Today I spent a chunk of time with a roof rake pulling snow off the lower roofs. These roofs have heavy plastic cleats glued to the metal to keep the snow from sliding into the gutters but there was so much snow that the weight cracked the glue and so these enormously heavy blocks of ice and snow were falling down onto the upper and lower driveways and blocking the routes we use to reach the road. So, I forced the issue and pulled down all (most) of the snow with the rake and then spent a few hours moving the snow away with a shovel and wheelbarrow. I was planning to use the snowblower to move the snow but all those plastic cleats would be bad for the rotating parts and it would have taken me so long to separate them out using a garden rake that I said, “to hell with it” and just used the wheelbarrow and shovel. Well, they say work develops character and Camera Girl says I’m a character so it must be working.
I’ve had some interesting conversations on X with another author and he seemed genuinely interested in how my characters would advance in a sequel so I told him I should send him the e-book and then he could see the challenges I’m going to face deciding how I’ll clean up the mess I’ve created in the first book. Also, I’m hoping to get a review out of him. Of course, he’s not a genre fiction author so it may not be his cup of tea so I may not get a highly positive review but honest feedback is valuable so I’m interested.
Tomorrow, third grandson is coming over to spend time with us and absorb mass quantities of spaghetti and meatballs followed by mint chocolate chip ice cream. He’s starting high school next year so I’ll have to try and up my game. I wonder what form of entertainment he’ll favor. I know this year his whole family has been on a hockey kick. While hockey is far from my favorite form of entertainment, I feel I must try to adapt myself to the grandkids as best I can. After all they’re the future and I’m practically extinct.
I got in touch with my marketer and said I wanted to discuss strategies to maximize numbers of readers by minimizing cost to the reader (up to and including giveaways). She said I should make a point to collect e-mail addresses to allow for follow up advertising for sequels. I will study her message and formulate some specific questions to facilitate getting answers at the meeting. I’ve found marketing a book is an onerous task that’s far from fun. At this point I want a strategy that sustains itself with minimal demands on my time. But I may not get the answers I’m hoping for.
Alright, that’s enough for now. I’m trying to stay away from the news of wars and scandals and elections and other tawdry concerns. The world is certainly a messy place.