Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 94

I've joined the iPad club!

By Mike Jastrzebski

I'm not the first to blog on this site about the iPad. Christine Kling wrote about her purchase a year ago when the iPad first came out, and she followed up that post with information about apps for boaters and apps for writers. Last week Richard Jordan wrote about his purchase of an iPad just a couple of weeks before the iPad2 came out.

Up until yesterday I've steered clear of Apple products. At first it was mild rivalry. My neighbor bought an Apple computer and about the same time I bought a Commodore 64. I was convinced I'd bought the right computer, and he was sure the Apple was the answer. Obviously on that count he got it right, Apple's still going strong and let's face it, not many people have even heard of the Commodore 64.

Throughout the years I've stuck with PC's and avoided Apple. I have never even used an Apple computer, I don't own an iPod and I don't own an iPhone. To be truthful, when I went out and seriously began looking for a tablet I was sort of set on the Xoom. I went to the Verizon store, compared both items and I couldn't help it, the iPad was just a little sexier, a little thinner, maybe even a little smarter than the Xoom (more apps available). I played with the Xoom but my eyes kept straying to the iPad.

Still, I figured I had time. I've always had good luck with Verizon so I decided on the 64G-3G Verizon model. I was actually relieved when the Verizon Salesman informed me that he didn't know when they would have more iPads in. He took my name and number and said he'd call when they were in (ha, haven't we all heard that story before), and I went home empty handed.

Then along came Christine Kling! We are both members of Mystery Writers of America and since our local chapter was meeting for lunch on Saturday we decided to drive together. Everything was fine until we were driving home and I mentioned that I had pretty much decided I was going to buy an iPad when they become available again.

"Why, Mike," she said. "I've heard the iPad's available at the Apple store right here in Fort Lauderdale."

"Maybe I'll drive over and take a look after I drop you off," I said, figuring probably not.

"Why, Mike, I wouldn't mind going there with you." She pointed up ahead and added, "Just get off at sunrise."

Who could have guessed that the only iPad they had in stock was the 64G-3G Verizon model.

An hour later I called my wife, Mary, and told her, "Chris made me do it. She lured me to the store, put the Apple in my hand, and said, try it you'll like it."

I have to admit that it only took me an hour to fall in love with the damn thing. It's like a cute little puppy. You keep asking it to do something and it jumps up and down and you know it wants to do something else for you. Hell, since my wife's out of town for a few more days I may just sleep with the thing. You know, just to make it feel at home.

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Simply Sailing

Christine Kling is taking the day off today to welcome my friend and today's guest blogger, Connie McBride here to Write on the Water.  I first met Connie at Cooley's Landing Marina in Fort Lauderdale last fall when Eurisko was docked a few slips away.  We met and talked writing, sailing and simplicity.

Connie McBride

The sun was setting behind the island—no chance of a green flash, so I went below to wash the dinner dishes, leaving the boys on deck to play their sunset game. They start by watching the sunset from the cockpit, then standing on deck, then on the coaming, climbing into the rig until they're standing on their tippy-toes on the boom. In this way, like the Little Prince, sometimes they see 7 sunsets in one evening.

In the galley, with their squeals of excitement as background noise, my mind wandered. My hands were washing dishes but my eyes were seeing the shark our youngest son had befriended in our last anchorage. When the words started to come, I half-dried by hands, rushed for my writing folder and favorite pencil, and captured them before they could disappear.

Our oldest son joined me in the cabin, looked at the mess still in the sink and said, "I thought you were washing…oh, never mind. MOM'S WRITING!" He sent out the warning signal. Throughout their childhood the boys have known that these two words mean a number of things including, "Don't ask her a question, or if you do, don't expect her to hear you." At various times they can also be interpreted as "School's postponed," "The pancakes are going to burn," and "Turn the music down."

