Keep an eye out for updates.
Also, Harry Potter post in the making.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
To the Seven People Reading This Blog...
...any of you hear yet if Amazon's fixed Kindle to be compatible to epub/DRM specs? I thought it was happening this month...
Saturday, July 9, 2011
eStory: The Hero Cleanup Protocol - Published!
After a few months of realizing I needed to edit the story some more to Smashwords' content rules, that I had to follow through to the Premium stage and request an ISBN (which is the ISBN-13 number 9781458089526, I hope), and that I needed to resubmit after all the corrections...
The "Hero Cleanup Protocol" estory is now available for purchase!
I finally got a cover artist, a friend of a friend of a colleague who knows a guy, fellow by the name of Mike Rooth who does this sort of artwork on a commission basis. A thumbnail copy of the cover is to the side of this paragraph. Once the cover was finalized I completed the Smashwords submission process and finally got the approval about a week ago.
I was only waiting until now to verify that YES the story is for sale.
Because I've already got two purchases yesterday! Ahhhhhhhh, the emotional high of selling your work, it's like a perfect drug...
It's selling for .99 per copy, the cheapest it can go, as it's a short story and not a full novel. The good news is, the overall experience of submitting a work for publication seems relatively simple. As long as I do a better job of planning ahead for cover art, I should get a finished and edited-reviewed draft up and for sale within weeks instead of six months or more with a print book.
The best thing about Smashwords is that, unlike the direct-retailer situation I had with "Welcome To Florida" the story I submitted directly to B&N's PubIt service, what I've submitted through Smashwords is going to show up in other retailers: Not only Barnes&Noble's Nook, but also Sony's Reader, the Kobo, Diesel ebooks, and Apple iBook. Amazon's Kindle doesn't have it yet, but Smashwords is waiting for Kindle to get the conversion upgrade for DRM formatting, so when that happens you Kindle owners can buy a copy!
My trick now: marketing. Hoo boy. So here's the deal, folks. If you can get 49,998 more people to buy a copy of "The Hero Cleanup Protocol", I'll be a very happy librarian person. Thank yew. :-)
The "Hero Cleanup Protocol" estory is now available for purchase!
I was only waiting until now to verify that YES the story is for sale.
Because I've already got two purchases yesterday! Ahhhhhhhh, the emotional high of selling your work, it's like a perfect drug...
It's selling for .99 per copy, the cheapest it can go, as it's a short story and not a full novel. The good news is, the overall experience of submitting a work for publication seems relatively simple. As long as I do a better job of planning ahead for cover art, I should get a finished and edited-reviewed draft up and for sale within weeks instead of six months or more with a print book.
The best thing about Smashwords is that, unlike the direct-retailer situation I had with "Welcome To Florida" the story I submitted directly to B&N's PubIt service, what I've submitted through Smashwords is going to show up in other retailers: Not only Barnes&Noble's Nook, but also Sony's Reader, the Kobo, Diesel ebooks, and Apple iBook. Amazon's Kindle doesn't have it yet, but Smashwords is waiting for Kindle to get the conversion upgrade for DRM formatting, so when that happens you Kindle owners can buy a copy!
My trick now: marketing. Hoo boy. So here's the deal, folks. If you can get 49,998 more people to buy a copy of "The Hero Cleanup Protocol", I'll be a very happy librarian person. Thank yew. :-)
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Kinda Decompressing After Extreme Blogging for April
So I apologize to the seven people following this blog. ;-)
Future posts about summer movies, job hunting, getting a cover artist for a short story, and more to follow.
Future posts about summer movies, job hunting, getting a cover artist for a short story, and more to follow.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
To Andy: The Month of Blogging Is Over
And what have we learned?
That I need to do more blogging on Doctor Who!
No wait, that's not it.
That I need to send my resumes to more libraries!
No, that has nothing to do with the blogging.
That I need to do more blogging on Doctor Who!
No... wait, I've been here before... Oh no... One of those aliens is blogging with me! NOOOO! RUNN!!!
That I need to do more blogging on Doctor Who!
No wait, that's not it.
That I need to send my resumes to more libraries!
No, that has nothing to do with the blogging.
That I need to do more blogging on Doctor Who!
No... wait, I've been here before... Oh no... One of those aliens is blogging with me! NOOOO! RUNN!!!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Seeking Karmic Balance Between Job Hunting And Saving Turtles
Having spent more than two years now job hunting for librarian or computer/desktop help, I've long ago gotten to the frazzled psyche of a man who looks at an Application form and says aloud "Oh no. Not again."
