Allan Krummenacker's Blog, page 7

Another Option For Those Writing On A Budget

    I'm letting one of my co-authors take the helm here at the blog today.  So allow me to introduce one of my oldest friends and partner-in-crime Rich Caminiti, as he shares with you his own wisdom about writing on a budget.  Take it away, Rich...


    Welcome my friends, and thank you to Allan for letting me write my piece for you. In his last musing, he spoke of his computer woes not only about his desktop but his laptop as well.
      Well, I too seem to have shared the same fate. But wait, I'm getting to my point! I had to wait and pick up a new laptop which some of you may have seen my post about setting it up. (To a computer technician, to get this perfected to our satisfaction takes forever!)
     When Allan needed Microsoft Office I surmise and Helen had told him about WPS Office which cost him nothing. A very excellent deal! Five second ad and all.
     I also told my cohort that I could give him Office 2016 Pro for free, he thought about it for not even a moment and said that he wished to use WPS Office. While appreciative of my offer, he did not want to advertise something that he didn't use himself. That's integrity. So, I offered up an alternative to him that would forego the nag screen (the ad screen). That alternative is called OpenOffice.
    When OpenOffice was created by Sun Inc., for those who remember, it was pretty much to get back at Microsoft. It appears the two were in a battle about Sun Java and Microsoft machine Java. Well, MS won the day. So Sun went about creating OpenOffice. It not only could open MS Word doc's, excel and PowerPoint files, but edit them and save them in the same format as well.

     So you want to write and you can't afford MS Office, either go with WPS Office, or OpenOffice, and you wont go wrong. Take a look at the screen shot I've included above. You'll see almost all the functions of MS Word. Meanwhile, take a peek at the program!
     Thank you all and keep writing my friends.

     Rich

An Early Halloween Treat From Us to You...

