So Exciting!

It is 3:32 am and I've been up for two hours.... doing mostly nothing except trying to do a lot more than that. My computer is about as fast as driftwood on a calm and peaceful day. Does what it wants when it wants. I can't say enough good things about Norton and whatever other useful software I may have loaded on over the years. The fresh one is waiting for me to set up but all my stuff is still over on this guy.

Anyway, it has been a pretty treacherous week. Did you know that gold is at an all time high? Probably not the best time to have sent something out for gold plating that didn't even need to go out for gold plating in the first place. Teaches me to trust that somebody else did their job right. Note to self: always read the job specs before making commitments. Thank good for stripping solutions.

Then there is the slow dripping from the ceiling, landing on perfectly good product and nobody thinking they should maybe move the skid. What a funny world. People just put in their time until they get to go home at the end of the day. I guess that's what you get when you pay what you do. Still, money only goes so far. You can't teach pride.

Now it's the weekend and I get home to find .... guess what? No, no, you'll never guess. Okay, I'll tell you. A purchase order for two books from Coutts Information Services. I guess I should acknowledge the PO before letting you know about it but, first I have to order some books. So, here we are again: An explanation of why I've been up for two and a half hours and gotten next to nothing done, hoping to avoid the long delay that it takes to actually receive a print on DEMAND order. Seriously folks, nothing is instant. Life may be short but, nobody told the postal service or border control about that.

Okay, enough gut spillage. I should save some of it for Helium or Bright Hub or something. I had a few ideas of things to write about and no chance to sit down and write, so off I go to spend some dough and hopefully make a little, too.

Laters.

Oh, the horror

Well, so is the life of a newbie author. So excited to get the book out there and then my mother reads it. She only found a couple of issues. But, one of them was that "Forest Stream" appears twice! That is definitely not cool. Anyway, I needed to add the CIP imprint info for the Library of Congress Collection and that means putting up new inside pages. This is the good thing about going POD.

Now, I am happy. Next challege: eBook! Too bad Kindle is not crazy about Canadians yet. I'm being patient... and also, it helps that I am really too busy to care that much these days. Soon though.

Well, I'll keep you posted.

A crazy busy day

Don't ask why I'm still up. I should be sleeping. My head is pounding from lack of it. No worries. Off to bed immediately after this post.

Today was fun one. ... except for the pounding headache for lack of sleep.

I am still really excited about having made it onto Amazon.com. That's a bit of a coo. More so because I am actually very proud of the book. A damn good read is how it's being described and lots of interest pouring in, so that's a good thing.

Broken Axle Spinning Blind now on Amazon

This is awsome! Broken Axle Spinning Blind is now available for sale on Amazon.com. How cool is that?

Okay, so I'm a little bit excited. I'll be more excited when people buy a few copies. The other day it passed the biggest test of all, my mother liked it. Trust me, that's saying a lot.... when your parents pause for a second and say something like: "Who knew you had it in you?"

So, now you know it's good ;)

Biodgradeable Batteries

Oh, and thank you to Just Saying for bringing this little nugget to my attention. Coca-Cola, the same company who used to (a long time ago), put actual cocaine in their products as a way to assure brand loyalty, may be the very company that can now help save the planet! Talk about coming a long way! Read more...

Poetic Asides

In April 2009 I chanced upon a website that brought me to an epiphany.

Don't ask me how it happened but, Robert Lee Brewer has changed my life. Don't laugh, it's true. Now here is a questions: What does Mr. Brewer have in common with President Obama? A lot. Don't laugh.

You see, many people seem to like to hang their hopes and aspirations on others and both men have offered the masses just such an opportunity. In Mr. Brewer's case it was the offering of a seemingly harmless little challenge: Write a poem a day for each day in April and he'll pick a handful for publishing in an ebook. It was open to anybody and he got flooded.

At first he was kind with the regular updates. Did I mention that the results were to be posted within a month or two and now we're about ten months later? Anyway, life goes on and so did Robert. He is a very busy man, from what I can see on his blog. Very in demand. Oh, did we forget to mention that he is an artist and these are not people well known for long-term commitments to very involved projects. Suffice it to say that he got in over his head.

Now, the last update was in October. The only activity that the participants have seen since then is that he closed the possibility for people to post nasty comments about how disillusioned they have become with him. You see it seems that people are a bit too trusting and feel that when they put work out there, it is still their property. Silly people. Lesson number one on the internet. Anything you say, is no longer yours unless you have actually published it, and even then it might still no longer be yours. It's a bit like gossip. You said it, now you can't take it back. Sorry. Too bad that you thought you were talking to your best friend and found out that he has his own agenda.

Anyway, I too have been eagerly awaiting the results of the April Poetry Month challenge. But, this is what Robert Lee Brewer did for me: He kicked me in the ass, in a good way! I did the challenge and ended up with a starting point. Really, how good is your first draft going to be anyway? But, it got my name out there. You type in Freyda Tartak and it comes up on line one regardless of search engine. So, thank you Robert Lee Brewer. You did that for me.

Furthermore, I didn't stop with April. I kept writing. Different stuff. Now, I've made some money selling articles and even more people have read my work. This makes me happy.

Further still, and here is the kicker, I published a book. Now, this is truly Robert's fault. Like I said, it was a starting point. I reworked and re-edited everything. To be sure, some of it was absolute junk... but, some wasn't. So, here we are: A broken axle spinning blind later and it is all thanks to Robert Lee Brewer. So, who cares if he didn't follow through on his promises? He isn't God and doesn't define destiny. Come on people! Use what he gave you and stop complaining. If you want to publish your work, do what any real writer does, rework it, make it better.

So, as far as I am concerned, I am gratefully. Truly. Because, I only have one life to live and I wanted mine to include having written a bunch of books and now I'm working on my next one. In the mean time, do a gal a favor and buy Broken Axle because you know what? It really is a good read!

Broken Axle Spinning Blind now available for sale

For all those eagerly awaiting its release, "Broken Axle Spinning Blind" has now been released for sale through https://www.createspace.com/3418093. Other distribution channels should be coming on board shortly so be sure to stay posted.