Foreclosures? Have another beer.

"FORECLOSURE RATES ARE WORST HERE:  Central Oregon vs. The State."  (Bulletin, 10/7/12.)

The high rate of foreclosures in Bend has always been a given to me.  It didn't seem feasible to me that we could have been included in the high-flying territory of Prescott, Az. and Naples, Fl. and Las Vegas, Nv -- without suffering the same fate.

Those maps you see of the county which show state by state conditions?  Oregon has always looked all right there.  Except, I knew that at the center of the state was a place that could be easily taken out and placed right at the center of the worst areas in the rest of the country.

I'm not sure how the real estate boosters here in Bend can be so blithe about the conditions here.  I suspect they believe it.  I suppose they would tell me that the prices are now reasonable, but they've been pretty much saying that for years now.  I suspect the foreclosure rate would be much much bigger if the banks really went after every overdue homeowner.

I don't think the Bulletin clearly draws the line between the housing boom and the job losses and the foreclosures.  The job losses come from the housing bust, after all.

I actually think Bend has gotten away with a bit of slight of hand, by being part of Oregon.  The real conditions have been somewhat hidden.  Tourism didn't stop, and some of the business areas have maintained their looks.  (Not sure how that happened -- it would seem counter-intuitive.)

Best slightly better than minimum....well, you get the picture.

Spent all day yesterday doing taxes -- which is an ordeal.

I'm always surprised, somehow, by how little money I make.  I mean, I feel successful and satisfied, but the money I actually earn would probably surprise most people. 

But I've adapted so well to living at this level, that I don't feel it.  With Linda's store (she does better than me by some distance) we're paying our bills, even taking a vacation once in awhile.

Thing is -- I just don't buy things.  I "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." 


Bottom line:  I wouldn't take a job that paid twice as much.


I get to choose when and how much time to take off.  (And if I worked my full complement of hours, I'd make more money, obviously.)  It's given me a chance to start writing again.

I get all the books and comics I could ever want to read.

The store pays for my health insurance, which added to my salary would at least help the bottom line a little.

I love being in control of my own future, and I like what I do, and it's good for me to calibrate just how much  exposure to the world I get.  (Too little and I get weird(er).  Too much and I get cranky.)

If I could control my whims, I'd make more money.  But I would rather carry product I like --which makes a little money, than carry product I don't like, even if it made more money.  I spend way too much just playing with the design and look of the merchandise.  I experiment a little too much. 

(Then again, it could be argued that my quirkiness and experimentation and merchandise mix is what has helped kept us in business.)

It could be argued that some of my pay is wrapped up in the inventory, which grows every year.  But trying to unlock that value will be a huge challenge. 

The low wage will probably make it difficult to sell the store if I ever want out -- I doubt the 'low income, but great store' argument will wash.  That is, the store is worth more to me than I can sell it for, and worth less to a buyer than they could justify by the return on investment -- if that makes sense.

The low return on my years of effort is a little daunting -- I'm surprised that other people do it, too.  Unless they just do better than me.  The comic and card biz has been a roller coaster, which turned out all right, but has been way harder than I could have ever expected.

Thing is -- I know there is a way to make quite a bit more at my store.  I just have to be disciplined and hard-headed.  Every year, I think "This is the year I'll get serious about making money." 

I still have some time to get the job done.  I feel like the store is pretty much where I always wanted it.

On the other hand, I may have an opportunity for significantly improving the store again -- which would set the "making money" part back another few years.

Oh, well.  It still is the best (slightly better than) minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had.

September Store Results.

My chain of beating last year ends at 14 months.

We were down from last year in September by 13%.

But...and this is a big but....

Last year was a complete anomaly.  It actually beat August results, which never, ever happens.  The average decline from August to September over the previous 6 years, was 25%.

I was expecting the reason to be -- The New 52, which started last year in September.  It was a big deal, lots of new customers in the door.  Sure enough, we've seen some decline, but not as bad as I expected.  Increases in other categories would have more than offset it.

