Elgon Williams's Blog, page 18

Changes In Frequency

Hey all who follow and read my blog. I will need to be changing things up a bit. I’ll still be posting to the blog but the frequency is about to change. There will be a weekly blog post but I cannot guarantee which day of the week at this point. Sorry about that.

I have been working more hours at my day job. Also I’m about to enter into a period of editing my next book(s) for publication as well as working on marketing and publicity campaigns for sixteen other authors. Yeah, I’ve become a plate juggler keeping sixteen plates spinning all that the same time, and sometimes one or two will wobble and I have to keep them from crashing to the floor and breaking.

We’ll see how things work out but I may post some random things at times, like updates and a few Throwback items. Some of you liked those enough to keep them going, however the latter takes a little research and continuing to do them on a weekly basis has become nearly impossible. I need to write sequels more so than blog posts about my favorite rock bands in the 70’s. Having said that, I like the subject of music in general. I might post some reviews of more recently produced music. We’ll see. There are several contemporary acts I enjoy. You might be surprised what I listen to…then, again, maybe not.

The focus on this blog is and has always been about my writing mores than my life but sometimes they two are inseparable. The more I strive to have my books become popular and my author’s brand recognized the less time I have to enjoy some of the things I like to blog about. Funny how that works out, isn’t it?

I’ve made a couple of strategic choices in the past week that may aid in my ability to keep up with blog posts. I have a portable computer that will be showing up later on today (Thursday). I decided to go with a Microsoft Windows based system, actually the Surface Pro 3. I got a good deal on a slightly used one. It will take a few hours to set it up properly to become the effective tool it needs to be. But this will allow me to take my writing with me to work at my day job so I can use my break time to post things to blogs, post promotional things for others and my myself and edit/revise my work – all on the go.

 

I plan to use The Cloud more often  in the future as this “new” computer has a smaller SSD but it is a lot faster than the relatively larger drive I have on the computer I use at home. However I would like to have a couple of TB’s of space to store all the pictures, music and such I have. I haven’t decided whether to get a personal NAS drive that I can access via the Internet or upload everything to iCloud, One Drive, Google Drive or some comparable service. I may be doing a bit of the latter as a test of viability for what I need over the next few weeks as an alternative to purchasing a personal NAS device. However, I like the idea of being able to access things from a server drive on my home network regardless where I am in the world. As my portable computer will only have 256GB of on-device storage I cannot keep all of my files on the device. Still, I will need to access my stuff from time to time. I’m not so certain I want all my documents residing on someone else’s server 0f regardless of how secure.

 

My publisher has a cloud drive I use for publicity an the work I have submitted for publication. In a pinch I could use some of that space, temporarily, I suppose, but I want to keep business separate from my personal things even if they are business related. Promotional stuff like this blog that is intended to increase awareness of my brand falls into the gray area between personal and professional stuff. That could be stored on my publisher’s drive.

A lot of my blog related stuff has used pictures I keep stored somewhere or the other on my local drives. I’d like to offload that to The Cloud but I don’t want that taking up space on my publisher’s server. Also I’d like to upload my personal music files but I would rather store all of that on a personal NAS that I can access from anywhere I am.

#NAS #PortableComputer #SurfacePro3 #Microsoft #PandamoonPublishing #Publicity #Blog

A Pretty Cool Day In Florida

For almost two years now I’ve been associated with Pandamoon Publishing, first as an author and more recently as a publicist. At times the latter role requires more effort and schedule juggling than the former but it is one of the few times since receiving a degree in marketing from the University of Texas in the early ’80’s that I have actually done something related to my studies. That’s kind of cool.

Aside from working on my next book(s), there are eleven more under contract now, I have had occasion to work with a diverse group of fellow writers. Personally I think all of them are more gifted than I am. A few of them have been fooled into thinking I’m as talented as they are. I’m good a creating illusions. Until yesterday, though, I had never actually met any of the other authors, other than chatting with them online. That isn’t to say I don’t know these people and over the past couple of years we haven’t become friends.

The Pandamoon stable of authors is approaching two dozen and continues to grow. The publisher is expanding its editorial and marketing staffs to handle the bandwidth of all those new books. For a relatively small and fairly new kid on the publishing block we are making some waves and gaining attention. And a lot of that has to do with the effort and coordination between the marketing team and the authors. One of the success stories is Steph Post, author of A Tree Born Crooked.

Steph and I both live in Florida. When I lived in Pinellas County, we were even on the same side of Tampa Bay, just a few miles apart. Close, but we never had an occasion to ever meet in person…until yesterday. This time there was no excuse. She was appearing as a panelist at the 6th Annual University of Central Florida Book Festival in Orlando. Currently I live a little over five miles from the venue. So, yesterday morning I pedaled my bike northward on Alafaya Trail and parked it in a bike rack in the midst of the festivities. I attended the panel discussion on mystery and crime writing. Responding to questions from a standing room only crowd Steph shined. I was proud of her not only because we are colleagues at Pandamoon but also because over the past couple of years she has become a dear friend of mine.

Afterwards she signed my copy of her debut novel and we took a picture together as proof that we had actually been in the same place at the same time. I met her husband, Ryan, and a couple of her high school friends who came out to the event in support of her. Really, what was important, though, was I got to hang out with one of my favorite authors. How cool is that? I’m such a fan boy.

Seriously, though, I loved Steph’s book from the first read through of the manuscript and since  it’s publication I have found it to be one of the easiest things I have ever promoted. Even if I wasn’t closely associated with the marketing support for the book, she would still be one of my favorite authors. I’m pretty sure that very soon her fame is going to blow-up in a huge way and everyone will be talking about her books. She has genuine talent that she has honed through the discipline of scheduling her time. She is a professional writer in every sense of the word. Personally I have no idea how she juggles everything she does, because is is also a writing coach and educator as well as a wife and ‘mother’ of several rescue pooches. But once you meet her and talk to her you really get the vibe that you’re in the presence of a remarkable individual.

