Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 81

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I'm sure some of you have noticed I haven't been blogging this week. I had bought my own domain, StephenBurckhardt.com and had started building a new website through iPage. When I tried to set up my blog the RSS feed wasn't working and their tech support has been working on it for over a week now and it's still not fixed.The category buttons on the support page didn't work either and I had to use my Geek Squad account to fix that issue since the iPage tech support couldn't get it fixed. Plus, today when I went to log onto iPage, their server was down. It was just not worth the money I was paying for it.So now I'm start to build a new site again. I haven't hooked the domain to this page yet but I will get to that tomorrow night. I wanted to make sure this was going to do everything I wanted before I paid for it. I do not want to start over again.I have a test tomorrow and if I pass I will have a second job. I will be teaching English to students in China via the internet. I've done one test so far and passed and if I pass two more I start teaching. I get to set my own schedule and can work as much as I want and only have to work 7.5 hours a week so I will have plenty of time to write ... until my class starts up again in November. When that happens I'll be lucky to sleep.I keep feeling like I'm taking one step forward and then two steps back. If this keeps up, I'll be doing a cha cha in no time.

Ugh! The Yin and Yang of Technology!

[image error]Technology can be great, when it works. I can keep in touch instantly with friends around the world. I can build a new website on my own domain,StephenBurckhardt.com.But when technology doesn't work it can be a real headache.I have been trying for a week now to set up my new blog on my new site and I keep getting a server error when I try to connect the RSS feed. I have been talking to the tech guys at iPage, who hosts my domain, for about 5-6 days now. They have asked for screenshots, asked me how I put the RSS feed on my page, asked what the error message was that I keep getting. Then today they closed the issue and it's still not fixed.Frustrated with all of this, I went into the service chat to cancel my service with them. Then in a few minutes I was told that the issue is with their server and they have people working on it. Something I was not told by any person I chatted with, emailed with, or contacted in the ticket messages. UGH!So now I've had to, for the time being, reconnect my blog on my old site to be able to broadcast my blogs again. Why does it seem like there is always something that doesn't work quite right when you are trying to play catch up?So I'm giving them one more day to fix the issue. If it's not fixed tomorrow I will have a hard decision to make. If I cancel my service with iPage, the page I have created atStephenBurckhardt.comwill be deleted and I will have to start yet again. I really love the way it looks and it will be very frustrating to have to start again. I might try setting up a blog on WordPress and and just connect it to my page but I really do not want to do that. I want to keep things as simple as possible. Right now, I don't know what I should do.We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Progress! I have a New Domain, New Webpage, New Email, and New Commercials.

Hello my friends,

I feel like I'm finally getting on the right track for my writing career. It's been a rough first year but I am not discouraged. If anything it makes me want to try that much harder to make my dream of a full-time writing career a reality.

If you have found your way here, you will see I have my own domain now thanks to Dianne Burckhardt. She bought DianneBurckhardt.com and is letting me piggyback on her setup with my own subdomain StephenBurckhardt.com. With this new domain comes new opportunities.

I am in the process of creating a new, more professional looking, website
I am able to create my own mail address: S.Burckhardt@StephenBurckhardt.com
It will be easier for anyone who is interested in my work to find me and my books
I will eventually have my own store where I can sell my own books and other supporting products the list goes on ...

After I get a basic version of this site up and running, hopefully by the end of the week, I plan to get started writing third novella installment of The Into the West Saga, Into the West: Sharon Springs . I'm behind my schedule I set down for myself in getting this book written. I need to paly a little catch up before the holiday season puts me even further behind.

Dianne and I are working on finishing up the audiobook version of Into the West: The Orphan Train. This process is taking us a bit longer to learn than we expected but once we get this all down and the first audiobook has been produced, the rest of the books will go much faster. We are excited about getting the audiobooks out and will continue to work toward that end. We had wanted to have this first audiobook produced before now but we chose to strive for quality over getting to market faster. I personally want to make sure everything I produce is the best I can possibly make it for those of you who spend your hard-earned money on my work. You deserve nothing less and I will always do my best to make sure you get my best work.

Thanks for following my career and I hope you stick with me as I set and meet my goals. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Where to Begin?