The decline in comics was about 20%, which I'm not in the least surprised at.

But the biggest decline was in Magic.  Why, I don't know.  This is a sideline for us, and I'm sort of dependent on the product being hot from factors beyond my control.  (Interestingly, we lost two competitors recently, one in downtown Bend and the other in downtown Redmond.) In this case, the latest wave of releases appears to have been weak: the Avacyn and 2013 releases just seemed to die off.

A new wave showed up yesterday, and by all accounts will be one of the strongest ever -- plus, I have a good supply when I'm hearing that it's been allocated.  So we'll see if that turns around.

But selling only 1/3rd as much as last year, that kind of hurt.

Four out of seven categories actually beat last year -- graphic novels, toys, games, and books.  Compared to 2010, we would've been up 12%.

All of this shows the value of being diversified.  Without the games and the books, (added over the last few years) we'd have seen a lot more decline.  Toys, I've been working on, and it seems to be paying off. Graphic novels I'm always paying attention to. 

So -- Magic sells or doesn't sell, and I just have to adjust.

1.)  Comic Books:  -20%.

2.)  Used Books.  Note: Now combined with books.

3.)  Cards: -70%.   (The smaller the category, the bigger the swings and the less significant.)

4.)  Game cards:  -70%.

5.)  Games:  +7%.

6.)  Books:  +4%.

7.)  Toys: +45%.

8.)  Graphic Novels:  +22%.

Devious Democratic employer.

I am one of the stores the federal government calls for their survey of the employee hours and wages.

O.K.  I admit it.

I artificially inflated the August hours by going on vacation.  

No, wait.

We're talking September hours.

 Never mind.

Jack Welch is evil.

Here I was telling Carl I wanted to be respectful to both Obama and Romney and not use nasty nicknames for them.

Then Jack Welch goes and rears his sulfurous head, and spews bile on the public debate.

I've told this story before.  Back in my Young Entrepreneur phase (thankfully I woke up before I was competely destroyed) I read a lot of business magazines, and the most "admired" C.E.O. in America was the head of General Electric, Jack Welch.

So I eagerly stayed up one night to watch the man on Charlie Rose.

And not five minutes into the show, my skin started to crawl.  I'm telling you, I've never had such a visceral reaction to anyone from a T.V. show.  I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle the guy.  I expected his face to split in half and a horned little demon to emerge.

I mean, I really, really disliked this guy.  If he was lying in a road with trucks roaring by, I wouldn't help him up.  

Can't explain it.

I just think the man is evil.

Why can't everyone see that?   He's the real picture of Dorian Gray.  It's right there on his face.

But what he says is so odious, it wouldn't matter what he looked like or how he said it.

Most admired?

Dear god.

(Sorry.  I just don't like the guy.  Have I mentioned that?)

Friday fuds.

Looks like my copy of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet is missing.

I hope whoever took it got great spiritual enlightenment.

**********

Blogger and the U.S.A. certainly have every right to change their formats.  But I wish they would leave them alone.  I now need 3 steps to check comments on my blog instead of 1, for instance.  Annoying, but I'm getting around it.

U.S.A. Today, however, looks like it changed just to be able to fit more commercials in.  It isn't an intuitive search for me, and I've already stopped going to that site as often.  Doubtful they'll win me back when I have so many other options.

Every change is a chance to jump off.  But change is constant.

**********

As an old high school debater -- yes, I'm really as big a nerd as I seem--- I had good debates and bad debates.  It happens.

**********

There are now more shows on Sunday that we can watch and tape.  Something has to give.

Of the new shows, I'm really liking the show about the submarine.  That's about it.

Vegas is ... bleh.

Revolution is slightly better than....bleh.

Why do they water down these post-apocalyptic shows?  Even Walking Dead has way too much soap opera and not enough kick-ass.

Bleh. (Linda likes it, though.)

