Category Archives: Daily Update
Daily Update: I feel like I’m running out of things to say.
Today I sit here looking at a blank page. Words escape me. Some would call this writer’s block. I just feel like my brain is empty. It’s not that I don’t want to write, it’s that I’m not able to think of what to type. I figured I’d type up a daily update and see if words begin to flow. Some times that’s all it takes is a little kick to get things moving. Ignore email for a moment. Ignore the twitter feed for a moment. Look away from the comments on those blog posts.
It’s not that I haven’t been writing words. I’ve done a great deal of work today. I took a break intending to write this blog post and perhaps get a little written in Golden West and all I could do was stare at the screen and wait for something to fall out of my brain.
I’m pushing 200,000 words on the year. When I hit 225,000 I’m going to get myself a techy gift. I like to do this for myself and I feel the halfway point is a good time to do that. You may ask yourself what I’m thinking about getting. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.
I’m a mouse fan. I’m not a big fan of ‘hotkeys’ of key combinations. Yes, I know them. Yes, I use them. But I want a mouse with a lot of buttons. One that’ll allow me to do multiple things with my right hand instead of typing. Yes, I currently have a mouse with two regular buttons, a scroll wheel (that clicks and tilts), the back and forward buttons and even a button above the scroll wheel. There is a DPI button but I cannot modify that one. The mouse I have is the iHome (I forget the model) and it was $40. It’s a very nice mouse. Lightweight, cordless. It’s a good mouse.
I want something better. So I’ve been on the hunt for a mouse with multiple buttons. Yes, more buttons. I want a mouse I can program so rather than do all the hotkey combinations I need to do, I can just click and go. I know having a mouse with more buttons will take some getting used to, but I’m prepared for the challenge. I have a few I’m looking at, but rather than cloud your thinking with that I’m looking at, I’m curious what others who have multi-button mouses are using and why. I’m a programmer, not a gamer, but I’d like a mouse that would work for both (eventually)
If you aren’t using a standard mouse and you have one with more than your normal share of buttons, what is it and why did you chose the one you have? How do you like it? Would you suggest that mouse? Does it have multiple profiles available? It is easily programmable? Are the keys easy to get to? Is there a steep learning curve or can you just plug, program, and go? Can I easily program a macro ‘on the fly’?
Like I said, I’m at 192,000 words and when I get to 225,000 I’m going to be getting a new mouse. I’ll take pictures, leave a review, post my thoughts and opinions on it. It’ll be just like a book review. What I like and why, what I don’t like and why. This is a present to myself. I’m not shy about price if the product is a good fit for what I’m looking for.
Are you a mouse manufacturer? I’d be happy to do a review (I can also do a video review) if you send me a mouse. Again, I’m not an avid gamer, but I’d find a lot of other uses for a mouse being that I’m a programmer and speed is the key. How quickly and efficiently can it assist me with tasks I do over and over in a given day.
See, I’m now primed and ready to do more. I knew once I got started I’d be able to pound out some words. I think I’ll go pound out some more.
I didn’t post about ducks yet, did I?
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: A good day.
Yesterday I got some good writing done on Golden West. I’m only 1/3 of the way through the episode and already I know it’s going to be a great cliffhanger. With three under my belt, the episodes are off and writing themselves. In my mind I’m already thinking through the next episode as well as the next season.
This is something I brought up with Mike when he thought that perhaps Boyscouts of the Apocalypse might not go for a second season. We discussed that it would be find to change it out for another story. The same would work for Scott if he feels that his story doesn’t continue into a second season. Perhaps he can use the same universe with a new character. The three of us will have to have a meeting soon and talk.
Speaking of talking, Mike and I did talk last night. As I’ve done to him many times he had to delay, delay, and delay some more. I’ve done that to him more than once. I took advantage of the time and got my writing done. I managed nearly 2500 words yesterday even through multiple interruptions. I’m going to try that again today though I doubt it’ll happen. Tonight I have a lacrosse game for the Millican’s son to go to as well as my favorite daughter having volleyball practice. Both are at the same school so I’ll be bopping back and forth between the two. It’ll be a hoot.
Work might actual have a slow period. That’ll be a plus before things ramp back up next week and the week after. I’ll be installing one project, ramping up for a new project, continuing with some lease roll projects. All this project management has helped me get a better focus of my time and usually helps with planning out my day and even when interrupted, getting back on the horse where I was and continue. Be it with a piece of code, a piece of story, of just getting a thought completed.
I know for some writers interruptions can be the death of flow. Last night I had many such occasions, but I’ve gotten to the point where I can brush them off and dive back in. It’s sort of like when someone wakes me up from a dead sleep. I can wake up quickly, do something, lay back down and I’m asleep before you know it. Others get woken up at night and have difficulty getting back to sleep. The same thing seems to work with my flow. As I’m typing this post, my favorite daughter it telling me about her day. I’ll stop, look at her. Listen. Then go back to my post. Sure it’s distracting, but life won’t always give you a quiet three hours a day to sit and get your writing done.
I’m going to try and take advantage of a little of this quiet time and get some more done on Golden West before practice and the lacrosse game. Last time we went to the game ducks flew over our heads and it reminded me that I need to get that duck post written. Soon. Very Soon.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: What a weekend.
