Matthew J. Olson's Blog, page 6
February 21, 2016
trails
Yesterday, my wife and I took the dogs on a hike at a nearby park. There were miles and miles of trails through this wooded area with a little creek running through it. Since we were pressed for time (it was nearing dusk), we just did a small loop.
The dogs did pretty good on the trail. Milo kept trying to rush ahead and his collar would choke him (we haven't gotten him a harness yet). Zailey would suddenly stop every once in a while because she found something interesting to sniff. I think they really enjoyed being out.
We had a hard time deciding what trails to take. We had no map and when one trail intersected another, we couldn't decide. We just had to take one that looked to keep us close to the parking lot so we wouldn't be fumbling around in the dark. There were so many other trails that looked interesting, though.
One thing I am struggling with in my marketing is getting trails going to my books. I'm defining a trail as a lead from one item to another. The idea is that once a person discovers one item, they can easily find another that I am offering. Instead of making just a single sale, I can make two assuming the person liked the first thing they read.
I've got a trail at the end of Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories going to Shorts: A Collection of Stories, but nothing leading to either of the books. People are stumbling across Shorts because of its cover, but I'm relying too much on luck.
Trails to my books aren't going to be easy to make. I think I have an idea on how to make some, but I just don't know if that idea will work. Wish me luck!
The next time my wife and I take the dogs to the park, we'll be blazing some new trails. I hope that my next blog post will talk about the success of my book trails as I blaze new ones of those. Happy trails!
The dogs did pretty good on the trail. Milo kept trying to rush ahead and his collar would choke him (we haven't gotten him a harness yet). Zailey would suddenly stop every once in a while because she found something interesting to sniff. I think they really enjoyed being out.
We had a hard time deciding what trails to take. We had no map and when one trail intersected another, we couldn't decide. We just had to take one that looked to keep us close to the parking lot so we wouldn't be fumbling around in the dark. There were so many other trails that looked interesting, though.
One thing I am struggling with in my marketing is getting trails going to my books. I'm defining a trail as a lead from one item to another. The idea is that once a person discovers one item, they can easily find another that I am offering. Instead of making just a single sale, I can make two assuming the person liked the first thing they read.
I've got a trail at the end of Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories going to Shorts: A Collection of Stories, but nothing leading to either of the books. People are stumbling across Shorts because of its cover, but I'm relying too much on luck.
Trails to my books aren't going to be easy to make. I think I have an idea on how to make some, but I just don't know if that idea will work. Wish me luck!
The next time my wife and I take the dogs to the park, we'll be blazing some new trails. I hope that my next blog post will talk about the success of my book trails as I blaze new ones of those. Happy trails!
February 6, 2016
scare
The other evening, I was taking Milo for a car ride. I stopped at the grocery store before heading home. Milo looked he would be content to wait in the vehicle. Boy, was I wrong.
Before I knew it, Milo was out of the car. He was out in the street during rush hour traffic in no time. A car came to a screeching halt inches from Milo.
I ran after the dog and caught up to him on the far side of the road. He was shaking and shivering, but didn't seem any worse the wear. I don't know which of us was more scared.
One of the best reviews I've gotten for Shorts: A Collection of Stories was something like, "The first story was so scary, I didn't read any more." While I am disappointed this reader didn't read the whole collection, I am rather glad they got such a thrill from the story.
In my opinion, that story isn't very scary. Watching Milo almost bite the dust is a different matter entirely.
Before I knew it, Milo was out of the car. He was out in the street during rush hour traffic in no time. A car came to a screeching halt inches from Milo.
I ran after the dog and caught up to him on the far side of the road. He was shaking and shivering, but didn't seem any worse the wear. I don't know which of us was more scared.
One of the best reviews I've gotten for Shorts: A Collection of Stories was something like, "The first story was so scary, I didn't read any more." While I am disappointed this reader didn't read the whole collection, I am rather glad they got such a thrill from the story.
In my opinion, that story isn't very scary. Watching Milo almost bite the dust is a different matter entirely.
January 30, 2016
surprise
It's been a few weeks, so I've come to terms with what I am about to share. It has taken that long for me to be able to talk about this incident.
The incident happened on a Monday. I park the car in the garage and waltz into the house. There, meeting me at the door was this little runt of a dog.
My first reaction was that we were babysitting this dog. That would make sense as I hadn't been made aware of the dog before this moment. So I asked my wife who the dog belonged to.
"You," she replied.
Fuck!
Milo is a Jack Russell Terrier that is very small for its age. He is two years old and maybe ten pounds dripping wet.