Elementary.  First episode was decent, but last night's episode resorted to -- twins...  bleh.  (The English show is brilliant in comparison.  Too bad, the acting is good in this -- but the writing...bleh.)

So...The Last Resort is the keeper so far.

I need to get a bit more ruthless and cut some of the more formulaic shows that have lost their spark.

Fringe got better, but good enough?
C.S.I. Vegas was so good for a couple of seasons, but lately?
Mentalist?  I'm over it.
Grimm is pretty mediocre, but the Portland settings and Linda's love of the show will keep it on the list.
Boardwalk Empire for some reason just doesn't engage me. (Who are you supposed to like, here?)
Hell on Wheels.  Has gotten better, but still not going hardcore enough for me. (Deadwood!)
Copper.  Ditto. (Advice -- go steampunk.)
Castle.  I'm sorry, this has gotten pretty awful.

So of the shows I don't like that much, I'll watch Grimm and Revolution with Linda. (She can watch Once Upon a Time by herself; I think it's awful.)


The shows I DO like.

Alphas.  Surprising well written, and the autistic character is brilliant.   "No, Bill.  Listen to me.  I can drive. Give me the keys."
Person of Interest.  This year, they seem to have even ratcheted up a level. The machine is self-aware?  Cool.
Good Wife.  Just a really well-written show.

Dexter, True Blood, Walking Dead, Homeland, goes without saying.

Oh, competition. You bitch.

Oh, competition.

Article in the Bulletin about a new record store in town.  Looks pretty cool.

But my immediate thought was, Ranch Records.  Can they have some of their business siphoned away and do O.K.?

Thing is, this is an ever present possibility in Bend.  We are always right on the cusp of having one specialty store become two specialty stores.

That is, we usually settle into one game store, one record store, one comic store, one bookstore, etc. etc., because, frankly, that's all the business our population will allow to prosper.  (Actually, not even that.  I can't just be a comic store, or just be a game store, or just be a bookstore, etc.  I'm all those things.)

But Bend also seems like it should support more stores in those areas.

So what happens?

I don't know, really.  I'm prepared for any eventuality.  I can shift my attention and resources to another of the multiple product lines I have if that ever happens.  (Even when I don't have a game store competitor, for instance, I always know that one is on its way -- because it's happened over and over again.)

Still, to me, there is always the scary chance that by reaching for two stores, you might end up with no stores.

A new store is always iffy.  An old store is always on the edge.

But it also seems true that there is often room for no stores or for two stores.  Can't explain that.

I think the big chainstores have always been the biggest problem.  Another small guy usually just creates their own customers -- at least that's what I hope.

So I hope both stores do well.

Thursday thuds.

I've all but stopped watching sports -- the blustery behavior of the athletes, the knowledge that most of them are artificially pumped up, the lack of loyalty on the part of management and players, and so on.

Still, I'm impressed that baseball has a triple crown player.   Never thought I'd see that again in an era of specialization.

Even if I don't know who he is...

**********

I don't watch debates, because I think it's just another form of reality T.V.  Might as well choose our Presidents by putting them on Survivor, for all it has to do with policy.

Anyway, from all accounts, Romney took Obama to the cleaners.

Thing is, I saw a news report that said Obama thought debate preparation was a drag.

Oh, oh.

Then I got an e-mail from the Obama campaign immediately following the debate that seemed a little cocky, obviously written before the debate.

Methinks they didn't take the debate seriously.

Romney was a cornered rat.  You don't take cornered rats lightly.

**********

I swore I wasn't going to complain about downtown street closures.

But Fall Fest.  Really?  Didn't we just have that?  Or was that October Fest?   Or Beer Fest?  Or September Fest?

I've lost track.

**********

Turned off the sprinklers this morning.

Going to winterize the house this weekend.

Driver's license tomorrow, and tax preparation over the weekend, and meeting with accountant on Monday.

Pain in the ass.

**********

Wait a minute.  The stock market has been going up for months, and Obama gets no credit.