There's something... soul-crushing with filling out an application for employment. There's the hassles of creating not just one resume but a series of resumes to cover every possible contingency that is out there... but now you've got to fill out a form that's asking for the information all over again.
So I was at an office this morning. I dropped off my resume at a table at the St. Pete Job Fair last week, and the company called for me to come in and fill out an application (and apparently a face interview to follow it). And I was sitting there, doing my best to fill out yet another application form...
...and I started getting one of those headaches. The kind of headache that tells me "what the hell am I doing?" The doubt that a long-time unemployed person gets after getting rejected and ignored long enough to haunt you.
And I panicked.
This is the absolutely worst thing to be doing when a job interview is on the line. Panicking. At that moment I knew the whole effort was going to be a waste, that I wasn't going to be any good for the interview. I crossed out some of the personal info I already put on the form, handed the clipboard back in, apologized for wasting time and left. Kicking myself mentally the whole way out.
This is what two years plus of job hunting does to you. I try. I do my best to get in the mindset when I go into job fairs, and interviews, and shipping resumes to hiring workplaces. But the second that Doubt hits you...
The drive home was troubled. That headache was still with me. I took a scenic route home, looping around to get to a grocery store (needed milk, after all). The road I took is undergoing construction, so the lanes are down to two (one each direction). At one spot, the cars in front of me start swerving funny. And then I quickly see why.
A turtle was crossing the road.
This is Florida. This is occupational hazard to driving down here. Lots of roads through wooded areas with nearby lakes. Lots of places for turtles to live and grow. And sad to say, turtles get the urge to wander from time to time.
And our roadways are not designed with turtle-safe passages underneath them. Nor any turtle-level barricades to discourage them from passing the road.
To the cruel and disheartened, let me tell you: driving over a turtle is a bad thing. Especially to me. I've read Terry Prachett's Small Gods for one thing. I have some inkling of the concept of spirit guides, animal totems, etc. And turtles are a very spiritual animal.
Years ago, when I first coped with depression down in South Florida (was on Zoloft at the time), there was a day driving to work where I rescued a turtle off a major roadway... and I felt damn good the whole day. It's not a day I've forgotten: it's been one of the few days I ever felt good. Emphasis on ever.
I am not driving over a turtle. I owe them.
I got out of the car, with the drivers in the cars stuck behind me sticking their heads out yelling about what the hell was going on. I shouted back "I'm not driving over turtles" and focused my effort on picking up the little guy as he was scrambling across the road.
Turtle lifting is tricky. You don't want to drop them, and they do wiggle a lot. The turtle you see just wants to cross the road from Point A to Point Wherever the Turtle Thinks There's Turtle Happiness. So to him, getting lifted off the road and floating through the air makes no sense. Those stubby little turtle legs keep kicking in a walking motion. I finally got my fingers safely under his shell and carried him over into the dirt in the direction he was going. I made sure he'd be safe by carrying him a few more yards to the side than was necessary, in case the turtle changed his mind (Oh God. I hope not). By then the drivers saw I was turtle rescuing and waved back to me that they understood the situation. Got back in the car and kept driving in my own path. I know the turtle and I will not cross paths again...
So that's been my day so far right now. I screwed up a job interview and I saved a turtle off a busy road. I wonder how the Karmic balance on that works out.
There's something... soul-crushing with filling out an application for employment. There's the hassles of creating not just one resume but a series of resumes to cover every possible contingency that is out there... but now you've got to fill out a form that's asking for the information all over again.
So I was at an office this morning. I dropped off my resume at a table at the St. Pete Job Fair last week, and the company called for me to come in and fill out an application (and apparently a face interview to follow it). And I was sitting there, doing my best to fill out yet another application form...
...and I started getting one of those headaches. The kind of headache that tells me "what the hell am I doing?" The doubt that a long-time unemployed person gets after getting rejected and ignored long enough to haunt you.
And I panicked.
This is the absolutely worst thing to be doing when a job interview is on the line. Panicking. At that moment I knew the whole effort was going to be a waste, that I wasn't going to be any good for the interview. I crossed out some of the personal info I already put on the form, handed the clipboard back in, apologized for wasting time and left. Kicking myself mentally the whole way out.
This is what two years plus of job hunting does to you. I try. I do my best to get in the mindset when I go into job fairs, and interviews, and shipping resumes to hiring workplaces. But the second that Doubt hits you...