So much has been going on. First, and most annoying, the G key on my laptop is sticking so half the time it doesn't actually work. It's making writing very interesting. A close second in annoyance is I'm still coughing. So much so, P.R. made a special trip today to find the strongest cough syrup you can get over the counter.I have been working with Dianne on a new website. I really do not have the money to put into one so I'm going to piggyback on her site and help out with keeping it up. The new website will be under a dedicated domain name. We are currently trying to decide on the domain name. We would love to have some input from anyone and everyone about what you think would be the most memorable and easy to find name.The Choices are:1. BooksByBurckhardt.com2. Books-by-Burckhardt.com3. BurckhardtWrites.com4. Burckhardt-Writes.com5. DianneBurckhardt.com    -   It will ultimately just be her site after I get my own6. Dianne-Burckhardt.com   -    I will just have a subdomain of my own on her site for now7. BurckhardtBooks.com8. Burckhardt-Books.comDrop me a note and let me know which one you like or suggest one we didn't think of.I also recently found a tutorial that explains how to set up audiobooks with chapters so a listener can skip from section to section. I'm hoping to try it out soon and see if I can get it all set up. Getting closer to figuring out my audiobooks!Lots of progress being made though it doesn't really feel like it. I have a lot of catching up to do after our vacation and getting sick. I hope I can get back on track this next week. For me that means getting at least the first chapter of book three written.Speaking of book three ...I'm looking to build a team of beta readers. What this means is I'm looking for people who have accounts with Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and/or Goodreads or are willing to create accounts. You will get a free copy of my books before they go on sale. You will be required to read it and give me feedback within a week. Also you will be required to post a review on one or more sites mentioned above the week the book is released. When I finish a serial I will publish a book containing all novellas in one volume. There will be a page in the collection book listing all the beta readers and thanking them for their input. There will also be a page on my website to thank beta readers. When I have contests and giveaways there will always be something extra for the beta readers. So that is it. If you like reading free books and giving your opinion this could be for you.If you are interested in being a beta reader for me just drop me a note at stephen.burckhardt@aol.com  subject line: beta readersNow, time to figure out where to start.

So Very Tired of Coughing

Today was long and tiring. I managed to get a few things done today but not as much as I wanted. I just can't stop coughing and it's wearing me out. I hope tomorrow will be more productive.Dianne Burckhardt and I are looking at creating a new website with our own store where people can buy our books directly from us. It will be a joint effort and we also want to network with our other friends who are writing and promote their books if they will promote ours as well.This is a short blog but I'm too tired to think so I'm going to bed for now. I hope to have a bit more information tomorrow.

Back From the Dead ... Sort of ...

I took a longer break from work that was planned. P.R. and I had a great time on our vacation. I can easily say this was the best birthday of my life.We got home and returned to our normal working lives and P.R. got sick. I was doing my best to be a good caretaker and get P.R. back to full health, which I did. P.R. wa only down for a few days and then went right back to work.A day after P.R. left town, I got sick. The thing with having the kind of condition I have is that when I get sick, I don't just get the sniffles and need a day or two in bed like most people, I get very sick. I have been in bed for a week now and still have a long way to go to be healthy again. Not going to bore, or gross out, anyone with details but it will be a few days yet before I'm really up and around again.Right now the only things that are really getting me up and out of bed are taking care of Shaggy and going to the bathroom, evening eating is not really mandatory at this point. However, as you can see, I did get my butt up long enough to do at least a tiny bit of work today, which actually turned out to be a bit depressing.I've been dealing with some hard issues about my writing career. I need to make some money and so far this western serial just isn't cutting it. I can't seem to find the right combination of promotions, brides, or just outright begging to get people to post reviews or share my posts. It could be the genre, westerns are not a huge selling market. It has been suggested that the covers aren't interesting enough or that the fact that I promote the serial novella category too much and the actual story line not enough. I don't know.Then there are the audiobooks. I'm doing more and more research into how this is done and I think it will be a revenue boost but the technical part, if I want to do a good product, is going to take a bit more time to learn. One thing I have decided for sure is, right now I need to put the audiobooks on the back burner for a few months while I learn more about the production side of it. I am not scraping that project, I just won't be making that my main focus right now.So now what to do about the actual books?I love these characters and this story and I have the next two books plotted out in my head and ready to be put on the page. But will the work be worth the money? Last year I made a total of $75 combined from every book I have out. (I have a feeling those were all bought by two people, my mother and my friend Gayle Kelley.) I could have made more selling plasma. I have been taking money from my 401K to help cover my time off to get a writing career going but I'm getting to the limit I set for myself to take out. I lose so much in penalties that at some point I might as well just set all my cash on fire, it's that kind of waste.I have friends who are self-publishing in romance and erotica and are making a small but steady income with their books. I had wanted to write something with more heart and deeper cultural significance but I think that only works if you are George Orwell or Jane Austin. The vast majority of today's readers want to 50 Shades of Grey not Pride and Prejudice.No matter what, I need to finish this western serial. It will forever be in my head and won't go away until I write it down. But do I finish it right now or do I take a short break and write one book that could bring in some money? That is the real question.I will be doing a lot of thinking today and I hope to make my decision this week.

When Life Gives You Lemons ...

Things are crazy right now. I would bet you can tell by now that when the blogs aren't happening, my days are too crazy to keep up with them. It's not going to get better for a while.Tomorrow, P.R. and I leave for a short trip. I do not plan to take the computer with me for a few reasons. One, it's not really a vacation if you are working and two, this computer is starting to act a little wonky and I do not want to take the chance that it will get messed up while traveling. I depend on it too much!Shaggy will be staying with friends while we make this trip. We had wanted to take him with us but it just doesn't seem like a good idea. We would rather he stay here with people he knows.So sorry for the lack of communications right now but I will get back in full swing when I get home. I should add here, it's my birthday next week so I think I'm allowed to be a bit of a lazy bum for a short while.

