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It's my birthday!
Jan. 13th, 2011 02:54 amWell, technically, it was my birthday as it's past midnight. But I haven't gone to sleep yet*, so I say it still is.
It was a nice, low-key birthday. I went to lunch all by my lonesome at Popeyes, I watched a couple of movies--Zombieland and then Monsters vs Aliens (one in the afternoon, one this evening). I had a lovely dinner out with my beautiful and wonderful wife, who gave me a book on Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest home. I didn't get my new computer today, but I got a call that it's ready for me to pick up tomorrow (or today).
Tomorrow I begin the entertaining (for certain values of "entertaining") process of transferring all my files from this machine to the new one. I have all my files backed up on Jungledisk. So tomorrow I'll get the wireless networking on the new machine set up, then download a copy of Firefox--the first and only time I'll use Internet Explorer--get that set up (with Adblocker Plus, NoScript and other essential tools), import my bookmarks and passwords...and then the real fun begins.
I'll have to download all my Jungledisk files. I have no idea how long it will take, but probably a while. And I'll have to get used to working in Windows again. The new PC has two hard drives, so I can use Windows exclusively on one, and eventually dual boot the system so I can play with linux on the other. Possibly several flavors of linux (Suse, Ubuntu, others) to see how they compare. But not right away. I'm going to stick with the vanilla Windows 7 install for a while to give it a fair shake...and to avoid any risk of compromising the brand new install.
In other news, I'm now a self-published author. I've formatted two manuscripts, created covers, and uploaded them (along with blurbs and tags) to Smashwords, PubIt, and Amazon. These are short stories I haven't sold anywhere else, rejected by the market they were written for, and too short for most of the other markets that might otherwise accept them. So I figured they'd be good candidates for my first foray into self-publishing.
I also had to create covers for them. I know nothing about cover design except that the image needs to look as good in thumbnail size as at normal size. So I created a couple of very simple, very basic covers. I'm using GIMP, since that's the image manipulation program I'm most familiar with (no master, not by a damn sight--but fairly familiar after toying with it for several years). Here they are:
High art it ain't, but I think they do the job. And they didn't cost me anything, which is important. I have five or six more stories, all under the same pen name, to format and publish, which means as many more covers. More, actually, since once I have five stories up, I'll be producing a five-story collection as well.
I've also created a website for Gelastic Press, where I've posted links to these stories (on all three sites) as well as links to my stories published at Cobblestone Press. I'm hoping for some cross-pollination here. If someone finds one of these stories and likes it, and looks at the Gelastic Press site (it's mentioned in the author blurbs on all the sites), they'll discover the Cobblestone Press stories. And maybe even buy them.
I've already sold a few copies on Smashwords and Amazon. Not many, but given that I've done essentially no advertising, it's a start. Plus, now that they're up, I don't have to do a damn thing with them. If they attract buyers, great! If not, it costs me nothing to keep them available. I will, of course, continue to submit stories and novels to publishers, but this makes a good backup plan. Further reports, as they say, as events warrant.
*I went to bed, but couldn't sleep, so I'm back up again. It's a rule: don't lie in bed for any length of time if you can't sleep. Get up and do something until you are sleepy. And here I am.
It was a nice, low-key birthday. I went to lunch all by my lonesome at Popeyes, I watched a couple of movies--Zombieland and then Monsters vs Aliens (one in the afternoon, one this evening). I had a lovely dinner out with my beautiful and wonderful wife, who gave me a book on Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest home. I didn't get my new computer today, but I got a call that it's ready for me to pick up tomorrow (or today).
Tomorrow I begin the entertaining (for certain values of "entertaining") process of transferring all my files from this machine to the new one. I have all my files backed up on Jungledisk. So tomorrow I'll get the wireless networking on the new machine set up, then download a copy of Firefox--the first and only time I'll use Internet Explorer--get that set up (with Adblocker Plus, NoScript and other essential tools), import my bookmarks and passwords...and then the real fun begins.
I'll have to download all my Jungledisk files. I have no idea how long it will take, but probably a while. And I'll have to get used to working in Windows again. The new PC has two hard drives, so I can use Windows exclusively on one, and eventually dual boot the system so I can play with linux on the other. Possibly several flavors of linux (Suse, Ubuntu, others) to see how they compare. But not right away. I'm going to stick with the vanilla Windows 7 install for a while to give it a fair shake...and to avoid any risk of compromising the brand new install.
In other news, I'm now a self-published author. I've formatted two manuscripts, created covers, and uploaded them (along with blurbs and tags) to Smashwords, PubIt, and Amazon. These are short stories I haven't sold anywhere else, rejected by the market they were written for, and too short for most of the other markets that might otherwise accept them. So I figured they'd be good candidates for my first foray into self-publishing.
I also had to create covers for them. I know nothing about cover design except that the image needs to look as good in thumbnail size as at normal size. So I created a couple of very simple, very basic covers. I'm using GIMP, since that's the image manipulation program I'm most familiar with (no master, not by a damn sight--but fairly familiar after toying with it for several years). Here they are:
High art it ain't, but I think they do the job. And they didn't cost me anything, which is important. I have five or six more stories, all under the same pen name, to format and publish, which means as many more covers. More, actually, since once I have five stories up, I'll be producing a five-story collection as well.
I've also created a website for Gelastic Press, where I've posted links to these stories (on all three sites) as well as links to my stories published at Cobblestone Press. I'm hoping for some cross-pollination here. If someone finds one of these stories and likes it, and looks at the Gelastic Press site (it's mentioned in the author blurbs on all the sites), they'll discover the Cobblestone Press stories. And maybe even buy them.
I've already sold a few copies on Smashwords and Amazon. Not many, but given that I've done essentially no advertising, it's a start. Plus, now that they're up, I don't have to do a damn thing with them. If they attract buyers, great! If not, it costs me nothing to keep them available. I will, of course, continue to submit stories and novels to publishers, but this makes a good backup plan. Further reports, as they say, as events warrant.
*I went to bed, but couldn't sleep, so I'm back up again. It's a rule: don't lie in bed for any length of time if you can't sleep. Get up and do something until you are sleepy. And here I am.