That I am a writer is something the boys accepted long before I would admit it. I used to say, "Oh no, I just write." I'm not sure what I thought the difference was. I wrote my first published piece (and the first I'd ever submitted) for a local sailing magazine "for fun." Those thousand words changed my life. I had never seen anything of mine in print before, and I was hooked. That was in 1999. I'm still writing for sailing magazines, though my focus has changed. Sailing with three small children created innumerable stories that were fun to write, fun to read, and fun to get paid for. But as the kids grew up and we sailed farther from our home waters, I realized that HOW we sail is so different from what the magazines promote that I needed a new outlet.

Eurisko in Providencia, Colombia

While many of my how-to pieces are published in national magazines, I reserved the most extreme simplification methods for my book: Simply Sailing: A Different Approach to a Life of Adventure. It's difficult to sell a piece about getting fed up with your marine head and throwing it overboard in order to simplify to a bucket. Magazines won't touch something like that, so to speak. Living without a fridge (or ice), novel storage ideas and major repairs (new non-skid for the decks) are OK, but try getting an editor excited about your kerosene lights or sculling oar. These are the kinds of tips I share on my website instead: www.simplysailingonline.com.

By sailing simply we were able to follow our dream at 31 instead of 65. We are not independently wealthy; we both work a few months a year at "real jobs" and I write year-round. (A "real job" is one that pays the bills and writing almost but not quite does.) But because we have no generator, refrigerator, pressure water, shower, marine head or outboard and few electronic gizmos, sailing simply is much cheaper, allowing us to go now! (Well…9 years ago.) This means our children also had the pleasure of experiencing the US East coast and the Bahamas several times, the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the US and BVI, Saba, Statia, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Saints, Bequia, Union and other Grenadines, Trinidad, Panama, Colombian islands, and Mexico. I'm glad we didn't deny them those experiences just so we could have a bigger boat with more gadgets later on. Our little 34' Creekmore Eurisko was all the five of us needed.

As life has gotten financially easier (The boat is paid off; the kids are grown; my book I is selling; magazine editors know me and publish almost everything I send them.) we have changed very few of our simple ways. Ironically, the biggest changes have occurred because of my writing. Though we have only a handheld GPS and hundreds of charts for navigation, I have a laptop, printer, digital camera and iTouch, all of which were indispensable for getting pieces to editors the year we were in Panama. Gone are the days of handwriting pieces (although I do occasionally still do it when the words won't come any other way), taking it to the library to type it and print it, put it and the pictures I had developed (once I finally used the rest of the roll of film) and a SASE in a manila envelope, hunting down a post office and wondering how long it takes to get mail to Boston from Trinidad. (The answer—Longer than you think.)

Eurisko enroute to Mexico

In order to combine our need for simplicity with my needs as a writer, we have had to be creative. Until a few months ago we were charging my laptop through an inverter. This means I got about 4 hours of computer time a day before our two 50-watt solar panels could no longer keep up, and the house bank voltage started to drop. We finally realized that it was the fault of the inverter, not my profession. We were changing the 12-volt DC power from the boat to AC for the 110 cord which changed it back to DC for the laptop. Weeks of research rewarded me with a solution: www.laptoppartsnow.com sells 12-volt plugs for laptops. Since we no longer waste the energy converting DC to AC back to DC, I can use my laptop for 10 to 12 hours a day and the batteries never notice it.

Though I encourage simplicity, I never feel like I'm missing anything. Our home is cozy and seaworthy and has taken us to places we never would have been otherwise. From her deck we have seen islands appear on the horizon, dolphins playing in the phosphorescence in our wake and pods of whale laying on the surface. These experiences have made me glad we sail simply so we could sail away sooner and hopefully longer. Besides, they give me something to write about.

Connie McBride, her husband Dave, and their three sons dropped their dock lines and sailed away from the Chesapeake Bay eight years ago. Since then, they have spent six years in the Caribbean, island-hopping up and down the island chain and recently spending a year in Panama. You can read about their adventures in Connie's new Kindle Book Simply Sailing and on her website www.simplysailingonline.com.