As I pedaled home after spending a few hours at the festival I was thinking about how great it would be to get all the Pandamoon authors together in the same place at the same time. We have talked about it and even have a name for the event all picked out: “Pandamoonium”. I’m sure that sooner or later it will happen. Likely as not we’ll assemble in some central location, probably Austin, Texas, which is close to where the publisher is based. Only then will the sensation of being in the presence of greatness that I felt yesterday be eclipsed. Despite our geographic barriers I work with some amazing people.

It is a testament to the technological advancements over the past dozen of so years that people from every time zone in the western hemisphere have meetings regularly to share information and ideas about such topics as establishing and promoting author’s brand. Pandamoon Publishing is cutting edge in a lot of ways.

As for Steph Post, what she has done – pretty much on her own, albeit with some support from the Pandamoon marketing team – is nothing short of phenomenal. In the months since she signed with Pandamoon she has worked diligently on her brand, posting attention getting pictures that supported the theme and mood of her book, which is about crime in small town Florida. She contacted other authors in her genre, got to know them personally, read and reviewed their books, interviewed them, and her attention was reciprocated with reviews for her book. She arranged interviews on radio shows, with bloggers and scheduled personal appearances. Even before its release to the public, A Tree Born Crooked was receiving critical acclaim. Since its release it is being considered for some prestigious awards.

The reward for all her hard work was evidenced not only in the number of people who purchased Steph’s book yesterday but also the number of new friends she made as a result of her participating int he panel discussion. She signed a lot of autographs. In this age of Internet distribution and sales, one thing has not changed and it is ironic that, really, it is the same as it has been for the past couple hundred years. How a book is marketed always comes down to pitching it one reader at a time.

#UCFBookFestival #Orlando #Florida #Authors #StephPost #ATreeBornCrooked #PandamoonPublishing #ElgonWilliams #Publicity #Marketing #BookSigning #MysteryWriter #CrimeWriter

My Crazy, Busy Life – Lately

The sequel for Fried Windows is progressing slowly between my increased hours at my day job and doing some promotional things for others. I’m beginning the new story in the middle and working my way out to the beginning and the conclusion. That’s how I write sometimes, starting in the middle, usually with a conversation. In this one, Brent is talking to Strawb who is chiding him for having done something incredibly stupid – in her estimation, of course.

There are actually multiple beginnings for the story just because of the nature of the tale and what happened to Brent Woods at the conclusion of Fried Windows. That’s the hard part, connecting the stories together. I’ve done the easy part, writing the rest of the story – pretty much.

Yesterday my youngest daughter asked me about Becoming Thuperman’s release date. I told her it had been pushed back a bit in the queue to allow for the first two installments of The Wolfcat Chronicles. Throwing a Fried Windows sequel into that mix right now would only further confuse things and create a bigger bottleneck in my publisher’s editing and production bandwidth. There are other projects from other authors, after all. As publicist, I’m reading those books now so I know what we will be promoting. There are some very good books coming from Pandamoon, folks.

Anyway, my daughter has a draft of the the BT manuscript now and hopefully she’ll give me some feedback on it after she reads it. I know it needs a haircut in editing. So, in an effort to fix some things I’ve started a new revision and will be working on that in the background as I’m doing the FW sequel…and everything else. I need to do a revision anyway before BT goes into substantive editing, which is the first stage of the process of transforming a raw manuscript into a novel.

I’ve been thinking about drafting the sequel to Becoming Thuperman, titled Being Thuperman. I figure I’ll be in the mood and fully up to date with the plot issues and such at the conclusion of a new revision session. I haven’t worked on the manuscript since submitting it back in October 2014. The contract for it was signed in December. And I have revised all ten books of The Wolfcat Chronicles since the last time I worked on Becoming Thuperman.

In other news about my crazy life, it’s been raining a good bit lately. I’ve been fortunate not needing to navigate the 4.5 miles to and from work on my bike in a downpour. I have a 20 to 25 minute window of riding time (including wait times at traffic lights). So far I’ve been very lucky. Sooner or later I will be soaked though. Getting drenched on my way home isn’t as bad as having it happen not he way to work, though. Walking around for a whole shift in wet underwear is a drag.

I have a rain poncho but it is mainly a thin excuse for a garbage bag. I’ll have to get something better, I guess. When the wind catches the plastic of what I have it flaps in the breeze and exposes my backside, It was sprinkling a good bit on my ride home last night. The only thing good about it was that it wasn’t raining harder.

In Florida we have periods of rain when it is coming down so hard that people can’t see to drive – regardless how fast their windshield wipers are running. Imagine that on a bike at 20 miles per hour – which means at least 20 miles per hour wind in the face constantly.

Tomorrow morning (4/18/15) I’ll be heading up to the University of Central Florida Book Festival on campus (about 5 miles north of where I live). Hopefully it won’t be raining as I’ll be riding my bike there My friend and fellow Pandamoon Publishing author, Steph Post, will be appearing there as a panelist. She needs to autograph my copy of her book. After all, I am one of her publicists. I think I should have a signed copy, right?

In the wacky world of Internet based operations, I have never personally met Steph. I have conversed with her a few times over the Internet both in text and via a program that allows sharing audio. We have spoken over the phone a time or two as well. She is an interesting young lady with a remarkable writing talent. Her debut novel, A Tree Born Crooked is one of the best novels I’ve read in the past year.

The Book Festival is from 10 AM to 3:30AM and it is being held in the School of Education portion of the UCF campus that is just so North Alafaya Trail in eastern Orlando.

#StephPost #ATreeBornCrooked #FriedWindows #UCFBookFestival #BecomingThuperman #Writing #Sequels #PandamoonPublishing

Computer Quest

For the past few months I have been in quest of a new computer – well, maybe a slightly used one but newer than what I’m using. The past couple of computers I’ve used have been hand-me-downs. Nothing wrong with that. They more than served their purposes. I’m using one of them now, so obviously I don’t absolutely, positively need a computer at this moment, but I am planning ahead a little.

