Small favors which are really big favors.

While we were trying to get flu shots at Costco, Linda and I sat down and ate some hot dogs.

The place was jammed, as always.

I started people watching.  I know, no big deal.  Except for me, it is.  For years I could only go into a jammed packed 'marketplace' by screwing up my courage.  And even then, I wanted to get in and out as fast as possible.

A little thing called Agoraphobia.  So I'm sitting there watching all the people, thinking about how Not Hollywood the American public really is -- old and fat and short and badly groomed and badly dressed and so on -- but you know, not so bad.  Just people.  I'm just people, too  --  of the older, gray grizzled kind.

My gaze was sliding over people, occasionally catching someone's eye by mistake and easily detaching myself, going back over to make sure they were ignoring me, and so on.  Felt natural, and easy.  I seemed to be fitting right in.  (I guess a final residue of my phobia is that "checking" thing.)

It made me appreciate the simple ability to sit in public and not feel uncomfortable; something that just about everyone feels naturally and don't realize what a gift it is.

Hard to explain.  It probably never even occurs to people.

I'm very sympathetic to post-traumatic stress disorder, because my guess is that it plays similar mind and body trips as most phobias -- probably more so, and maybe not as predictable.

There are a certain number of people who suffer from Agoraphobia.  One of my crowd watching goals was to see if I saw anyone uncomfortable like I used to be; of course, I didn't see them because, hey -- they wouldn't be there, would they?

And if they were, they were probably pretty good at hiding it, like I used to be.   Putting your head down and plowing through a crowd looks a lot like a busy guy in a hurry, you know?

But I sure appreciate this easy feeling.  I don't know when it happened, exactly.  It's been a long slow process.  Every success building on another success.  Never pushing it.  Pills helped for the most extreme situations, but I feel like they are less and less necessary. I still don't choose these situations -- or seek them out.  Because -- well, you never know.  Don't push your luck.

But I also don't twist myself into contortions to avoid them, either.  I take them in stride when they happen.

Sitting there and not feeling even a twinge.

Wow.

I'm not sure I ever thought that would happen again.

Thank god for small favors which are really big favors.

No flu shots to be had.

I have now gone to seven different places for a flu shot.

Twice early in the week -- once at my doctor and once at my druggist.  The doctor said come back Friday, so I did.  Nope.  Tried Costco, and there's a two week waiting list.  No at Bend Memorial Clinic, none to be had at Safeway and Walgreens.

So thanks media for the stampede.  

Under the assumption that water flows downhill and drowns anyone at the bottom, I'm going to assume that no one has them.  My doctor is supposed to call when they get some in.

Heh.

And the worst of it was, I had to go to all these places that SICK people congregate at!

Are you a Cyborg?

Time traveler from the 1950's:  "I'm disappointed that things aren't more futuristic."

"Ask me a question."

"What?

"Ask me a question and I'll answer it within 60 seconds."

"Any question?"

"Ask the temperature in Shanghai.   Who the signers of the Constitution were.  Ask when Elvis released his first record."

"Elvis?  I thought he was a flash in the pan."

"Ask a question."

"All Right.  What are the first 15 digits of Pi?"

"3.14159265358979."

"Wow.  You're pretty good.  What is the speed of light?"

"299,792, 458 metres per second."

"Metres?  O.K. so you're science nerd.  When was the Battle of Bunker Hill?"

"June 17th, 1775."

"MY GOD!  Are you a Cyborg?"

Looking down at the computer on lap.  "Yep."

Barnes and Noble had a bad Christmas. Too bad, so sad.

Barnes and Noble had a bad Christmas.  Unless I'm reading it wrong, they had a worse Christmas with their Nook business than they did with their brick and mortar bookstore business.  Which was apparently unexpected.

Apparently they are also closing their stores at a rapid rate.

There is some evidence that they need the bookstores to sell the Nook.  Obviously, it's too expensive to 'Showroom' books just to sell more Nooks, but that appears to be what's happening.  In other words, the less physical locations there are, the less exposure Nook gets and the less exposure the books that sell on the Nook get.

Quite the dilemma.