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Writing in public…

Now that I can write from home you'd think I'd be getting much more work done.  In theory, I suppose, yet somehow I'm discovering it's quite the opposite.  Home is the place of endless distractions, from the cat who insists my hand is there to pet her, not to click the mouse, to the dogs who normally nap for hours but *really* want a walk that very minute. Once the deaf one starts barking (a unique sound to say the least) the other two chime in and at that point forget getting ANY writing done! Then there's the calls from friends and family who *know* you are home. "It's just for a minute… I know you need to write…" they say, but those minutes add up. Then there's that piece of mail that requires follow-up and leaves you keying in an hour of menu options and listening to scratchy canned music. Groceries, laundry, cooking… there's always yet another thing waving for attention. Sneaking down to the boat with the laptop isn't much better. It's still quite cold, the space heater onboard quit the other day, and Annabel Lee is awash in unfinished work clamoring for my time.

I'm not a 'coffee' person, which is amusing because caffeine is my personal vice of choice, though I absorb it through countless cups of strong tea. But – and please don't laugh – I've discovered Starbucks. A few weeks back my daughter had an appointment, and our lovely spring weather here in New Jersey yet again involved a mix of snow and freezing rain: a less than ideal combination for her rear-wheel drive Mustang. I was hitting a writing wall and desperately needed to get out of the house, so I offered to drive her, joking that I'd sit in the Starbucks and write while I waited. We've all seen those people sitting in Starbucks, sipping their venti-soy-whipped-frappa-mocha-latte-whatever-chinos and tapping away intently at their keyboards – Family Guy even did a bit on it. I never thought anyone there got any real work done. I was only joking, but I did bring my 'ruggedized' laptop along.

I'm not joking anymore. No. Now I'm a convert, and you can find me there among the other regulars. I don't know if they are writers or business people or whatever else because conversations a few and far between with an unspoken understanding that we're all there to work on something. There's a certain pattern of people who arrive at the same time every day, stake out the same tables, set up shop and go to work. There's all the caffeine you could desire, (you can register a gift card and get free refills) comfy chairs, wifi, outlets, and your fellow co-workers will keep an eye on your computer if you need to visit the restroom. I tried the same approach at the library, which oddly wound up being more distracting, uncomfortably cold and didn't serve hot tea. So Starbucks it is, and the slightly wobbly table next to the window has become my workspace.  In fact, that's how I view it – as my new office. I can go there for four or five hours, settle in and work undisturbed, and since I've switched to this new system I'm getting immeasurably more writing done.  Who'd've figured?

So, how do you work best? What are your most productive hours and where do you find you get the most accomplished?

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Reading on the Water

By Richard Jordan

On February 20th, 2011, I purchased an iPad at the Best Buy south of Oakland Park Boulevard on the west side of Federal Highway. Sure I kind of knew that the iPad 2 was coming out, but I had to embark the next day on a delivery of a Lagoon 440 catamaran from Fort Lauderdale to Annapolis and could not stand the idea of being off radar. As techy as I am, I have never upgraded to a Blackberry or iPhone. I still cling to a Samsung smartphone without a dataplan. I felt like I had too many leads going on; plus I am an internet addict. Even with the iPad 2 out now, I would go back in time and buy one all the same. The decision was fantastic, and I was totally in touch with clients. You would be amazed at how constantly we picked up a 3G or E signal cruising 10 to 30 nautical miles off the Atlantic seaboard.

In addition to my need to stay in contact via email, I was motivated by the discussion about eBooks, Amazon's Kindle, and self-publishing here at Write on the Water to experience the revolution first hand. I am an enthusiastic believer that in 20 years most books will be delivered and read electronically. The new generation is coming, and they do not care about the nostalgia titillated by the tactility of flipping through a newspaper or book. Why order the print version if the electronic version is delivered faster for less expense? My experiences offshore with an iPad gelled up my conviction like pectin in blueberry coulis.

