Mark R. Hunter's Blog, page 70
July 12, 2016
Rolling With the Presses
An article about Hoosier Hysterical is up on the KPC News website:
http://kpcnews.com/news/latest/new_er...
It’s the result of a press release I sent out last week to several dozen news outlets—paper, radio, and TV—across Indiana. This has been the only bite so far … as far as I know! If anyone sees something elsewhere, please pass it on.
Later I’ll blog the press release myself, and probably beg people to spread the word. A successful writing career is 80% showing up, 15% actual writing, 10% promotion, and 25% begging for exposure. Yes, I know that adds up to more than 100%; that’s why it’s so hard to have a successful writing career.
http://kpcnews.com/news/latest/new_er...
It’s the result of a press release I sent out last week to several dozen news outlets—paper, radio, and TV—across Indiana. This has been the only bite so far … as far as I know! If anyone sees something elsewhere, please pass it on.
Later I’ll blog the press release myself, and probably beg people to spread the word. A successful writing career is 80% showing up, 15% actual writing, 10% promotion, and 25% begging for exposure. Yes, I know that adds up to more than 100%; that’s why it’s so hard to have a successful writing career.
July 10, 2016
When I Was a Kid ...
SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK
Nothing makes a person feel older than when they start telling those “when I was a kid” stories.
Example: When I was a kid I really did have to walk to school, through rain or snow. The winters really were colder back then. And, through some trick of physics, it really was uphill both ways.
Actually, the alley I used to take to school is only uphill part of the way. The rest of the way it’s downhill. So that memory, like most, was only half right.
Still, overall that “when I was a kid” story is true. When aiming to impress, the trick to this particular tale is to never mention that I only lived two blocks from school.
I found myself telling one of those stories after May’s spring cleanup week. That’s when you drag all the junk that’s too big to fit into trash bags to the curb, where the town has someone haul it away. It’s an effort to keep people from dumping their junk, which they probably should never have bought anyway, into a ditch somewhere.
When I was a kid people just tossed junk into ravines out in the country. A wonderful place to explore—when I was a kid. They didn’t have recycling, and pollution was someone else’s problem.
You’re in “when I was a kid” mode when actual kids roll their eyes, while people your age nod in agreement. Actually, when I was a kid people who are my present age seemed ancient, but now they don’t seem very old at all.
Sorry, when I was a kid I didn’t go off on tangents like that. Now, some time back my son-in-law gave us a tube TV—when I was a kid we just called it a TV. Officially they’re CRT sets, which just means they have huge backsides … insert your own booty joke here. It was the biggest TV I’d ever owned, with a 32 inch screen.
It weighed 75 pounds.
Later, we found a flat screen TV on clearance. It was an off-brand, but the price was right and it had an even bigger screen. It was awesome: not just the size, but the better picture.
It turned out I’d been wrongly blaming the networks: “When I was a kid, ‘Star Trek’ was bright and colorful! Now I can hardly see what those Winchester boys are doing on ‘Supernatural‘, it’s so murky!” When you’re hunting demons it’s usually at night, but never mind.
I dragged the big booty TV off to the back porch. It didn’t seem to mind, being old and tired.
Sometime after that I needed another computer monitor, for writing projects that required extra screen space. We bought a smaller flat screen TV, which could be hooked to the computer. When not being used for that it’s in the kitchen, so I can turn it on and complain about how, when I was a kid, they actually had weather on The Weather Channel instead of “reality” programming.
Which is untrue, because when I was a kid there was no Weather Channel.
Soon I realized we had a bunch of tube TVs we just didn’t need anymore. Surely someone would want them, so we set them out for sale, for $15.
No one wanted them.
$10.
No one wanted them.
$5. Nope. Finally I put a “free” sign on them, and put the word out on social media. Free TVs! Free! They work just fine! No one wanted them. Even Goodwill didn’t want them. Nobody wanted CRT TVs. Nobody. And I had four—four working CRT TVs.
Think about that. My wife and I grew up poor, and are still clawing our way through the lower middle class. But we had SIX working television sets. It killed me, to consider throwing away something that worked just fine. Well, more or less just fine—on “The Walking Dead” you had to squint to tell which ones were the zombies—but still.