So these monster bookstores came into our communities and stomped the independents into near extinction.  Here in Bend, all five of the local indies eventually went out of business.  Several have come and gone since.  There is currently one indie left in Bend -- Between the Covers (GO! BUY A BOOK!) if you don't count my more selective and limited inventory.

I've often used the analogy of these monster stores being Dinosaurs, stomping the little critters into the ground.  But these were predatory Dinosaurs, they set out the stomp the little critters into extinction. 

But now the Dinosaurs are dying, and there isn't enough strength left in the eco-system to replace them.

I'm supposed to feel bad about this.  I'm supposed to regret their passing, if not for my sake for the sake of the eco-system of publishers and distributors and so on.

I can't summon any sympathy whatsoever.  We deserve what we get.  We'll continue to deserve what we get.  We get what we get.

Anyway, before I had ever heard the term "Showroom" for the phenomenon of people checking out the physical object at a store and then buying it cheaper online, I was well aware of it.

I always called the 'Showroom' -- the "support" system to a product.  It's where the customer goes to get the vibe, to get revved up, to see and talk to like minded people, the feel "part" of the subculture, to know they are not Alone, to feel, touch, taste and see the object of their desires beyond the sterile "bits" online.

Without a "support" system, a subculture slowly dies, becomes even more niche than it started out.  (No one ever believes this...sigh.)   I've seen it happen over and over again over the last 30 years.  The big leap into the mass market is actually a leap without a parachute.

I always use the example of sports cards.

Once upon a time I would get a case of the new sports cards and open it up and start handing boxes over my shoulder and there would be someone to take it.  We'd stand around and get excited and talk and compete and compare and set up 'player leagues' and trade and sell and have an all around good time.

Then one day, they started to slough off, run to the local discount, buy a box (feeling a slight twinge of guilt, maybe.)   Then they came back to my store and pretended they bought the product from me (which was funny, because I knew who I sold product to...)

But they'd still want to "stand around and get excited and talk and compete and compare and set up 'player leagues' and trade and sell and have an all around good time."

Eventually I had to shut them down, bring in other unspoiled product, and keep my business alive.  They drifted off, presumably to wander the aisles of the local Shopko.

Even later, I have an image of them looking at some cards online with their finger on the 'buy' button, really tempted because it was so damn CHEAP, and then not buying because -- for some reason they can't quite figure out, it isn't FUN anymore.

So go all subcultures, all niches, all hobbies that become dominated for any length of time by the chainstores.

People are often surprised that I consider the chainstores to be my main competitors -- not the internet.  I can live with the internet because it requires what I call "The Extra Step."  Breaking out the credit card, pushing the button at a distance, and then waiting.

I can compete with that because I have the product right here, right now.

I can't compete with another place that has the product right here, right now -- much cheaper.

So farewell, Borders.  Farewell Barnes and Noble.  Farewell all the Dinosaurs that will eventually follow.

The little mammals that scurry among the lava boulders will survive the massive asteroid of the internet.  But they'll always need to be small and savvy.  Hopefully, the local communities will cherish them.

Before it's too late.

How shallow am I? (Don't answer that.)

I totally expected to like The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Micheal Chabon.    It seemed right up my alley.

I'm halfway through and stalled.  Bored.

I admire the writing -- that isn't the same thing as saying I'm enjoying the story.  I'm a genre reader, pure and simple.  I want story above all, and the story needs to have hooks, suspense, intrigue.  Otherwise, why bother?

I read for entertainment.

Probably just goes to show how shallow I am.

Just what the world needs -- another vampire story.

***I wrote this several days ago, but it's still valid, so I'm posting it.


I keep saying there is no hurry publishing my books.

By that, I mean that I should get them as ready and as good as possible.

But there is a hurry in the sense that it's a huge distraction from the real job of writing.  That's really why I was hoping to get so much accomplished by January 1.  I wasn't going to be able to write while the holidays were happening anyway.

That didn't turn out to be realistic, (my tech helpers wanted to celebrate the holidays, the selfish bastards...) so now I'm really feeling torn.  I want to immerse myself in fiction, but I'm a little afraid of getting started if I'm going to get pulled away all the time.