A simple vignette says it all. A day and a half out from Fort Lauderdale on my midnight to 3am watch, we motored along at 7.3 knots bearing 06 degrees in dense fog and no apparent wind 10 nautical miles off Cape Canaveral. I sat in the luxury of my vessel's interior helm station shopping in the iBooks virtual bookstore between scans of the .5 nm visible horizon and 4 nm range radar display. I settled on downloading a free selection of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, opened up a short story titled, "The Engineer with the Missing Thumb," and marveled at Sherlock's cocaine addiction. I could just as easily been lying at home in bed late at night. Any book I ever wanted to read was a few touches of my soft padded paws away. When I was relieved at 3am, I crashed into my portside quarter berth and slipped off to sleep, eagerly awaiting my next turn at the helm.

Count me in to this eBook thing. My next steps are to buy all the books of my close personal friends here that write on Write on the Water and to, even if it is not very good, publish my own book to experience the full cycle.

iPad or Kindle: Which one should I choose? The author's humble opinion… The biggest reason that it has taken me so long to get an iPad or Kindle is my uncertainty over which to choose. Until my delivery, I did not have a good motivation for a mobile machine so was thinking of purchasing a Kindle because of the device's lower expense and wider selection of books. I was totally pleased with my discovery of the Kindle application for iPad which may be an obvious feature to others. So in effect, I not only purchased an iPad, but wrapped inside that iPad is Amazon's Kindle. For me the other built-in iPad features such as email and internet browsing as well as the plethora of applications such as the useful Navionics application (which we as a paid professional delivery crew used to navigate through inland channels like the Chesapeake; forget your chartplotter) justify the almost three times higher price ($189 to $629). My opinion: get an iPad 2 if you are debating which reading device to choose. And get the 3G version too – you will enjoy it offshore even if you have Wi-Fi everywhere else. The charge for 250MB of monthly 3G data is $14.99 on the iPad while the Kindle includes free 3G service. You sign up for the iPad's 3G service through AT&T and can cancel anytime.

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Marine Journalism

by Tom Tripp

I seem to be somewhat of an odd duck in this flock of Writers on the Water.  I have spent a great deal of time on the water, and I am a writer, but only a beginning novelist.  I am a professional marine journalist and I make my principal living by writing freelance articles for the boating press, mostly online, and by running my own online "magazine" for cruising and passagemaking boaters.

I've been thinking about Christine's post here recently in which she described the duality of her passions as a writer/geek and sailor/geek (I've attached the geek to both sides, since she has both writing and navigational programs on her iPad). My own duality — boats and writing — is combined in my day job, and in that regard I am extremely lucky.

The 4th Estate

As a marine journalist I get to write about all the newest (and best of the older) boats, the latest electronics and technology, and I get to meet some of the most fascinating people in the industry. But I have to admit there is a side to this profession that is somewhat less attractive.

When I started my career some 30 years ago, I earned my stripes as a cub reporter in the aviation trade media. At the time, it had undergone a transformation from a "captive press" that mainly wrote what aviation companies wanted them to write, to a more hard-boiled style of journalism in the style of the new post-Watergate mainstream media.

The next 25 years I spent in corporate and government public relations, serving as the media spokesperson for, among others, CEOs and a Presidential Cabinet member.  My job in those years was to ensure that my company, my boss, my President, was fairly represented in the news coverage.  I recognized that the journalists had a job to do — as I had when I was a young reporter.  I also knew that if I helped them do their job, without compromising my own interest, they would respect me and be more likely to give me a fair shot at telling my side of a story.  It's human nature to be fair with people who are fair to you.  And it mostly worked.

So when I finally left that world and decided to write about boats as a freelance writer, it did not occur to me that the boating press business I was to join was an aging, ethically compromised dinosaur; limping along to what I think will be its inevitable death.  There is more than one reason the boating printed press is moribund — including the economy and the general decline of print media and the rise of Internet media.  But there is a more insidious problem in the business.  It's an old problem but one that just won't seem to die.

