Last night I'd had enough. I went to Amazon and the Kindle Direct Publishing. After a bit of wrangling, I managed to upload the book. So if you have an Ipod, Ipad, any flavor of Kindle or what not, you can download it as an e-book. So now what?
Give them a day or two to review it. Let's just call it after Christmas, I don't see anyone doing anything work related this week. Kids are off from school. The wife isn't teaching. My sister is busy cutting hair. I'm doing the hurry up and wait thing at work. Maybe I'll bring cookies with me on Monday.
So I got to get the word out about Travelers Road. Let's see... I'll tell my friends and family, of course. My network of contacts that extend from New Zealand to Norway. If truth be told, I've no idea what I'm doing. Like a game of golf: I look at the course and choose the what I think is the best putter, driver, or wood for the shot depending on wind conditions. In short, I'm guessing. At least it's an estimated guess and not doing anything with this thing I spent several years growing.

Pepper is back to wearing a cone of shame. I took him to the vets to get him neutered. That's the right word, but I feel funny saying that. What would be an appropriate description? Snipped? Fixed? Balls removed? When I got him back, the poor pup was stumbling around like he was stoned. (probably was with the surgery.) I'm giving him the pain killers and antibiotic so he stays healthy. Today was the first day I witnessed him jump up properly. Before, he would do his morning stretch and proceed to jump on everything, maybe hump one of my kids legs or something. Now he goes to stretch, the sutures and cut parts of his body are telling him, 'Hey, not a good idea.' Pepper attempted to jump on to his rear legs and I could see him wince. He's trying, but it just isn't happening.

So while I'm waiting for the pork loin to finish, I figured I'd dash this off right quick. Since stepping down from management, I'm finding life less stressful. I now drive a forklift and for the most part stay out of the public eye. The impression I'm getting is that's where store management wants me. (The rat bastards.) They want to keep their reputation for hiring the disabled, just keep me out of sight. I get to stay employed, but I'm looking for an alternative on the weekends. If Harper decides to pass on my book, I'm going to look at going the self publishing route. Let's face it, based on the synopsis, they might not look any further. Squeezing 100K down to one page while containing all the spoilers is hard.
I'll be honest, I wrote Travelers Road because I suffer from an over active imagination. When five people come up to me and ask to read what I've written, I hop on over to Kinkos and print up a copy.
My wife and kids like the story. They're family, so while the opinion is nice, I have to take it with a tiny grain of salt. Gradually I let close friends and co-workers read my tale. Here's what they said, (and I'm quoting from the written letters.)
"I consider myself a fan. When's it coming out on Amazon? I want to buy it.", "You weave a good yarn and kept me turning the pages." and my favorite: "It's like Gunsmoke on Mescaline."
Those are wonderful comments and I truly enjoy hearing from fans, but back up a second.
Roughly seventy-five to one hundred people have read it. I've gotten e-mails, post cards and a full fledged letter. I'm getting fan mail from total strangers.
Holy crap on a cracker!
Fan mail. Me. People really want to know what is going on inside my head? Really?
It's considered bad form to plug your book with quotes like that in the submission process, so I didn't. At the same time, no one is going to blow your horn other than you.
Wait, that came out sounding worse than I meant.
My point is: Harper Publishing, it's not too late to get on the band wagon. I'm going to write. People are going to read. Are you going to play catch up or what?

So Carol didn't get the job. Reading the paper I see school administrators are worried about meeting the state mandated test scores while funding for teachers is being cut. The rumor going around is more teachers will get pink slips by the end of the semester.
Hmm... Students are failing the academic standards set by the state, so we will continue to lay off teachers until grades improve. That's the logic here in Texas folks. My family is ready to pack it in and head to where the jobs are. I explained it to my beloved this way: I have a job in a big box store with a side of writing. She has a career. If some one were to call up and say they need a teacher in Alaska, I'd pack everything up and go. Write this house off as a loss and start over. Seriously, if the health department saw this place they'd condemn it. the wiring is bad. No electricity in the garage or kitchen, the heating unit isn't made any more. I've replaced or rebuilt some things, but there's only so much one can do on my limited budget.
This is why getting a book deal would be a good thing. I don't believe we are pre-destined for the ordinary things in our lives. It's the ordinary things in life we have to rise above in order to be great. So I've written this great book that a lot of strangers like. Writing is a second job to me. Treating it as professionally as I can, the hope is I can be successful at it.
I do believe in karma. Let's hope what comes around, goes around.

