The New Hideout

Haven't had much to say lately but since I haven't posted in a month thought I'd better write something before y'all thought I died. At my age - well, don't want people to be askin' - "Did JaxPop up n' die?" So here's what I've been up to .... & there's even some writing related nonsense included:

I did something really weird Saturday night - a ton of writing. Okay, I usually write on Saturdays but this time, I did it in long-hand. Other than adding my signature to whatever paper is shoved under my nose, I rarely use a pen. Well, I didn't exactly use a pen either - I used black, red, blue & green Flairs - & almost filled a composition notebook. (The old fashioned black & white things that you can't remove pages from without destroying the entire book.) The best part? I wasn't working on RECKLESS - it's a new screwball adventure & I'm really likin' it. Of course, since I rarely write with a pen, I can't read anything that I've written, but there's got to be a forensics expert out there that can decipher it all. I hope. RECKLESS is being edited, & I rewrote the ending. Now I'm gonna try to be cool & work on polishing it while sitting in a Starbucks going into caffeine overload while Deb gets her hair done at the obscenely high priced hair salon & try to avoid run-on sentences like this one (breathe) - so I bought an iPad, with a separate keyboard, which is really great but can't figure out how to work it beyond FaceBook & Google. And maps. Which I don't need because I have GPS. But I was thinkin' I'll look like a scholarly geek for once & after I'm famous they'll have the chair bronzed in my honor.

During my drive to work, which currently takes between 4 & 5 hours one way (twice a week), depending on the number of stops made at Starbucks along the way, I was thinkin' about why my brain went postal the other night with all those words n' crisp witty dialogue & generally crazy plotlines. I'm easily entertained - it probably really sucks. And it finally hit me. Mickey is finally happy. The MUSE (that's Mickey) is loose because we found a new place to hang out where I can pretend to be Hemingway (see post about Hemingway's house in Key West last November) & he (Mickey) can pretend to be good at what he does.

We're bouncing between home (St Auggie) & the land of Oz - otherwise known as Miami, stuck in a nice, spacious condo in a really b-o-r-i-n-g suburb (that has a Starbucks but fewer drive-by shootings). Fortunately, we did a 7 month lease on the condo in the boring town, at great company expense (thanks guys), & (trumpets in background) our sentence, I mean our lease is fullfilled in a coupla weeks. So I did what any malcontent would do - found another place to write, er, I mean live. Part time. A tiny, 2BR cottage in Ft Lauderdale, near things to do, like THE BEACH. So now Mickey's happy & has promised to jump into this writing gig with some sorely needed enthusiasm &, better yet, Deb's happy 'cause she'll be out of jail. I'm gonna go buy a bunch of dead animal heads to put on the wall (like Ernie did), grow my beard out& dye it white, hide the shotgun (don't want to take the Hemingway thing too far) & write.

Here are a few pics of the new temporary place (with the funky ceilings). It ain't home, but it'll work & the bananas are free.

And a PS - Deb created her very own blog where she's gonna post her pictures of flowers, nature, seascapes & animals with big teeth. She thinks she'll get more followers than me. We'll see, her page can be found at http://belznan.blogspot.com/ 

 St Augustine Fauxtography, so check it out but don't follow.



Sitting On The E-Book Fence

                           

So many authors are putting their work on readers & blogging about the positive sales results. The company that I use for my books, BookLocker (they're fantastic), doesn't work with Kindle (they recently sued Amazon & won) or Smashwords, but they are aligned with Apple's iBooks.  

Now the successes are the result of hard work - networking, blog tours, & guest posts, and a whole lotta good writing. Scott Nicholson is in the middle of a 90 day tour (& he's givin' away a Kindle or 2 or 3). He's the author of DRUMMER BOY (which I'm reading now - It's very good), THE RED CHURCH & a half dozen others.

Mike Jastrzebski author of KEY LIME BLUES & STORM KILLER just posted about his experience. Mike's got it tough, living on a boat in the tropics. He blogs with some other cool folks at Write On The Water.

Then there's the current Big Dog Daddy of Kindle sales - Joe Konrath. Might have heard of his Jack Daniels series, & A NEWBIES GUIDE TO PUBLISHING. Joe flashes the stats, but does so in an effort to encourage. He's hosting Scott Nicholson today.

Back to what to do. I don't have the time to invest creating an online presence & have no writerly expertise to share. I write YA, rather than Thrillers, Mysteries or Horror, so there's no great audience pull there. And besides, how many kids will be buying e-readers?

Guess I'll resume polishing RECKLESS ENDEAVOR & return to my perch on that fence.

My Wife Knows Everything My Wife Doesn't Know

Watch the entire video....... this was not staged.

Jack Rackham & The Black Raven Mutiny

(Photo from brochure - the rest are Deb's)

Aye 'tis no secret to ye landlubbers followin' this blog that me grandson Jack is the descendant o' that notorious scallywag Calico Jack Rackham. Alas, we celebrated the good fortune of 'is seventh birthday makin' due course through the Matanzas beyon' the Castillo de San Marcos amongst a hearty band of thieves and cutthroats aboard the galleon known as The Black Raven. 'Twas a seagoin' 

adventure worth every dubloon in me pocket, make no doubt o' that.

                              

As man o' the hour young Jack's first duty was to hoist the colors, assisted by that rogue William Mayhem

                              

Alas, underway were we on the high seas when Captain Scary Larry donned 'is swimmies n' snorkel an' threatened to abandon ship.

                            

All were in mortal danger with such o' madman at the helm so Jack an' Mayhem conspired and rallied the crew to mutiny an' save the ship from certain peril.