This may upset some of my colleagues in the industry, but despite various attempts to "reform" the business, the concept of "pay-to-play" is still alive and well.  Pay-to-play is when a company buys big advertising in exchange for favorable editorial coverage. It's ugly and serves no one except the publishers who accept that deal. It doesn't even serve the boatbuilders who participate (contrary to their belief) since it just takes credibility away from the articles that are written.

How can you tell when you're reading something that was paid for? You'll probably never be able to prove it, but there are some clues. Check out the big glossy cover photo on some of the magazines. Usually, it's of a boat that is one of the main feature articles that month. Check the inside cover or back cover of the magazine. Is it an ad from the same boatbuilder? If so, is it a coincidence? Perhaps.

Is this just a phenomenon of the printed boating press and are all magazines "bad?"  It's hard to say that.  And I don't exclude the possibility that some online sites are ethically compromised, too.  I've often wondered about some well-known boat review sites where the rumor is that the manufacturer must pay fees related to production in order to be reviewed.  If that's true, it's not ethical journalism.

Does any of this matter?  It matters to me as a journalist and as a writer. I learned very early in my career as a PR person that personal credibility was key to my personal success.  I feel the same way as a journalist.  My readers can trust that what I write is what I truly believe.  The truth is I don't waste my time, or that of my readers, writing about boats that I don't like.  But I've also never seen a perfect boat.  Some come as close as any boat can to the "perfect compromise."  Some are pretty good.  And the others I don't write about.   But I never take advertiser money in exchange for writing about, or writing something nice about somebody's boat.  I wish I had more company in that regard.

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From Rags to Riches on the Kindle: What's the right price for an e-book?

By Mike Jastrzebski

The question of what is the right price for an e-book has been on my mind a lot

lately. The general consensus among indie writers is that the sweet spot for

e-books is $2.99 while the traditional publishers seem to think that

$10.99-$14.99 is the right price for new books and $7.99-$9.99 for books that

are currently available as paperbacks. If this is right then why is it that as

I'm writing this post 40 of the top sellers on the Kindle bestseller list are

.99 cents?

I personally find the $10.99-$14.99 price to be too high and I have stopped

reading many of my favorite writers because of these prices. That's not to say

I will never buy a book at $14.99, but there are so many other books out there

priced lower that I have more than enough to read for the next several years.

As for the indie price of $2.99, I think it's a fair price and have had both of my

books set at this price since last summer when they came out, but that has

changed as of this past Wednesday. After reading Joe Konrath's blog on his

pricing experiment for his book , The List, I made the decision to

drop the price of my first book, The Storm Killer, to .99 cents through the month of April while leaving Key Lime Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery) at $2.99.

Was this a good decision? So far no. I was selling about 10 copies a day of The

Storm Killer prior to this move and I have been averaging only about 35 sales a

day since then. I've calculated that I have to sell 60 books a day at .99 cents to make the

same amount as I was making with 10 sales a day at the $2.99 price. The reason

for this is that at $2.99 I make about $2.00 a book and at .99 cents I only

make .35 cents a book.

The other thing I've noticed is that I've had a slight decline in the number of

copies of Key Lime Blues sold since Wednesday. Because of

these figures my first inclination was to put the price back up for The Storm

Killer, but I'm not going to do that. I have an ad running in The Kindle

Nation Daily today and tomorrow and since I've had good luck with these ads

I expect to see a significant jump in sales for the next few days.

Will it be enough to make this price change worthwhile? I don't know, but I'm going to

let this experiment play out for the next month and I'll be blogging about the

results right here for the next couple of Mondays, so stay tuned, and if you've

been thinking of buying The Storm Killer how can you pass it up at this

price? It's also available at B&N for the Nook at .99 cents. Here's the B&N link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Storm-Killer/Mike-Jastrzebski/e/9781452462646/?itm=2&USRI=the+storm+kille

And the Amazon Links:

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Sailing Writer

I've started work on designing my new blog/website/hub that will someday be located at sailingwriter.com, and as I'm trying to design the site, I've grown acutely aware of my own split personality; I am a sailor and a writer.

