Ho, hum. Another 'scandal', cried the boy who cried scandal.

Why am I not very upset by the snooping by the federal government?

For one thing, I'm not sure I don't trust Obama more than I do the media, especially when it comes to matters that impinge on the media.  In other words, I'm not sure I've seen a completely objective reporting of the matter.

So on one hand, we have Obama saying, "No big deal.  You're not getting spied on..."

And on the other hand, we have the New York Times turning on him. 

It's that turning on him that kind of gets my goat.  I mean, how many time can you keep going after Obama for things he didn't do and expect us to get all upset by things you accuse him of doing and then saying, "No really.  This time we mean it."

I've even been somewhat annoyed with John Stewart, who seems to give way more credence to these supposed "scandals" than they deserve.  False equivelency is his weakness.  To me, it all seems like "scandal-mongering" than it does actual "scandal."

Personally, I have no problem with them questioning the tax-exempt status of the Tea Party.  Seems to me to be completely appropriate.

Laying everything at Obama's feet just makes nonsense of of the entire structure of government.  I'm ready to just ignore the media altogether.

Skill fixing a problem my creative mind didn't know existed.

Basically, the plan is to write the plot of the book with the rolling out of events and the character development.

Then overlay a second, more action oriented plot over it.

For three of my recent books, I've used this solution to perking up my books.

I think this is a concession, in a way, to the modern sensibilities.  I think the old-fashioned narrative, leading up slowly, can't be done anymore except by extremely skilled and subtle writers.

I'm a very straight-forward writer. 

Anyway, it also improved the other two books I did it to, so I'm betting it will improve this book too.

This kind of strategic thinking is what I think they mean by Skill.  That is, my experience is telling me how to fix something that my original instinct didn't even know was a problem.

I want more Werewolves -- and sooner Werewolves.

Been dreaming about the end of the book for the last two nights -- which is good because it means my subconscious is engaged.  Bad because I can't discern a solution to any of the problems I'm facing.

I did get an overall image of the Reeds being besieged in their cabin by werewolves, like the three little piggies, or Crockett at the Alamo.

Meanwhile, the most concerning thing that Jeff said in his critigue of the first half of the book was the word "slow" to describe the long journey to the Sierra's where the werewolves are fully manifested.

I wanted this to go fast, but I also wanted to show most of the events -- the 'Shortcut', etc. -- which got them in trouble. Also a chance to develop the story with Virginia and her two boyfriend rivals.

But I don't want slow.

I hint about werewolves throughout the story, but I think I need more.

I was aware that this a problem from the beginning, and my original intent was to have alternating future chapters (with werewolves) with past chapters (hints of werewolves).  In fact, it was this inspiration that got me to start writing.

But the actually writing didn't turn out that way.  Following the actual sequence of events only would have put future chapters without werewolves into past chapters, which would only delay the onslaught of werewolves even longer.

In other words -- I want more werewolves, and sooner.

The solution, I think, is the same solution I arrived at with my vampire story.  I realized when my main character wasn't going to suck a bloody swath through the citizenry of Bend, that I would need someone else to do it.

So, I think the solution is to have a parallel plot among the werewolves -- a rivalry.  So that I can get some heavy werewolf action early.  This has the added advantage in that I don't need to rewrite the plot I've already written

Everyone I tell the title of the story to, loves the "Concept" of it.  So I don't want to disappoint them by not having enough werewolves...

Preparing for the end of the first draft.

Got a critique back from someone who is a horror writer.  It was mostly encouraging -- actually very encouraging -- and I've asked permission to reproduce it.  He thought Led to the Slaughter works well as a Young Adult novel, which I didn't expect, even if the main character is a 12 year old girl. 

Getting ready for my last week of writing the first draft.  I've decided to consolidate the various rescue efforts into one or two attempts, with the father as the narrator.  (He was involved in one of the efforts.)