*Helen and I agreed that this particular snippet from "The Vampyre Blogs - One Day At A Time" was just perfect for this time of year. While it does not cover the entire story, this particular section seemed just right for the holiday season. And as with many of the tales you'll find in this collection, we start laying down the foundation for other stories down the road. We do things like this because we want the Para-Earth Series to be open-ended. There is no specific ending in mind, however there will eventually be closure for some of the characters, but not for a long time to come. We're generating new ideas all the time for existing characters as well as ones you've yet to meet. So rest assured no one is going anyplace just yet. However, there are also untold stories form earlier years like this one. So sit back and enjoy an adventure from Lisa and Marisa's childhood... HALLOWEEN FRIGHT (2007)by Helen Krummenacker Two giggling girls, nine years old, were getting to trick or treat on their own for the first time after solemnly swearing to their parents that they would stick together with the buddy system, not go into any houses, and stick to familiar streets. And Marissa and Lisa really meant it, too, when they gave their word. But once they’d gotten their sacks more than a quarter full, they were starting to feel like the main part of town was a little bit boring, even with decorations. Marissa’s mummy bandages were meeting with confused remarks by neighbors who were more familiar with hospital dramas than ancient Egypt, nor did Lisa’s top hat and cape read as Mr. Hyde as much as “Abe Lincoln, maybe?”, killing some of the fun of dressing up. Toddlers and their parents, surrounding them on the streets,not only slowed them down with small talk, but stifled any real delightful shiver of uncertainty. “I know a place,” said Lisa, “where there’s probably no one home, but it would be fun to explore.” “What do you mean?” asked her best friend. “Well, I know the owner, but he doesn’t live there. The place has been empty for years,” she told Marissa, savoring the word ‘years’, drawing it out for emphasis. “I don’t mean go in, but there’s woods and a little cemetery--” “I am NOT going to a cemetery on Halloween night! The place sounds creepy.” “That’s what makes it fun!” Marissa grinned quickly, thinking of all the spooky old films she loved. “Yeah.” She thought about it. “How about we get our bikes and go there, but we stay in sight of the road when we’re there and don’t stay too long.” Lisa nodded. “Sounds smart. But it’s really not going to be too scary. I mean, sometimes things that seem scary at first turn out not to be.” She couldn’t really explain her Uncle Nathan, but it didn’t seem like anything associated with him could turn out bad. After all, he was a vampire… and the sweetest grown-up she knew. Marissa was enjoying the chill of the air on her face. “It’s beautiful out here.” The moon was overhead, the trees rustled mysteriously, and the scent of pine, cedar, and birch tinged the breeze. “I thought there were a bunch of old mines on this side of town, though. It’s pretty hilly out here.” “Yeah, I think there were some old ones.” Lisa tried to remember what Nathan had told her. “They used to have a small one on the estate we’re going to, that just took out coal to sell in town in the old days. People used it in their stoves. It closed for a while, but then it was opened during World War II by government order, for industry.” “How do you know this stuff?” “I told you, I know the owner. He’s a family friend, basically. And he’s the last of his family, so sometimes he gets, what’s the word… nostalgic.” They saved their breath to pedal their way up a long uphill stretch. At the top, Lisa stopped to let Marissa catch up. She pointed, “See, you can see the house past the field. I guess they kept this area cleared.” “Someone’s got sheep grazing there,” noted Marissa. “Sheep aren’t very scary.” “Does that mean you want to see the cemetery?” “No! … Maybe.” They nudged each other, shoulder to shoulder, before taking off down the hill towards the big old house that stood under the moonlight, darker patches where the pale paint had flaked off, vines growing onto the expansive porch, trees beyond with branches scant of leaves, many already lost to the aging fall. It began to feel quite spooky again as they drew closer to see more detail. Faded velvet curtains could be seen through dirty windows. The wind in the trees made suggestive rustling sounds. The creak of their own pedaling could be footsteps on an old, loose floorboard from the rooms above. The girls got off their bikes as they reached a grass-overgrown gravel path leading around the house and began to walk the path, pushing the bicycles by the handlebars, trying not to let the gravel crunch too much under their feet. It’s not that I’m scared, Lisa told herself. It’s just that it doesn’t seem right to be noisy here. Like being in a library or a museum. It was a matter of respect. Something cold and clammy touched the back of her neck and she squealed before she could think. “What is it?!” Marissa whispered, worried. “A drop of cold water. It fell off of the eaves.” Indeed, the cool night air was producing condensation and the trees and overhangs slowly, almost silently, loosed accumulated moisture without sparing any thought for the nerves of passers by. “We’re being ridiculous,” Marissa said a little louder. “Thinking drops are a clammy finger or that the gravel is tiny bones crunching under our feet. It’s just an old farm no one lives in anymore. We drive past places like this all the time.” Not just like this,” Lisa said defensively. “There was a terrible tragedy here.” She wondered briefly about Marissa’s mention of the gravel sounding like crunching bones. Someone was getting carried away by their imagination, and that someone was not her. “During the Civil War, you know West Virginia and Virginia were on different sides. And the Virginians were very angry about it. There was this point during the war when a mob crossed the border and they killed a lot of people here.” “I did not want to know that.” Lisa realized the fun was starting to go out of this for Marissa. “It’s okay. It happened so long ago. And… it’s not like ghosts are real.” There, she’d said it. It might not be a very Halloween thing to say, but she didn’t want her friend to be seriously frightened. They stood there beside the empty old house in silence for a moment, looking at each other, wondering what they really believed about any of these things. They were not that far from home, really. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with being here for a picnic on a bright, sunny day. Maybe they were only really afraid because they were breaking the rules. Maybe they only got goosebumps because the night was a little damp and the breeze was making them cold. Or maybe they weren’t quite sure that things didn’t go bump in the night. The breeze, which had joined them in stillness, rose up again, and a small, thin voice was carried with it. “Where is everyone?” It was a girl’s voice, sounding a little younger than they were, or perhaps she just sounded even younger because it was high with a plaintive note. “Where is everyone?” The voice said again, with a slightly different inflection. Lisa and Marissa opened their mouths and screamed in unison. They climbed back onto their bicycles and got back onto the road. They had pedaled at least a tenth of a mile before they realized they had headed the wrong direction, still travelling away from the town. Now, beyond the house, the trees were the scraggly remains of old orchards, interspersed with volunteer trees grown wild from seeds left by birds or squirrels. Lisa signaled for Marissa to stop. “Are you okay?” they asked each other at the same time, then laughed a little, still nervous but feeling reassured by friendship. *And while the girls are catching their breath, we will leave them. To find out what happened next I'm afraid we'll have to keep you waiting a couple of more months. We know the holidays are coming and everyone will be busy with family, parties, etc. and so will we. But rest assured we have more complete stories to share with you here, so please keep checking in and from both of us may you all have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN.*

An Early Halloween Treat...