                             

Aye, as the battle raged Jack took the wheel and guided the seventy-two foot ship through the murky swells.

                            

The grateful crew, Mayhem, Kathy McCarthy & Magpie Maggie elected Jack as their new captain and lowered the treasure stowed upon yonder yardarm.

                             

Singing "Here's to ourselves, and hold yer luff, plenty o' prizes an' plenty o' duff" they presented the gifts.

                               

The voyage and the pillaging ended an' Captain Jack made haste to the tavern for a wee dram o' rum..... (Okay, no rum, it was a pineapple and coconut concoction. Just play along here.)

                            

And told stories of pirates and treasure to 'is old matey JaxPop......

Hi 5

HI

Ignore the picture stolen from the internet (& that man behind the curtain) - this is not really my hand. First clue would be the long sleeve. South Florida is one hot, steamy place. Blech! Didn't miss it.  

Drowning after a week's vacation & playing catch up on everything. While "off" they had tons of rain in Miami (see last post) so job progress went down the drain, so to speak, which makes me even more nuts.

Planned to post some pics from last week - but they're not downloaded to this computer &, since Deb stayed in St Augustine (*sniff*) this week with all 1800 photos will have wait 'til SHE returns to the dreaded condo in Ft Lauderdale. Deb hates it here. Have managed some editing & resumed work on cover art for RECKLESS, so I'm stoked about that.  

Bought a Kindle a few weeks ago. Was iffy about it, but I got a good deal. Turns out to be a pretty cool toy. It's (too) easy to buy books & it's comfortable to use - even at red lights. First book I read on the thing was NO MERCY by John Gilstrap. He's an author that blogs on "The Kill Zone" (link on my page) & he's really good. Here's the deal - No Mercy was a freebie offered when his new book HOSTAGE ZERO was launched last week. I suppose lots of folks took the free book & moved on with their lives but I figured, I'll give the guy a shot & buy the new release. Hard to go wrong on a 2 for 1 deal. Well, he's got a new fan & I gotta quit clickin' "buy" buttons. 

So whaddya think about ebooks? Good for authors? Bad for publishers? Here today - gone tomorrow?

Wonder if they'll ever make a waterproof Kindle. I'd buy that.

The Railroaded Writer

Deb says I need to post more frequently. She's right, but spare time comes at a premium & stress levels are off the chart. My day job (as you will see below) tends to keep me buried, & mentally exhausted. Being away from home doesn't do much to help the creative flow either. Writing is sporadic at best. Mickey Muse stayed home in St. Augustine for this latest excursion, far away from the South Florida sauna. We're living in a condo in Ft Lauderdale - working in Miami. Here are some pictures of what's got me bogged down - a ridiculously paced $30M railroad construction project that has to be finished in about six months, before liquidated damages (fancy words for fine) of $7000 per day kick in. No pressure. A walk in the park.

As a 16 year-old I remember telling my teacher that geometry was a useless subject. It was the first of many assumptions that turned out to be wrong. Above is a sampling of track geometry. (Click on it & do the math for me.) Track work ain't my favorite. Can you guess what happens to a train if the track layout is wrong? Again, no pressure.

A typical boring day.....

Working in the middle of an active train yard - forming foundation walls - very close to live tracks.

I get to deal with the best of 2 hardcore worlds Railroaders mixed with Construction Workers, all trying to out badass each other.

Pumping concrete beneath the water inside coffer dams

Sometimes we use divers, like this poor shlub. (Should be me, hiding from the Amtrak Reps.)

These guys get to go into the pit (there are 4) after we've pumped 500,000 gallons of ground water - per day. The equipment is being lowered with a crane. It's not a hovercraft with a bucket.

And while all of the concrete & pit work progresses - we're 'flying' steel.

So writing & blogging have taken a back seat for a while. Cut me some slack! I've been railroaded! 

Eye Was Just Thinkin'...

Eye get annoyed reading some blogs or listening to someone speak when every sentence starts with the word eye. (Disclaimer: This excludes my favorites - you know who you are!) Eye mean, there are times, when sharing something about your personal life, when it is absolutely necessary to use THAT word. No problem as long as the topic isn't ALWAYS focused on self. It's also okay if you're discussing an opinion & in reply say "eye agree" or "eye disagree". The worst IMHO is the self appointed expert who pompously beats everyone over the head with "eye recommend" - over & over (unless it's an informational / teaching / mentoring blog). Maybe pose the recommendation(s) as a question - "Have you ever tried ____?" Hellooooooo engage the reader / listener. One-sided dialogue sucks!

How 'bout that person determined to make an impression with - eye bought, eye own, eye have, eye like, eye am so popular eye can't get enough of myself. Eye get so many wonderful emails from my throng of fans. Eye get so many checks in the mail. Eye had such a tough day with the Bentley being in the shop & the maid calling in sick. (Hint: This is what's known as bragging. It's boring - not impressive, enlightening or entertaining.) Want to mention a cool review or terrific news - GREAT - but don't take it to nauseating lengths. Just kinda makes everyone's EYES glaze over anyway.

Eye also despise when folks jump into a discussion on a specific blog / chat / conversation topic & try hijacking it to shamelessly promote themselves & their work, without at least a disguised attempt at providing topic-related input. Eye think that's rude. It's okay to say "eye tried it this way" or "eye had some success with _____ "  or "eye had something similar happen to me" if it pertains to the subject .... but then ... zip it.

Eye don't know. Eye guess eye have little tolerance for the self absorbed.

"See" y'all. Eye gotta go now.