Also trying to come up with a slambamm finish -- a final battle, a last stand.   I've stuck to the facts as much as possible, actually.  Most people probably wouldn't notice the changes in the timeline or events.  But for the book to have a satisfying conclusion, I need to have a point of climax, instead of the messy real life dribs and drabs.

I need to have lots of action, lots of people being eaten.  So, I'm going to quit referring to the historical facts for the last chapters and just make it up.

May results.

We were down 5% from last year, which was within range of my target.  The goal this year hasn't been to increase gross sales, but to increase profit margins.  More importantly, the goal has been not to fall into debt during the slow months, and we've managed that.

That means that summer profits can be used for things other than just "catching up."

Like for taxes -- or investment.

I'm still satisfied with the mix I have.  I intend to increase the space devoted to boardgames and books, while consolidating space for toys.  Toys are a bit of a problem in that they have fairly low margins and take up more space than most items.  There are spots in the store, though, where toys are appropriate and nothing else is -- the higher up the walls space that won't work effectively for things like books.

So I've rearranged the store to make more room for boardgames and books.

In ten more days I can start ordering for summer -- which means, basically, ordering twice as many books and games as I have been for the slow months.

About the same number of comics and graphic novels, since I keep these up to high levels all year long.

Magic has declined for me, which is perfectly all right.  It was the one category that was requiring large investment up front for uncertain returns, and I kind of don't like that process anymore.

It's too much like gambling. 

In other words, I've slowly morphed my store where most of my spending was speculative; the next wave of sports cards, or the next hot comic, or the next hot magic wave -- to something that is a little more evergreen;  good books and graphic novels, enduring boardgames and other items.

Much less risky business model, if not as exciting...

A little bit of encouragement.

So I'm sitting here thinking, "What's the use?" when I get a call from Linda. 

She's just gotten a call from a friend in Texas she knew 45 years ago, and she's trying to track Linda down.

She finds out Linda's last name and goes "What a minute. I just read a vampire book by someone with that last name!" Apparently, she's into all things vampire. 

The upshot is, "She loved it! She wants the sequel!"

So I got to tell you, that's pretty much the shot in the arm I need right now.

Just a few degrees of separation in this world.

 

My writing formula..

I wrote out a little formula for my writing yesterday that goes something like this:

You start with a Good Idea.
You let Inspiration take you where it will.
You use Good Working Habits, to Keep it Fresh as long as possible.
You consciously use whatever Skill you have to shape it -- which you gain by Experience.
You Work It, taking whatever Time you need to gain Perspective.
You seek Outside Input, who can help keep you On Track.
You go back over it and Polish.
You take what you've done and Present it to the world.

Spoilers, I suppose.

Not sure what the rules are here, but if you haven't seen the latest Game of Thrones, stop reading here.

Wait!  If you haven't seen the latest HBO program -- GO WATCH IT!  Now.  If you don't want to be told...




Anyway, I think Blackfish got away.  Last we saw him, he was off pissing away the banquet mead.

I thought that was an incredibly gruesome episode, more gruesome than the book.  But it's been a long time since I read the book.  The tone in Lady Stark's voice was particularly effective.  Rob's total disbelief.

"Mother?"

Wow.

I actually entertained the notion that they might do a Walking Dead-type change of plot.  But no -- they went there.   The happier they made everyone, the more certain I was that they were going to go there.

For a three years now, I've been reading comments online of people who chose to watch the show without reading the books -- and the remarks always seemed kind of naive.  You just wait, I'd think to myself.  You have no idea.

Also, the weekly wrapups on Salon and Slate were very jocular and easy-going.  It bothered me, I think, without me knowing.  Because these books are no joke.

As a writer, they make me want to try harder, though I know I probably won't even come close.

The final laps.

Because of an appointment I thought I had, I didn't get any writing done yesterday.

 I did do some gardening at least.  (I feel like the cool weather as given me a reprieve on catching up on the gardening.)  It's probably just as well that I got a very nice day outside, because I'm about to close myself in a darkened room and totally immerse myself.

I was one day ahead on the writing, so no harm done as long as I keep up from here.