Stock market goes up one day, and Romney gets credit?

Sheeesh.

**********

Nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Rush, Deep Purple, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Randy Newman, Donna Summer, Kraftwerk, Procul Harum, Chic, The Meters,Albert King and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

My reaction to these:  All of them.

My next reaction:  None of them.

Maybe N.W.A. for impact.

At least Rush got nominated.

Has Hall of Fame become anyone with a long career?  Or more than a few hits?

Feet of Clay.

I've been trying to think of what to say to those brave souls who volunteered to read my book.

I'm trying to work the expectations game, like Romney and Obama, who are both horrible debaters, according to their followers.

Hey, I'm a horrible writer.

But I want to get better.

It takes balls to expose your work to the possible umbrage of others.  But, going in, I'm reminding myself this isn't the end of it nor are they the end readers.  The end reader is someone far away who doesn't know me or my blog or anything about me -- except the work itself.

I think there is a tendency to think that if they like my blog, they'll like my writing.  I already found out that isn't true with a couple of readers of my previous effort.  Believe me, writing a blog and writing fiction are completely different things.

So, here's what I would say.

I'm just a struggling writer.  I've taken this lump of clay and shaped it into something hopefully recognizable, but...it needs more work. 

Please don't pulverize my lump of clay, but see if you can see shapes I've missed, see where I might add something, or shave something off.  Polish off the rough edges.  That kind of thing.

Hard as it is to take criticism, getting rejected by a publisher is harder.  So I'll take the damage now, where the cost isn't so high.

Besides, like I say, I just want to make the book better.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 10/3/12.

A couple of news businesses in significant locations.

O Mo Mo!, a "fashion boutique", is moving into the old Patagonia location.

Crow's Feet Commons, has moved into the Mirror Pond gallery space.  Brave souls.


I think as this list is now firmly four years old, one sees just what kind of turnover happens in business.

The saying is that "half" of all businesses go out within 5 years.  This list pretty much confirms that.  At the rate we're going, I think about half of downtown will have turned over in 5 years.

The good news is, that isn't any worse than the average everywhere.

The bad news is, that's the average everywhere.

I mean it's pretty amazing that people keep on taking the risks knowing the odds.  But no one thinks the odds apply to them, eh?

Also good news for downtown is that we do have constant replacement for businesses going out, and instead of declining, we seem to continually fail upward.  That is, the quality of the businesses coming in seem to match or even exceed the quality of the businesses leaving, and each new business seems to upgrade the spaces they are in for the next guy.

All ye, who desireth busyness, scroll down and let thee despair...or let thy heart be joyous!


NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

O Mo Mo!  Bond Street, 10/3/12.
Crow's Feet Commons, Brooks Street, 9/21/12.
The Cozy Lamb, Minnesota Ave., 9/14/12.
Noi, Bond Street, 9/14/12.
Azillian Beads, Franklin Ave., 9/6/12.
Earth*Fire*Art, Oregon Av., 7/10/12.
Pastrami Deli, Franklin Av., 7/10/12.
Bend Your Imagination, Minnesota Av., 7/10/12.
Paul Scott Gallery), Brooks St., 7/10/12
Natural Edge Furniture, Bond St., 5/10/12
Hola!, Bond St., 3/3/12.
Amanda's, Franklin Ave., 2/24/12
Barrio, Minnesota Ave., 2/12/12.
Rescue Moderne, Harriman, 1/12/12.
Letzer's Deli, Franklin Ave. 2/12/12.
Navidi, Minnesota Ave., 2/9/12.
Mazza, Brooks St. , 2/9/12.
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, 4/5/10 (Moved to Minnesota Av.)
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

