Firming up the roster.

My goal this year is to firm up my existing roster of books, as well as continue to write original content.  I have a career worth of books I've written in the last couple of years -- if I can actually finish them.

Two of the books are more or less ready to be published, and either need to be finished editing and/or formatted.  Blood of Gold is being edited right now.  Led to the Slaughter needs a cover.

I'd say a third of the remaining books are within one re-write of being published.  The rest are going to need extensive re-working (What I'd call an overhaul, instead of re-write.)  Some of the books that are almost ready are sequels to books that need more work, so that is a bit of a roadblock.

Over the course of this year, I'm hoping to mix a little re-writing -- with a little re-working -- with the writing of new material.

I'm also thinking of these books as a roster, which kind of makes me a publisher.  So I've been thinking that I need to look at these as a publisher, as well as a writer.

Sagewind Publishing.

I'd really like to create professional caliber books -- not only in the writing, but also in the presentation.  As well as a professional distribution system -- a nice webpage, and an ability to sell to bookstores and distributors.

Not so much as a self-published writer, but as a publisher.  Between Linda and me, we have enough content to be considered a publisher.  To be a publisher, I'd need an art director, a office manager, an editor, a tech person, and a publicist. 

Most likely me, but with some help from others -- people not so much on the payroll but on a retainer.  I know some artists, I have a tech guy, I have an editor.  Linda and me can be the office managers.  The biggest challenge would be an effective promotions person.

Promotions:  This is the necessary skill set that I just don't have.  Not only don't I have it, but I've avoided it for all the years of business.  I concentrated on creating content -- and because I was on a busy street, the content was enough.

In effect, I have to find the busy street in publishing.  To extend that analogy, right now I'm not only not in a busy street downtown, I'm not even in the city, I'm somewhere east of John Day.  Something like that.

It is an incredibly crowded field, and I've got to find a way to plop myself down on the internet equivalent of a busy street.

Anyway, all that is in the future for now.  I'm going to concentrate on the actual writing and re-writing over the coming year, and continue to think about and research how to publish mine and Linda's books.

Between books feels weird.

I guess this has become a habit, or something.  If I go more than a few days without writing, I start getting antsy. 

Right now, I'm reading Linda's book.  I'm doing some of the necessary store stuff.  I'm going to work on my "painting" today.  I'm sort of taking it easy.

But each day, the pressure starts to build. 

What are you going to to do now, boy?  What are you going to do?

My instinct is to just dive into something, just follow my instincts.  But my brain tells me it wouldn't hurt to plan a little first.  The beginning especially needs to be right, or all the rest that follows is wasted.

I wrote down a bunch of ideas over New Year's as to what I thought a good book contains.  It is pretty much a reflection of the books I've loved.  It's kind of a loose list, with some crossover, and somewhat vague, but I do believe it's valid.

Tell you what.  Why don't I just write it down here:

Underdog/underestimated.

Surprise.

Unique.

Nostalgic.

The worm turns...

Intimate voice (present and engaging).

Sense of hidden history.

Friendships.

Interesting places.

Unexpected turns.

Believable.

Love interest.

Reluctant adventure, comes thru in the end, grows.

Rebel character, gets into trouble because of his integrity.

Inner world/not outer.


Like I said, pretty universal and vague, but it doesn't hurt to think about them in advance, make sure that these elements are included.

Friday fuds.

I'm between books, so that along with the New Year, it gives me a chance to think about what I'm doing.

I'm not sure of the utility of writing sequels, if no one is reading the earlier books.  There is a nice symmetry to a "trilogy" so when I've gotten two books under my belt, I'm tempted to write a third.

Besides, I'm not worrying about selling books this year, just writing them.  So I'll go ahead and write the third "Lander" book even though neither Faerylander or Wolflander have been published.

I think I could do so more rewriting -- I'm sort of waiting for the mood, or the lull.  If I can continue to write fresh books, I think I should do that.  Still and all, that is my major goal this year -- to spend much more time and effort on rewriting.

I'm going to write Ghostlander, but then I want to try something new.  See if I can't incorporate all the things I've learned over the last couple of years.

**********

Yesterday's business just flat wore me out.  I slept 9 hours last night, went to bed an hour earlier.  It was a lot like a Saturday, which I generally avoid.  Lots of people, but few of them really into what we do.