Shaggy, Diets, and Pokemon Go

P.R. and I both decided we want to lose some weight. With us having to watch Shaggy's diet so closely because of his health, it made us start talking about our own. I'm doing my best to give up bread. I was eating way too much of it. P.R. is eating a lot more salads for meals. I can't get myself to do that. While I am the vegetarian in the family I have always hated salads. Ironic, I know.Today, I decided it was about time I got Shaggy out for a walk. I've been babying him since he was sick but now it's time to get him back to his normal schedule. I wasn't planning on taking him out to any shops or on busy streets, just a short walk around our neighborhood. Before heading out I finally decided to join the cult and download Pokemon Go. If nothing else it would give me something to do on the walk beside picking up Shaggy's poop. I caught a Bulbasaur and Ghastly on this first walk, I have no idea if that is good or not.I have also started going out on days P.R. isn't home, running errands and leaving Shaggy home alone for about four hours at a time. When I do get around to going back to school he's going to be alone five to six hours a day again. So this is a good start for him. He has done very well. He hasn't torn anything up and there haven't been any messes in the house.As soon as I get this blog posted, I'm going to get some work done on the audiobook edits. I want to, at the very least, get the audiobook for Into the West: The Orphan Train done this month. This first one is a learning process for all of us. I hope all the other audiobook will go faster.Tonight, I plan to get some dog food canned for Shaggy. I got all of the jars exchanged yesterday and they have all been through the dishwasher. So, I just have to cook up a new batch of food, fill the jars and pressure cook them.  I think as long as I don't blow up the house it will be a success. But for right now ... back to the sound studio!

Who Needs Sleep ...

I'm so tired. I have been trying to study for my class, keep up with blogs, work on editing the audio for the audiobooks, and now I'm teaching myself how to can food ... for my dog.Shaggy has some very bad allergies, they almost killed him, and to keep him healthy I'm having to cook for him. But we are going to be going out of town for my birthday later this month and I didn't want our friends who will be watching him to have to cook for him like I do. I'm happy to do it because I love my little furry buddy but I doubt my friends will be as happy to do it all.My solution was to can his food and then my friends only have to open the jars to feed Shaggy. He gets his good healthy food, they don't have to cook, and I know he's taken care of while we are gone. Just one problem. I have never canned food in my life.My Granny did it a lot and mom did some heat seal canning but no one ever taught me how to do this.  So, I'm currently teaching myself how to do this. It doesn't seem that difficult when you have the right tools. I ordered an electric pressure cooker to make it easy and I went out today and bought all tools I'd need: tongs, jar wrench, and all the jars I would need to get started. Only one problem, the jars I bought are too big for the cooker.Tomorrow, I will have to go back out and exchange the jars. To make things more complicated, I had to shop two places to get all the jars I needed. When I get home I will cook up a huge batch of food and start canning Shaggy's dog food. All this walking and you'd think I'd be losing weight.

Everything But the Blog

This week has been very productive in every way except where work is concerned. I have gotten so much done this week it's actually been pretty amazing. Projects that I have let slide by the wayside for months now all got finished. I caught up on home repairs, cleaned out the kitchen pantry (which still had stuff left by the people who lived here before us), and even read up on how to can meat. I'm thinking about keeping Shaggy on this home cooked food diet and canning my own for him.I'm crazy, I know. It's not like I don't have enough going on working with Dianne to finally finish the audiobooks, write my blogs, and write the next book in theInto the West Saga Serial, Into the West: Sharon Springs. I think since my class is going to have to be put off until the end of September or later, I'm just really restless.If you don't personally know me, let me explain, I get bored easy. When I was in college in my twenties, I would work two or three part-time jobs while going to school. I need projects and if I don't have them I have actually been known to sit in one spot thinking, about everything, writing stories in my head, planning art projects, and more while not moving an inch ... for hours. It's kind of unnerving, even for me.So, I need busy work. I am not ready to start writing part three just yet. I want to get the audiobooks for part one and two set before I start on writing part three. So, since I can't start writing part three and I don't have a class to go to I need to keep busy. Today I vacuumed the apartment, cleaned the rugs, dusted, washed the patio furniture, changed the tablecloth on the patio table, brushed out Shaggy, vacuumed again, baked banana nut bread, and prepped dinner so I'll only have to pop it in the oven when P.R.'s plane lands. I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting ... oh yeah, wrote a few blogs.Tomorrow, Dianne and I will have another recording session to see if we can get some significant headway on the audiobooks. I also need to check into the best way to publish these. I also still need to work on the cover art for the Barnes and Noble editions of my books. So much had been done and still so much left to do. Thank goodness.