I’ve saved some shekels this year. It’s been a challenge between working more hours and trying to continue my other roles. I’ve had to force the issue many times to write blog posts let alone make headway on sequels to Fried Windows and Becoming Thuperman – imagine that writing a sequel for a book that hasn’t been released yet. That’s my life lately. Still, I need the money so I’ve been putting in as many hours as work will allow me. I’ve saved enough that sometime before my birthday I’ll probably buy a new computer – a laptop.

In the past I was not much of a fan of laptops. As a computer tech I can tell you they are hard to work on and each manufacturer has some proprietary stuff involved, so you need to be factory certified to work on them. For a long time the question for me was “why bother?” Traditionally laptops were inherently slower than desktop computers. Desktops were easier to upgrade and much easier to repair. But over the past half dozen years the performance gap between desktops and laptops has narrowed sufficiently that for most people a laptop can be a desktop substitute, especially if the portability of the device matters.

There is something to be said about being able to pick up everything and go somewhere else with it. That is the main reason I’m looking for a laptop. And since I have been using a Mac for the past 8 years I started my search there. But I have not excluded PC’s. Lately I’ve been leaning toward a Windows based machine. Here’s why.

A couple of years ago my son talked me into switching to a Windows Phone. Although I found the transition between an iPhone and the Nokia problematic at times I liked the phones features. I’m hardly a power user when it comes to smartphones, so I would never think of suggesting that my experiences with Windows Phone OS are universally applicable. The largest frustration has been application support for specific things. For example, my publisher has started using Slack and for that there is no Windows Phone application. I’ve been using the Windows Phone 10 preview for the past few days and, though it is buggy and certainly not quite ready for primetime, I like the direction Microsoft is taking the operating system. If they can enlist developer support for the devices the phone OS is potentially better than either Android or iOS. And the intangible lingering in the background is that since businesses predominantly use Windows having a phone that works int he same universe as the computers at work and likely as not at home – as well as tying into Xbox One – would be a significant benefit for having such a phone.

Because of what I have been seeing with Windows development combined with some of the directions I see Apple going has led me to broaden my search for laptops. The premium price charged for a Mac is hard to justify on my budget. There is one piece of software that I use that performs better on a Mac but the Windows version does everything I would need. And the integration with my Windows Phone would be much simpler. (There is a application to connect and synch my phone to my Mac but I have not been totally happy with it.)

Currently I do most of my writing at a desk. So I haven’t needed a laptop. What I am using is technically a laptop but its screen doesn’t work so it is plugged into a monitor. keyboard and mouse. It works fine in that configuration, but it is not portable. I have an older Mac that is showing its age. It is slow and I haven’t even booted it up in the past month. The fact that it still works and still runs the latest version of Mac OS is kind of a tribute to how well the mac world functions. The laptop is 8 years old. The battery is shot. So, when in use, it is plugged into a wall all the time.

Sometimes it is nice having a different device to connect to the internet while I’m in the middle of writing something. In the past I have used a iPad for that. Sometimes I used my Windows Phone. But there are times when it would be damned convenient to have another computer – especially if I wanted to export a document and take it with me to work on it somewhere else – like during my breaks at work. Also, I expect to be traveling a bit int eh near future doing book signings and I will be staying overnight away from home. The iPad I have would be a paid in the arse to deal with traveling documents, some of which are not made for MS Office. That is why I need a laptop.

So, after searching what’s out there I have narrowed things down to a Macbook Pro 13.3″ with a 256GB SSD, a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 14″ with a 256GB SSD and a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with 256GB SSD. Brand new, the Lenovo is the least expensive but it also looks less rugged than either the Mac or the Surface Pro. I prefer the feel of the Mac’s keyboard, though the Lenovo’s is a close second. The Keyboard for the Surface – which is extra – is its weakest feature though I played with one and it’s usable. And if I find it annoying I could use a bluetooth keyboard. For portability the Surface winds hands down, with the Lenovo a close second. The Mac has a newer generation of the Intel I-5 processor and it is running slightly faster memory. For what I do with a computer I doubt I’d notice a difference. After all, we are talking about nanoseconds.

I haven’t made a decision yet and I may end up delaying it further – who knows. It’s not like I need to make a choice immediately. But at the moment I’m leaning toward the Surface Pro.

#Microsoft #Apple #MacOS #Windows10 #WindowsPhone #Lenovo #Yoga2 #SurfacePro3 #MacBookPro

Throwback Thursday – Disco Music

Those who knew me in the 70’s may be surprised that in my coverage of the decade’s music I mention disco music at all. But it was a phenomenon and it would not be fair to consider the period’s music without giving it some attention. Having said that, disco music still has for me about as much substance as a popcorn fart and all the appeal of a Justin Beiber song.

Maybe the reason I detested disco music was that I could never dance well. Yes, I tried dancing here and there along the way, whenever sufficiently inebriated to have lowered inhibitions. I mastered “The Bump” and could do the “Hustle”. The fact that I knew those dances should indicate to you that like everyone else alive at the time, no one emerged from the 70’s unscathed. If you were a guy and wanted to pick up chicks, surfing disco lounges and parties was part of life and so, you learned some moves. In my case it was just enough to get by.

Anyway, I’m far from expert on the genre. Most of the people who listened to the sorts of music I loved really tried to avoid disco. A few of us would say, it’s alright to dance to it, but never listen to it. Some guys in my frat at college actually played it on their stereos while they were studying. I never figured out how anyone could actually do that and generally assumed it was the result of a undiagnosed brain tumor or something.

When the disco wave hit popular music it seemed like everyone was releasing a song with a funky beat. Even old timers like the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons joined in with “Who Loves You”. Other more recent artists like David Bowie released “Fame”. For the most part the driving force behind the inception of the music was a popularization of Funkadelic riffs set to a driving beat that even someone like me – the two left feet category of human, could actually find.