El Jimador, Wall Street, 9/1412.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 9/1/12
Common Table, Oregon Ave., 8/11/12.
Honey Threads, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/12.
Bella Moda, Wall St., 8/11/12.
Giddy Up, Minnesota Ave., 5/10/12
Pottery Lounge, Oregon Ave., 5/17/12.
Boondocks, Newport Ave., 3/27/12
Game Domain, Oregon Ave., 3/27/12.
Toth Gallery, Bond St., 3/27/12.
Letzer's Deli, Franklin Ave., 3/22/12.
Clutch, Minnesota Ave., 3/22/12. (Moving to Tres Jolie).
High Desert Gallery, Minnesota Ave., 3/22/12.
Tart, Bond St., 3/3/12.
El Caporal West, Franklin Ave., 2/24/12
Bo Restobar, Franklin Ave., 2/9/12.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 2/9/12.
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 )

Coming back to reality.

I feel like I'm coming back to reality.

You know how when you finish a good book and you come back to reality and you already miss it? That's how I feel about this book.

But I'm purposely stepping back from THE RELUCTANT WIZARD, and Lore and Kinnon and all the other characters, and giving it a little time to breathe, and to get a few outside opinions.

Meanwhile, my procrastination level -- which is already pretty bad -- had been dialed up a couple of notches.

I need to renew my driver's license in person this time, and they want my birth certificate and I'm not sure what I have is the right one, and why can't they just give me another license since I already have one?

I have to finish off my taxes by the middle of the month.

I'm down to 3 checks in my book -- and just called in for more this morning.

My lawn is 3 feet tall.

My room is a mess.

And so on.

Writing is crippling, I tell you.

I can tell by the hit rate on this blog, that writing is the least favorite subject -- but, it's what I've been doin'.

Really finished this time.

I'm finished with THE RELUCTANT WIZARD.  At least for this version.

It's my "readable" copy.  One I could see myself actually sending off.  But of course, I'd also like to make it better.

Over the weekend I finished the last chapter, then standardized the names and spellings, and then formatted it for printing.

I printed out some copies today.  It's 54,000 words, and in the format I printed it in (denser than you'd see in a book) it comes to 137 pages.

Attention: H. Bruce.

If you are willing, I printed out a copy for you.  I'm going to take it to the store tomorrow and leave it under the counter; I'll be working Wednesday and Thursday, but you could come and get it any time that's convenient.  I put it in a binder.  (Jim in Sisters has also volunteered to read it, so I'll have a couple of pro's checking it out.)

It might be a bit juvenile, but it's supposed to be, right?  Anyway, any and all criticisms would be appreciated.  As long as you aren't destructive, I can take most critique pretty well.  I just want to make the book as good as I can get it.

So...what do you say?

Yours, Dunc

Either Marvel is delusional or I am.

Marvel is rebooting almost their entire line.

In the September catalog, they offered:
AVENGERS #1.
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #1.
ALL NEW X-MEN #1.
IRON MAN #1.
THOR #1.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #1.
X-MEN LEGACY #1.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #1.
FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
FF #1.
DEADPOOL #1.

This to go along with the previous UNCANNY AVENGERS #1; and, apparently, an equal number of new #1's in the October catalog.

Obviously, they're trying to do a New 52 type thing, but they are doing it in such a muddled way that I can't see it having the same effect.  No one has come in excited to get "all" the new titles, the way they did with DC.

DC took a big gamble, and it paid off.  A clear message -- everything starts over and there will be 52 titles.

Marvel's message is -- some titles will, sorta kinda, start over, and some won't and some will come out one month and some on another and never mind we've sort of being doing this starting over things for several years now though in a more rolling manner...

So I took my subscription numbers -- that is, people who are already sighed up for them -- and instead of adding between one to five extra copies, I more or less doubled them.

And I didn't even come close to qualifying for even the lowest number I needed for the most common variant covers.

This has never happened before.  I've always managed to at least qualify for the lowest numbers, if not the more extreme numbers.

I would have to order between 5 to 6 times the usual numbers --which would've been about right for the new 52, as it turned out.  But I'm extremely skeptical that anything like that is going to happen this time.

Each title, I suspect, is going to be judged on it's own merits.