A Halloween Tale is now available for perusal over at my other blog: The Vampyre Blogs - Private Edition. Come on over and enjoy a brief scare by clicking on the link below...
https://thevampyreblogs.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-halloween-tale-from-our-upcoming.html

Review Of Ira Levin's Classic Novel "The Stepford Wives"

A few days ago, I managed to finally locate a copy of this book at my local used book store and immediately snatched it up. Having seen both the original 1975 movie starring Katharine Ross, as well as the more recent Nicole Kidman version, I was eager to read the actual book that made the term Stepford Wives part of our everyday lexicon.I'm going to assume that most people reading this blog already knows the story and how it ends. If you haven't seen either movie I strongly recommend the 1975 version which is much closer to the book, and not read the rest of this entry until you have because it contains huge SPOILERS!For those who are continuing to read this post you have been warned...Mr. Levin once again presents us with an idyllic setting and situation, namely the homey little town of Stepford with its picturesque white picket fences and home town charms. We meet Joanna Eberhart who has just moved here with her husband Walter and their two children Pete and Kim. We quickly learn that Joanna is a modern thinking woman of her time (early 1970's) and is a freelance photographer who has made good money selling her photos to various magazines. Walter is a successful lawyer who wanted to move from the city and raise his family out in this charming place.Through Joanna we are introduced to the various residents of Stepford whose female population seems to have a strong leaning towards housework. On her first night Joanna spots her next-door neighbor who is putting out the garbage. While this is not unusual in and of itself, the fact that the woman, who is backlit from the light from her open door, appears to be wearing nothing at all. Even when she returns inside her house, Joanna can clearly see her neighbor's perfect curvy silhouette in the window as the woman continues to do the dishes still naked. We soon learn that most of the wives of Stepford are pretty much dedicated to being good housekeepers and making their husbands happy in every sense of the word.Feeling out of step with the female 'crowd' Joanna is delighted to make friends with two other women who have only recently moved to Stepford; Charmaine and Bobbie. Charmaine is a dedicated tennis player who has a clay court in her yard, while Bobbie is a strong woman with definite reservations about how the women of Stepford behave, vowing never to be like them.After a weekend away with her husband, Charmaine proceeds to neglect Bobbie and Joanna who pay her a surprise visit to find she is having her tennis court ripped up to be replaced by a putting green for her husband. Charmaine has also taken up housework with a vengeance and appears more full-figured than either Joanna or Bobbie remember. Yet even more chilling are Charmaine's words when she is asked why, "Ed's a pretty wonderful guy, and I've been lazy and selfish..." Such phrases like this are echoed repeatedly throughout the book by other wives as well.As in his work "Rosemary's Baby" Mr. Levin uses the supporting cast of characters to present reasonable arguments that Joanna and Bobbie are just letting their imaginations run away with them. He plants the seeds of doubt liberally, but never enough to be fully convincing. Especially when Bobbie falls to the same fate as Charmaine, leaving Joanna more alone and afraid than ever before.But the most terrifying part of this story for me was the knowledge that Walter, like so many other husbands, brought his family to Stepford for the sole purpose of having a 'sexy, obedient, fantasy' version made of his wife, knowing she'd be killed after the copy was ready. For me, it was the enormity of this betrayal that provides the true horror for this piece. The idea that the patriarchal sense of entitlement was more important to these men, than the lives of the women they supposedly loved is inexcusable.At the time this book was written (1972) the women's movement was still going strong, in spite of facing huge resistance. Yet 40 years later, feminism is still trying to make progress while being attacked with a vengeance on a number of fronts. Wanting true equality for all, regardless of sex, gender, skin color, or whatever, should not be a crime or something one needs to fight for. It should be a right offered to everyone. Instead the struggle continues, which is why this book is still extremely relevant now. Personally I feel this book should become required reading in high school/college in the hopes of opening more minds so that the future holds more opportunities and understanding for all.

