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Meet the Authors > R J Askew ~ One Swift Summer

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message 701: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments UNFRIENDS

OK, so that is how it works. They send me their friend requests. I reply with a personal msg and then accept the request. I then never hear from the bulk of them again. Until! Until, o until! I am invited to join in their 'event'. Now of course, am I in a good state of mind to join the event? No.

Henceforth, I will send a msg BEFORE accepting a friend request. Only if I get a reply..

I will be suspicious of anyone who approaches me with 1,686 friends as I will know how it will be with them.

I will choose my friends carefully. In fact, I will sift through the ones I have and delete any who don't reply when I msg them.

Let friends be .. friends.


message 702: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments I always compare books. When it comes back that we share no books in common, I have my answer...

Are we meeting up tomorrow night?


message 703: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Lawston (andrewlawston) | 1774 comments Good luck with your quest for that difficult 100th reader, or 200th eyeball, I suppose.

Again, I'm an early reader of this splendid book, and endorse it totally!


message 704: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Andrew wrote: "Good luck with your quest for that difficult 100th reader, or 200th eyeball, I suppose.

Again, I'm an early reader of this splendid book, and endorse it totally!"


Cheers Andrew, how are your own efforts going?


message 705: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments mood good, absolutely good .. joe bonamassa beating out the blues .. meanwhile this an absolutely inspired n received little tastie .. 14 lines in tetrametre with an ad hoc rhyme .. well sort of .. it looks a lot prettier centred in Times face n BLOOD RED .. will definitely give voice to this one >>


ASPARAGUS

I touched my verse just here to be
For you to feel that I'm with you
To love you well, a more, a more!
Alove to give to you to touch
To have, to hold, to know, to feel
Love's unconditionality
I touch just here and here for you
To feel alove a gain alove
To give to you to love you well
To be alove alive for you
To touch to feel alove anew
Love's unconditionality
I set to verse for you to feel
This true made love for you so real

your versir *bows*


message 706: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Lawston (andrewlawston) | 1774 comments R.J. wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Good luck with your quest for that difficult 100th reader, or 200th eyeball, I suppose.

Again, I'm an early reader of this splendid book, and endorse it totally!"

Cheers Andrew, ho..."


Not too badly - I'm up to 104 sales now. Things seem to have stalled rather, but that's fine. I had a tale accepted in a professional anthology coming out later this year, which is terribly exciting, and has drawn my focus away from the existing book somewhat.


message 707: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Andrew wrote: "R.J. wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Good luck with your quest for that difficult 100th reader, or 200th eyeball, I suppose.

Again, I'm an early reader of this splendid book, and endorse it totally!"

Chee..."


Well done on making your century. How did it feel? And what the hell do we do to get the next stage of the rocket ignited!?! WELL DONE on getting your story in the prof anthology. Kudos! I suspect we all crave that sort of 'official' approval. I confess I do. Being an indie feels like being some kind of rag-arsed guerilla sniping from some distant hillside.


message 708: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Lawston (andrewlawston) | 1774 comments It felt great, particularly as it was so close to my birthday and the news about the anthology. I've read a few times that 100 copies is about the average number of sales for a self-pubbed book, so I punched the air and toasted my mediocrity! As for the next stage, I suspect the pundits are right, and the best way to get sales moving is to release another book. That's a way off for me, sadly, so I think I'll be languishing around my current 104 copies for a good while yet...

I don't care much for the indie life, sadly, and I do crave that official approval. I think it comes down to having a great deal of respect for designers, editors, marketers and the like - they should be paid far more for their services than I can ever hope to offer from my own wallet.

Also, I was at a party with John le Carré's son Nick Harkaway last November, and faced with the best-selling scion of a burgeoning literary dynasty, a single .MOBI file with a pint of beer on the cover suddenly seemed a depressingly flimsy tally for two decades of scribbling.


message 709: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Andrew wrote: "It felt great, particularly as it was so close to my birthday and the news about the anthology. I've read a few times that 100 copies is about the average number of sales for a self-pubbed book, so..."