Jynx hates the new dog. She is nervous anytime he is near it. Usually he runs and hides. Of course, when Milo sees the cat run, he thinks it is time to play. He gives the cat chase every time he runs.
Zailey, on the other hand, loves the new dog. They are both about as strong as the other even though Zailey outweighs Milo by twenty pounds. When one dog grabs a toy, the other has to have the same toy. So I think they are having fun.
At this point, I think we have two too many dogs. I never get to see Jynx since he is always hiding. I miss him.
This week I was rather surprised. I had commissioned an artist named Jordan Mizell for the purposes of creating a book cover. I wasn't surprised that he created a wonderful work of art. What I am surprised by is that the aliens I have been writing about for the last eight years finally have a physical representation. Here is the book cover:
Some surprises are good. Milo, not so much. Comment your thoughts on the draft of the cover.
The incident happened on a Monday. I park the car in the garage and waltz into the house. There, meeting me at the door was this little runt of a dog.
My first reaction was that we were babysitting this dog. That would make sense as I hadn't been made aware of the dog before this moment. So I asked my wife who the dog belonged to.
"You," she replied.
Fuck!
Milo is a Jack Russell Terrier that is very small for its age. He is two years old and maybe ten pounds dripping wet.
Jynx hates the new dog. She is nervous anytime he is near it. Usually he runs and hides. Of course, when Milo sees the cat run, he thinks it is time to play. He gives the cat chase every time he runs.
Zailey, on the other hand, loves the new dog. They are both about as strong as the other even though Zailey outweighs Milo by twenty pounds. When one dog grabs a toy, the other has to have the same toy. So I think they are having fun.
At this point, I think we have two too many dogs. I never get to see Jynx since he is always hiding. I miss him.
This week I was rather surprised. I had commissioned an artist named Jordan Mizell for the purposes of creating a book cover. I wasn't surprised that he created a wonderful work of art. What I am surprised by is that the aliens I have been writing about for the last eight years finally have a physical representation. Here is the book cover:
Some surprises are good. Milo, not so much. Comment your thoughts on the draft of the cover.
January 17, 2016
stealing
We have a new addition to our family. Milo is a Jack Russell Terrier and might be ten pounds dripping wet. He is two years old, so is full grown. Quite small for the breed.
A few days ago, I was letting in both dogs. Since Zailey gets a treat when coming in, Milo also gets one. I gave Zailey a chew stick since I knew it would take longer to eat and wouldn't bug Milo with his treat. I gave Milo a biscuit.
Apparently, Milo didn't want a biscuit, so he promptly dropped it and began begging for a different treat. Zailey saw that there was now another treat just laying on the floor, so she stole it.
I was beginning to berate Zailey on her lack of sharing. Milo didn't seem to mind that her treat was stolen. There was now a chew stick that was mostly intact just lying on the floor. He stole that and took it to a different part of the living room.
I was laughing when Zailey finished eating the biscuit. I was laughing even harder when Zailey couldn't find the chew stick she had left behind.
As some of you know, I rent space at an antique store to sell coins. I also have a few of my books for sale there. I've autographed them to help entice buyers.
One day, I walked in and found that there was one less book for sale. I was excited for the sale (it would have been my first in this setting), but when I asked the proprietor about it, she said that nobody had actually bought the book.
She did remember somebody picking up the book and thought that maybe the person had set it down somewhere else in the store and forgot to purchase it. This had happened before with other merchandise.
We looked the store over. We did more detailed searches. We even got other people looking. The book was gone: stolen.
At first I was bummed by this. It wasn't cheap for me to have the book made and shipped to me. Now I wasn't going to be able to recover the loss.
Then I thought more about it. My book was stolen. That means that my book is worth stealing!
I hope the person who stole the book enjoys it enough to convince several friends to buy it. That will help me recover my loss by their theft.
There is a lesson in all of this. Zailey was stolen from when she stole from Milo. I believe in karma. Create some bad karma and bad things will happen. Also, your attitude about an event will determine if it is bad or good karma.
A few days ago, I was letting in both dogs. Since Zailey gets a treat when coming in, Milo also gets one. I gave Zailey a chew stick since I knew it would take longer to eat and wouldn't bug Milo with his treat. I gave Milo a biscuit.
Apparently, Milo didn't want a biscuit, so he promptly dropped it and began begging for a different treat. Zailey saw that there was now another treat just laying on the floor, so she stole it.
I was beginning to berate Zailey on her lack of sharing. Milo didn't seem to mind that her treat was stolen. There was now a chew stick that was mostly intact just lying on the floor. He stole that and took it to a different part of the living room.