This is where the story really has to kick into a higher gear.  Beginning with the "Forlorn Hope" the attempt by about half the party to try to get out --  which was a disaster -- and the multiple rescue attempts.  This is where most of the deaths happened, and where things got even more desperate back at the cabins.

So I  need to up my game.  I need to really see it and hear it and feel it.

"Exquisite skeleton."

Starting in on the fourth week of writing on Led to the Slaughter.  Originally I envisioned a very short novel -- around 40,000 words.  It appears I have another couple of weeks of writing to do, at the least.

I suppose I should just stop worrying about any of my novels being too short.  I always end up at 65K words or above.

Today's chapter was the raggedy-est yet.  Kind of a mess of duplicated words and repeated ideas.  I'm going to try to fix that before I call it a day.

Linda found a neat quotation on a bookmark she found in a book.  I don't know where it comes from:

"A rough draft is a first writing, a sketch or an outline.  It's not the final polished product, but an exquisite skeleton that shows scribble marks, half-erased words and notes in the margins."

That's very nice, except my skeleton isn't so much "exquisite" as one of those skeletons that dinosaur hunters used to construct when they didn't really know what dinosaurs looked like.  All in the wrong postures with the wrong bones wired together.

Other than that, I really like the sentiment.

Last of the Golden Age S.F. Writers.

Jack Vance has died.

If you go on Wiki and check "Golden Age" writers, they're all gone.  Vance was the last of them.

One of the best of them, in my opinion.  I love his writing -- especially his middle and late period.

 *****

Because of the new light fixtures, I was finally inspired to do some changes at the store that I've been thinking about.  I've been very careful about reorders this year, so a few spaces have begun to open up here and there.  Not so's anyone would notice.  Generally, turning a few books or games or toys face out more than fills the gaps.  But I was keeping track.

Sure enough, when I filled the gaps and moved things around, I opened up about 16 linear feet of shelving on the left front of the store, which I put boardgames on, facing the other side of the store that also has boardgames.   It opens up enough space to probably increase my game selection by a third or so.

Since I was able to move games out of the bookspace, which they had infiltrated, I will also have more space for books.  I also took some of the taller displaces down, which should spread the light around and give me line-sight to more parts of the store. 

Nothing was lost, that I can see.  Just a matter of consolidation.  Indeed, as often happens, consolidation is an improvement.

*****

I've started to deal with a few of the backstock issues which I've been ignoring.  When you're dealing with frontstock all the time, backstock takes a back seat...

I feel like I'm engaging in some of the details that --while not terribly important -- can add up over time.

*****

In two more weeks I'll be able to do a full restock, from top to bottom, without breaking my budget.

This is the best job I've ever done in inventory management, and the fact that I've managed to do it by not being there everyday is sort of interesting to me.

The danger probably wasn't that I'd order too little, but that I'd order too much.

Really, though, it isn't a matter of too much or two little little, but of carrying the "right" things.

Thursday thuds.

How many times am I going to say "Wow!!" today?

Not only do I have lights where I didn't have them for months, but the new lights are twice as bright.

I'm going to call the landlord and say, "Do the rest!"

Only problem?  I'll have to dust more often...

*****

Went for my annual check-up, which I don't really need or want except that they won't renew my lipitor without a blood test.  He casually mentions a booster for tetanus and chickenpox, and I say, "sure."

Takes all of five minutes, done by the nurse.  Whole appointment takes about half an hour.

Today I get a bill for 430.00.

I didn't ask to be injected with gold.  Just a freakin' booster.

*****

So I get the annual credit report.  The really free one not the one that says it's free.

Yeah, so I get a report, but I don't get my SCORE!

Since I have zero negative reports, I'll just assume it's good.

*****

Are you in a create job or an entropy job?

Had to be at the store by 8:00 because I'm getting some ceiling light fixtures replaced.  This store space is so old that the lights are basically illegal now.  The whole set-up will eventually have to be swapped out, but for now we're replacing the dysfunctional ones.  Sometime soon, I'm going to try to get a carpet "restore" guy in and see what he can do about the carpet. 