 

New bands emerged like Average White Band, Wild Cherry and K.C. & The Sunshine Band. As is true of all pop trends many said it was a flash in the fan and would be soon over. My friends and I hoped that would be true. But it lingered and grew for a time.

Some bands transitioned their careers to the new genre and became much more popular. Second Wave British Invasion band The Bee Gees were on the decline in popularity. Remember a song titled “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”? Their transition, supported with the release of the movie and soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, relaunched the band’s careers into the stratosphere.

In the midst of the Disco Wave many traditional R&B bands shifted their style slightly to pick up a heavier beat and released some disco albums. Bands like Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores and artists like Rick James extended the genre into more of the mainstream undercurrent of popular music. Meco did a disco version of the Star Wars Theme that topped the pop charts.

A number of pop bands who considered themselves mainstream detested disco music about as much as those who played heavy metal, classical rock and such. The Bay City Rollers and The Sweet were two of the major forces of nature int he pop genre int he mid to late 70’s. Neither group released any “disco music”. In fact the latter released a song titled “Disco-Phony” that was lyrical attack on the genre, lifestyle of clubbing and the shallow sorts of people who were attracted to the genre.

By the 1980’s Disco had become more or less incorporated in the mainstream sound of popular music. Dancing and dance music never disappears, just the type of music driving people to the dance floor changes. Many new genres have erupted since the late 70’s including Punk, Rap, Grunge, Hip-hop and Techno yet some elements of the disco sound echo current music.

#70sMusic #Disco #BeeGees #SaturdayNightFever

The Deal – An Outtake From A Novel In Progress

The following was a chapter originally included in a novel in progress but later removed during revisions. It’s point of view followed a supporting character, the main character’s sister. It was too much of a shift for potential readers. However, I liked the story enough to keep it and dress it up a bit. It is based on a true story and as it is set in the summer of 1964, I researched car prices. They are realistic too. Enjoy!

The Deal

Joy focused the red Corvair Monza GT convertible in the brochure she’d been looking at, on and off, since it had arrived a few days ago from Wade-Walsh Chevrolet in Springfield, Ohio. It was exactly what she wanted. But what were the chances Dad would get her one as an early graduation present? Still, he had promised to take her car shopping and that was a start. Going into her senior year at Southeastern High having any car was better than riding the bus.

Come next June she’d be the first in her immediate family to graduate from high school, achieving a goal that had been impossible for her mother and father thirty years before. All three kids were expected to go on to college too. Bruce and Alta saved for all their lives with that goal in mind. Joy was to be the first though she was not the favorite, at least not in her mind. Both Jean and Elliot, her siblings were better at schoolwork. Maybe they were smarter in that way. Anyway, one of them would probably live up to Dad and Mom’s dream.

Joy didn’t think she was cut out for college. Honestly, except for seeing her friends and hanging out with them, she hated school. She’d taken typing classes because she figured she would eventually become a secretary. She’d thought about learning to be a beautician but she’d already mastered typing. She could do seventy-five words per minute – sometimes a little more.

“You ‘bout ready?” her father’s voice accompanied the knock at her bedroom door.

“For over an hour,” she responded as she leapt up and opened the door.

“I had to get everyone settled on what to do today while I’m gone. Anyway, by the time we get to Springfield it will be past rush hour.”

“Can I drive?” Joy asked, not really sure Bruce would let her, but sometimes he did.

“Maybe it’d be better if I did.”

“I’ve driven in the city before.”

“Not all the way downtown. It’s tricky with the one-way streets.”

“Fine,” she said not wanting to press the issue too far. After all, Dad was taking her to look at cars. No point in ruining his mood.

“We’re just looking today,” Bruce said as they headed out the door toward the candy apple red Impala convertible that he bought about a year ago from the very same dealership where they were going.

“I know that.” She skirted the front of the car to the passenger side, opened the door and climbed in.

“Dealerships want to sell something to everybody who walked in. It’s their business. They don’t want anyone to leave without buying a car. So they can be pretty aggressive. If you tell them up front that you’re just looking, sometimes they’ll leave you alone for a while. Get it?”

Joy nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m not promising anything but I’m bringing a blank check with me, just in case.”

“So we might actually get a car then?”

“We might. You never know.” He reached over and patted her knee. “Why don’t we flip the latches and let the top down – unless you don’t ant your hair all messed up with the wind.”

“I can pull it back into a pony tail.”

“That’s my girl!” Bruce chuckled.

Fifteen miles of looking out at the scenery – the wind blowing by fast and noisily, too much so for a conversation – Joy sat in silence, not wanting to get her hops too high. Even when they slowed down to the speed limit of the city, when they might have carried on a conversation, neither of them spoke. Dad had the radio’s volume cranked up, tuned to WLW, listening to the news between music.

When they arrived at the dealerships they pulled up to the front and got out. Bruce held the door for his daughter while she entered. Instantly she spotted the Corvair convertible on display. It was perfect, even better than the one in the brochure: burgundy with a white top, matching seats with burgundy carpeting. Immediately she opened the driver’s side door and sat inside, resting her hand on the knob of the four-on-the-floor shifter. She wanted it so bad she could almost taste it as her eyes darted from feature to feature, finally resting on the radio just as the voice of a salesman interrupted her daydream.

“She’s a beauty,” Eddie, the “up” salesman, said before adding. “And she’s loaded, too. I don’t think there’s another option you could put on her. Maybe air conditioning, but who needs that when you have a convertible?”

“It’s very nice.” Joy made brief eye contact with him.

“I’m Eddie.” He offered his hand.

“Joy.” She stepped out of the car and studied him briefly before shaking hands. He was so young, maybe twenty at most and dressed sharply, wore a flattop haircut and, despite the warm weather, he wore a necktie and white long-sleeved shirt. From the short distance between them she caught the combined scents of Vitalis scent of Old Spice – the latter was the same as her Dad wore, or was the scent wafting from her Dad who approached them from behind.