Scheduling hours was never the real problem.  Clearing away all the distractions was.  If I could schedule 4 hours a day writing and 8 hours a day working and 8 hours a day sleeping and 4 hours a day doing all the life stuff, I would have done that years ago.

No, I need the whole open horizon to really create, not this dragging down of shit like formatting and cover art and all the rest.  I mean, I've enjoyed some of it, but damn it I want it done!

So I'm feeling like so much is unfinished, and I can only ask so much of other people.  I'm ready to say, screw it, I'll just write some more.  Deal with the rest later.

But I need to at least get the three books online, first.

I'm also trying to do Star Axe, Snowcastles and Icetowers online in some form, but I think I'll tell Aaron that can wait.  Get the three unpublished books done first.

 Then back to writing.  Then sometime in the near future, go ahead and get the rest ready.

Meanwhile, I've got my little vampire story, which I'm thinking I'll just throw up on my blog.

Just what the world needs, another vampire story...

But the creative mind writes what the creative mind wants to write...

Unfinished business is unsettling.

Went to writer's group with my vampire story -- Last Days of the Immortal -- and for once no one had any real criticisms.  Everyone seemed to like it, even Gary who's usually the most critical.

I'm looking forward to continuing this story -- and putting it up on my blog.  This time with a slight time delay.  That was a crazy thing to do to put Freedy up on my blog like I did in real time; but the story seemed to write itself.

I don't intend to revise Freedy, just leave it as the fast story it was meant to be.


I had the girl I asked to copy-edit/edit Nearly Human come in yesterday, and she seems like the person for the job.  Not only knew what Cthulhu was, but just about every other reference I made.  She seemed a little too excited, and I tried to get her to lower her expectations. 

It will be interesting to see what she can do with the book.

We talked for about 3 hours about nerdy things, and about writing, so that was cool.



Meanwhile, at the store, I've gone through nearly a month of minimal orders.  That is usually about as long as I can go before I break out in a cold sweat.  Just a few more days to go before I can get back to ordering.

I'm going to try really hard to make moderate orders, instead of trying to replace all the inventory at the same time.



I've been feeling at loose ends -- wanting to get the books that are finished done.  But since Nearly Human is going through yet another rewrite, I guess there is no hurry.  I've got a regularly scheduled meeting with Aaron, my tech guy, once a week.  We'll just get whatever accomplished on that day that we can.  It's looking now like another month at least before the three books can be put up, probably longer.

Things to do:

I have to track down the original layers of the Deviltree cover, as well as proof-read the scanned copy.  Needs to be formatted correctly, both cover and print.

I have to photograph and then put the print on the finished painting for Freedy.  Book needs to be formatted correctly, both cover and print.

I need to get the edited copy of Nearly Human back and give the book one more go through.  Title and author fonts needs to be finalized.  Needs to be formatted correctly both cover and print.

I still have two copies of The Reluctant Wizard out there that need to come back.  This is my long-term project, but it would still be nice to have all the little chickies back in their nest.

I want to put full versions of my three published books on my duncanmcgeary.com site for free.  I've got a digitalized version of Snowcastles that someone else did; a scanned copy of Star Axe; and I'm breaking apart a printed copy of Icetowers to scan.  All of these need to be checked for scanning mistakes, etc.  I'm using the original covers to the first two books, since I bought the first cover from the artist and not trying to turn a profit on my own books, there shouldn't be a conflict with the printed copies that Amazon and Barnes and Noble are apparently still selling.  Fuck them, if you'll pardon my Cthulhu.  I've decided to prioritize, and put these printed books on the back burner.


So...meanwhile, my creative side is just simmering, and it's starting to bug me.  So I'm going to try to get my little vampire story going.  Start putting it on my blog when I'm sure that it's really going somewhere.

Very unsettling.

Actual statistics, instead of wishful thinking.

After expressing my doubt about how wonderful the tourist season was -- I think it behooves me to keep track of the actual December local statistics where I can find them.

Today's Bulletin tells us "passenger boardings at Redmond Airport dropped nearly 6 percent last month over December 2011..."

Now I find these airport statistics to be very accurate.  When 9/11 happened the dropoff matched my own dropoff almost exactly.