As I dragged the old sets out to the curb (somehow, the biggest now weighed 95 pounds), I caught myself grumbling …
Well, you know what I grumbled, and it shows my age. When I was a kid we had one TV, a console set. You older people, explain console sets to the younger ones. It was black and white, and probably 19 inch. Once, it stopped working. You know what my brother did? He went outside and played. You know what I did? I read a book. Nobody panicked; nobody ran out to go into debt on a rent-to-own set.
By the time I moved out on my own I’d already become a consumer, and didn’t want to be without a TV. Luckily, I was given a free one, just like the ones I tried to give away. Well, not just like. It was a 13 inch black and white set. I always had two weights on top, all the way on the right end, carefully laid so that they dented the case in just a little.
Without the weights, the sound wouldn’t work.
Yeah, things have changed. I no longer have to hang a coat hanger from the curtains to pull in a scratchy, snowy channel. I don’t have to worry about the sound suddenly cutting out in the middle of “Buck Rogers”.
But I had a TV and, oddly, I think I appreciated it more. In other words, to quote still another phrase that makes me feel old:
I was darned glad to have it.
Nothing makes a person feel older than when they start telling those “when I was a kid” stories.
Example: When I was a kid I really did have to walk to school, through rain or snow. The winters really were colder back then. And, through some trick of physics, it really was uphill both ways.
Actually, the alley I used to take to school is only uphill part of the way. The rest of the way it’s downhill. So that memory, like most, was only half right.
Still, overall that “when I was a kid” story is true. When aiming to impress, the trick to this particular tale is to never mention that I only lived two blocks from school.
I found myself telling one of those stories after May’s spring cleanup week. That’s when you drag all the junk that’s too big to fit into trash bags to the curb, where the town has someone haul it away. It’s an effort to keep people from dumping their junk, which they probably should never have bought anyway, into a ditch somewhere.
When I was a kid people just tossed junk into ravines out in the country. A wonderful place to explore—when I was a kid. They didn’t have recycling, and pollution was someone else’s problem.
You’re in “when I was a kid” mode when actual kids roll their eyes, while people your age nod in agreement. Actually, when I was a kid people who are my present age seemed ancient, but now they don’t seem very old at all.
Sorry, when I was a kid I didn’t go off on tangents like that. Now, some time back my son-in-law gave us a tube TV—when I was a kid we just called it a TV. Officially they’re CRT sets, which just means they have huge backsides … insert your own booty joke here. It was the biggest TV I’d ever owned, with a 32 inch screen.
It weighed 75 pounds.
Later, we found a flat screen TV on clearance. It was an off-brand, but the price was right and it had an even bigger screen. It was awesome: not just the size, but the better picture.
It turned out I’d been wrongly blaming the networks: “When I was a kid, ‘Star Trek’ was bright and colorful! Now I can hardly see what those Winchester boys are doing on ‘Supernatural‘, it’s so murky!” When you’re hunting demons it’s usually at night, but never mind.
I dragged the big booty TV off to the back porch. It didn’t seem to mind, being old and tired.
Sometime after that I needed another computer monitor, for writing projects that required extra screen space. We bought a smaller flat screen TV, which could be hooked to the computer. When not being used for that it’s in the kitchen, so I can turn it on and complain about how, when I was a kid, they actually had weather on The Weather Channel instead of “reality” programming.
Which is untrue, because when I was a kid there was no Weather Channel.
Soon I realized we had a bunch of tube TVs we just didn’t need anymore. Surely someone would want them, so we set them out for sale, for $15.
No one wanted them.
$10.
No one wanted them.
$5. Nope. Finally I put a “free” sign on them, and put the word out on social media. Free TVs! Free! They work just fine! No one wanted them. Even Goodwill didn’t want them. Nobody wanted CRT TVs. Nobody. And I had four—four working CRT TVs.
Think about that. My wife and I grew up poor, and are still clawing our way through the lower middle class. But we had SIX working television sets. It killed me, to consider throwing away something that worked just fine. Well, more or less just fine—on “The Walking Dead” you had to squint to tell which ones were the zombies—but still.