“I’m Bruce, her father,” Dad stepped between them. Eddie offered his hand and they shook “Is that a Kentucky accent I hear?”

“Yes sir. Born and raised on a farm outside of Ashland – close to a little town you probably never heard of.”

“I don’t know about that. I grew up in Morgan County. Moved here in ’37. Lived here long enough to lose my accent, I guess. I have cousins in Catlettsburg.”

“No kidding. My folks’ farm is five miles from there.” Eddie laughed, becoming more comfortable. “Everybody is someone’s cousin back home. For all I know we could be related.”

Bruce smiled.

“So is this the car you going to buy today?” Eddie floated a trial close.

“It seems awfully small to me.” Bruce replied on his daughter’s behalf.

“Sometimes that’s a good thing. I assume the Impala you pulled up in is a V-8.”

“A 283 – bought it here last year.”

“Has it been a good car for you?”

“No complaints.”

“This baby here has rear-mounted, air cooled V-6 and a four-speed, manual transmission. Are you comfortable with that, Joy?”

“She drives my pick-up,” Bruce answered for her. “It’s a manual.”

“That’s great!”

“What are we looking at for a price?” Bruce ventured.

“We can make it work for you, Bruce. You’re not going to pay too much are you?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, that’s good, ‘cause we never overcharge our customers. You say you bought the Impala here? Who was your salesman? I mean if you had a good relationship…”

“I always deal directly with Pete. Actually the day that car came in for Mr. Walsh’s use, I bought it out from under him.”

Eddie laughed. “That’s happened a lot. He has good taste in cars, I guess.”

“He’s the boss.”

“Yeah and he can drive any car he wants. That Corvette over there was his for a few days but he said it’s too flashy.”

“That sounds about like him.”

“Listen, Bruce, why don’t you and Joy take the Corvair out for a drive. Get the feel of it and make sure it’s exactly what you want. Then, when you get back, we can sit down and go over the numbers so that Joy can drive it home today.”

“We’re sort of just looking today,” Joy said.

“Well, take your time. If there are any questions, just ask. Since you’re one of our preferred customers, you know you can drive it for as long as you want. Take it home, show it off. Just let me know and I can get a dealer tag for you…”

“We live over fifteen miles away.”

“That’s no problem at all, Joy.”

“We’ll drive it around town, maybe take it out on US-40 to open it up a bit,” Bruce said.

“Great! That’s exactly what you should do. Let me get the keys and a dealer tag and we can take it outside for you.”

Having seen Bruce and Joy enter the showroom, Pete, the sales manager, freed himself and walked their way. “Bruce, it’s always a pleasure. Did you get the brochures?”

“Yes, we did.” Joy answered.

“This can’t be little Joy. You said she’s going to be a senior this year – how fast they grow up, right? Why, I recall you sitting on your dad’s lap when I sold him a pick-up – a blue one as I recall. That was one of the first vehicles I ever sold.” Pete chuckled. “And you really made me work for it!”

“I’ve still got that truck.”

“It’s been a good one, then. I definitely sold you the right truck.”

“I’ve got no complaints.”

“So, has Eddie been treating you well?”

“He likes to talk.”

“That’s the nature of the business. You know that, Bruce.”

“Anyway he’s from Kentucky.”

“So he is. You grew up there, too, right?”

“He lived close to a couple of my cousins.”

Eddie returned, keys and dealer’s place in hand. “They want to test drive the Corvair.” He directed to his boss.

“That’s great! Bruce is family, Eddie. You take extra special care with him.”

****

When Bruce and Joy returned from their test drive, they immediately mentioned that something was rattling.

“We can have our Service Manager check that out it right away,” Eddie promised.

“It needs to be fixed before we make any deal,” Joy stated, exactly as Bruce had told her.

“What speed did you notice it?”

“Not fast. Around forty?”

“Kurt can fix that. I’ll get him right on it. Was there anything else that caught your eye? Something you’d like to test drive?”

“She likes that car. It’s just the noise…”

“I’m sure it’s a minor thing. Thousands of parts and something just wasn’t tightened well enough. You never know until you drive it.”

“So, what kind of price are we talking about?” Bruce asked.

“Are you going to finance it?”

“It’ll be cash,” Bruce said.

“Great! And no trade-in makes it simple. Let me get all the information and we can sit down and work out the numbers. We can go over here and sit down. You need anything: coffee, water, soda pop?”

“Coffee.”

“Pop os fine,” Joy said.

“I’ll be right back.”

When Eddie delivered the drinks he excused himself to Pete’s office and waited outside the door until he was called inside. Pete jotted down a figure and patted Eddie on the back.

Eddie returned smiling broadly, “I think you’re going to be very happy. The list on that car is $2556.90 but your price today is $2250.”

“That’s more than I paid for the Impala,” Bruce complained.

“Everything goes up. Plus the Corvair is very popular and that one’s fully loaded.”

“Isn’t this the end of the model year?”

“It is, Bruce. That’s $100 and Pete’s doubling it plus an additional $100 preferred customer discount.”

“It’s still more than I’m going to pay.”

“Let’s work on it. You tell me what you think is fair and I’ll present that to Pete. It can’t hurt to try, right?”

“I was thinking two grand.”

“Let me jot that down. If we can get it down to $2000, are you ready to buy today?”

“If you can do that.”

“What about $2050? Is that doable?”

“See about $2000.”

“Okay, just do me a favor, initial this to show that’s your best offer.”

Bruce obliged but once Eddie was out of earshot Bruce leaned over and whispered to his daughter. “He’s working us.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that.”

As Eddie returned his smile was even broader. “I think we’re there, Bruce and Joy. We’ll gas it up, polish it, and give you your first oil change on the house.”

“How much?”

“$2150.”

“Well, thanks for trying.” Bruce started to stand. “Tell Pete we tried.”

“We can still make this work. I mean we’re close to a deal here.”

“I can write you a check for $2000.”

