Report of the week

Well, this week was a study in contrasts. When it comes to health and mood, I had a pretty shitty week. The weather was partly to blame, but I also had some momentary temper tantrums over little shit that isn’t worth recapping here.

And yet, the week was mostly good in other ways. I had a job with the glass web site for one more week, meaning my invoice this time will be for four weeks. So that good paycheck will allow me to make some charitable donations and to pay some artists for covers, and even to buy some geeky stuff for myself.

I got a 5-star review on Amazon for NINJAWORLD, the very first review for my bizzaro adventure story. On the same day, I also made four sales on Amazon for other titles. AND most of those were in the UK, where I have had a hard time making sales.

Also, there’s Saving Gabriel and its rising popularity. I began posting the story on my account at Wattpad this week, and I’ve been diligently begging people on Twitter and Facebook to please give it a try and vote for it or leave comments. People are doing both, and many of the comments are typo corrections like I was asking for. So the story is getting fixed as we go along, and it’s quickly climbing the charts at the same time. As of 9 AM this morning, I took a screen cap to show my progress:

That’s my first trip to the Wattpad top 20 in any category with a lovely 19 in Paranormal. I’m in the top 100 of Fantasy at 56th place, and that’s not too shabby either. I suspect that getting into the top 10 of either category will be a tougher fight than getting into the top 100, but even this new record wouldn’t be possible if y’all weren’t willing to play along by voting and commenting. With only 8 parts posted, Saving Gabriel already has twice as many votes as the full run of my next most popular story, Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies, and it’s only had a third of the page views that Sandy’s story did. With progress like this, I really do believe Saving Gabriel can make the top 10. If I can keep Rosalinda and Gabriel’s story in this rarefied rank for even just a day, it will help give more visibility to my other stories too. So you aren’t just helping me promote this one story, but all of my offerings on Wattpad.

I really do appreciate these efforts on your parts, and to encourage more of you to vote and/or comment, I’m offering y’all a bribe of sorts. If I can crack the top 10 of Paranormal or Fantasy with Saving Gabriel, I will begin posting my next story, the YA werewolf tale A Boy and His Dawg, in early November (after we return from Lucca Comics and Games, that is) instead of late December as I’d originally planned. So while you’re still getting your fix for fallen angels, you can also be checking out a new breed of werewolf based on African wolves who turn into people.

Even if I can’t make it to the top 10, I’m glad that many people are willing to give Saving Gabriel a chance, and that y’all are willing to leave votes and comments. And this is why, even if my week totally sucked, I’m taking the Friday post to thank y’all for sticking with my crazy ass and trying out my stuff. And if I do make it to the top 10, know that you have my deepest gratitude for your help in promoting my new story.

Now with the genuinely grateful butt smooching out of the way, we now return to your regular streams of piss and vinegar.