As I dragged the old sets out to the curb (somehow, the biggest now weighed 95 pounds), I caught myself grumbling …
Well, you know what I grumbled, and it shows my age. When I was a kid we had one TV, a console set. You older people, explain console sets to the younger ones. It was black and white, and probably 19 inch. Once, it stopped working. You know what my brother did? He went outside and played. You know what I did? I read a book. Nobody panicked; nobody ran out to go into debt on a rent-to-own set.
By the time I moved out on my own I’d already become a consumer, and didn’t want to be without a TV. Luckily, I was given a free one, just like the ones I tried to give away. Well, not just like. It was a 13 inch black and white set. I always had two weights on top, all the way on the right end, carefully laid so that they dented the case in just a little.
Without the weights, the sound wouldn’t work.
Yeah, things have changed. I no longer have to hang a coat hanger from the curtains to pull in a scratchy, snowy channel. I don’t have to worry about the sound suddenly cutting out in the middle of “Buck Rogers”.
But I had a TV and, oddly, I think I appreciated it more. In other words, to quote still another phrase that makes me feel old:
I was darned glad to have it.
July 7, 2016
Sometimes You Just Have to Judge
I’m taking time off from my writing stuff to work on someone else’s writing stuff: specifically, I’ll be busy the next few days judging 4-H entries.
For those who don’t know, 4-H is an organization that gives hands-on learning experiences to young people. (That’s the way-short version!) I’d always thought of it as farm related—showing animals, and such. Turns out it’s way more than that, and a few years ago I was approached about helping with an area close to my heart, creative writing.
How good are the entries? In a few years, these kids will be helping me with my writing.
For those who don’t know, 4-H is an organization that gives hands-on learning experiences to young people. (That’s the way-short version!) I’d always thought of it as farm related—showing animals, and such. Turns out it’s way more than that, and a few years ago I was approached about helping with an area close to my heart, creative writing.
How good are the entries? In a few years, these kids will be helping me with my writing.
July 6, 2016
How Do You Say Book Review In German?
Here’s something odd: So far, a full half of the Amazon reviews for Hoosier Hysterical have come from Germany!
https://www.amazon.de/review/R29SUBVF...
Or maybe not so odd, since I’ve only gotten two reviews so far.
https://www.amazon.de/review/R29SUBVF...
Or maybe not so odd, since I’ve only gotten two reviews so far.
July 5, 2016
author interview ... with me. Hey, I'm an author!
Would you like to know some background stuff about me and my writing history?
You wouldn’t? Oh.
Well, for the rest of you, here’s a piece on Fiona Mcvie’s author interview blog:
https://authorsinterviews.wordpress.c...
It’s a bit lengthy—Fiona asks a lot of questions!—but think of it as an interview novella, rather than an interview short story. She pries out of me how I came to be me, author-wise: a six year old fanfic writer, Star Trek theft, how a science fiction writer got published in the romance genre, and why my main influence is still a children’s author, among other things … all the way up to my retirement plans. Oh, and there’s a sample of Hoosier Hysterical, titled “Facts is Facts”.
Well, I thought it was interesting to write. Like therapy, only without the insurance bill.
You wouldn’t? Oh.
Well, for the rest of you, here’s a piece on Fiona Mcvie’s author interview blog:
https://authorsinterviews.wordpress.c...
It’s a bit lengthy—Fiona asks a lot of questions!—but think of it as an interview novella, rather than an interview short story. She pries out of me how I came to be me, author-wise: a six year old fanfic writer, Star Trek theft, how a science fiction writer got published in the romance genre, and why my main influence is still a children’s author, among other things … all the way up to my retirement plans. Oh, and there’s a sample of Hoosier Hysterical, titled “Facts is Facts”.
Well, I thought it was interesting to write. Like therapy, only without the insurance bill.
July 4, 2016
Independence Day
On this Independence Day, please remember that while we all have differences, we’ve always had differences. We’re still all human beings, and far more alike than we are different. I think most of us—at least, most of us outside the Beltway—still want to keep this country free and great, even if we disagree on how to do so. So disagree, but try to find areas of agreement, and respect each other.
