Frag It

Friday Fragments is an idea from Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past Kissin' Time. Check her out. A lot. She's cool.

Folks at 50

Mom and Dad will be celebrating their 50th on June 13. Corrine and I, along with my three other siblings, have been working on preparations for it since February.

It's going to be a fun time. We decided to have it on the coast, and to serve lobsters and steamers, my folks' favorite Maine dish. We're having a singer perform three of their favorite songs, including Etta James' "At Last".

This is the front of the invitation I designed. I can't believe they've been married 50 years. Who does that? They should get a Presidential Medal, not just a lobster dinner.

Never Too Late

The play I am directing, "Never Too Late" is coming into the home stretch. The actors are close to getting their lines straight, costumes are taking shape, the set is all but finished.

The play is about a couple in their late 50s who find out the wife is pregnant. They already have a daughter, who is 23 and lives with them with her husband.

It's a farce and it's hilarious.

I'm having a great time directing and I'm positive it'll bring in a full house.

Purple Goes POD

I made a decision yesterday that was not all that easy.

I published my first novel, Surfacing, using a process called publish on demand. It's sort of like self-publishing, in that you don't go through a traditional publishing house (like Bantam or Random House.)

With POD, you do all the hard work like, you know, the writing, then you contract with a publisher who acts as your intermediary. Whenever someone orders your book online, or through a bookstore, the order is placed with the publisher and just that copy is printed. As opposed to traditional publishing, which prints a certain number of books and distributes them to bookstores in select areas.

Here's the rub. Literary snobs will tell you that if you go POD, you're not a "legit" writer, because it's "too easy." Any schmo can get something half-assed printed and call it a novel.

The problem with that argument is that I still do the writing. The toiling. Shedding blood sweat and tears. Not to mention the fact that I've some God-awful pieces of shit from traditional publishers.

Going POD means I get the book immediately and no paper is wasted. My books are on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, etc. It also can be order through any bookstore in the world.

The only reason I would go traditional is for the added "legitimacy" still attached to it. Reviewers, for example, will not review self-published or POD novels. At All. And a favorable review would be HUGE for sales.

Anyway.

I don't like snobs. I don't like conventional thinking most of the time. Therefore, Purple Holly, my second novel (and one of three fictional projects I'm currently working on) will be POD.

I will have to suck it up and work hard at getting the message out when it's published. I'll be in touch. I have an idea for getting you, dear reader, to help me.

:-)