The irony of the lack of snow in the mountains is that we probably got more business out of it.  It was the perfect set-up -- just enough snow early to make it look like the skiing would be all right so that no one cancels their vacations, and then lousy conditions when they get here.

What's tourist to do?

Go shopping, in our quaint little downtown.

It's a short-term benefit obviously, because without snow they don't come at all.

That plus the extra week we got after Christmas this year,  has been nice for business.

**********

I try, generally, to buy local.  But I'm not making a crusade out of it.  I went looking for a small laptop that had a long battery life and could do Word and was affordable.

No one in town had what I wanted, so I went online and bought it.  (Whisper -- Amazon.)

Despite their size, I'm not actually all that impressed by the selection in the big chainstores.

**********

Tortoise wins!

Didn't beat last year until the last ten days of December, but beat last year I did.  A few percentage points, because the last ten days were damn good.  In other words, I was behind last year all year until then.  Six months behind, six months ahead.

Books and Games continue their steady increases.  I intend to keep following that lead.  Comics had a small increase, cards and card games were about even, and toys continued their steady decline.

I'm not getting rid of toys because they serve a valuable purpose -- they are basically the only thing I can effectively sell at the 10 foot and up range on the walls.  They look good, they add to the ambiance.  But they are going to be steadily removed from the under 10 foot areas and replaced by either games or books.

So I just need to keep getting more and more books and games.  And find places to put them.  I'm constantly getting ideas.

I want to put in a "writing" shelf.  More of a "how-to" art shelf.  A Beatles and Dylan and a few others shelf.

Just keep continually morphing the store to my interests.  People seem to respond, more or less, to my interests.  Especially tourists.

I have an odd store, but it seems to work.  (I'm an odd person, but I seem to work.)

My wife the writer.

I'm so proud of Linda.  I've always known she has a vivid imagination and a beautiful heart and can tell a great story.  The only thing stopping her was her problem with grammar and spelling. 

And you know what?  She's fixed that.  A combination of the new technology and an editor -- but mostly, her hard work.  Truly an impressive thing.  I don't think I've learned a thing since high school about grammar but she's taught herself the whole thing.  Wow.  That takes an amazing amount of willpower to do that.

I'm loving her book.  It's got great characters, and a really interesting story,  themes that make it resonate, and a terrific pacing.  It's the real deal.

You guys should read it!

Linda McGeary -- at Amazon and Smashwords.

New Year this and that.

Don't you just know this new campus sitting on top of a pumice mine is going to be a disaster? 

And that they'll go ahead anyway, despite all the warnings?

I'm not saying they're wrong, just that all will not be smooth...

**********

I'm amazed that the citizens have been so generous to the Parks and Recreation.  And I think, rightly so.  This is our town, folks.  We are tourist and retirement and we'd better make sure our town fits that image...

That pavilion could be pretty spectacular.

**********

The Bulletin has been pretty relentless in their slamming of Obamacare.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. 

It's been nothing but a blessing for me.

**********

Whenever I bemoan how I'm dependent on the customer, and how I can't predict what they're going to do, I think of poor Hoodoo Ski Area, and count my blessings.

At least I'm not dependent on snow.

**********

I don't understand the appeal of Mad Men.  Honestly, didn't we rebel against that bullshit in 60's?

I've spent my whole life trying to avoid that nonsense.  Awful way of life.  (Screw the nostalgia for Dallas, too.)

**********

Reading John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels is a bit of time-travel.  I'm up to 1970's and those dirty hippies and the awful menace of Marijuana.  Heh.

*********

Stock market was good this year.  Why does that make me nervous?

**********

Watched a documentary about the making of Born to Run.  Oh, the work!  Oh, the toil! 

I'm a lazy bastard.

*********

please, sir, I want some more.

More?

MORE!!??


This was a pretty productive year, both at the store and writing.  Another year like this would please me just fine. 

I want to fit a bit more of a regular life into my writing.  (Or fit writing into my life...)  I'd like to take a few more trips out of town, and get out into nature.  Read a few more books, see a few more movies.

But another year like last, would be just great.

Happy New Year, everyone.

So now I'm a painter.

Had an idea for a painting.  In my hubris, I took out the easel and paint set that Linda bought me a few years ago, and in even greater hubris, I took the one canvas I had and used oil paints.