“We all want to see Joy driving that car today, Bruce–”

“Look, I appreciate you working with us. I want you to earn some money, too. But I think $2150 is too much.”

“To be honest with you, $2000 is pretty low. That’s the hard part. If you could meet us halfway maybe that could work. Say $2075 or $2100?”

“What about $2000? If that is never going to happen just tell me.”

“Let me work on Pete. Okay? Because you’re a loyal customer.”

Behind Eddie’s departure, Joy whispered. “Is $2000 reasonable?”

“That’s all I’m paying. Pete’s training this guy and letting it go as far as it will.”

Eddie wore his most confident smile when he came back. “Because it’s you, Bruce, we can do it for $2075. That’s right at dead cost. We’ll do that for you.”

Bruce started to stand, again.

“Wait, let me ask you this: is there anything you don’t like about the car? We’re taking care of that noise thing, but is there anything we could add on?”

“Isn’t it fully loaded already?” Joy asked.

“There’s always something else we could add on. And, as Bruce can tell you, there’s more room in the price of accessories. Maybe we can strike a deal with just a little bit more money and bury cost in the price of the vehicle.”

“Look, the deal is for $2000 as is or there’s no deal,” Bruce interjected.

Eddie nodded before he excused himself one last time to talk to Pete.

“We’re just about finished,” Bruce whispered to Joy.

“I really like that car, Daddy.”

“Pete will make a deal. He always does.”

This time Eddie returned along with Pete. As they both sat down across the table from Bruce and Joy. Pete focused on Joy’s eyes. “This will be your first car?”

“That remains to be seen, Mr. Cook.”

“It’s Pete, Joy. It’s always Pete, especially when you’re buying your first car from me.”

“We don’t have a deal, yet.”

“We will. I promise. Bruce and I have been haggling over prices for years. Isn’t that right?”

“We’ve done some trading.”

“Bruce and I were just talking earlier. One of my first sales was a truck he still drives.” He explained to Eddie. “That was probably the hardest sale I ever made but I also learned a lot. Eddie says we’re close, here. Seventy-five dollars is close.”

“It’s still a lot of money,” Bruce said.

“Sure it is, Bruce, but it’s like less than 4% of the price. So, we’re haggling over the sales tax!”

“What do you need to make a deal?” Bruce focused on Pete’s eyes.

“Eddie, this is what you needed to learn, getting to the point of asking Bruce what he just asked me. Bruce is a tough negotiator. He learned horse tradin’ from his father. Car deals aren’t much different.”

“Is $2000 doable?”

“That’s very low, Bruce. Mr. Walsh would have to approve that because he wouldn’t make anything on the vehicle and Eddie would get what we call a flat, just base pay for his time.”

“His draw.”

“Exactly. That happens sometimes. A salesman on commission gets some of those and so be it. What we all want to see is Joy in that car. I’m in the kind of business where I can make people’s dreams come true. Ever since I realized that I never wanted to do anything else.”

“Let’s do it this way,” Bruce began. “Eddie needs to make a little something. He’s worked pretty hard here.”

“Just he didn’t close the deal.”

“I’ll bet the next deal he’ll close without your help.”

Pete chuckled as he turned to Eddie. “I threw you a curve letting you negotiate with Bruce.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s make the deal for $2050. That way Eddie can show a small profit and make a little money.”

“Let’s do it for $2075, tax, title and all. That way Eddie makes a little more profit. And you throw in a tank of gas; shine it up really good with three coats of wax and two free oil changes.”

Pete smiled broadly, offering his hand across the table to Bruce. “You sign the check and we’ll draw up the paperwork. Eddie can deliver the car to your house when they are all done with it. I’ll have the Service Manager do the same inspection we give to a trade-in just to make sure everything is right and tight. How’s that?”

“I’ll give Eddie a ride back,” Bruce said. “I’m thinking of trading-in that old blue pick-up if you have something I like.”

“Well then, while we get everything in order why don’t you take a walk out on the lot and see if any of those trucks catches your eye.”

#ShortStory #TheDeal #CarDeals #60s #Nostalgia #HorseTradin #Negotiation

Why I’m Not Going To Buy An Apple Watch

It’s cool, slick looking but also an impressively dumb idea. I know a lot of status seekers will flock to the Apple Store on launch day and emerge sporting the new Apple Watch on their wrist, but I cannot imagine wearing one. Here’s why:

Years ago, I wore a wrist watch. In fact, when I graduated from high school a Seiko self-winding wrist watch was my gift – I already had a car. I had that watch throughout college and it was, without a doubt, one of the most enduring things I had ever received as a gift. But alas, the metal watch band eventually broke – when I was serving in the military. And as I couldn’t see shelling out $45 for a new watch band (similar tot he one that was on it) I relegated the time piece to a junk drawer. I still have it somewhere in a box of old stuff. And, if I cared to shake it around enough to wind the thing, it still keeps time fairly well – accurate to within a minute over the course of three months and no batteries required.

I recall that a few months after my parents awarded me with the watch Pulsar came out with a red LED wrist watch in a gold or silver case. Both models went for over a $1000 bucks. Those were the rage, a digital time piece. It was no more accurate than my Seiko but it had a cool factor and lots of people flocked to the stores to get one. A couple of years later, Pulsar was bought out by, get this, Seiko. And Seiko manufactured a line of relatively inexpensive timepieces using LCDs under the Pulsar brand name. I recall they went for around $50 to $75. I even bought one of those but I wore it only on special occasions because I really preferred my Seiko self-winding watch. Eventually the battery died in that Pulsar watch and it ended up in my junk drawer. However, the watch band was in tact, though it was not compatible with my Seiko.