Just fighting the entropy.

I had a thought this morning -- do you have a create job or and entropy job?  Not that there is anything wrong with the latter.   In fact, the latter is probably more important in some ways.  Fixing something can be more honorable than using up resources to make something new.

Which is part of our problem, I think.  When it's cheaper to buy something new than repair it.  Or worse, you can't repair it even if you want to.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was how active the roads are 7:30 in the morning.

What the hell, people!  It's indecent!  More pedestrians and bikers than usual, too.  Wouldn't you know it that the "get-up-and-goers" are also "early-bird-catches-the-wormers."

Indecent, I tell you.  Should still be in bed, or sitting around drinking coffee and reading the paper.  Such industriousness is alarming.

"Happiness outside of success or failure."

"You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure."

Bill Watterson. (Creator of Calvin and Hobbes.)

I posted this on Facebook, but I wanted to talk more about this here.

It's clear that ebooks aren't going to do much for me.  Not a huge improvement over just writing a manuscript and sticking it in my cedar chest. 

So that's discouraging.  

Reading Bill Watterson's advice in his 1990 Commencement address to Kenyon College, was very inspiring.  It seemed to be directly answering my questions and my doubts.  

I'm still months away from having to decide what to do with all the material I've written.  While I enjoyed FREEDY FILKINS and I think it holds up, dammit, I know it was a bit of a one-time, one-kind thing.

DEATH OF AN IMMORTAL I also think holds up, and it was my stalking horse.  Trying to figure out the ins and outs of online publishing.  For instance, I've learned that the best way to go about it is  -- as usual -- the opposite of the way I actually went about it.

For example, if Amazon has an "exclusive" deal, and wants 90 days, but Smashwords doesn't, obviously the way to go about it is to give Amazon the rights first, THEN do Smashwords after the 90 days.  Then tell everyone about it.

Patience.

Then it will be in both places, and using whatever resources are available.

I'm still focused on the writing.  I can always hope something will come along and present an opportunity.

Anyway, took the 3rd and 4th chapters LED TO THE SLAUGHTER to writer's group, and Gary sat down and read it and had some excellent suggestions.  They were the kind of improvements that I expect the whole book to gain more than once.  I'm really seeing this as a longer term project, doing it in distinct drafts and trying to get it right.

Everyonce in a while I get a distinct glimmer of this being a "good" book. 

It's funny.  On the outside, this would appear to be my most "pulpy" book yet,  but in execution, I think it's my most serious novel yet.

That other thing -- that "Will anyone ever read it or know?" -- that's just something I refuse to worry about right now.  (OK, so obviously I'm worried but I'm trying NOT to be..."

So just to repeat to myself: 

You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure."

Bill Watterson

Halfway through.

JOURNAL:  5/26/13.

I think maybe the biggest difference between the last time I was writing full time and now is that I'm being much more patient.

I understand that the book needs more work.  That while it may be fine, it isn't done until it's done.

I have the strangest feeling -- which I've had from the beginning -- that the story is better than my ability to tell it.

Which is kind of strange, since it's my story.  Kinda strange, because it's a werewolf story.  But it has a kind of unexpected depth to it.  A story of human endurance.

What I want to do is elevate the writing to where it needs to be.  More depth and verisimilitude, for one thing.  More emotion.  More visceral terror.  More everything.

But most of all, good writing.

I'll just have to go over it a bunch of times until I feel I've got it right.

I just have to try not to be lazy.  If I'm twice as lazy, then I have to take twice as long to get it right.

Really, as usual, it comes down to the idea that I think someone else could come along and improve it dramatically.  But you know what?  That hasn't ever happened.  Small, incremental improvements, yes.

Anyway...


Meanwhile, I'm still not sure that writing only 2000 words a day is necessarily an improvement.  I feel like I lose touch a little with the story by not pushing it harder.  So far, though, I think it's been an overall benefit.  Just not quite as much as I thought it would be.