Another Glimpse Into Our Upcoming Anthology

*Update from Allan: Last week, while awaiting the arrival of a replacement laptop for me, our desktop computer gave up the ghost. This left us with just Helen's laptop which she needs for college accounting courses. So our release date for "The Vampyre Blogs - One Day At A Time" has been pushed back until "Twelfth Night" or January 5th, 2018. We chose this because with the holidays coming we will have a harder time getting things done like beta-reader testing, edits, artwork finished, cover art, and formatting the book. Furthermore, December is notoriously a bad time for independent authors to get much visibility due to the big publishing companies dominating advertising for the Christmas rush. In the meantime, here is another sneak peek into the anthology. This installment is one that I feel really shows off Helen's skills in setting, mood, and storytelling. We hope you enjoy what you see and we'll keep you posted on when pre-orders will be available. Happy reading everyone...THE EYES UNDER THE SOFABYHELEN KRUMMENACKER Tim was bored. It was another long summer day in a summer that was made ever longer by their move to a house in the country. He didn’t know any kids in the area, and even if he did, it wouldn’t make any difference because it was too far to walk anywhere if he didn’t tell his folks where he was going first. That was unfair. It was unfair, too, that they had moved in the first place. He couldn’t believe his folks actually thought he’d like it out here, where there was nothing for miles but rocks and trees, and stupid hick people, and dirt and snakes. Nothing happened out here. At least, nothing exciting. Back home (home was still the city, this was just the new house) there were games in the street, and rollerblading on the sidewalks. If you bladed fast and were quiet, you could go right past the old folks carrying home their groceries, and scream at the last minute so they’d get scared and drop them. And sometimes one of the older kids would get in a fight and get cool bandages. And you could hear fire engines and police sirens and ambulances. Out here all you ever heard was the wind in the trees. It didn’t even sound the same as wind did back home, gusty and thudding. It was like being at the ocean, all the noise dying into a murmur. He could hear himself breathe. He could probably hear Killer breathe. Killer was Tim’s cat. Killer was all black, so when he was in a dark place, all you ever saw were two shining eyes. He usually did hide in dark places, too, under furniture, so that he could reach out from underneath to attack passing ankles. There was a dangerous sort of energy in that cat, the strength, the obsession, the ruthlessness of an army compacted down into a twelve pound package-- at least when he wasn’t curled up in a lap or taking a nap. If Tim could find Killer, they could play. Killer got bored out here, too. No more cockroaches to kill and carry around in his mouth. Not that he shouldn’t be able to find enough other disgusting little things to play with out here. But he hadn’t been himself since they moved a month ago. He was shying at corners, sniffing and bristling as he looked at empty spaces. Tim laughed. “Killer, are you afraid of the bogeyman? Didn’t you know mom and dad moved us out here ‘cause it’s safer?” Sure it was safer. Mom hadn’t liked it when he’d told her about the neat pistol Bobby had brought to school last May. But here the guys probably all had hunting rifles. “Killer, where are you?” Scuffling came from the family room. That was where all the comfortable furniture was, the stuff that had come with them from the city. The stuff in the living room was all ‘country’, which his mom liked and he would like to make kindling of. That was an idea, Tim told himself. We got a fireplace now. Tim went in search of the scuffling noise. Maybe Killer had found a rat. He could take it and put it where his mom would find it and maybe she’d be so grossed out they could move back home. Not likely. He could hear the noise more clearly. It was coming from under the big, fluffy sofa, and it was kind of a growl, repeated once in awhile, and a lot of scuffling and scratching. Yeah, Tim thought, Killer’s found a rat. Dropping to his knees, he bent down and twisted his head so he could look under the sofa. It was tricky, because the furniture was so low. He had to almost lie against the hardwood floor to do it. But under the couch were two big yellow eyes. “Killer,” Tim called, hesitating a moment. The eyes didn’t look real friendly. Of course, they wouldn’t-- not if Killer was really going after something...

Adventures with Computers Part II...

We're going to continue our discussion about adventures with computers.

When last I posted, I had just finished telling you all about the events involving the death of my little blue laptop and our desktop, and how we had just gotten around replacing them with refurbished computers.  In both cases, neither the new laptop nor the desktop had MS Office which meant no word processing program, excel, etc.  And since we were still on a budget purchasing would be more than a minor inconvenience at this point.  So what to do?
Well, Helen had told me about WPS Office, a system that she had downloaded onto her laptop a year ago which is fully compatible with MS Office while costing $0.00 to download.  There is one caveat however, every time you open a file in WPS Office you have to put up with a 5 second ad before proceeding.  Right off the bat I was like, "I can handle a 5 second ad, and if that's all sign me up."  But then a second thought occurred to me.   How how well would the files from that system would work for submitting finished books and stories to Createspace and Smashwords.  