After I left the military I entered retail management. I needed a wrist watch, right? I was married and had a kid with another on the way. I had places to be at a specific time. Wearing a watch helped except that I did a lot of manual labor and frequently broke the watch band. And whenever I went to look or a replacement band I discovered that I could get a new watch for less money than the watch band. And so I usually wound up carrying the watch around my pocket, broken band and all. Eventually a vendor would give me a cheap digital watch to wear, something advertising their brand. Dutifully I’d sport that on my wrist for a while, until its cheap band would snap – after all the whole thing was free, right? And why would I ever want to spend money on a replacement band for a free watch. I just waited for the next vendor with a free promotional watch.

Then came the cell phone – not that I jumped onto that bandwagon early or anything. It was 1996 before I actually had one. It was large and clunky and I usually left it in my car for use in emergencies. Eventually they became smaller and I wound up with a flip phone that, on the outside when when closed, displayed the time. And so I had what essentially amounted to a pocket watch. No need for a wrist watch at all. That was when I realized how little a wrist watch was necessary. The cell phone kept more accurate time, right? I mean – it pings off the cell phone tower and self corrects to whatever signal the phone company uses – which is linked to one of the atomic clocks somewhere or the other. With the advent of the smart phone…well, I think you see where this is going.

So I have to ask why would I ever want an Apple Watch except for the bragging rights? As I understand it it will have to be charged daily. So it is only for wear out in public, isn’t it? It occurs to me it’s about ostentation at least as much as functionality. You see, my smart phone does everything it can do and more – except for keeping tabs of things like how fast my heart is beating or how many miles I have walked in the course of a day. Those are things I don’t really care to know but if I did, I suppose a case could be made for the Apple Watch – There are less expensive alternatives out there.

It connects with your iPhone. Well, that’s cool. So, now I can leave my iPhone in my pocket and at a glance tell the time, see my messages and access some other stuff. That might be useful, I guess, though I can’t see ever using any of those features. What does it take, two seconds to fish my phone out of my pocket? That is really why I’m not a candidate for one of the watches. Maybe, over time, the functions of the watch will prove to be of use to me. Other features will come, I’m sure, especially if the watch is popular and others attempt to copy it – just as they have done in the smart phone market that Apple essentially created. But for now, I’m not ready for the innovation.

Heaven forbid I ever break the band on an Apple Watch. Although there is quite an assortment available they tend to be pricy. I’d probably end up carrying my watch around for a few minutes or hours until I realized the absurdity. My cell phone in my pocket would make carrying around an Apple Watch in another pocket at least redundant.

So, Apple: Although I am a confirmed supporter of Mac OS and own an iPad and pretty much like everything you have ever made, I don’t think the Apple Watch is for me. It will probably go on to revolution a market for something I don;t as yet detect but I wonder. Will it hit the mark for most other people? As far as I can tell it is the cool factor that is most compelling for the present. As I’m not necessarily cool and have not recently needed to  wear a watch, I won’t be buying one.

#AppleWatch #Apple #CellPhones #Watches #Seiko #Pulsar

Plans For Fried Windows Sequel

At the conclusion of Fried Windows it’s fairly clear, I think, that a sequel is coming. In fact, there are several other books I’ve written that carry on Brent Woods’ story, though only Fried Windows and a piece about his early college experiences are told in first person. There was a bit, about a chapter and a half of material from the original ending of Fried Windows that I removed in an early revision. My publisher and editor haven’t seen that part yet. The reason for its removal was that it felt anticlimactic. Really it was the beginning of another story, anyway. So I thought of it as a starting point for launching a sequel except…

There are several things Brent must yet accomplished in the Inworld. And there is a good bit he will be doing in the Outworld before he is at a time and place necessary for the linking of his storyline to that of The Wolfcat Chronicles, in which he also appears. Most of that has been worked out long ago as part of the twenty or so manuscripts I have written over the past dozen years. The missing piece is the sequel to Fried Windows, which is about 75% written. I’m working not he other 25%.

In the sequel we learn a lot more about Brent’s past associations with The Program, his role in the covert organization and the reason for his resignation and departure from the organization. We also meet a couple of the back characters that influence the events in The Wolfcat Chronicles. So the book is important for providing many connections between the storylines.

Originally I drafted a beginning for the sequel, tentatively titled Ninja Bread Cookies, that picks up directly from where Fried Windows ends. But you see, that is not really how the story flows. There are vital pieces of information missing that the reader needs about the relationships between Brent/Carlos, Lord Cecil, Strawb and Lucy. In the process of escaping disaster Brent causes a number of other problems for himself that must be resolved and he needs help from his friends – some of whom are still connected with The Program. As many issues as he has with Forsyth, Sullivan and others yet to be introduced, Brent was very good at what he did – perhaps too good for his own good. Brent knows things that The Program prefers not to have revealed. It has been the reason for their monitoring his activities and, also, it has been the leverage Brent needed to get what he wanted from The Program in the past – that chance at having a somewhat normal life, if only for a brief span.

Forsyth and the others want to use Brent’s past against him as a means of preventing him the credibility he would need to expose their secrets. And they are good enough at what they do to have created a good deal of doubt even in Brent’s mind as to his sanity. So, if you thought Fried Windows was a wild ride of unbridled imagination, imagine seeing the world through the eyes of a lunatic, where nothing is real except that for the moment anything is perceived.

The reason for the revision to the ending of The Wolfcat Chronicles was largely related to the sequel for Fried Windows. Anyone who read the original ending of TWC would find that a part of the story was removed, a piece that connected everything to a reality apart and outside, where the creator lived. The way the ending is now leaves that connection to the imagination of the reader – probably for the best. Also the ending makes it clear how the world of the Wolfcats is related to Brent’s world.

#FriedWindows #TheWolfcatChronicles #NinjaBreadCookies #NovelsInProgress #NewBooks

 

 

Experiencing Jewel, Book One of Norma Jean’s School of Witchery

ElgonWilliamsAuthor:

What do some wealthy people do with the excess money they have is donate to charity or start schools to benefit those like them to make learning life lesson’s a little easier. That’s sort of the premise behind that founding of Norma Jean’s School of Witchery, a place established by one famous Norma Jean (a.k.a Marilyn Monroe) for other young witches to develop their skills. Jewel, the guardian of Jade and Jane and goddaughter of Jill, the Winter Queen of the Faeries, arrives late in the school year, just prior to Halloween, which also happens to be her birthday. You see, truly gifted witches tend to be born on Halloween. She has a lot of make-up work in order to catch up with theater students, yet in many ways she is much more advanced than the others, including the teachers.