Like I said, I'll be very surprised if everyone did as well this Christmas as the local tourism agencies are trying to make you believe.

Depth and distance in writing.

I scanned the typewritten copy of DEVILTREE into digital format and am now going over it to check for spelling, taking out the page breaks and so on.

First of all, the biggest change I noticed is that I wrote in very long paragraphs back then.  I think blog writing has converted me into smaller paragraphs.  So much so, that I may go through and actually shorten some of the paragraphs.

Secondly, the writing is very polished.  Very readable.  This is a book that probably deserves to be published.

Third, the writing is a bit more formal -- less colloquial.  I think the blog has loosened me up quite a bit.  That isn't necessarily a good thing.  It seems to me that the more formal approach feels like a "book."  It creates a small distance as if this is something very detached, and then draws you back in hopefully with the writing.  In other words, the surface distance allows you to sink deeper into the story.

Whereas being casual may at first seem more approachable, but is more on the surface.  It never draws you completely into that other world.  The ideas of distance and depth are something I'd never thought about before, frankly.

In other words -- the more formal writing distance (even the longer paragraphs) may at first require that the reader commit more to the story, but it draws them into it deeper.

The more casual approach is easier for the reader at first, but keeps the story somewhat on the surface.

In many ways, I'm learning to trend back to the way I used to write.  Creating the slightly formal  distance, the third person narrative, then trying to replace it with language and  imaginative elements.

It's turning out the biggest differences between the way I used to write and the way I write now are the work methods and of course the advanced technology.  The advanced technology allows me to be as prolific as I want to be.

 I'm not afraid to just write and see where it leads.  At the same time, I'm also trying to be aware of where it leads and what the premises are.  Which is a contradiction I'm trying to embrace.

Tripped up by tech.

I swear -- producing these books is taking longer than writing them did.  Damn my technical dunce-cery!  Formatting is a fucking nightmare.  Oh, well.  No hurry --  I keep telling myself.

Aaron's going to try to create a template that I can use from now on to avoid all these problems.

That and the covers.  Way beyond my expertise.  Talking about pixel counts and ratio's and layers and all that.  All it takes is one thing not being ready for everything else to be held up.

Just have to work my way through them.  I'm trying not to let them take too much time away from that actual creative part -- you know, the actual writing.

December results.

Now that I've cast doubt on the reports of a bang up Christmas, I probably ought to tell you our results at Pegasus Books.

First all all, the overall year was good.  In fact, it was our second best year ever, with only 2006 beating it.  I'll go into more detail about the overall year later.

We beat 2011 in ten out of the twelve months.

One of the two months where we didn't beat last year was December.

Christmas 2011 was our second best Christmas ever, and I really didn't expect to match that this year.  The reason is that I didn't make any money that season, despite the high sales.  I stocked up to massive levels in November and December, which resulted in high sales but little or no profits.

I wanted to avoid that this year.  I wanted to trade slightly lower sales for a better chance at actually making some money.  So I took a wait and see attitude.  I stocked so that if we had a 10% decline, I would make a good profit.

The first 10 days of December were down around 13%.  At the time, I attributed most of that drop to the weather.  Then the Newtown shootings on the 14th, and sales dropped 50% for four days.  By the 17th of December, we were down 24%.

The problem with that is, the timing of shipping was such that I had about one more chance to reorder product for Christmas.  Based on what I was seeing through the 17th, I ordered minimal replacements.  This ordering conundrum hogtied me for the rest of the month.  Ordering on Wednesdays meant I didn't get any product until the following week.  It forced me to guess early in each week -- Monday, basically --  and because of that I was extra careful.

The sales for the rest of the month were pretty good.  The week before Christmas even beat last year, slightly, despite the kids being in school.  The week after Christmas was down 13%.

So overall we were down 13%.

This was actually a good result.  I ordered even less product that I had planned, so the profits were even higher than I expected.


The downsides I've already mentioned.  Add in the fact that I couldn't get some of the hottest games during the peak of the season (Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, etc.) and that I ran out of Settlers of Catan in the last week, these were pretty good results.