I was laughing when Zailey finished eating the biscuit. I was laughing even harder when Zailey couldn't find the chew stick she had left behind.
As some of you know, I rent space at an antique store to sell coins. I also have a few of my books for sale there. I've autographed them to help entice buyers.
One day, I walked in and found that there was one less book for sale. I was excited for the sale (it would have been my first in this setting), but when I asked the proprietor about it, she said that nobody had actually bought the book.
She did remember somebody picking up the book and thought that maybe the person had set it down somewhere else in the store and forgot to purchase it. This had happened before with other merchandise.
We looked the store over. We did more detailed searches. We even got other people looking. The book was gone: stolen.
At first I was bummed by this. It wasn't cheap for me to have the book made and shipped to me. Now I wasn't going to be able to recover the loss.
Then I thought more about it. My book was stolen. That means that my book is worth stealing!
I hope the person who stole the book enjoys it enough to convince several friends to buy it. That will help me recover my loss by their theft.
There is a lesson in all of this. Zailey was stolen from when she stole from Milo. I believe in karma. Create some bad karma and bad things will happen. Also, your attitude about an event will determine if it is bad or good karma.
January 11, 2016
cold start
This morning, Zailey did not want to go outside into the 10F degree weather. She thought she would rather skip her morning potty time. Instead, she would stay in a perfectly warm house.
We do not have newspaper or potty pads set up for the dog. Instead, we rely on her being able to go outside for her squatting needs. This hasn't always worked, but I was going to make sure it worked this morning.
First I tried to use a treat to coax her outside. When that failed, I resorted to using the treat to get near her and then grabbing her collar. Then she got tossed out on her forehead. (Okay, the previous sentence may be a tad exaggerated.)
This cold start to Zailey's morning wasn't what she wanted. I didn't want a cold start to my new book sales either. But that is what we got.
I try to refrain from complaining in my blog. I look for the good in everything. I just couldn't help it this time.
One factor to my slow start in sales is that I had been promising my book for a while and then not delivering. My forecast for the release date was way off and I think that frustrated some of the people looking to get my book.
Another thing is that the ebook has been out for three weeks and I still don't have print copies yet. That will be remedied tomorrow and should satisfy a bunch of people.
The one good thing is that it is still way too early. If I am looking long term, then I know that sales will come. I need to renew my focus on the next book and not worry how the current book is doing.
For those of you that I have disappointed, I apologize. Hopefully I can make things right, soon.
Both Zailey and I need to ignore the cold starts and move on. We'll both be happier if we do!
We do not have newspaper or potty pads set up for the dog. Instead, we rely on her being able to go outside for her squatting needs. This hasn't always worked, but I was going to make sure it worked this morning.
First I tried to use a treat to coax her outside. When that failed, I resorted to using the treat to get near her and then grabbing her collar. Then she got tossed out on her forehead. (Okay, the previous sentence may be a tad exaggerated.)
This cold start to Zailey's morning wasn't what she wanted. I didn't want a cold start to my new book sales either. But that is what we got.
I try to refrain from complaining in my blog. I look for the good in everything. I just couldn't help it this time.
One factor to my slow start in sales is that I had been promising my book for a while and then not delivering. My forecast for the release date was way off and I think that frustrated some of the people looking to get my book.
Another thing is that the ebook has been out for three weeks and I still don't have print copies yet. That will be remedied tomorrow and should satisfy a bunch of people.
The one good thing is that it is still way too early. If I am looking long term, then I know that sales will come. I need to renew my focus on the next book and not worry how the current book is doing.
For those of you that I have disappointed, I apologize. Hopefully I can make things right, soon.
Both Zailey and I need to ignore the cold starts and move on. We'll both be happier if we do!
January 4, 2016
sleeping
Yesterday afternoon was rather quiet at my house. While I was watching the Broncos game, the other animals in my house (wife, dog, and cat) were all asleep. So while there were many moments I wanted to yell a curse (probably too many of these) or cheer (at least there were more of these moments than cursible ones), I couldn't.
Zailey was the more restless of the animals trying to sleep. She first started out asleep on my wife. Eventually, she got down and then tried to sleep next to my wife's couch.
I thought that maybe a bit of the dog's restlessness was due to her needing a bathroom break. I let her out and gave her a chew stick when she came back in. Once the chew stick was gone, she went over to her plush snake toy (about 3 feet long and 5 inches in diameter) and used it as a pillow.
In each of her resting spots, Zailey would raise her head and look at me every 5 minutes or so. Maybe she was sensing my bottled emotions or something.