It's called:  Kayak.   Two border stripes of dark brown, with black streaks.  In the middle, a big stripe of bright blue paint with white splotches, and in the middle a single red spot. 

Purely decorative.

And I botched it.

What the hell do I know about art? 

A third of it looks nice, two/thirds of it looks crappy.

I had an image in my head, and I tried to do it, but I didn't have the technique.  I'm going to let the oil dry for a week, and then try to paint over it.  A little more planning would have been good, but like my writing I just wanted to get it done.

I had another image in my head a few months ago, called Tumbling Geometric Shapes.  I need to buy some more supplies if I'm going to be doing this on a regular basis.

Anyway, this is purely for fun.  Just playing. 

Comics flop in the chainstores -- again.

Marvel has chosen to remove their comics from Barnes and Noble and Books A Million.

If you remember, I predicted this.

Not because I'm negative but because I know how many comics I sell.  Which ain't many.  I couldn't imagine that the local Barnes and Noble would have anyway of knowing that you can sell 20 of this title, but only 2 of that title, when the titles look pretty much the same.  The only way they could do it was pick either number and do all the comics that way, and the more likely number was the higher number, which mean that there would be HUGE wastage.

At the time I wondered if it was the comic companies who were taking the risk or the bookstores.

Since this is Marvel's decision, I presume that it was the comic companies taking the risk.  The returns must have been enormous, if you figure the printing costs can't have been that high and yet the returns still made it a loser.

I'm going to say this flatly.  I'll probably get some argument, but I have 30 years and I know.

People don't read comics.  Just presenting them won't do a thing.  I've always said I  could hand 100 comics out to the first 100 passersby, and 98 of them would end up in the first trashcan on the street.

There was also the example of almost all of the drugstores and grocery chains removing comics years ago.  You don't remove profitable product, so why would it be different now?

People blame the direct market -- the market of comics in comic book stores -- for the state of comics, making it a "fan" thing.  But comics and their "non-returnable, but higher profit margin" model of business saved comics.  We take all the risk, we are careful to order what we can sell, and we have to know what we're doing.  It isn't a commodity that anyone can sell.

Chainstores are lousy at it.  If it seems like I'm dancing on their graves -- well, I am.  Suck it, B & N.  You thought you could just bulldoze us.

I also remember the example of comics in Waldenbooks.  They would have a spin rack, like I saw 20 of every title whether it made sense or not, and the rack would be hidden in the "dead zone" (every story has dead zones) and would be obviously neglected.  The comics would usually be damaged because they were displayed in a concise way, and a general rule of thumb is the more concise the display the more comics get damaged.  (Comic shops give comics room to breath -- open, with no places to bend them, with covers showing for each title -- very space consuming.)

Nothing gives off a message of not giving a damn about comics than letting them get disordered and damaged.

So, it doesn't work.  It will never work.  The American public will never read comics. (Yeah, yeah, except those of you who do.  I get it.  But the statement stands.)

Believe me, I wish it were different.  I used to think it could be different.  But after 30 years, I've decided it will never happen.  The bias is too strong to overcome.

It is a fan thing.

Ironically, that's what keeps us comic shop owners alive.  We'll never get rich, but we'll have a steady clientele, usually.  In a small town like Bend, it only gives me half a living, which is why I carry books and games and toys.  But a good steady base.  And I'm secure in the knowledge that even if B & N or ever Walmart wanted to do, they can't.  They try every decade or so and flop miserably.

Because, you know, you have to know what you're doing.

The Pilot Butte Inn was haunted.

It's time to pick the next book to write.

I'm thinking of writing the third "Lander" book; Cobb and company;  called Ghostlander.   Basically, I'm thinking in terms of a haunted Pilot Butte Inn, in a world where that local icon was never torn down.  (Hey, it's my world, I can do what I want.)

I'm old enough to have actually been in the Pilot Butte Inn, though only as far as the lobby.  I remember it looming over the street.  So I think I can try to capture a sense of it.



I've had an astonishingly productive year -- really 16 months.  From September, 2011 until now, I've been writing just about every day, with short breaks.

However, I'm starting to worry that I'm getting diminishing returns.  The last two books have been problems.  It's not that they are bad books, it's that they will need extensive rewriting.  In both cases, I felt it was better to finish the books -- get the framework finished -- than not finish.