Both of those publishing systems have strict and specific submission guidelines, for those who haven't used either yet.  In the case of Createspace, they insist on submissions being in PDF so right there I had a major concern.  However, my worries were quickly relieved when I saw that as part of their Word Processing program, there is an option to save your work as a PDF.  This was a big relief.  Furthermore, you can also save your documents as Word .doc or .docx.  Word .doc is the big requirement for Smashwords, so again a big plus.  And of course the price was right, so I went ahead and downloaded the system.
Navigating WPS Word is very easy.  The layout is very similar to the MS Word program most of us are already familiar with. 


Your cut/paste, fonts, sizing, and other favorites are all there at the top just as usual.  The exact order they appear may not be identical but a minimum of patience is all that I found to be needed.   You'll also find your little symbol buttons for save, print, go back, go forward, available as well.  Of course, to save your file in a specific format you'll need to click on the W Writer box and select Save As... which will give you a number of options including Export to PDF, MS Word .doc, MS Word .dot, and MS Word .docx.  Which basically covers your submission needs for both Createspace and Smashwords, as I explained earlier.  
The system is nearly identical to MS Office in all the respects for my needs.  Someone else may have encountered issues I'm not aware of, if you have and are reading this please share those concerns with the rest of us down in the comments section.  The reason I put this blog together to share personal knowledge and experiences in my writing journey, not just mine but yours as well my friends.  So please don't hesitate to share yours or even some concerns you may have.  If I don't know the answer, chances are another reader might have it.  
Now as for the other programs offered under WPS Office, I haven't worked with many of them yet but Helen has with great success.  From what she's told me the spreadsheet and Powerpoint are on par with MS 365 Office.  If you choose to go for the WPS Office remember you can download the free version which also comes with 1 GB of Cloud space, or you can upgrade to Premium (which removes ads) has advanced features, including document collaboration.  There is also a Professional Version and a Student Version.  I don't know too much about those last two versions so I cannot say much about them.  As I said earlier I myself stuck to the free download which is serving me just fine as I already share collaboration documents through Google Docs, and of course have Cloud storage space there.  So if you find yourself in a situation like mine, hopefully this is a viable alternative for you.  I still love MS Office, but until I get some other things taken care of like dental work, I have to watch my pennies for a while
 
Regardless of what Office system you use, remember to back-up your files.  I do so on Google Docs, Cloud, and on Flash Drives.  You never can have too much back-up for your work!  All of these saved hours and months of writing projects when my laptop and desktop died, I didn't lose a single sentence, word or period.
I want to finish by saying I haven't actually submitted anything to Createspace or Smashwords since starting with the WPS Office system, but trial runs where I submit a file to get a preview on Createspace has met with the same success I've experienced using MS Office.  Once our latest project "The Vampyre Blogs - One Day At A Time" is submitted, I'll let you all know how things went.  
Until then, use whatever you feel comfortable with as far as "Office" systems go.  If you're on a budget like me, I think you will be rather pleased with trying WPS Office.  You can find it by simply Googling WPS Office.  
That's all I have for now.  Until next time, take care and keep writing.

Halloween Readings

***MULTIPLE 4 and 5 STARS REVIEWS****Looking for a good creepy read? The Para-Earths Series may be just what you're looking for. Paranormal meets Science Fiction in these three terrifying and yet touching tales that will keep you turning page after page to see what happens next.Although part of an ongoing series each story can be read in any order. Come and check out why this more and more people are talking about this intriguing and growing series.KINDLE:https://www.amazon.com/Para-Earth-Series-3-Book/dp/B01MFAGI7H/ref=pd_ybh_a_19?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CSC40VJRXZF2ZZZQZZMWNOOK:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/allan%20krummenacker/_/N-8qaKOBO, APPLE, SONY, PDF READERS:https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/1383

1st Sneak Peek Into Our Upcoming Anthology..