COMICS:  -25%.  I think we're really starting to see the falloff from the previous year's surge of the New 52.  The bright spot is that the new Marvel titles are selling better than I expected.

CARDS:  +30%.  Usually too small a category to make much difference -- except on the exceptional month.  This was an exceptional month.

CARD GAMES:  -50%.  Very disappointing.  Also the category I can do the least about.

GAMES:  -16%.  As I said, the inventory was down this year both because of my being careful and because of some games being out of stock.  There was a big presence of these games in other stores this year, so all in all, not a bad result.  Also the biggest category for the season.

BOOKS:  +6%.  Steady as she goes.

TOYS:  -23%.  Not surprising, actually, because I was most careful about stocking this category.

GRAPHIC NOVELS:  +6%.  As with books above, steady as she goes.

What really counts is that I've been able to pay all the bills and make a hefty bite out of my credit cards bills.

So I consider it a successful season.  Once again, the diversity of product really came through.  For instance, the surge in card sales made up for the drop in card game sales.  The increase in books and graphic novels compensated for the decrease in games, and so on. 

Steady as she goes...

Tourism numbers.

Another article about how great the tourism was during the holidays, this time from KTVZ.

Since it used almost the exact same wording as the Bulletin article, I suspect that they used the same original source -- and I suspect that source was a 'press release' and/or press releaser who feels his or her job is to make everyone feel positive about the holiday results.  I'm pretty sure it's not based on hard news or data.

It's always a danger to conflate one's own results with everyone else -- either positive or negative.  But I'm still skeptical about this giant surge in tourism.  I still don't see how the kids being in school the week before Christmas adds up to "extra" days.  I still don't see how the weather on the passes was mild enough for travel during most of that period. (In fact, in both cases, I think the opposite happened.)

The Inn of the Seventh Mountain says it had a huge increase, but I have to wonder if there weren't some other dynamic going on there.  I haven't seen much evidence beside that.  Room revenues were up in November, which I believe, because my sales were up in November.

But December?  I'd be absolutely astounded if most businesses saw the 4 to 15% increases the article mentions.  Some will, of course.  Some won't, of course.

But as an overall trend, I kind of doubt it.


I don't know. Maybe I'm all wet.  But I have my doubts about these kinds of fluff pieces.  They aren't based on anything but wishful thinking and selective evidence and inadequate data and self-serving anecdotal experience.

I admit I don't have anything better to offer -- just my doubts.


Here's what I think happened; with no better evidence than the other side.

I think the first half of December was horrid.  The passes were a real mess for much of that time.  My own store's sales took a 50% drop in sales in the four days after the Newtown shootings.  There was all the talk of the fiscal cliff.

The week before Christmas was good -- but would have been even better if most of the kids were out of school, instead of getting out on Friday, just three shopping days left before Christmas.

A common sense question:  If you were a business, and you had a choice of having kids and families out of school for the week before Christmas or the week after New Years, which would you choose?

Yeah.

So we have a pretty good after Christmas half of the week, and it extended into the following week (not pre-Christmas size, but better than average).  However, these sales pretty much died off in the last part of the week.

Over all, we were down considerably in the first 17 days of the month, and held our own in the last 14 days, then had a pretty large drop-off the week after New Years despite the kids being out of school.

Like I said, that could just be us.

Back to routines -- thankfully.

I have some decisions to make.

I have three novels more or less ready to publish.  Two are complete.  One needs more work, but will be done in a month or two.

So...do I put them all out at the same time?  Do I roll them out one at a time?  If I roll them out one at a time, which one do I start with, and which one comes second?

I was watching a year old program on publishing on Cspan, and they were saying that out of the MILLION novels published a couple of years ago, 700,000 were ebooks.

So any novel dropped into that ocean will drown.

I'm trending back to perhaps trying to send NEARLY HUMAN off to agents again.  I've decided to hire someone to copy edit it, because I've changed so many names and changed from 1st person to 3rd person, and especially because I feel that there is a book there -- somewhere -- but I don't quite have it.  I guess I'm hoping she'll "fix" it.  I know in the end, it'll be up to me, but there is always that hope.