The drive home was troubled. That headache was still with me. I took a scenic route home, looping around to get to a grocery store (needed milk, after all). The road I took is undergoing construction, so the lanes are down to two (one each direction). At one spot, the cars in front of me start swerving funny. And then I quickly see why.
A turtle was crossing the road.
This is Florida. This is occupational hazard to driving down here. Lots of roads through wooded areas with nearby lakes. Lots of places for turtles to live and grow. And sad to say, turtles get the urge to wander from time to time.
And our roadways are not designed with turtle-safe passages underneath them. Nor any turtle-level barricades to discourage them from passing the road.
To the cruel and disheartened, let me tell you: driving over a turtle is a bad thing. Especially to me. I've read Terry Prachett's Small Gods for one thing. I have some inkling of the concept of spirit guides, animal totems, etc. And turtles are a very spiritual animal.
Years ago, when I first coped with depression down in South Florida (was on Zoloft at the time), there was a day driving to work where I rescued a turtle off a major roadway... and I felt damn good the whole day. It's not a day I've forgotten: it's been one of the few days I ever felt good. Emphasis on ever.
I am not driving over a turtle. I owe them.
I got out of the car, with the drivers in the cars stuck behind me sticking their heads out yelling about what the hell was going on. I shouted back "I'm not driving over turtles" and focused my effort on picking up the little guy as he was scrambling across the road.
Turtle lifting is tricky. You don't want to drop them, and they do wiggle a lot. The turtle you see just wants to cross the road from Point A to Point Wherever the Turtle Thinks There's Turtle Happiness. So to him, getting lifted off the road and floating through the air makes no sense. Those stubby little turtle legs keep kicking in a walking motion. I finally got my fingers safely under his shell and carried him over into the dirt in the direction he was going. I made sure he'd be safe by carrying him a few more yards to the side than was necessary, in case the turtle changed his mind (Oh God. I hope not). By then the drivers saw I was turtle rescuing and waved back to me that they understood the situation. Got back in the car and kept driving in my own path. I know the turtle and I will not cross paths again...
So that's been my day so far right now. I screwed up a job interview and I saved a turtle off a busy road. I wonder how the Karmic balance on that works out.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
What Else Do Libraries Want From Reference Librarians?
The toughest part of job-hunting these last two years has been tweaking my resume to try and highlight what exactly my expertise and skills are.
And coping with the feeling that I'm still missing the magic phrase that would make a library HR job-hunter go "Hola, this guy has mad skills!"
I mean, I spell out that:
And that's just with being a reference librarian. Past that, I've got additional skills with collection management, shelf management (and weeding of dated materials), subject headings and cataloging keywords, and even some skill checking books out and handling overdue fines. If there's been anything a librarian has to do, I've done it. I've even been a branch manager (granted, that only lasted a year before my immediate supervisor found me wanting and suggested I get demoted to just reference librarian... yeah, you're not supposed to mention the "negative things" but hell, it happened and I've got to explain it sooner or later).
And still, I feel I'm missing something.
Anyone out there reading this blog have any suggestions on what I need to say on my resume to impress the libraries out there hiring? Because in this job market, I'm up against one of the tightest markets for librarians ever as every state out there is facing massive budget cuts (and libraries are the easiest target for politicians everywhere... )
And coping with the feeling that I'm still missing the magic phrase that would make a library HR job-hunter go "Hola, this guy has mad skills!"
I mean, I spell out that:
- I've got years, 14 years and then some, working the reference and public service desk, answering questions, pointing people to the best resources, getting them to the research they seek;
- I've got years, just as long, working with computers - from the heady days of CD-ROM readers (I can still remember the time it took to switch disks locked into special case holders) - into the first citation-only online databases and from there into full-text articles and now into PDF print-quality journal pages. And not just researching them with Boolean search methods but with every Advanced limiter command prompt known to database managers.
And that's just with being a reference librarian. Past that, I've got additional skills with collection management, shelf management (and weeding of dated materials), subject headings and cataloging keywords, and even some skill checking books out and handling overdue fines. If there's been anything a librarian has to do, I've done it. I've even been a branch manager (granted, that only lasted a year before my immediate supervisor found me wanting and suggested I get demoted to just reference librarian... yeah, you're not supposed to mention the "negative things" but hell, it happened and I've got to explain it sooner or later).
And still, I feel I'm missing something.
Anyone out there reading this blog have any suggestions on what I need to say on my resume to impress the libraries out there hiring? Because in this job market, I'm up against one of the tightest markets for librarians ever as every state out there is facing massive budget cuts (and libraries are the easiest target for politicians everywhere... )
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