I'm fearful of the first book I don't finish -- that it will become a pattern.

I also think I've slipped on my work process, which was so effective for awhile.  I'm getting quota of 2000 words on most days, but I'm doing it a very time wasting way.  I sit around all day near the computer, taking constant breaks on the internet and TV and other time-fillers.  12 hours yesterday.

What was doing earlier was writing early in the day, and THEN thinking about the writing for the rest of the day.  That seemed much more productive and also allowed me to do other things.

Freedy Filkins, Death of an Immortal, Rule of Vampire, Led to the Slaughter, Wolflander, and Blood of Gold all came out pretty much the way I wanted them; most of the writing was complete in the first draft.  I'd like to recapture that if I can.

Of course, the first book, Faerylander, was a complete mess for most of the time I worked on it, though I think I've got a good book in my hands now.

Deviltree is what it is.  (I wrote it 30 years ago.)  Sometimes a Dragon (also written 30 years ago) was improved, but still needs a spark or two.

The Reluctant Wizard isn't bad, but needs to be fleshed out.  Spellrealm and Deeptower are going to need some major polishing.

Yeah, that's a lot of books.

Hopefully, Blood of Gold will be ready in the next month or so, completing the Vampire Evolution Trilogy.  

Then I hope to get Led to the Slaughter ready, sometime in late spring.

New word for me: Weltschmerz

Definition of WELTSCHMERZ

1:  mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state

2:  a mood of sentimental sadness 

 Came across this word reading the tenth Travis McGee novel, Dress Her In Indigo.   Actually, I kind of like John D. MacDonald's description better:

He...."felt such frequent waves of Weltschmerz, of lingering nostalgia for the lives he never lived."

"Lingering nostalgia for the lives he never lived."  Hard to come up with a better description of the feeling that good fantasy can evoke.  Tolkien was the best of all -- a nostalgia for a time that never really happened. 

Anyway, that's the feeling I want to capture in my writing.  It's fiction -- and yet, it's also a life not lived, but dreamed.

Back to writing.

With 5 days left in the month, I'd like to go ahead and finish the first draft of Deeptowers. 

I've got another Cobb and Company book in mind next.  Ghostlanders.  It will feature a huge haunted mansion, set here in Bend.  Bend is so new that it really doesn't have the kind of Victorian mansion I have in mind, or perhaps the Pilot Butte Inn.  Since it's fiction, I may just pretend that the Pilot Butte Inn was never torn down -- or create a Victorian mansion.

Linda and I are planning on one of our little three/four day excursions next month, this time to Eureka California which has some of the huge Victorians I'm talking about.  I also have in mind the Winchester mansion, the one where the lady just kept building and building because of the superstition that as long as she kept building she was safe -- but that is too far away to get to.  Always the google.

Dreamed last night that each room had a ghost and each ghost had a doorway between our world and theirs, that has to do with the way they died, and the puzzle it to figure out how to solve each murder.  Something like that.  Very vague.


Meanwhile, I've gotten on some kind of independent writers list on Twitter where I'm being Followed, and I'm just in turn Following them.  Hoping to gain some insight that way.  I know most are just hoping I'll buy their books, but there might be some info there.


Mostly, though, I'm back to focusing on the writing.

I'm still hoping to publish Blood of Gold in January; the third book in the Vampire Evolution Trilogy.  And still thinking of publishing all of them in one offering.

Hungry to talk about art.

Whole family went to see 47 Ronin.  I was amazed we got everyone herded and organized.

I don't think the movie was as bad as the reviews are making it.  It was more serious than I expected.  If nothing else, it had some real visual mind candy.  The special effects weren't as over the top as I expected.  Keanu was Keanu.  (I kept thinking of the Sad Keanu meme all through the movie.)

So really, a better movie than they're saying.


Had a perfect ham dinner, and binged watched the first season of Sherlock.  Mostly, we talked about art all holiday.  Todd has gone back for his Masters in art, and his girlfriend is a talented artist as well.  Just goes to show how hungry to talk about art I am. 

I allowed myself not to write for the 4 days they were here.  My new resolve to fit my writing into my life, instead of my life into my writing.

Working at the store all day today. 

Merry Christmas to all.

Todd and his girlfriend, Sharrone, made it home for the holidays.  Linda's brother Dave is coming over, so it feels like a real family get together, for which I'm thankful.