I think that it makes each chapter a little more thought out, though not by much.  I feel a little less burned out and fresher each day.

The book should start getting easier now.  Action chapter building to a climax always seems like the easiest part to do.  Starting a book, for me, is the hardest.

I think having a story that is constrained by historical events is good for me, and has made it easier to get going and write the damn thing. I like trying to impose order on the chaos -- it's what gives me my plot. 



I think I'm more or less on track.  2000 words a day, and I have 32K words after nearly three working weeks (five days each).

About halfway through, I think.  My guess is that I'll probably add about 10% more trying to make it better, filling in, fleshing out, being historically accurate with telling details.

So size-wise, I'm looking at a real book.

Left to do.

I have one chapter with Reed, trying to get help.

A second chapter of him going off the the battle of Santa Clara.  Finally mounting a rescue mission.

I need to have three or four chapters of the "Forlorn Hope" (their all out effort to get help), fighting Werewolves.

Two or three chapters back at Truckee Lake, fighting the Werewolves.

A couple of chapters for the final rescue.

And the wrap-up.

I usually underestimate the required chapters by about a third.

So probably between 10 and 15 chapters left to do, which is exactly right. 

Just keep pushing on.

It's the process that makes a book good.

JOURNAL:  5/27/13.

I'm just not satisfied with the writing in Led to the Slaughter.  I'm pushing on at the 2000 words a day pace, but I'm just not feeling it.  The first chapter started with a bang -- but I've leveled off since then.

Then again, I don't feel the first chapter the same way I did at first.

I'm really going to need to make this better.  How?

Just grunt work, I think.

1.) Giving it time.  Gaining perspective.

2.) Working on the writing -- looking for better words.  Making it vivid -- like I attempted to do in the first chapter. 

3.) Working on the emotion, trying to find satisfying places.

4.) Doing research, adding details.

5.) Getting others to make critique and bouncing off that.

6.)  Going back again and again to the story to make it better.  There is no magic wand -- just work.
Basically I'm lazy and hate to bear down.  So if I only want to work half as hard, then I need to work twice as long.  I need to take each chapter individually and bear down at least once.

But I can't do this until I'm done with the first draft, though.  I need to do this in structured stages, based on what I know about my work habits.


Especially that last.  Thing is -- I've learned not to do that last bearing down until I've done the emotion part.  In other words, I need to go through and look for emotion and add emotion -- before I rework it so many times that I can no longer feel the emotion.

What I call the moment of writing singularity, where it has become almost completely intellectualized. 

I'm sort of putting down the basic plot right now -- the characters, the arc of the story, the scenes.  I'll have to go back later and attempt to put in depth. Depth comes from constantly rewriting.  For instance, Nearly Human is a much better book now, because layers got added through constant rewriting.

I went from macro- issues, like making the main character more sympathetic and trying to add tension, to micro-issues such as the actual word choice.

Still, I think I need to think about this book from the emotional standpoint from here on -- what emotion am I trying to evoke?  How do I get that emotion across?  Not being melodramatic, but making the scenario itself create the emotion.

It doesn't take Linda much to cry, and when I killed Bayliss I knew I failed because she didn't cry.  I obviously didn't do it right.

So it goes for much of the rest of the book.  The story has great potential, but it has to be fleshed out and deepened that that will require lots of thought and work.  I'm not going to the "I hate rewriting" refrain this time because I understand that rewriting will be the thing that makes this book good.

So not only is it going to take a couple of months to write this first draft -- versus the 20 or 30 days I've been doing lately, but I want to rewrite this book all the way through at least once before I let Lara see it.

So that will probably be another month or two.  Then the one or two months Lara will have it, then another month or two of rewriting, then a month or two of Lara having it, and then a month for the final rewrite.

On that scenario, it will take:  Between 8 and 12 months to get a finished copy.

I'll work on other things in-between.  I will rewrite Sometimes a Dragon when Lara gets it back to me.  I'll do another draft of Wolflander.   I might even give Nearly Human another run through.