I'm going to try to use what few connections I have to get some names of agents -- if that doesn't work, I'll pull them off the net.  Next round of efforts, though, will be sending to multiple agents all at the same time.  Based on responses from say 10 or 15 agents, I'll know whether to even bother to proceed.  15 form rejections would pretty much give me the message.  10 form rejections and 5 more forthcoming rejections might be enough to keep me trying. Something like that.

I'm not forming a plan at this point.  Just going with the flow.  Covers will be ready when they're ready, formatting, all that.  Plus getting Nearly Human in shape.

So it will probably be a process all through the month of January just getting ready.

I keep reminding myself that there is no hurry.  The books are done or getting done.

The only danger is that I stay away too long from writing original material.  So I just have to try to schedule that in, somehow.

The vampire story already has a thematic structure -- I know what I want to say.  I have to work out the plot, but I know that it will entail a 'chase' of some kind, which helps with the suspense factor.

I'm thinking I should probably schedule the "new" writing early in each day, see how far it goes, then go back to old writing and work on that.

It'll be nice to have routine to work with, now that the holidays are past.  These next six months should be very productive.

Backward Headline.

The Bulletin's headline tourism article was a bit nonsensical to me.

I'm not sure they have evidence to back up the assertion -- "Holidays Were a Gift for Tourism."  In fact, to me the available information points to lump of coal.

When the Mt. Bachelor says, "We're tracking pretty close to budget..." I can tell you that is about the least they could say before saying, "It sucks."  Those are weasel words.  Budgets are designed for worst and best case scenarios.

The idea that there was "extra" days was exactly OPPOSITE of what I think happened.  By my reckoning, we lost a week before the holidays. Though I admit, I wasn't aware that the Portland School District was out.  But most of the rest of the world didn't get out for that week, and the week after New Years was no compensation.

Nor did I think the weather cooperated.  Yes, there was plentiful snow on the mountains, which also means there were plentiful snows and storms on the passes.  I do NOT remember the passes as being "clear roads."  Quite the opposite.  My son canceled several planned trips over the mountain.

Other than that, there was almost no evidence of ANYTHING in that article, except a few self-serving quotes from local tourism providers.

So since we're interpreting sparse information, I'm going to say that I think that the Headline has it completely backward.

Our sales were down about 13% for the season, which is about what I expected.  My "budget" accounted for that, and in fact I think it was perhaps the most profitable Christmas I've ever had.

I'll go more in detail later.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 1/5/13.

According to the Downtowners, there are going to be three new restaurants downtown, in the spaces the Amalia's, El Jimador and Bourbon St. once filled.

No names for any of them, but there is confirmation that Amalia's has closed.  So I've added that to the 'Goings' list.

Any others?

The Cozy Lamb has moved to Bond, but I can't seem to find it.  Anybody know?

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

541 Threads, Minnesota Ave., 10/13/12.
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

Amalia's, Wall Street, 1/5/13.
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 )

The more I write, the less I like.

There comes a point in some of my books -- the ones I keep rewriting -- where I can no longer get a 'sense' of the story.  I can't see the whole.  I'm reduced to paragraphs at best, sentences and phrases and words.  I have to assume these small discrete changes are improving the book, but I can't be sure.

In other words, my objectivity (if I ever possessed such a thing) goes from the general to the discrete.

I've really been feeling that about NEARLY HUMAN for the last few weeks.  I'm copyediting now, after changing it from 1st person to 3rd person.  And my estimation of the writing goes up and down, depending on my mood, the context (what I've read recently) and so on.

At this point, all I can do is try to make each word count, and hope that the original story is still there.  Which points to how important the original story is -- because eventually I can't really see the story anymore.  Can't feel it.

I don't know if other writer's have this happen.  It's almost as if, the more I try to improve the story, the less I like it.  I have to remember that the end reader is probably having the opposite experience.  That the earlier efforts, which I enjoy writing, are probably lacking in detail and context, that it only in rewriting again and again that I bring those early heartfelt moments to life.