Watched a couple of movies and had pizza and went to our two stores and took some stuff for ourselves.  Today, a nice ham dinner and possibly a movie at a theater -- though might be hard to fit in.

Tomorrow I work at the store, and I'm expecting lots of people.  We've had a very good Christmas so far.

Merry Christmas!

Good Natured Realist.

A Good Natured Realist?

I took a personality test and that is how I came out.

I think I took the test wrong.  I was kind of surprised, but what the heck.  (What else would a good natured realist say?)  But it says I'm a ISTJ, whereas every test I've taken before has been INTJ.  So either I've changed or this test was wrong.

I'd have to say that when I'm "healthy" I'm probably closer to a ISTJ instead of INTJ, but I'm more likely an INTJ.  I recognize myself more that way.

Anyway, I find these personality tests very reassuring.  I'm pretty sure they have more validity than astrology.  There is something there -- but have to be careful not to read too much into it.

I think some people are afraid of being pigeon holed, whereas I believe I would have been glad to know some things earlier in the life.

For instance, the first time I took a personality test -- Myers and Briggs? -- it mentioned I had the rarest of personality types and that in a classroom of 30 people, I would feel like an "alien."

Good to know.  Would have been even better to know when I was actually in classrooms.

Merry Beardmas!

I've let my beard grow out and decided not to trim until after the first of the year, then maybe trying a mustache for awhile.  (I thought maybe I had invented a new term 'Beardmas' but no, it's all over Google.)

Anyway...

Had a customer say "Happy Holidays!" to me in the store and I answered "Merry Christmas!"

Here's the thing, if she had said "Merry Christmas" I would have answered "Happy Holidays!"

Just a little change-up on the wording, but same sentiment.  Been doing it that way for years.

Anyway, I found myself mumbling, "Well, you know..."

"Yeah," she said.

"Actually I resent that I even have to think about what greeting to use."

"Me too."

So far, so good.

Good Christmas so far, but the next 10 days are probably as important as the previous 20 days.  Still, I'd rather be ahead of last year, and even the year before, entering into this crucial period, than be behind.

What I'm really talking about here is paying down the credit cards -- either by a lot or by a moderate amount.  I was hoping for a lot, I think it will be moderate.   I think we're going to almost exactly break-even for the year, and probably end up beating last year just slightly in overall sales.  Knock wood.

It will be the last five days that take us over the top, if we do it.  Pretty strange, because we've been behind last year all year, but might end up beating it in the last week of the year.  The tortoise comes in at the finish line!

I really stocked up this Christmas.  I think I make a few excess orders -- because I was afraid of coming up short.  But it's material I can sell next year, so no real harm done.  Maybe a little drag on the cash flow. 

It isn't so much that people are buying the extra material I ordered -- that is, the exact same material.  They're just buying more because I have the extra material.

I'm convinced that customers pick up the signals when you've tried to really do a good job of stocking, when you're not trying to get away with minimal orders, and that they usually reward you for this.  Maybe it's the very atmosphere of "too much" which they catch, I'm not sure.  It's a mysterious thing, very akin to ESP, I think.  Customers read your intentions, somehow.

I meant to go in early this morning, but I didn't sleep well last night and then overslept this morning.  We've actually had people showing up in our extra hours this year, which again isn't something that always happens.

Amazing that word must get out that we're the place for boardgames.  I really stocked up this year, and it's paying off.

Anyway, three big days ahead of us, and then a big day after Christmas, and then an entire week of everyone still being out of school.  So what we lost in the short Thanksgiving to Christmas period, we'll make up a little by having a few extra days after Christmas.

I hope.

Worst List Ever.

So I see a link in Reddit to a list of 1000 books that is compiled from internet lists that You should read.

So I click it.  It took hours to download.  Hours.

It wasn't lined up in neat rows, so impossible to count.   It repeated books.  It made no sense.

I had read 35 of the first hundred books, 60 of the first two hundred books.  That seemed about right.  I read mostly genre, but I read enough other stuff to think I've read lots of good books, not to mention that many genre books have moved into the canon.

Then the drop off was extreme.  Basically, I've read only 40 out of the next 800 books.

I hated this list.  Too many books by the same authors, instead spreading the goodness.  Ridiculous.