The long wait to replace my now deceased laptop has unfortunately been extended due to circumstances beyond my control like, car registration, car repairs, books for my wife's college classes, etc. Luckily I am on vacation this week, or rather a 'stay-cation' and am working hard to get our upcoming anthology edited and ready for beta-reading. We hope to have this process completed by the end of this month. In the meantime, with our time and resources being a little limited, we decided to offer the first sneak peek into the anthology itself. We hope this peek will intrigue and delight you all, since it will be the first of several leading up to the day of the book's release. So without further ado, here is a snippet from the first of the twenty plus tales that will appear in the collection we call: "The Vampyre Blogs - One Day At a Time":FROM THE DESK OF CAPTAIN BRIAN WESTON OF THE UNION ARMY – June 30th, 1863 “A Letter To My Wife” My Beloved Madeleine, I know you have been troubled by how distracted I seemed last we were together. I know I told you it was simply the weight of being responsible for not one but two companies of men. But with our division on the eve of what may possibly be the biggest battle we’ve faced to date, I feel it only right to explain myself in case I fail to return, especially with the approach of our firstborn mere months away. I want our baby to know that my thoughts were never far from home, nor was there a mistress or dalliance that had captured my heart. There has only been you and no other. Actually, it is an old friend, whose unexpected return one cold night in January, who has occupied so much of my mind. Of course, you will correctly surmise that I am referring to young Nathaniel Stewart. After believing him lost at Mary’s Heights, his sudden reappearance weeks later raised more than a few eyebrows and murmurings among the men. But then it became clear he had come back to us not as a deserter, but as a hero. Why did I not mention that last fact to you earlier? I have been under orders from the President himself to be remain silent on the matter, but with the war so unpredictable, and having recently just escaped death thanks to young Nathan, I feel it only right that you know everything. As I already indicated, it began early this year, January 2nd. Night had fallen and my men had already turned in for the night when a carriage arrived. It had been stopped at the gate and then sent right through, which is highly irregular. Even Colonel ----, had not been notified of the late arrival, nor was he summoned to the meeting that followed. Instead our late night visitors came straight to my quarters. Being a soldier, I am accustomed to being awoken at odd times, but upon seeing who my visitors were, I was so taken aback, I almost forgot to snap to attention. Discovering the President himself in your office wishing to speak to you, is not a position a mere captain is used to finding himself in. Even more shocking was finding a member of my company, and long time friend whom I believed had perished at Marye’s Heights, standing next to such our Commander in Chief. “Nathan?” I breathed, before finally remembering my place and greeted the President smartly. “At ease, Captain,” my superior instructed. “This meeting is of course not a social call, but a matter of great delicacy. It will help decide the fate of this young man.” My legs nearly failed me. Seeing Nathan alive after nearly a month’s unexplained absence, I had feared that I would have to brand him a coward and order a firing squad come morning. You know of course from long habit that in spite of the almost decade difference in our ages, I look upon Nathan as a younger brother. Perhaps, it was losing my own sibling, that I sought to fill the gap in my life created by his passing and Nathan was a good fit. Plus it was because of me he was able to join our company, in spite of his young age and sometimes questionable health. So you can understand how the very thought of having to order his execution for desertion clutched my heart with an icy vengeance...

Adventures With Computers...

Guess what?

September has been quite the month for me and Helen.  Some of you may remember that about a month ago, my little blue laptop became... 'unreliable' to the point I dared not risk any of our stories on it.  So it was sent to the wayside, leaving only our desktop (which I could not bring to work of course) and Helen's laptop which she needs on a daily basis for her online college classes.  This put a serious dent in my ability to write or even be online as often as I wished, much less getting much writing done except on weekends.  
We also had expenses to take care of, like college books for Helen which took priority over replacing my laptop.  Finally, things were looking up just on the eve of my weeklong vacation at the beginning of September when illness and car troubles reared their ugly heads and forced us to push the laptop purchase back even further.  After getting the car situation squared away (over the course of most of my vacation), our desktop computer joined the little blue laptop by giving up the ghost.  


This left us with just Helen's laptop and my Kindle and little else.  Finally about a week ago, our finances were stable enough for us to purchase a refurbished desktop and a refurbished laptop together for about $300.00 (thank you Amazon, you guys are a God-send).  However, the delivery time for each computer was about another week or so, which meant I was still cut off from real productivity.  This led to a decision about pushing back the release date of our upcoming anthology book.  We had hoped to have the book ready for beta-readers by now, but with the delays in writing and the upcoming holidays, finding readers who have the time to even look at the book will be difficult.  Furthermore, the earliest we could get the book out would be a week or two before Christmas which is not a good time for indie authors to sell unless they have a huge fan base already.  It's around Christmas the the big publishers make a massive push and getting your own book noticed at this time is a nightmare.  
However, early January is an ideal time for new indie books because the holiday obligations are over and people have lots of lovely gift certificate cards they want to use on Amazon, B and N, etc.  