But what exactly does that mean?  What am I about these days?

I've started wondering if I might not be becoming completely unhinged by these two facets of my personality.

You see, I've just turned 57 years old, and it's really kind of funny that I am still this navel-gazing ancient adolescent who wonders, who am I?  Aren't we supposed to get over that as we approach the "third third" of our lives?  Evidently, I'm a slow learner.

My life is defined by two big sorts of events:  boats shows and writers conferences.  I know these are my two loves, but how do I make it comprehensible to the rest of the world?  How can I communicate this brand that is me without turning off one half of my audience while I concentrate on the other?

I mean there's something a little schizophrenic about the fact that my pulse beats faster when I visit a boat builder's workshop

Workshop at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michael's, MD

as well as the mega-Apple store in New York.

Glass Cube Apple Store in NYC

My sailing friends don't understand my need to write when I could be sailing, and my writing friends don't understand my need to sail when I could be writing.

Throughout my life I have always been a risk taker.  And I've thrown myself into situations with both of my lifelong passions by going cruising for many years and then becoming land-locked to chase the writing dream.  I've been incredibly fortunate and found some success in both worlds, but I've only managed it by concentrating on one or the other.  For the past several years, while I've been back to sailing again, I haven't completed or published any books.

Now, I have a completed draft of the new book, and I've sent it out to several agents to see if I can get back into the game of traditional publishing; although the renegade hippie cruiser in me is drawn to the indie self-publishing route.  At the same time, I've started my preparations to take off cruising when I quit my job at the end of this semester.  I've signed the papers, and it's official; I am quitting my job so I can write.

For the first time, I must make both sides of my split personality work.  I will have to write books fast enough and well enough to sell them to support myself.  And I will have to sail my boat and maintain it well enough to provide the writer with a place to live and work.  I've never been good at multitasking, and I'll be honest, I'm scared.  I know there are friends of mine who are saying I am crazy to walk away from this good job to pursue my dream of writing full time.  They are waiting with the "I told you so's" on the tip of the tongue.  "Don't quit your day job," they preach.  And that's probably pretty good advice.  But it doesn't speak to the dreams of my split personality.  And on the other side of my life, I was told tonight by an acquaintance, that I was probably the best female captain in my sailing club.  Note the word "female."  And I don't minimize the fact that I have a heck of a lot to learn about my engine, electrical system, refrigeration, etc. if I expect to maintain my boat on my own.  And I wonder if that maintenance will leave me with enough time to write.

But there is a place where the two sides of my split personality feel right at home, a place where people "get me."  It's right here at Write on the Water.  Mike was the one who had the idea for this blog, and the tag line says it all:  "So you want to quit your job, move on a boat, and write."  When we started this, we had no idea how many people might share that dream, that same split personality.  But I'm finding the numbers are growing. People are starting to approach me and tell me that they, too, share these two loves. I've been inviting guest bloggers because I want to build this community, I want to make friends with all these cool people who share my passions.

So, today, I would just like to say to all the readers of this blog, to all those who love writing and the water, thank you so much for proving that I am not alone.

Fair winds!

Christine

 

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Taste is a personal thing…

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The other day I received my first Two Stars on Goodreads. Not an actual review, but simply two stars with no further explanation, which left me scratching my head and pondering why this reader felt my story fell short of her expectations. My daughter called it a right-of-passage. She said now I was official; that a low review or two legitimizes the good ones. Everyone has different tastes, she said, and you can't please everyone. Still I can't help but wonder, did this reader not enjoy my plot and characters or did she dislike my writing? Was she offended by certain topics and character beliefs? Were certain passages to violent for her, or did she feel they weren't gory enough? Bottom line: what did I do wrong? There are many possibilities and I'll probably never know the answer.