Writing emotion is the hardest part of writing for me. I have to make a conscious effort to add more emotion. This is something I can't bottle in.
Without emotion, my characters are dull, tension is lost, and believability is hampered. Emotion is one of the most important parts to the story (the others are characters and plot).
So unless I want my readers sleeping like the other animals in my household yesterday, I add more and more emotion to my stories. Usually it takes several edits to get the right amount in place, but it gets there before the pieces are published. Comment below if you think I succeeded in Shorts: A Collection of Stories and Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories.
Zailey was the more restless of the animals trying to sleep. She first started out asleep on my wife. Eventually, she got down and then tried to sleep next to my wife's couch.
I thought that maybe a bit of the dog's restlessness was due to her needing a bathroom break. I let her out and gave her a chew stick when she came back in. Once the chew stick was gone, she went over to her plush snake toy (about 3 feet long and 5 inches in diameter) and used it as a pillow.
In each of her resting spots, Zailey would raise her head and look at me every 5 minutes or so. Maybe she was sensing my bottled emotions or something.
Writing emotion is the hardest part of writing for me. I have to make a conscious effort to add more emotion. This is something I can't bottle in.
Without emotion, my characters are dull, tension is lost, and believability is hampered. Emotion is one of the most important parts to the story (the others are characters and plot).
So unless I want my readers sleeping like the other animals in my household yesterday, I add more and more emotion to my stories. Usually it takes several edits to get the right amount in place, but it gets there before the pieces are published. Comment below if you think I succeeded in Shorts: A Collection of Stories and Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories.
December 20, 2015
two timer
The other morning, I let Zailey out of her kennel. Rather than run downstairs to be let out, she decided she wanted to see her momma. Zailey jumped up on the bed to see momma. I was upset for a couple of reasons.
For one thing we do not allow her on the bed. In general, we try not to let her get on the furniture. There are times where she is chasing after Jynx that we do allow the play to spill to the couch. But never on the bed.
Another reason I was upset was because I felt second rate. Here I am getting her up to go outside and do her business. Also, this is when she gets fed by me. Not her mom. Me. What a two timer.
This morning was a bit sad. When I let her out of her kennel, Zailey went looking for her momma. Her momma is away helping a friend. Zailey not finding momma confused her and I couldn't make her understand that momma will be back soon.
Yesterday, I became a two time author. Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories was released. I couldn't be happier with how this turned out.
For me, it's nice being a two timer. For Zailey, loving the attention from both her mom and me is just her nature. I guess I need to get used her being a two timer.
For one thing we do not allow her on the bed. In general, we try not to let her get on the furniture. There are times where she is chasing after Jynx that we do allow the play to spill to the couch. But never on the bed.
Another reason I was upset was because I felt second rate. Here I am getting her up to go outside and do her business. Also, this is when she gets fed by me. Not her mom. Me. What a two timer.
This morning was a bit sad. When I let her out of her kennel, Zailey went looking for her momma. Her momma is away helping a friend. Zailey not finding momma confused her and I couldn't make her understand that momma will be back soon.
Yesterday, I became a two time author. Dark Matter: A Collection of Stories was released. I couldn't be happier with how this turned out.
For me, it's nice being a two timer. For Zailey, loving the attention from both her mom and me is just her nature. I guess I need to get used her being a two timer.
December 16, 2015
time machine
Everybody keeps asking me how I have so much time to write since I work two jobs in addition to writing. I'll let you in on a little secret; I have a time machine.
Every night right before bed, I work on some stuff in my room (either some coin stuff or writing). I activate my time machine at the end of working and go back in time an hour (that's all it will let me do). Then I climb into bed. So for that hour, there are two of me around. We usually just nod in passing.
Lately, my wife has been upset that I have been taking too long to get ready in my room. Actually, it's because I've lost track of time and work longer than my allotted hour. Then when I go back an hour, she sees it as me screwing around for like thirty minutes. It was actually 90 minutes.
I think Zailey is also getting wise to my time travel. She gets out of sorts right about the time I activate my machine. Sometimes it's just a whimper, but sometimes she gets sick. Last night I had to let her outside one more time because she really needed to take a dump. She has been taking extra bathroom breaks lately and even throwing up some too.
Now you know how to write a ton of stuff and work two jobs. Just get a time machine and enjoy your twenty-five hour days.
Every night right before bed, I work on some stuff in my room (either some coin stuff or writing). I activate my time machine at the end of working and go back in time an hour (that's all it will let me do). Then I climb into bed. So for that hour, there are two of me around. We usually just nod in passing.
