{"id":36460,"date":"2026-04-01T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=36460"},"modified":"2026-03-31T21:43:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:43:53","slug":"time-to-make-the-donuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/time-to-make-the-donuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to Make the Donuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, I\u2019m busy, busy, busy with my giveaway on BookFunnel (here\u2019s the link<\/a>).\u00a0 I\u2019m also seeing if I can put part or all of it up on a site called Royal Road.\u00a0 And I\u2019m posting links on my X feed to try to connect with the wider world.\u00a0 And if any of you want a free copy or have any friends who might like the story, please pass the link along to them.<\/p>\n

Well, in addition to all this I\u2019ve been drafted into a publicity campaign for the Dunwich Republicans.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to awaken a \u201csleeping giant.\u201d\u00a0 But it\u2019s more like a geriatric midget in a coma.\u00a0 So even if I can drum up new blood, I\u2019m afraid they\u2019ll just show up, hear there\u2019s work to be done and say, \u201cLooks like you\u2019re doing a great job.\u00a0 CARRY ON!!!<\/p>\n

But one must do the best one can.\u00a0 As old TR used to remind us it\u2019s \u201cThe Man in the Arena\u201d that counts.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I feel more like the Christian being fed to the lions in that arena.<\/p>\n

Well, the weather is just as uncertain as ever with one day being seventy degrees and the next day featuring snow flurries but we\u2019ve definitely turned a corner and the Great Southern Ice Sheet is barely a foot thick and receding rapidly.\u00a0 All the spring flowers are budding and the turtles are sitting on the dead log in the swamp.\u00a0 The mallards must be awaiting the hatching of their eggs and even the local pair of hawks seem to be hyperactive, probably getting food for their nest.<\/p>\n

Listening to Andy Weir talk to the Critical Drinker about his book \u201cThe Martian\u201d was kind of exciting.\u00a0 I think anyone who writes a book secretly desires to be that guy who hits the jackpot and has the world beat a path to his door.\u00a0 I mean, I know it\u2019s ridiculously unlikely for a number of reasons for my book to be a big seller.\u00a0 It\u2019s in a very restricted corner of the marketplace based on politics and demographics and trying to get advertising is like pulling teeth.\u00a0 But I confess I not-so-secretly dream of the book going viral and selling tons and tons of copies.\u00a0 I guess when the dust settles, I\u2019ll probably be in a funk for a while but I think it was still a good experience to try my hand at something I\u2019ve wanted to do since I was a teenager.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ll say that I don\u2019t think that writing a good book is beyond my talents.\u00a0 But self-publishing and self-marketing is not for the faint of heart.\u00a0 It takes money and a lot of hard work to promote a book in the current marketplace.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the part I don\u2019t enjoy at all.\u00a0 Playing cat and mouse with the Amazon algorithm isn\u2019t my idea of a fun occupation.\u00a0 It\u2019s more like going to the dentist\u2019s office than something associated with creativity.<\/p>\n

Ah well.\u00a0 Whine, whine, whine.\u00a0 Time to make the donuts.\u00a0 Onward and upward.\u00a0 Excelsior!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, I\u2019m busy, busy, busy with my giveaway on BookFunnel (here\u2019s the link).\u00a0 I\u2019m also seeing if I can put part or all of it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,5,3366,1289,818,1263,237,4,242],"tags":[5147,3341,4484],"class_list":["post-36460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-book-marketing","tag-dunwich","tag-the-american-archipelago-book-1-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\nTime to Make the Donuts - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/time-to-make-the-donuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time to Make the Donuts - 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