What's confusing to me is -- my comic sales are in a good place.  If my sales were down and I was falling below what Marvel considered the 'minimums' then I could understand it.  But my sales on comics are actually in a pretty good place.

So Marvel seems to believe I can sell 5 times my normal numbers, even though my normal numbers are pretty good.

Anyway, I've never encouraged variant (reward) comics -- and I don't currently have any customers who are demanding them, and I'll simply tell them I didn't qualify (hopefully that won't make my store seem too lame).

But I am NOT going to order 5 to 6 times normal numbers to qualify for a comic that has a artificially imposed different cover.

Maybe Marvel is right.  Maybe I'll wish I ordered 5 to 6 times normal numbers.

But here's the problem.  If I order that much, and sell say 3 times normal numbers, I still don't make money.

If I order double numbers and sell 90%, I'll have pretty good sales.

If I sell out, I can try to get more.  Marvel will undoubtedly have second prints.

So -- like I said, either Marvel is delusional, or I am.

Owning a bookstore isn't conducive to writing.

You'd think owning a bookstore would be conducive to writing.  But you'd be wrong.

Take away the fact that if you own a bookstore (or any small business for that matter) you're spending most of your time and energies just trying to survive.

You are also surrounded by books.  Books, books and more books.  That should really encourage  you, right?  But it has the opposite effect on me.  Does the world really need another fantasy?  Another mystery?

Then you go to the distributor sites and you see hundreds of thousands of books.  Even worse, you go to the liquidation distributors and see thousands of perfectly good books being dumped. 

There was an article today in the Bulletin about Sixto Rodriguez, who put out a couple albums years ago that didn't sell and he was dumped by his label and he went to working for the city.

Unknown to him, he had become a huge star in South Africa -- a "legend" even.

So the article goes on to detail how which things get noticed and which don't can come down to statistical anomalies. 

Certainly, I see evidence of it every day in my store.  Wonderful books are ignored, crappy books are purchased. 

Sigh.

But you can also turn that around.  There are hundreds of thousands of books being published.  Hey, maybe I can get in on that.

My focus back in my earlier writing period was on Getting Published.  Quite honestly, following the huge hurdle of actually writing the book, and getting it ready, and sending it off, that's about as far ahead as I looked.

Oh, sure.  I had rosy visions in my head of everyone reading it, praising it, movies being made, la de da.

I remember the first time I ran into an unpublished author (who remained unpublished I believe) whose focus was on best-sellerdom.  I wondered if I had my priorities wrong.

Anyway, as I've said before on this current attempt of being a writer,  (well, maybe I am a writer if what one does is what one is), that I need to write through the doubts.  Not compare myself to anyone else.  Just do the best I can with what I got.

Do the book first.  Market it second.

Now I'm looking at these huge lists of books and telling myself that they are different, all written in idiosyncratic ways, and the publishers are looking for things to sell.

So I tell myself.

Dieting and writing Don't Go Together.

I've mentioned before, that budgeting and dieting work together nicely.

Well, writing and dieting are the opposite.  I nibble all day long, mindlessly.  Just walk around and nibble and sit around and nibble. 

I finished what I suppose could be called the second draft yesterday.  It has more than doubled the size of the book.  I'm at about 52,000 words.  I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being closer to 60, 000.

Spent some time rearranging the chapters, so there isn't too much gap between the two storylines.

I'm still liking this book.  Usually by this time, I want to get away, but this time I'm still into inventing and discovering what this book is about.  I think it's because I've done this in such a short time that it is still fresh to me -- or it's because I'm just really liking this world and these characters.  Or maybe that's saying the same thing.

Last night I was thinking about the evil kingdom in the story, and started imagining more of what it looked like.  This is probably what I'm going to be doing for awhile -- filling in the backstory of the world and the characters.  Making it feel more full and real.

I'm going to rewrite the first chapter today, because Linda had some cogent criticisms.  This first chapter will probably be revised dozens of times before I'm done, because it's so important.