Lately, my wife has been upset that I have been taking too long to get ready in my room. Actually, it's because I've lost track of time and work longer than my allotted hour. Then when I go back an hour, she sees it as me screwing around for like thirty minutes. It was actually 90 minutes.
I think Zailey is also getting wise to my time travel. She gets out of sorts right about the time I activate my machine. Sometimes it's just a whimper, but sometimes she gets sick. Last night I had to let her outside one more time because she really needed to take a dump. She has been taking extra bathroom breaks lately and even throwing up some too.
Now you know how to write a ton of stuff and work two jobs. Just get a time machine and enjoy your twenty-five hour days.
December 7, 2015
do what I say
Zailey was looking at me the other day while I was laying on the couch. She looked cute, so I thought I would pick her up and have her lay with me. She was a little out of my reach, so I asked her to come.
She followed my ESP rather than my command. She barely took a step before leaping onto the couch. Luckily, I was able to catch her before she fell on my head.
I couldn't admonish her because she did exactly what I told her to do. She just hadn't done it the way I wanted her to do it. I should have said, "come closer".
My wife and I are having issues with being precise. I tend to use "whatchamacallit" way too much in my vocabulary. That isn't good for training a puppy, talking with my wife, nor in my writing.
Sometimes, writing something with a double meaning is neat. Usually it sets up a nerdy joke. But when it is an accident, readers are left confused. Definitely not what you want.
In some of my editing here lately, I found lots of passages that lacked clarity. I knew what was meant, but also knew that nobody in their right mind would see it that way. Luckily, all I had to do was describe my whatchamacallits sooner and with more detail. That fixed the passages.
Now if only I could fix Zailey's behavior...
She followed my ESP rather than my command. She barely took a step before leaping onto the couch. Luckily, I was able to catch her before she fell on my head.
I couldn't admonish her because she did exactly what I told her to do. She just hadn't done it the way I wanted her to do it. I should have said, "come closer".
My wife and I are having issues with being precise. I tend to use "whatchamacallit" way too much in my vocabulary. That isn't good for training a puppy, talking with my wife, nor in my writing.
Sometimes, writing something with a double meaning is neat. Usually it sets up a nerdy joke. But when it is an accident, readers are left confused. Definitely not what you want.
In some of my editing here lately, I found lots of passages that lacked clarity. I knew what was meant, but also knew that nobody in their right mind would see it that way. Luckily, all I had to do was describe my whatchamacallits sooner and with more detail. That fixed the passages.
Now if only I could fix Zailey's behavior...
November 30, 2015
ice
An ice storm was in the region over the weekend. I was away visiting family when it happened. I ended up traveling back behind the storm.
Zailey got to travel with us on this trip. One of the pit stops we made was in a town that was affected by the ice storm. Ice covered most everything.
To make things even worse was that it was raining on me when I let Zailey out. She didn't seem to mind too much. But then she found the ice. She didn't know what to do with it. She tried to eat it and even tried to lick some of it. Finally she found some to pee on.
The place we stopped had some trees. As the rain was falling, it was breaking up the ice and causing it to fall from the trees. Every time a significant amount crashed to the ground, Zailey jumped and grumbled. She hated that noise.
It reminds me of one of my stories in Dark Matter (coming soon!). My character is on the beach of what is supposed to be a deserted island. He hears a noise in the trees and draws a revolver as he looks for the source. He hears another noise and then sees the offending coconut roll out onto the beach.
I can't speak dog and reassure Zailey that it is only ice. My character found the source of his scare rather quickly. I wonder if Zailey ever figured out what the source of her scare was. What do you think?
Zailey got to travel with us on this trip. One of the pit stops we made was in a town that was affected by the ice storm. Ice covered most everything.
To make things even worse was that it was raining on me when I let Zailey out. She didn't seem to mind too much. But then she found the ice. She didn't know what to do with it. She tried to eat it and even tried to lick some of it. Finally she found some to pee on.
The place we stopped had some trees. As the rain was falling, it was breaking up the ice and causing it to fall from the trees. Every time a significant amount crashed to the ground, Zailey jumped and grumbled. She hated that noise.
It reminds me of one of my stories in Dark Matter (coming soon!). My character is on the beach of what is supposed to be a deserted island. He hears a noise in the trees and draws a revolver as he looks for the source. He hears another noise and then sees the offending coconut roll out onto the beach.
I can't speak dog and reassure Zailey that it is only ice. My character found the source of his scare rather quickly. I wonder if Zailey ever figured out what the source of her scare was. What do you think?