A closer look at this reader's book list revealed that the books she'd bestowed four and five star ratings upon were meaningful, inspirational and compassionate books dealing with profound, life changing, deeply moving events. I suspect my book fell outside her usual scope of reading and that she was not among my target audience. Personally, I commend people for moving outside their usual territory; it's how we discover that new cuisine we might not have otherwise known, though if the meal is not to your liking it may not be the chef's fault. And while I decided I wouldn't dwell on this one low rating it did get me to thinking about the matter of personal preferences.

When I was buying my boat, an acquaintance insisted I should buy a 750 hp. 36' Intrepid center-console, which he felt was the most perfect boat ever created… in his eyes it was a five star boat, so to speak.

He couldn't understand why any reasonable soul would want a single engine 4 cylinder 80 hp. displacement diesel trawler.

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We're talking a serious case of apples and oranges here. Is either a bad boat? No. Yet I have no desire to blast across the water at obscenely high rate of speed and rattle my fillings loose as I race from fuel dock to fuel dock in an empty, missile-shaped hull with not so much as a cabin. And this fellow would find it intolerable to putter along at a sailboat's pace in a stodgy-looking little boat with loads of annoying brightwork that requires oodles of upkeep. The lovely 4-burner propane stove and oven would hold no appeal to someone who docks-n-dines. Clearly, my needs and his are two vastly different things. I understand that, yet he couldn't. Would he feel justified in giving my boat a poor rating? Likely. Would that be a fair rating? I don't believe so.

This reader expressed her opinion, which she is in all rights to do, and she did it in a polite and discreet way. I've seen scathing reviews that directly attack the author rather than their work, which leads one to question the reviewer's motives. Constructive, objective criticism is one thing; a wise author can work with that to make their writing better. But when I come across a review that bashes the author directly I don't see it reflecting badly upon the book, but rather upon the reviewer. Often a vicious review has prompted me to read the book so I could judge for myself.

In the end, reader's expectations are something authors can't control…. Taste is personal and reviewers are only human. Over the last few weeks I've begun posting reviews of books I've enjoyed and feel my readers will enjoy as well. Note the word 'enjoyed'. That's not to say I enjoy every book I pick up, but if I don't like a book I simply don't mention it. Mine is not a book review blog – the books I've read were not submitted to me for that purpose but rather ones I've picked up by choice. And I think writing reviews for other books has given me an interesting insight into my own writing. It's inevitable that not everyone will like my books. I know as a writer I can't please everyone; I can simply strive to put my best work out there.

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Soggy Dollar Shout-out

Pinch me.  As I write this, my book, A Single Deadly Truth, is #10 on Amazon's list for Hardboiled Mysteries.  I am not sure where the book will rank when this blog posts, but this Internet sunshine feels good right now.  Yet, as much as I am enjoying this lift in sales, hearing from readers has given me even more joy.

It has also been pretty neat to experience the reach of Amazon's distribution.  For example, Amazon's data indicated that I sold a copy of my book in the UK.  This surprised me because I haven't posted it on Amazon UK, but I solved this little mystery when I learned that word-of-mouth spread a recommendation to folks at the Soggy Dollar Bar down in the British Virgin Islands.  That, my friends, exemplifies the beauty of e-books.

Speaking of beauty, if you haven't been to the BVI or Jost Van Dyke, check this out:

(The Soggy Dollar Bar, Jost Van Dyke, B.V.I. www.soggydollar.com)

I am honored to electronically show up on the shores of one of the greatest bars on one of the finest beaches.  I am also in awe of this world of e-readers in which your book is available everywhere.

As consumers, we've been enjoying this e-revolution in the world of music for a while.  Recently, I downloaded some tracks from old albums I lost long ago – Illegal Stills by Stephen Stills, a couple of tracks from Boz Scaggs, and the song Better Not Look Down from a hard to find BB King album. At $.99 per track I was a happy camper and on the business side, the artists picked-up unanticipated royalties.