In this time of world war with no end in sight, we need each other now more than ever.
In this time of world war with no end in sight, we need each other now more than ever.
July 2, 2016
ALL-IN author booth photos
Here are a few photos from last Saturday’s author appearance at the ALL-IN Block Party. It was a 200th birthday party for Indiana, and my new humor book is about Indiana, so showing up was pretty much a given.
http://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2016/...
I’ll post some other photos from the overall event later.
http://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2016/...
I’ll post some other photos from the overall event later.
June 29, 2016
Brother Update
Jeff tells me he has all his chest tubes out, and so is tube free and is now running and jumping and dashing around … well, he’s tube free. And he sure is happy about it!
He does have some rest and recovery to work on though. If you know Jeff, you understand why that’s work—I expect Cathy’s biggest need the next couple of weeks is going to be a supply of duct tape to keep him secured to a chair.
He does have some rest and recovery to work on though. If you know Jeff, you understand why that’s work—I expect Cathy’s biggest need the next couple of weeks is going to be a supply of duct tape to keep him secured to a chair.
June 28, 2016
After-Action Report
Well, Saturday was the official debut of our eighth—count ‘em, eight—published work in just five years. That doesn’t by itself explain my exhaustion, but it helps. The good news is that it didn’t blow rain in on fifteen writers sitting under a canopy, and we also didn’t set any high temperature records, and a good time seemed to be had by all.
Still, we didn’t sell all that many copies of Hoosier Hysterical. Part of that might be that everyone’s attention was split, with so many things going on at once for the ALL-IN Block Party. We did get some sales—about sixteen, if my counting is correct, spread out over all the books.
The surprise for me is that we sold two copies of the anthology My Funny Valentine, which I have a humor piece in. Kind of a seasonal thing—and since I only have one humor piece in that anthology, I don’t even count it as one of mine. If you include it and my short story in the anthology Strange Portals, you could argue I actually have ten books out. I wouldn’t, but you could.
Anyway, between spending the day outside without hydrating and an ill-timed lawn mowing experience the next day I got a bit too much heat—which also helps explain the exhaustion—but I’m glad I was able to experience Noble County’s own celebration of Indiana’s birthday. I still haven’t had a chance to download the photos yet, but they’re coming.
Still, we didn’t sell all that many copies of Hoosier Hysterical. Part of that might be that everyone’s attention was split, with so many things going on at once for the ALL-IN Block Party. We did get some sales—about sixteen, if my counting is correct, spread out over all the books.
The surprise for me is that we sold two copies of the anthology My Funny Valentine, which I have a humor piece in. Kind of a seasonal thing—and since I only have one humor piece in that anthology, I don’t even count it as one of mine. If you include it and my short story in the anthology Strange Portals, you could argue I actually have ten books out. I wouldn’t, but you could.
Anyway, between spending the day outside without hydrating and an ill-timed lawn mowing experience the next day I got a bit too much heat—which also helps explain the exhaustion—but I’m glad I was able to experience Noble County’s own celebration of Indiana’s birthday. I still haven’t had a chance to download the photos yet, but they’re coming.
June 24, 2016
Join us tomorrow—be ALL-IN
The Welcome Center for the Noble County ALL-IN Block Part opens at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday), and the opening ceremony is from 9:30-10 a.m. After that all the Community Partner Booths open, including the 15 (or maybe 16!) authors at the Noble County libraries location, on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Albion. The entertainment goes on until 3 p.m.
Emily and I tend to be night owls, so be there early to help us stay awake! In addition to our newest book, Hoosier Hysterical, we’ll have copies of all seven of our print books available. Only my e-book story collection, Storm Chaser Shorts, is not available in print.
Hoosier Hysterical is priced at only $10, even with all the photos … and don’t be surprised if we have some deals going for those who want multiple books.
Emily and I tend to be night owls, so be there early to help us stay awake! In addition to our newest book, Hoosier Hysterical, we’ll have copies of all seven of our print books available. Only my e-book story collection, Storm Chaser Shorts, is not available in print.
Hoosier Hysterical is priced at only $10, even with all the photos … and don’t be surprised if we have some deals going for those who want multiple books.