Rose Montague is a great storyteller and this Young Adult book has the potential to become a classic of the supernatural on a par with the Harry Potter series. She creates a world that parallels our own but operates on its own asked rules, where witches, faeries, vampires and such coexist, albeit not always happily, with normal humans. It’s about a teen coming of age, discovering her that her special powers are growing and others depend on her. All the while she is also discovering some of the normal things teens deal with, discovering her sexuality and contending with popularity. It’s basically a story about what friendship is and the importance of doing your best to protect those closest to you.

Like her adopted parents and faerie godmother, Jewel is totally bad ass. She creates rings of fire drawn from he depth of her being and source of her immense magical power. And that isn’t even her most impressive attribute. She can also see a few seconds or minutes into the future, a pretty neat ability considering someone is trying to kill the witch daughter of a presidential candidate – Jewel’s roommate.

I enjoyed this story and found inspiring me to explore some of the more unusual aspects of one of my own character’s nature. I feel a new wrinkle in the Fried Windows saga coming on. Inspiration comes from the works of other artists, doesn’t it?

In the way of a disclaimer here, one of the supporting characters in this supernatural thriller is my namesake. Rose told me she was going to do that, since she has named other characters in her books after her friends. Do you know how unusual it is to spend a lifetime not knowing anyone else (except for your father named Elgon)? There are no first grade readers that contain sentences like “See Elgon run”. Also there are no coffee mugs or keychains in souvenir shops bearing my name. But Rose has created a character who, other than superficial physical similarities to a younger me in terms of hair color, eyes and height, is not really like me. But that’s okay, I enjoyed reading about someone else named Elgon for once. I won’t spoil what happens but it’s a pretty cool and humorous part of the story.

#NormaJeansSchoolOfWitchery #Jewel #Elgon #YABooks #NewBooks #Supernatural #RoseMontague

Originally posted on The Wolfcat Chronicles:

Experiencing Jewel, Book One of Norma Jean’s School of Witchery.

What do some wealthy people do with the excess money they have is donate to charity or start schools to benefit those like them to make learning life lesson’s a little easier. That’s sort of the premise behind that founding of Norma Jean’s School of Witchery, a place established by one famous Norma Jean (a.k.a Marilyn Monroe) for other young witches to develop their skills. Jewel, the guardian of Jade and Jane and goddaughter of Jill, the Winter Queen of the Faeries, arrives late in the school year, just prior to Halloween, which also happens to be her birthday. You see, truly gifted witches tend to be born on Halloween. She has a lot of make-up work in order to catch up with theater students, yet in many ways she is much more advanced than the others, including the…

View original 403 more words

Great Plans But No Throwback Thursday

For the past several months I’ve been posting a series of articles about 70’s music. That was my decade, I think. I was a musician and a DJ during that time period and I’m fairly well versed in the trends of the period. I had planned to do something on Van Halen for this week. Even though the group is mostly associated with the 80’s and 90’s they originated in 1972 and I first became aware of them in 1977. I’ll defer that one for next week, though. This week became complicated.

I set out Thursday to accomplish a lot because it was one of my days off from my job, which though it is officially part time has been full time for about the past month or so. That’s a great thing because it allowed me to get ahead a little on saving up for a new laptop and buying a bicycle with gears and brakes that work. I need the former for my gig as an author and publicist. The computer I’m using is a laptop and it works fine for what I am doing now but the screen doesn’t work so I’ve been using it with a monitor. I needed the latter because it is my means of transportation as I commute 4.5 miles to and from work.

Here’s is what has been happening, at least since I relocated last fall to share a place with my son: Riding to and from work on an old bike has been taking between 35 and 45 minutes each way due to it being stuck in one gear. It was pretty obvious I needed a better bike if not for the reasons commute time then for safety. Since purchasing a new bike last week I have been using a loaner exactly like the bike I ordered except a different color. My commute time has diminished to 25 minutes each way. Also I’m less tired at the end of my rides. Thursday morning I picked up my newly assembled and tuned bike from the bike shop where I ordered it. Since the differences between it and the loaner are cosmetic, there was no difference in commute time.

I had planned to spend the rest of Thursday doing other things, like Throwback Thursday and knocking out a review of Rose Montague’s Norma Jean’s School of Witchery: Book One – Jewel. I finished reading it Wednesday. On my way back from the bike shop I picked up a few groceries, but shortly after I returned home I received a phone call from where I work calling me in to cover for someone’s absence. Since I need the money the answer is always yes when asked to give up my day off. So that’s why everything got pushed back.

I will post a full review for Rose’s book in the next day or two. But I’d like to talk about a strange experience that occurred in the process of reading the YA supernatural thriller. You see, one of the characters in the story is named Elgon. Rose is a good friend and she tends to name characters after people she knows. So that wasn’t a huge surprise when she mentioned it to me. I’m flattered, actually. It’s just pretty damned weird, though. I’ve never read the name Elgon as a character in a book. In fact, other than my dad, and extinct volcano in Kenya and a cosmetics company in Italy, I’ve never seen the name Elgon used anywhere. As a kid there was never a license plate for my bike, or a key chain in any souvenir shop bearing my name. Believe me, I looked. Silly me. That’s one of the problems having a weird name like mine.

So I have to say reading about Elgon, the character in Rose’s book, was a little distracting at first. I rather like the character, though he isn’t all that much like me, save for some physical similarities like height hair coloring and such. He’s a male witch. I’m not – or at least I’m pretty sure I’m not.

#Elgon #MountElgon #RoseMontague #NewBooks #OddNames #Bicycles