I'm also thinking about 2 to 3 months before I'm completely finished, I might try sending the first three chapters to agents and see if I get any nibbles.

Or not.  That's in the future.  I'll know whether the book is getting done right.  Patience is realizing that the book isn't good until its finished, but not being good currently doesn't mean it won't be good when it's done.

 In fact, it's the process that will make it good.

Linda says:  No, no.  It's good.  Keep going....

Central Oregon Business Index.

We had a couple of horrendously slow days in the week after PPP.  Don't get me wrong -- if I had a little red button with the nuclear option, I wouldn't push it.  The Pole, Peddle, Paddle, Puddle, Perpetual Motion event has become part of the Bend scene.  It gets a pass in my book, like the 4th of July parade and a few others.

Just pointing out that contrary to common opinion, these events do not spread their benefits evenly.  I'd say I got little or nothing out of it.

It ain't about you, I hear you say.  OK.  Right. Anyway, this Memorial weekend has helped make up for it. 

Speaking of events, there was an article in the Bulletin about Bend Film.  I've got to tell you, I barely noticed this event last year, in fact, I remembering wondering if it was even going to happen.  Very different from those first couple of years.  I'll always remember the inflatable screen that was almost wider than the street.  Because someone thought it would be a great idea to completely block off the street -- as well as place it in a notorious wind-tunnel.   (I noticed they replaced the canopies on the building across the street for the umpteenth time last week...)

It does feel as though the constant mindless boosterism of Bend has toned down overall. 

Which brings me to the quarterly University of Oregon Central Oregon Business Index which the Bulletin publishes.

I love that these are objective observable statistics that have a track record.

What the graphs appears to show is an increase in business, but it's not the steep bubble-like increase of 2003 to 2009.  It's more like what the graph might have looked like in those years without the bubble.  A more sustainable growth rate.

If you look at the graph for the state over all, there never was a bubble --

I'm amazed that as many houses are selling as are selling, though it doesn't look like the days on the market have declined much.

The biggest factor for good job growth, to me, are the building permits, which are still in the doldrums.  It appears to me that these houses must be selling to people who don't need jobs -- in other words, retired or wealthy folk.

So, more or less slight increases overall.

What shows the least downturn from the peak and the most recovery is the tourism gauges.

But that's what I've always thought about Bend.  We are a tourism and retirement economy, with all that implies, both good and bad.  Notoriously low paying jobs in service.  Restaurants continue to open and close.  Downtown continues to cycle through businesses, though the rate of failure seems to have slowed down.

Overall, considering the huge bubble we had -- I always say, Bend had a bubble within the housing bubble -- we weathered it better than we had any right to.

What I thought would happen was that tourism and retirement monies would bridge the gap, and I think that is exactly what happened.  The rest of Oregon saw a decline, but not a bubble pop, so they just kept coming to Bend for recreation.

So settle in for being a tourist destination.

P.S.  I may have spoken too soon about the mindless boosterism.  I just read the editorial in the Bulletin about the urban growth boundary.

Really?  That again?

Hey, tell you what.  Find a couple of more businesses for Juniper Ridge and I'll reconsider my position.  If you can't even do that, why bother?  Look again at those Building Permit statistics.

What are selling are existing houses, and I'm still firmly convinced that there is a huge shadow inventory in Bend -- and rising prices will unlock more houses.  We'll have a ready supply for years to come.

They're hungry. They're cold. Have I mentioned they're hungry and cold?

I seem to have run out of steam on the story, which is unusual these days.  Didn't write at all yesterday, for the first time in a long time on a day off.  My son Todd was home so that was somewhat distracting, but not really an excuse.

Anyway, I'm finding it very hard to write the "Cold" and "Starving" chapters.

Hey, they're hungry.  Hey, they're cold.  Hey, have I mentioned theyre hungry and cold?

I thought I could just have a narrative, but it may be that I'll have to concoct some incidents and scenes.

