Spanking Myself

Out for a sweaty Sunday drive.

I have a lifelong tendency to feel like I have not done anything. Sometimes that is a bleak view of my entire lifetime of accomplishment, but more often it is simply feely there has been no progress in any of my activities. 

Recently the old self un-appreciation has started to creep back, so I think I'm going to use this blog as a diary. Just to remind me. I probably won't keep it going very long. But it might be good for me.

In the last ten days...

My novel CLIMBING THE SPIRAL MOUNTAIN is being read by a few people around the country. And out of its 186,000 words, a friend found three problems. Two were simple spelling errors where the error is actually a word, therefore invisible to the A.I. spellchecks, and the third is a simple logic problem where my lead character packed his bags with old and new clothes, and pages later, he decides to wash the new clothes to get some of the stiffness out of them. Three DONE.

The skids have been greased with Amazon/Kindle and eight other distributors to receive the "go" version of the manuscript, and its final cover, for the public announcement. Possibly later this week. But the channels have been opened for: Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Tolino; the subscription services: Scribd, 24 Symbol, Playster, Kobo Plus; and the library services: One Drive, Bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor. Channels opened: DONE.

I was planing a free-download event to encourage reviews, but Kindle Direct does not have the same promotional policies as CreateSpace, with which I originally distributed the book. Investigated, not done. IN PROCESS.

The print version is waiting for this "go" version, to which I will have to add headers, footers, and a table of contents, which are missing in the electronic versions on demand of Kindle manuscript standards.  IN PROCESS.

At the same time I have pulled up the previous releases of my first novel (from 1977), the fantasy THE SONG OF ORPHANS and the anthology of short stories, THE TASTE OF FIRE, and they are about to have the same reading, tweaking, cleaning, and sweeping in between the cushions. It has already begun. Two IN PROCESS.

On Channel Jorune I just emailed out the final of ORFA: JORUNE, a simple role-playing game system to introduce new players to the world found in SKYREALMS OF JORUNE, the role-playing game that introduced me to a world equal to ERB's Barsoom or Jack Vance's Tschai. Actually sent it out with a two-page character sheet. it has been mailed out to my Jorune subscribers. Actually DONE.

In a few days, allowing time for anyone who has such interest to contact me with something major - like misspelling "Jorune" - and I will put it up on archive.org to download for free. I hope people will get a chance to go play on that alien soil. I am considering a print version on DriveThruRPG, which would not be free.  IN PROCESS.

On my anonymous projects, I started Class 30 of HAUNTED RECOVERY Sunday night. Two more of those classes in that series, but this may be the last time I do this class. Getting old makes decisions for you.  I am pulling together the pieces to do a video series on YouTube with each of the topics covered in the class; PTSD, ACE/ACA, Learned Helplessness, Erikson Personality Development, Transactional Analysis, Emotional Sobriety, and Communications for Adults. I actually edited an old version of Class 1 to serve as the sound-track for such a video. Actually edited it in Audacity. So class taught, one done. Edited the first half-hour of the class for video - DONE.

Two more sessions of Class 30 and I go back to teaching my regular Sunday night "Introduction to Recovery" class. The one I have done since 2006. Earlier in a variant form, but in this format since 2006. Thirteen years, but still going on.  IN PROCESS.

I also pulled the manuscript to RECOVERY READER 2nd Edition, have added four articles pulled from the 2nd Edition, which includes the 21 comic strips 'MAZING RECOVERY and the chapter on how to use the book to create a class, and two new articles to outline two long-existing concepts, but providing them in written form for readers of the (dread words) 3rd Edition. I never thought I'd do a third edition. But ... this one will also have an index, so it is a new animal. This edition will mark the first time it is up for sale publically. On Amazon, in addition, to the private options through Lulu.com, which has provided print copies for the selective Recovery aficionado since 2008. My agreements with the authors of earlier materials will be respected - the third edition will be available through the usual free outlets, but the index is a whole new work that makes the volume more useful version on Amazon cost money. I might make tens and tens of dollars in the future. I might break the 25¢ an hour that would be my path over the past 12 years.  IN PROCESS.

And I did some work for a little radio academic service, The Old Time Radio Research Group. It was a rework of their logo, but I am doing further work on their newsletter and delivered a separate piece of work this week. No decision will be made immediately. Let's put that into IN PROCESS.

And when my attention cannot remain focused on any of this, I am continuing with MORE THAN THIS, my next novel. Science fiction. A series of novellas following the life of one boy as he grows through the world of the future. After an ecological disaster and the nearly fatal strike of a broken comet, it is a different world and thinly disguised commentary on the world in which we live. I did pick that up this week so,  IN PROCESS. 

This week:

• DONE - 4
• IN PROCESS - 7

So maybe I will break the lifelong pattern of feeling I'm not accomplishing anything. Maybe.