Then I'm going to go through the entire book and try to standardize all the names and spellings.  That will probably take the rest of today and tomorrow.  Then I'm going to print out a couple of hard copies that can be worked on.

I've done this so intensively and in such a short time, that it calls out to the fact that writing a novel is a major project.  And why the hell does anyone do it?

But, as lame as it sounds, I feel like I'm doing what I should be doing.

Humblebrag.

Kind of a weird thing.

I've gotten better reviews for the three books I published as time has gone on.

At first, I'd have to say they were ignored completely.  Then there were a couple of sorta reviews that made fun of them.  That wasn't something I enjoyed.

But slowly, the tide seems to have turned.

It's as if time itself has lent them a certain aura.  You know, they've been around for a long time by now.  I even got my first fan letter.  (Well, fan e-mail.)  I didn't answer it, bastard that I am, because I don't have the foggiest what to say.  I think maybe I'll try to find it, and at least thank him for it.

It's interesting to realize that these mass paperback books, and their digital downloads (unapproved by me, but what you gonna do?  At least someone might be reading them...) will be around long after I'm gone.  That just about everything else I might have done will be long forgotten, but these books will be floating around the edges of the digital consciousness forever.

The internet is responsible for most of that.  The books probably would've passed beyond notice by now, if not for that.  That and the weird thing that SNOWCASTLES got published in England, and therefore was distributed throughout the Commonwealth (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, etc.)  and beyond, into Europe.  I'm not sure about ICETOWERS.  I'm pretty sure STAR AXE was only released in the U.S.A.

Anyway, even though in the scheme of things, these books seemed to make a small impact at the time, they seem to be enduring.  A great example of "Just Get In The Game."

You just never know.

Just write, dammit.

I used to think that coming up with a story -- plot, characters and background -- was easy.  Writing it in a readable way was hard.

That is, anyone could come up with a story, but not many people could put that story on paper so that people would want to read it.

But as time went on, I realized that coming up with a predictable, cliched, and shallow story is easy.  Making it surprising and new and with deeper meaning was hard.

The writing is hard either way.

Of course, the two things are inextricably linked.

I pretty much blocked myself for years with the feeling that I needed to avoid being predictable and shallow.  That I needed a stronger story.

What I really needed to do was write, and see what happened.  And then write again, and see what happened. 

I have a saying, that I think I made up,  "You can only write as deep as you yourself are."

So, I just need to write the best story I can, and figure that I'll go as deep as I am.

Why I'm voting for Obama. My last political post this year.

Had a customer/friend in the other day, and I told him I was disappointed that Obama was not more liberal.  He seemed surprised that anyone could be to the left of Obama.  Yet, by my reckoning, I think Obama is a centrist, establishment guy, and pretty much always was.

It's only the loony right wing who could have managed to portray him as something else.

I'm not wholeheartedly for Obama.  I mean, there is zero chance I won't vote for him, but I wish he hadn't done some things and wish he had done other things.

I'm disappointed that he didn't do more to rein in Wall Street.  I think Geithner is his Rumsfeld. But the alternative is a guy who announced INTENTION is to give even more to the Wall Street types?

No doubt who I'm for there.

The foreign policy?  I think Obama had taken the powers handed him by the Bush/9/11 powerplay, and tried to expand them.  Certainly he didn't roll them back. There are lots of troubling privacy issues there.  For a liberal, I'm a bit of vengeful hawk, and while part of me thinks the drone war is immoral, part of me says get them bastards.

Again, the alternative is some guy who's foreign policy team seems to be full of neo-cons who seem to want to go to war with Iran.  We've already had at least one too many wars.

Again, no doubt who I'm for there.

On the economy, I think Obama gave in to the Wall Street interests, and didn't do enough for those on Main Street who were losing their houses and businesses.  However, he did stabilize the economy against the opposition of the other party.  Indeed, almost any initiative he tried to make was blocked by either the Blue Dog democrats or the entire Republican part -- and the idiotic --senate rules.