The first link here is the actual link:  DO NOT CLICK!  unless you want to spend hours loading.

http://www.loved.la/books/genre/Collections/1001_Books

The second list is an Imgur that somebody did.  CLICK THIS.

http://imgur.com/a/0WQhe

Movies with too much, or too little.

I've become much more conscious that the quality of a movie or TV show is affected by the budget.  I mean, that's obvious, but when you watch a show it's usually thumbs up or thumbs down, regardless.

So I went to to see THE HOBBIT.

Very Minor SPOILERS.  (What?  You haven't read the Hobbit!!!!)

I enjoyed it quite a bit.  More than the first movie, I think.  Smaug was awesome, and designed the way a dragon should look.  (This is rare, actually -- movies tend to make them goofy, for some reason.)

But it was so embellished as to be distracting.  It's the Lucas syndrome -- too much money for special effects.  So, for instance, if you have a barrow jumping out of the river and bouncing along the bank and it rolls over a couple of orcs, that's cute.  When you have it leap across the river and land on a couple of more orcs, that's well, interesting, but yeah I got it.  When you have the barrel jumping around like three or four more times -- that's excessive.

Too many choreographs fights where the elves and dwarves are basically invincible and the orcs are just hapless stormtroopers without the armor. 

Too much of lots of things.  Could cut maybe a third of the embellishments and the movie might actually flow a bit better.


Then, last night, I watched HAMMER OF THE GODS on Netflix.

Low budget, but kind of clever in how they stretch the budget once you become aware that they're doing it.

SPOILERS:

So basically, this turns out to be a Viking 'Heart of Darkness' story, Apocalypse Now, if you will.

I thought that was an interesting direction to go.  The script and dialogue were pretty basic, the acting serviceable, the fighting choreographing a little too Hollywood.  But -- you know -- I wonder what they could done with a couple extra million.  A couple of extra million that The Hobbit wouldn't have missed.

Our culture is starting to lose Mid-List:  books, TV shows, movies.  Entertainment that doesn't try to be a blockbuster.  So it seems to be low budget, or ultra budget, with little in-between.

There will always be the creative people who manage to create something even in a low budget.  And apparently, there will always be directors who have so much money to throw around that they can't just have Legolas shoot an orc in the face and slight down a hill on his body, but he has to do it twice in the same movie.  And shoot a couple hundred orcs while he's at it.

And movies where the five main Vikings happen to land on the shore ahead of the fleet, (which is shown hazily in the background) because five Vikings is all the director can afford.

Fitting the writing into the day, not the day into the writing.

Now that I know I can do this -- write everyday -- I'm trying to make it more convenient.  I've been pushing it further and further into the evening, for instance.

I don't believe I can continue to reserve day after day for writing and nothing but writing.  I need to try to fit a bit more activity in my life.  All well and good to procrastinate while waiting for inspiration, but I'm not sure it is completely healthy.  I was willing to do it for a year or so, but I'm ready to try to find a more moderate level of commitment.

I've written an extraordinary number of words, finished an amazing number of books writing this way.  If I can continue to write half this much, it will still be impressive.

At first, I think it took total commitment -- to see if I was serious, to see if I could do it.  But I'm still serious, despite all the setback, and I've shown I can do it.  So letting my mind and body do a few other things is probably called for.

I was spending whole days trying to accrue a couple of vague ideas I wanted in the next chapter and so on.  I'm thinking I probably could spend an hour or two and accomplish the same

I was able to establish a baseline, a method of writing, and now I can start to adjust it.  I've learned that 2000 words of raw material per day is enough to make some progress, but also leaves me hungry to do  more.  Once I actually sit down to do the writing, it is usually only takes a few hours -- as little as two hours up to four hours. 

The DVR is my friend.  I can use these early evening hours to write and then wind down later.

I'm going to let loose on reading again.  I had decided to read only mysteries or non-fiction while I was writing.  No S.F. or Fantasy or Horror.  Nothing that was anything like what I was writing.

But I'm loosening up.  Let myself read anything I want for enjoyment.

In other words, while I'm keeping writing important to my life, it is no longer going to be so primary that everything else is neglected.   Writing will still be a big part of who I am, but it won't be the only thing I am, like it has been for the last year.  I would have kept doing that if I was selling books, but if I'm writing for my own amusement, I need to cut myself a little slack.