The same thing is happening in books thanks to e-readers. I am convinced of this.

So thanks again to the folks at the Soggy Dollar, and if you are headed to the islands, please consider stopping in to say hello. When you do, if you happen to have your e-reader along, know that you are good-to-go if you want to download a book or two.

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Sources

Michael Haskins

I am in North Carolina today to spend a few days with my military intelligence source discussing my fourth Mick Murphy Key West Mystery, "Stairway to the Bottom." It was a lot easier when he was stationed in Key West, but he took early retirement, is now an independent contractor, and lives on a horse ranch, until intelligence work comes his way and then he travels.

As a mystery writer in Key West who uses the island as the setting for my novels, it is important to get input from people, especially experts. There is little crime in Key West, if you compare it to most any city in the country. The lack of crime would make a mystery or thriller set in the Keys wanting for excitement.

I am a news junkie and read newspapers and newsmagazines in search of the quirky crime story and when I find one, I try to figure a way to import the crime or situation of the crime to Key West. This is when an expert source is most important.

Sometimes I go to my intelligence source with an idea and he explains the background and often points out the impossibility of it coming to Key West – and that's a good thing for those of us that call the Keys home.

Of course, when I bring an idea that is possible, it becomes exciting. My source explains what would be required and possible differences if the situations were to happen in the Keys. I always have to change something, but with the help of my source, I do it.

"Free Range Institution," that has just been released, is a good example. I read about the drug "paco" – not the nickname for Francisco – and thought that since it is cheap and lethal, why not smuggle it into the Keys and toss in a corrupt city commissioner – we really love our city commissioners, but I wanted to have some fun – and cartel mercenaries. My original idea was to land the seaplane in the backcountry of Key West.

My source spent a lot of time on the Caribbean coast of South America and was able to give me a history of "paco," suggested using an Albatross seaplane for the smuggling, and went on with stories of a pilot who used the large seaplane to fly square-grouper into the Bahamas back in the day. He also explained how smugglers used the island of Cay Sal Banks, about 60-nautical-miles southeast of Key West.

I went back to do research about Cay Sal and was able to use it in my story. Being that I am not a smuggler, I would have depended on what I've seen in movies or on TV or from the internet, if I didn't have my source. And, by the way, he assures me that in most instances the movies and TV usually have it for affect not fact. He also suggests questioning information on the web.

Another important input my source has had for me is his expertise with weapons. Until recently, we did not have a shooting range in Key West so when I had questions on what weapons the good guys/bad guys use he had the answers. Now we have a range within five-miles of my home and I do my research on small handguns there.

Actually, when my source read the first draft of "Free Range Institution" he pointed out some mistakes I had made. When I explained I had read news stories that indicated the situations and I used those facts. Well, there are facts and there are facts.

It seems, even the bad guys have favorite weapons and for varying reasons. I made the corrections and you'll see it, if you read the book, with the scooter assassins and the RPG attack at Cay Sal.

Is it important? I think so. At least if the details are correct the experts that may come across my book will take notice, even if other readers don't. For example, last week on Castle, a TV show I enjoy because of the acting and writing (and it's about a mystery writer), a federal Homeland Security agent says his automatic's "clip" had been empty when he pointed it at a terror suspect in custody.

Well, automatics have magazines; even most rifles have magazines, not clips. Many viewers could care less, but I thought of how the writer hadn't done research and wondered how many others caught the mistake.

Research is important and over-research is best, but having an expert read the manuscript is even more important. I know there's a whole generation that assumes it's true if it's on the internet, but nothing is as good as experience and that's where your sources come in. Use Google as one source, not an end-all. Find the expert sources, use them, and listen to them. You'd be surprised how many people out there would love to share their knowledge with a writer. And sometimes for free. It costs me a dinner, a few drinks, and copy of the book and I get a great car trip to boot!

Do you use sources? Tell me about it.

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