Which points up the fact that this is the first book in a long time where I've allowed myself straight narrative, without detailing individual scenes every time.  There is something very liberating and hypnotic about a few pages of Then they did This -- Then they did That. Kind of a purposeful breaking of the rule, Show don't Tell.

Well, I have to whole day to myself, so I'm going to see if my sub-conscious can come up with anything.  Can't believe it's been letting me down for a few days...

Friday fuds.

Bob Dylan's birthday.  Spending the day listening to him as I write.  There are geniuses -- Mozart's, Beethoven's -- among us.  Amazing output.

*****

Three out of four people who have read the first chapter don't like the insertion of the werewolf viewpoint at the end.  Only Linda likes it.  Thing is, I do the same kind of insertion throughout the book, so it establishes a pattern early.

Then again -- three out of four.

*****

Heard one explanation for why there is a housing shortage and rising prices.  That people are so underwater they can't leave their houses, can't get enough money for the downpayment to the next house.

So bad news is good news, eh?

*****

Gardening is suffering because of the writing.  I thought I could do both, but it's more like one or the other.

*****

Meanwhile, Led to the Slaughter isn't just coming to me.  It's a struggle.  I have a good story here, I have the plot in mind, but my subconscious isn't producing without some nudging.

So I'm nudging.  I'm nudging.

*****

My store is really worn around the edges.  Carpets, lights, beaten up fixtures, and so on.  Living with it, because I don't see how I do anything about it without spending a fortune, and losing money at the same time if I were to close for renovations.  So I concentrate on squaring away and cleaning what I have, as much as possible.

Most people don't care, and the inventory is so overwhelming it sort of disguises it.  I'm not expected to be pristine, but funky.

*****

Even if I was inclined to take on the hard work and risk of doing a new bookstore, there is one overwhelming reason not to do it.   I couldn't sell it at the end of the project.  Without that possibility, it's just a sinkhole.

If I was ten years younger, I'd gamble the cycle will come around again and bookstores would be desired.

If I had the room, I could carry twice as many book that I know could sell.  There are tons of standards, and I'm surprised existing bookstores don't concentrate on those more.

*****

Breaking even on the slow months is the same thing as making money.

So far, I've accomplished something rare at the store for this time of year.  I've managed not to fall into debt during the first half of the year.

Because of Bend's touristy nature, I make money four months out of the year, I lose money six months out of the year, and I break-even a couple months out of the year.   (Actually, this is new adjustment from the old formula of 4/4/4.)

I make good money on the good months, I usually only lose small amounts on the bad months, so they cancel each other out.

What I'm attempting to do this year is not lose money during any of the slow and/or break-even months. 

It's hard to keep up the level of inventory when I do this.  Things don't sell evenly, so spot shortages tend to develop, and I don't want that situation to continue for too long.  I don't want to disappoint customers too much.

So far, I've avoided most major shortages.  The cash flow seems to be covering the essentials.

Most of this is accomplished by not buying the "extra."   Another big part is not buying the "sale" product.  There is always sale product, some of it is very attractive, and it has nice profit margins.  But they aren't necessary.

It turns out so far that if I just order replacement copies on the good stuff, buy the new stuff as it comes out, and try the 'occasional' extra, that the store remains well-stocked and I don't lose money.

It's not as satisfying, but I'm figuring the extra profits should make up for that.  (It's fun to buy, you know.  Seeing new stuff all the time.)

But the extra profits will only happen if I can manage the other side the equation.  Not spending "extra" during the good months.  The temptation is nearly irresistable -- the money is flowing during the summer and Christmas, and I see product that is attractive, if unproven, and what the hell -- why not?

So -- I need to keep to the same formula as the slow months.  Reorder the good stuff, buy the new stuff as it comes out, and try the 'occasional' extra just to spice things up.

I've never managed to do this for a full year.  I almost always blow a fuse at some point.  I think this is the farthest I've gone in the year without breaking down.  The farther I go, the more encouraged I am to keep going.