With this in mind, we still wanted to catch some of the holiday spirit and have decided to release "The Vampyre Blogs: One Day At A Time" on January 5th, which happens to be Twelfth Night (or the 12th Day of Christmas).  This works great for us in a number of ways, especially since the first story in that anthology takes place around New Years Day (or on Twelfth Night itself, Helen has plans for a story that may be finished in time to add to the anthology... we'll see).
There has been one other thing that forced us to push the release date of the book, namely getting used to the new computers.  Since both are refurbished, this means that all programs were erased from the hard drives and one is mostly left with whatever operating system remains.  This meant, no MS Office (i. e. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), very basic Anti-Virus protection, or other special programs a writer might really want/need.  
Now, being that we are on a budget decisions had to be made about what to load up onto our new computers.  How did we handle that?  You'll find out in our next post, but the word "FREE" figures heavily into the solution.
Until then, take care and keep writing my friends...

1st Sneak Peek Into Our Upcoming Anthology..

The long wait to replace my now deceased laptop has unfortunately been extended due to circumstances beyond my control like, car registration, car repairs, books for my wife's college classes, etc.  Luckily I am on vacation this week, or rather a 'stay-cation' and am working hard to get our upcoming anthology edited and ready for beta-reading.  We hope to have this process completed by the end of this month.
     In the meantime, with our time and resources being a little limited, we decided to offer the first sneak peek into the anthology itself.  We hope this peek will intrigue and delight you all, since it will be the first of several leading up to the day of the book's release.
So without further ado, here is a snippet from the first of the twenty plus tales that will appear in the collection we call:   "The Vampyre Blogs - One Day At a Time" :
FROM THE DESK OF CAPTAIN BRIAN WESTON OF THE UNION ARMY – June 30th, 1863 “A Letter To My Wife”


     My Beloved Madeleine,

     I know you have been troubled by how distracted I seemed last we were together. I know I told you it was simply the weight of being responsible for not one but two companies of men. But with our division on the eve of what may possibly be the biggest battle we’ve faced to date, I feel it only right to explain myself in case I fail to return, especially with the approach of our firstborn mere months away. I want our baby to know that my thoughts were never far from home, nor was there a mistress or dalliance that had captured my heart. There has only been you and no other. 
     Actually, it is an old friend, whose unexpected return one cold night in January, who has occupied so much of my mind. Of course, you will correctly surmise that I am referring to young Nathaniel Stewart. After believing him lost at Mary’s Heights, his sudden reappearance weeks later raised more than a few eyebrows and murmurings among the men. But then it became clear he had come back to us not as a deserter, but as a hero. 
     Why did I not mention that last fact to you earlier? I have been under orders from the President himself to be remain silent on the matter, but with the war so unpredictable, and having recently just escaped death thanks to young Nathan, I feel it only right that you know everything. 
      As I already indicated, it began early this year, January 2nd. Night had fallen and my men had already turned in for the night when a carriage arrived. It had been stopped at the gate and then sent right through, which is highly irregular. Even Colonel ----, had not been notified of the late arrival, nor was he summoned to the meeting that followed. Instead our late night visitors came straight to my quarters.
     Being a soldier, I am accustomed to being awoken at odd times, but upon seeing who my visitors were, I was so taken aback, I almost forgot to snap to attention. Discovering the President himself in your office wishing to speak to you, is not a position a mere captain is used to finding himself in. Even more shocking was finding a member of my company, and long time friend whom I believed had perished at Marye’s Heights, standing next to such our Commander in Chief.
     “Nathan?” I breathed, before finally remembering my place and greeted the President smartly.         “At ease, Captain,” my superior instructed. “This meeting is of course not a social call, but a matter of great delicacy. It will help decide the fate of this young man.” 
     My legs nearly failed me. Seeing Nathan alive after nearly a month’s unexplained absence, I had feared that I would have to brand him a coward and order a firing squad come morning. 
     You know of course from long habit that in spite of the almost decade difference in our ages, I look upon Nathan as a younger brother. Perhaps, it was losing my own sibling, that I sought to fill the gap in my life created by his passing and Nathan was a good fit. Plus it was because of me he was able to join our company, in spite of his young age and sometimes questionable health.  So you can understand how the very thought of having to order his execution for desertion clutched my heart with an icy vengeance...