Well, if 100 is the mean average, the more reflective median may be a lot lower.

Re approval. I harbour a dream of an agent approaching me. I tell her to wait outside in the cold. A publisher then knocks, I politely request him to join the queue. He gives me a slitherly smile and obliges, being oh so very obliging. When I look out of the window I see there are about 15 of them. I get one of my sons to go outside and sell them cups of tea and kit-kats. I then watch in amusement as a large steel cage arrives from ebay and a crane unloads it. I then tweet the queue, which now has its own facebook page n twitter account - naturally, and tell them to get into the cage and fight it out. Being a pack of honey badgers, they oblige. I sell the rights to the cage fight to Fox TV for an obscene fee. And then.. And then.. The last agent publisher standing - a BDSM fesishist zombie in gimp mask and ginghams (who murdered English at Jesus College Oxford)- staggers over to me. This is when the dream turns positively odd. I set said official to recycle the EU product instruction for a range of small-time electrical products. I film the publishing indstry official's ego crumbling as she taps away with a mock turtle toffee hammer. The film I consider putting on youtube. But.. Ach!

Boogger dem dynasties! And boooger all brands!


message 710: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments I *dream* of assembling them all in the same room and welcoming them before turning round to them and saying, "now that I seem to have become significant enough for you to notice my work, what is it exactly that you could offer me now that I haven't already being doing myself"?

Like I say, a dream...


message 711: by R.J. (last edited Feb 07, 2013 11:06AM) (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Marc wrote: "I *dream* of assembling them all in the same room and welcoming them before turning round to them and saying, "now that I seem to have become significant enough for you to notice my work, what is i..."

You cld increase the nervous tension by casually tossing your granade from hand to hand, grinning manaically like Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket


message 712: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments R.J. wrote: "Marc wrote: "I *dream* of assembling them all in the same room and welcoming them before turning round to them and saying, "now that I seem to have become significant enough for you to notice my wo..."

my literary grenade has a payload of words. It can be lethal, but has been known to misfire


message 713: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Marc wrote: "R.J. wrote: "Marc wrote: "I *dream* of assembling them all in the same room and welcoming them before turning round to them and saying, "now that I seem to have become significant enough for you to..."

pull the pin ! I'm not exactly stuck on my FF .. I've just had to pause for life events .. did I tell you my company refused my bid to leave .. said I was 'too good to go' .. bugger .. must re-read Catch 22 to get a few tips on how to leave the war zone .. you cldn't lend me a grenade or two cld you .. a little outrage in the newsroom might get me my exit .. I suppose I cld always do a Yossarian and clamber up the atrium in the buff while scattering biz cards down onto the assembled audience of accountants and marketing brandheads for Watching Swifts


message 714: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments goodness, no you didn't tell me :-(


message 715: by R.J. (last edited Feb 21, 2013 10:43AM) (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments hurrah, 105 sales now .. might reach 200 by about Jan 2015 .. still, no rush.


message 717: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments new product, new product, new product ..

http://itweetyounot.com/ .

. don't think it's going to make it on Kindle though as the kindle just kills the visual feel of anything that doesn't look like a company report and accounts


message 718: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments .. gonna tweet this to death .. the title of the product is also the webbies name, I tweet you not!

http://itweetyounot.com/

.. all nailed down, I tweet you not!


message 719: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments yay go Ron!


message 720: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments I tweet you not .. my verb is hot, hot, hot >>

http://itweetyounot.com/

http://itweetyounot.com/

http://itweetyounot.com/


message 722: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments what do you read in thsee crazy eyes ..

http://itweetyounot.com/11.htm


message 723: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments eyes looking at eyes ..

how should a writer see life ??

how should life see a writer ??

http://itweetyounot.com/11.html http://itweetyounot.com/11.html


Gingerlily - The Full Wild | 34228 comments I think you need tweetment for this!