Again, I think he was dealing with a recalcitrant congress, and probably did about as well as was allowed.  (I might wish he was a L.B.J. type who could twist their arms and manipulate them, but alas, I think Obama is nice guy.)  Obamacare didn't go far enough, in my opinion, but he probably got what he could get.

The other guy -- well, he's a mess on that subject, isn't he?  What the hell does he really believe?  That his Mass. health plan was great and he should get credit for it?  But that it would be a disaster for the rest of us?

I don't much like Romney or his riches and his seemingly out of touch style.  But I wouldn't not vote for him strictly on that basis.  (Even though my saying is, "Eat the Rich.")  Kennedy and Roosevelt and some other effective presidents weren't exactly hoi polloi.  It isn't his secret thoughts that disturbed me -- well, they are pretty bad but they seem in line with his outer thoughts, don't they?  He's all but said he's thinks making the rich richer is the best strategy.  Whereas, I don't think it's worked.

On social issues, I'm pretty much with Obama all the way.  For that reason, if no other, I'd vote for him.  Especially with the Supreme Court as the ultimate arbiter.

Finally, I really believe the Republican party has gone off the rails, and they need to repudiate the wingnuts instead of catering to them. Sure both party have nuts, but one part seems to be run by them.

I could wish MSNBC wouldn't try to follow the example of Fox news.  But even now, I don't think they're quite so reality challenged.

This to me is very disturbing.  The extremism I see in the Republican part is kind of scary.

Again, I'll vote for Obama to try and put that scary genie back in the bottle.

I'm not out for an argument here.  This is an attempt at a non-ideological examination of why I'm going to vote for Obama.  Well, of course its ideological in that I'm a liberal and most likely to vote for the more liberal of candidates.  But even if I look at it from a purely pragmatic viewpoint, I think one candidate is an adult who has been on a steep learning curve, and the other is a candidate who had catered to the worst elements of his party.

So Obama, 2012!

The digital divide.

I'm told that Barnes and Noble has renewed their lease at the Forum Shopping Center.  Yes, that was my big surprise.  I know it was a rumor for a long time they would be leaving in October.

At least the people who actually were affected by it seemed to believe it was a possibility; the store is apparently no longer the high performer it was when it started.

I must say, I always thought it was kind of unlikely.  Thing is, the people at Barnes and Noble apparently thought it was possible.


Meanwhile, the Bookmark, my wife's store, will beat last year for September. That will be 7 months out of the last 9.

After 8 straight years of improvements, we did have a down period last year, and I really think a lot of it was the all the publicity about e-books.

Which seems to have died off somewhat.  I mean, people still talk about it, but it isn't the central subject it was there for awhile.


So, anyway, I wanted to address the digital divide.

My feeling has always been that some people would buy an e-book reader and some people wouldn't.

But I also thought that among those who bought a Nook or a Kindle, some people would use it exclusively, and some people would buy both physical books and e-books, and some would actually come back to books.

That is, I've never thought e-books were going to win the entire market.  I still don't.   I think there is going to be room for bookstores for the foreseeable future.  Indeed, I think we may even gain a little marketshare as Barnes and Nobles busily makes itself obsolete.

I've been amazed by the digital inablers -- from publishers to bookstores.  They didn't even fight it.

I'm sure it was because they were fighting the "last war"; they looked at what happened to the music industry and drew the wrong conclusions.

That gives those of us who are still true believers in book/books a chance to pick up those who still want them.  Keep the faith, my friend.

Are they seeing something in Bend?

That would seem to be an impressive group of corporate stores coming in at the Bend Factory Stores mall.

Coach, and a "men's" Coach store; Pendleton (this even interests me); Under Armour; Puma; and Brooks Brothers.  I would have been impressed if they got two of these, much less the bunch.

Either the mall has changed some terms, or made some can't refuse deals -- or...

...the national chains are seeing some stats here in Bend which are -- all of a sudden-- enticing them.