Some times it's not our fault.
Monday morning the truck that delivers our store supplies took a turn a little too wide and sheared off the headlight of another truck. In all fairness, there was a lot of chaos going on. A technician was on the roof changing our AC filters. I was changing the propane tank on our forklift. An electrician was testing our alarm system. There were two other deliveries going on and the trash compactor was being changed out. So yeah, a lot happening. I heard the crunch tinkle of metal and glass. The electricians truck got gouged by the trailer. I have never wanted a camera phone so badly.
Seriously, I must be the last guy in the state who doesn't own a cell phone. My wife has a Blackberry. Not a week goes by when my kids drop not-so-subtle hints they want a cell phone. The only thing I would use a cell phone for is text messaging... and pictures of acts of stupidity.
Maybe Christmas. My wife may have just gotten a job that will triple our household income. If that happens, then maybe we'll get phones for the girls.
Seriously, why would a deaf guy need a cell phone? Unlimited text messages? Hah! let's test that theory.
I really need my wife to get this job. We didn't make it through last year with her only substituting. Now our expenses are increasing what with one daughter who is of driving age and another not that far behind.
This is life. Am I complaining? Perhaps. I'm trying to make the most out of things.
I submitted my manuscript to Harper Collins publishing. If they like it, great! If they don't, I'm going to stick with my original plan and publish it on Amazon. People who've read it, like it. Total strangers have told me they enjoyed the book. I've gotten e-mails and written letters from people who've read it. Fan mail! I'm flabbergasted. The difference of going with self-publishing and publishing through Harper, is that I'd have to do my own marketing. I've got an idea on where to start. It may not be a good idea, we'll just have to see.

Something to blog about.
Having company over is one of the true joys for me. I enjoy serving big meals. The house gets a bit cleaner knowing company is coming. My wife and I love keeping in touch with all our friends. We even host movie parties. Here's the play-by-play. The grill is fired up. Fajitas, chicken legs, burgers or whatever, is cooking up. Friends come over with drinks and chips. Games are played. The kids play games or climb the tree out back. Then the movies come on.
AMC is a cable channel that has some really cool shows on. So naturally, we combine those two events. Hosting parties capped off with watching The Walking Dead.
Dish network decided to drop AMC from their lineup. I asked them to please reconsider this before I take action. Their response? You can still see your shows on Netflix.
That wasn't what I wanted to hear and certainly not from somebody I'm paying. So, I didn't get mad. I wrote them a nice letter saying their services are no longer required. Not only did they make a mistake, they lost a customer. Further, they lost a customer who can write about it.
So if you like shows like the Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, or Mad Men, all original quality shows in my opinion, then let your wallet do the talking. Ditch Dish and sign up for another provider such as Direct TV or the cable company that provides the programming you wish to see.
I'm glad I did.

My modem died last week under mysterious circumstances. All the computers and gadgets in the house insist they were no where near the modem when it died. All of them have alibis. For now, I'll treat it as suspicious.
Pepper is doing fantastic, we're going to take him to the vet in a few days. In the meantime, change the bandages...
This new modem was tricky to configure. It didn't want to recognize the one I do all my writing on. How am I supposed to post anything? We installed the software using the most powerful computer in the house, my wife's notebook. Using a key, we got it to work on the Dell. A little geek trickery later and voila! My good ol' Frankenstein box is back online. Wooo!
Didn't get to the laundry or repairing the wiring like I was going to, but that can wait until tomorrow.
On a good note: I caught up on my Girls with Slingshots web comic. This is part of my shameless begging to get Danielle Corsetto to visit our little corner of Texas. You may not have said you'd come to San Antonio on your little jaunt, Danielle, but the welcome mat is always laid out for you.