message 725: by R.J. (new)


message 726: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments no demise I surmise


message 727: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments can you monetise?


message 728: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments I can categorise that my demise will not surprise


message 729: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments and that the sun will rise in summer eyes


Gingerlily - The Full Wild | 34228 comments I'll have that with fries


message 731: by Kath (new)

Kath Middleton | 23860 comments And two pork pies.


message 732: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Caramelised


message 733: by Kath (new)

Kath Middleton | 23860 comments Ahhh. Try these for sighs.


message 734: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Meet your author in full winter wear .. well it was c-c-cold .. and I'm looking grim as I've just arrived in my cage (office)

http://www.goodreads.com/photo/author...


message 735: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments What am I thinking ..

http://www.goodreads.com/photo/author...


message 736: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments a word to the wise...


message 737: by R.J. (new)


message 738: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments awry wink


Gingerlily - The Full Wild | 34228 comments Living the life of wryly?


message 740: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments left-handed smile .. tough sell this one .. 3rd verse .. http://itweetyounot.com/2.html .. i tweet you not is catching on though, i tweet you not


message 741: by Marc (new)

Marc Nash (sulci) | 4313 comments if you ask, or at least surf, you get a lot of advice in this indie publishing world. A lot of it is contradictory. So how do you resolve on what is good advice and what is less so? Well you probably can't. But what you can do is stay true to your own artistic vision that made you want to pick up a pen and write in the first place; the artistic vision you have for each and every story or poem or collection thereof.


message 742: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments gonna squirt this bundle of joy into a wild flash fiction - if I can ever wrestle it down from 1500 words to 1000

(The term 'as pissed as a newt', should perhaps be 'as pissed as a mute', mutes being professional mourners who wld attend funerals as silent friends of the deceased, standing outside said deceased's house, or the portals of church or cemetery, to usher the spirit on its way with a solemn touch of high visual drama. It was customary to ply them with drink afterwards. Not a bad job, all things considered. For a resting actor perhaps. Or one of those street artists who pretend to be statues. Given a gloomy enough visage of course.)

-

TO MY MUTES TWO

-

Hail! silent sentinels of death!

Your hats shall be steam-punk stovepipes

Tall, black, outblacking black, jet, noir

.. shall be your crepe a-swadling heads

Beards dyed death adumbral, black inked

My ink shall die in every eye

Indelible not .. my life's run

And you, mute sirs, black-caped, silk-gloved

Stand, without my door, standards raised!

Black-draped and dripping doom, stand!

Mute, shudd'ring as you feel death .. pass ..

.

A drink in this for yous, I swear't

Adieu, mutes! you've stood me proud

Now to the bar .. let life be loud!

.


message 743: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Blog on this indie author's experience fo the great game to date .. short scroll to ONE MORE ONE MORE >>

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

.. satire *bows*


message 744: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments 1200 words of sabre-toothed satire

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

.. from deep within the indie author mosh pit


message 745: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments just a few thoughts on this great game of all the talents .. ONE MORE ONE MORE .. monday blog

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

.. satire


message 746: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments I can't write a straight blog .. here's a satire on wee indies .. short scroll to ONE MORE ONE MORE .. our battle cry ..

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html


message 747: by R.J. (last edited Mar 25, 2013 03:49PM) (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments ONE MORE ONE MORE .. attempt to draw the odd eye .. short scroll to a short satire on the indie author cage fight ..

http://itweetyounot.com/8.html


message 748: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Feel summer caress your face when you read >> http://www.amazon.co.uk/WATCHING-SWIF... #snow #ice #arctic #chillfactor #weather #kindle #ebook #romance


message 749: by R.J. (new)

R.J. Askew (rjaskew) | 855 comments Greetings, old sport, care to eye my review of The Great Gatsby? No matter should you not, but it is hot

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...


message 750: by R.J. (new)


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