A big part of taking on the writing life again, is finding ways to forestall that moment of losing the sense of story for as long as possible.  Get the characters and story in place -- feel it as strongly as possible -- BEFORE I start extensive rewriting.  Then trust that the original story and characters are strong enough to withstand the constant whittling down, and beefing up.  Hold onto the freshness for as long as possible.

As I keep mentioning, I think a step I must start taking is thinking out the premises and ramifications of the story early on, so that I don't get surprised later and have to change everything. 

My new vampire story, for instance, I can already tell that I'm going to have to change some marvelous phrasing in the first couple of pages because they contradict what I'm trying to do.  So I make the adjustments now, so I have to less changing in the future.

My backward wife.

Linda and I were watching a documentary on Leonardo Da Vinci, and it mentioned his backward writing journals.  Linda says,  "Hey, I think I can do that!"

And then proceeds to prove it! 

Just like that.  It's easy for her! 

Makes my head hurt.  I'm finding notes all over the house written in backward script, which I have to take to the mirror to read.

"Big surprise," I said to her tonight.  "You think backwards.

"It's enough to put me off my appetite!"

So Kevin was in telling me that my blog was freaking him out.

"You're smiling face, man. So early in the morning..."

"Too much?"

"It's enough to put me off my appetite!'

I sort of agree.  I think I may take the picture off.

Subconscious to Duncan -- start writing.

After taking a break from writing for the holidays, I woke very early this morning with a fully developed scene in my head.  Not just the scene, but the actual words -- in order, specific order.  A scene that I'd had no inkling of before I went to sleep.

A vampire story, which isn't a story I would have chosen to tell.  The first chapter is entitled: Empty Mirrors. 

I tossed and turned for a few minutes, thinking I'd put it off until normal waking time, but the words were just too clear.  While I might remember the scene, I wasn't likely the remember the words.

So I got up and wrote them down.  Probably had 50 words when I started, and by the time I fleshed out the scene, it turned into 361 words.

In the back of my brain, it's telling me the title of the story is:  LAST DAY OF THE IMMORTAL.


That was fun.  Fulfilling.   As I always say, I love this part of writing.  The creative discovery, the flow of words.  I swore I wouldn't start a story without thinking it out first, but how could I turn down this offering?

Maybe it won't go anywhere.  Maybe it will peter out.  But as long as it keeps coming to me, I'll keep writing it.  I've got a second scene shaping up in my head.

Apparently, my subconscious wasn't satisfied with tinkering with NEARLY HUMAN for another month or two.  It demanded something new.

I'm thinking it might be another blog novel, like FREEDY.  Something I write for the pure fun of it, try not to overthink or overwrite, not push it, just a quick and fun read.

But I think I'll get a few chapters in before I start posting, just to make sure it isn't a one-up.

Getting the networking right -- or don't do it.

Gail Simone who's an established writer for DC comics -- currently Batgirl -- was in the store yesterday.  I think she and her family come in once or twice a year.   They live over on the coast.

I was talking to another customer about my books, and didn't realize she and her husband were in the store,  so they acted surprised that I was actually writing.  (I'm sure I probably mentioned it before -- but maybe not.  Big difference between writing currently and having "once wrote".) 

I mentioned my blog which gets about 250 hits a day -- but which I'm pretty sure about 200 of those are accidental.  She casually mentioned her 70,000 followers.  (She was kind enough not to mention it in contrast -- it came up later in the conversation.)

Anyway, it's always interesting to talk to a working writer -- to get a sense of it, how they go about it, how they feel the market works and so on.

She did a successful Kickstarter recently.

There is just this "connectivity" thing that I think successful artists have -- a way of communicating with their fans, a way of networking -- that I just don't have, and probably never will.

It reminds me of the conferences and conventions and internet marketing (before that mail-order).  I've tried all these things more than once -- early in my career especially.  And I found I just didn't have the knack -- whatever it is.  No way to introduce myself without being awkward

I read once that getting on the media to promote your work is the best thing ever -- except if you make a bad impression.  That is actually worse than not being out there at all.

I'm not saying I would make a necessarily 'bad' impression, only that it doesn't come easy for me.  I make wrong choices -- just slightly.  Just a little off.  And without that ability to get it right, I've found I'm better off just staying myself.  Even if it means being the lone wolf.