, plus it seemed like it required more and more space.

Anyway, a theme developed that comic stores were being stupid. (Comic stores are always stupid --we never have enough of what they want when they want it --)

Look! the manga proponents would say, look how many manga books are selling in the mass market! Look how many young people and -- gasp -- girls! are buying manga. Comic stores are stupid, as usual. They don't have a clue!'

Comics are doomed, because they aren't following the manga model -- book-sized bang for the buck. Cheap stories.

Silly comic stores.


Flash to present.

Borders is gone. Manga is selling less than half as well as it once did. Major publishers like Tokyo Pop are gone. Most kids who are still interested simply pirate the material off the internet.

What went wrong?

Well,these experts say, manga made the mistake of being targeted toward younger people and especially girls, who have now grown out of the fad and moved on.

Also, they put out book-sized material that was too cheap per page.


So...if you'll please notice... the very same things the comic store haters were telling us comic stores to do 8 years ago, they are now telling us caused the demise of Manga.

We can't win.

Every writer is different. And every book.

I speak here for myself. Other writers are probably different. In fact, every writer is probably different from each other. Hell, every book writing experience is different from each other.

But writing full time is a strange way of life.

For me, it's very isolating. To be effective, I have to pretty much sequester myself for the interim. Less T.V., less reading, less going out of the house, less interaction with others.

I don't want the fictional flow interrupted.

Cameron was asking why writing a book was so much harder than writing a blog.

For me, it's the difference between keeping track of one or two things at a time, and keep track of hundreds, thousands of interrelated threads and thoughts.

Plus, a blog is ephemeral. Yeah, it stays on the net, but many entries will lose pertinence after awhile.

A book is supposed to hold together, forever.

Plus -- to be frank, I don't think I'm a good enough novel writer for it to be easy, and writing isn't easy enough for me to be a good enough novel writer. I need something extra. I need to take time and effort to make it readable. (And even then, I wonder if I succeed.) I need to wait for inspiration a little too often for it to be fast. I need time between re-readings to keep some freshness. I need some help from others to spark changes.

So for me, it always seems like more needs to be done.

I was mentioning this to a successful pro writer once, and he looked at me in shock and said, "Why would you ever send it off if it wasn't perfect?"

Which shocked me in return.

Perfect? I envy him his certainty, but that never comes to me. I don't care how long I take, or how much work I put in.

In fact, I have the opposite danger of taking a perfectly good story and ruining it. Like working on any art project, there's that moment where you need to stop.

Like I said, every writer is different.

The other dangerous thing for me about writing besides the danger of isolation, is that it almost invites laziness.

It's not really laziness, but that's how it must seem to others. Because I need to mope around, cogitate, drift and daydream. I want to daydream, let me mind wander. Wait for the thought, the idea, the phrasing.

So it doesn't LOOK like I'm really writing. It looks like I'm lazing about. Staring into space, laying back on the futon. Doing nothing.

Thankfully, Linda understands this -- in fact, there are times I lose her to her own fictional world for a few weeks or months. (Unfortunately for her, I'm more demanding of her time than she is, for which I'll try to do better next time now that I've been reminded what it's like...)

I'll tell you what: I'm a champion daydreamer, moper, laze around the house kind of guy. I take to it like a fish to water.

Helps that I'm a loner and being alone doesn't bother me in the least.

I've mentioned before, I think owning a store was probably a better life for me personally than being a writer. Being an "author" has more romance to it, but its cost for an isolating, lazy person like me probably would've been too high.

Not to mention the creative feedback was much faster and I could actually make a living.

"Rewriting is a misnomer.

I know some of you are thinking -- "rewriting" a book in 12 days?

But what I'm trying to do here is come up with a "reading" copy; which means that continuity is the most important aspect.

The "rewriting" is a misnomer. Actually, it's more that I'm reading the book and making corrections. Significant corrections, but not actually rewriting the whole book.

I write a book in parts. All the parts could work but the whole be unreadable. So I want to try to read it how a reader would read it.

If I have time at the end, I may read the whole thing out loud to myself. I find that I will often read it slightly differently than what's on the page and what I read aloud is almost always an improvement, like my subconscious has a better choice.


I got another 4 chapters done, but I suspect I might be slowing down, because the later chapters probably need more work. Arrggh.

Anyone who thinks that one should write a book simply for the "fun" of it, has never written a book or is kidding themselves. By kidding themselves, I suspect they secretly or not secretly harbor the wish that the book will be published, make tons of money, and be covered in glory.

Writing a blog is "fun."

Writing a book takes time and energy. There are fun aspects in the process, but actually finishing a book -- to me -- becomes a little less fun. There is a great sense of accomplishment, though.

The fourth chapter needs some additional material -- so I'm hoping I can write that before I start doing the next 4 chapters.

Big surprise -- having half your market in two stores isn't a good idea.

A New York Times article on Barnes and Noble.

The publishers are scared to death that Barnes and Noble is going to follow Borders into going out of business, dragging book sales with them.

Because independent bookstores only account for 8% of the sales.

Well -- who's fault is that?

Did it ever occur to these morons that supporting Borders and Barnes and Noble instead of the independent bookstores was putting all their eggs in one basket?

It was inevitable and foreseeable.

And avoidable. Giving preferential treatment to the big box stores was going to kill the independents. This isn't in dispute. The publishers were sued and found guilty of doing exactly that. They still do, just in legal ways.

You CAN'T KILL YOUR BASE OF SUPPORT!

And your base, basically, are the small stores all throughout the U.S.A. This was true of sports cards, and it was true of the music industry, and it's true of book publishers.

Like the sport card manufacturers before them, and the album producers, the book publishers went full blast into the big box stores. They couldn't be bothered with the little guy.

I know what some of you are saying: The big box stores sold more, they had a better model, why should the manufacturers fight it?

I'm not saying they should have fought it. I'm saying they shouldn't have cooperated so thoroughly to it. Really, it was collusion. They saw big bucks in chain stores and they didn't put a moment's thought into slipping the knife into the small stores by making it difficult to compete. Whatever they told themselves, they gave better terms to the big boxes.

The big box mass market chains stores achieved their size and pricing because the manufacturers HELPED THEM DO IT!

I just get tired of the media leaving out this step.

The manufacturers were responsible for the market they got. They could have made more of a level playing field.

Even -- gasp -- giving preferential treatment to independents, if they had to give preferential treatment at all.

Bulk discounts (I'm sorry, selling 10,000 books to a hundred independents, or 10,000 to one bookstore, you STILL sell 10,000 books.)

Exclusives, early shipping, overships, expanded returns, longer payment terms, endcaps, cheaper prices, etc. etc.

They did it in a hundred ways, folks.

It's their own damn fault.

Or is it two steps forward, three steps back?

I made myself a couple of checklists for my writing the second draft.

As I mentioned, I have three themes I want to pursue:

1.) HUMANS ARE STRANGE.
2.) WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?
3.) THE WEIRD MENAGERIE.

For nuts and bolts writing, I made a second checklist.

1.) Is there a more original way to say it?
2.) Is there a telling detail you can add?
3.) Does it read professionally? Is it smooth and pleasing?
4.) Does it advance the story? Is there anything you can add for suspense?
5.) Sight, sound, color, touch, feel, all the senses.
6.) Are we emotionally connected to the narrator?

I planned to go through the chapters once. Then run through them again with the critiques from the writer's group. Then a third time with Checklist 1; and a fourth time with Checklist 2.

In reality, I ran through the chapters once with the checklists pretty much in mind, and then a second time with the writer's group critiques (which have turned out to be kind of skimpy -- the critique at the meetings can be anyway from 5 minutes to an hour, but there turn out to be only a few written comments and corrections.)

My test is -- if I picked this up in a bookstore, would it seem out of place?

I tell you what: I'm so glad right now that I actually had those books published back in the 80's, as well as got some real positive feedback on the unpublished manuscripts.

Cause if it wasn't for that, I'd be afraid I was making a fool of myself.

It is so intimidating. I've just put on my blinders, stuck a needle through my eye for a small lobotomy, and I'm finishing the damn book!