This weekend was Mother’s day. I called my mom and we talked for a good long time. My mom owns a bar in the back woods on Minnesota so if you live in that area, let me know and I can tell you how to get there. She is AWESOME! My brother brought friends home from the Navy and she had the distinct pleasure of making sailors blush. She is a woman who’ll say what’s on her mind and not hold back. Ever. She might bite her lip or wish she’d not said something once its out, but she’s not going to hold back. You want her opinion, just ask.
I called my step-mom. She is also an amazing woman. Her and my father started up Murdock Laboratory twice. They moved from Minnesota, to Colorado, back to Minnesota, back to Colorado where she now resides. Since my father passed away she has taken on the running of the household and business on her own. The strength she’s had to continue I find admirable. When I used to call home I’d talk to my dad and I never really got to know her. I’m glad to say that I’ve not allowed her to unnoticed, but I have let her know that I’m sorry if she ever felt unappreciated by me. Since my father’s passing we’ve become much closer and I’m glad for that.
I also called my brother’s wife. He was in school on Mother’s day so they had celebrated the night before. She is also an amazing woman. My brother met her in Japan on one of his many tours over there. She made the difficult decision to come back to the United States to be with him leaving her family back in Japan. She’ll be taking a 10 hour flight back there for a month visit with their two children. I don’t know if I could do a 10 hour flight with a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. She is a brave, brave woman.
Saturday we went with the Millicans to Old Town. We had a great time going through a little market that had one of the side streets closed off. I wanted to buy a Godzilla sculpture made from wire, gears, chains, and spark plugs. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. The artist had a number of other cool sculptures also made from similar items, but none as cool as Godzila.
We ate at the Old Town Cafe. A wonderful place to eat. I had lunch there with CJ and Debbie when they came to town last year for Comic Con. I’ve never had a bad meal there. The hand made tortillas are just incredible. A little butter and yum yum yum.
Sunday was spent with the wife’s family. It was pot luck. We brought clam chowder (and didn’t bring any leftovers back home). There was a lot of food and we only got a little left over chicken to bring back home. Everyone showed up and it was great. I had a beer for the first time in months. My mother-in-law (another incredible woman who raised 7 children) was doing great. All my wife’s sisters (and their children and grand children) all came over. Yes, great grand kids were there.So we had four generations from my wife’s family there. It’s impressive when everyone shows up.
I had no intention of doing any writing this weekend. None at all. I did my very short blog posts and that was it. I did get some reading done and I need to do a review of Flash Gold. I picked up this novella for free. I’ve only read a few free books I’ve picked up and this one was great! Watch for the review in the coming days. I also picked up The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories(http://www.amazon.com/The-Weird-Compendium-Strange-ebook/dp/B006TXZD3G/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2). This is 750,000 words of fiction goodness that I’ll be dipping into time and again over a very long period of time. Definitely not something I’ll get through in one sitting. I also picked up a few more books. I’ll have to post what I have on my kindle app one day.
I did also get through a terrible free story that I picked up. I would review it, but it was just awful and I have no desire to admit that I’d actually read the entire thing. It was a short story, but between the bad writing, the foul language on every page, and a story that really didn’t get me to like any of the characters, I don’t think this one deserves my time to review.
So it was a great weekend. I hope you and your family had a great weekend as well. I hope you called your mom (if she’s still with us).
I need to get to some more editing and some more writing. New stories should be coming from me soon! I’ll write about ducks tomorrow if I can find the time.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Mother’s Day
Today was an awesome day spent with family. I called my mom, step-mom, and sister-in-law then spent the rest of the day with the wife’s family. It was great to see everyone there.
Very short post again today as I ate too much and I am crazy sleepy.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Jack Kane Edits are done
Last night I had a marathon of editing and I got through the rest of Jack Kane. I got through the last third of the book and my oh my does my brain still feel like mush. Not in a bad way. More like the way when you decide to walk for the first time in months and you feel wiped out but there’s the surge of endorphins that makes you feel elated. I’m riding that kind of high today.
What Mike and I created together is a fun, fast-paced book. It’s still got a couple of holes that Mike and I will likely pass back and forth and fill in, but over all it’s a fun story. A little more polish and we’ll get it sent off to beta readers, some editing friends, and then it’ll be the big agent hunt. Our intention is to find an agent or publisher for this book. We’ve already talked that one through.
We’ve both read and re-read all the talk of going Indie, contracts, royalty rates, and the like. At this point in our careers it’s a matter of gaining momentum. Once we have that momentum, there’s nothing wrong with creating another property and going Indie. It’s a matter of keeping an eye on the contracts to make sure all the clauses are in order. I also have friends that know contracts and have offered to give them the once over to make sure we’re not signing over rights that we should retain.
I was going to write a long post about “To Indie or Not to Indie” but I will write that when my brain isn’t as mushy as it currently is. I tried to read a little before I went to bed and I could barely keep my eyes open. I also slept in until nearly 9AM. That hasn’t happened in a long time and it felt great. Nearly 12 hours of sleep. After the week I had and getting through the edits of Jack Kane, I think I earned that little nap.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I don’t know when I’ll get around to my daily update so Happy Mother’s day to all you moms out there. I hope someone special in your life makes the day extra special for you.
Today is too beautiful of a day to stay inside. Tomorrow I’ll write about Mother’s Day. And Ducks.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: The ebook pricing debate
It seems that every couple of months (sometimes monthly) a battle will rage about the pricing of ebooks. Because of the Department of Justice stepping in claiming that the Big 6 are doing bad things, price fixing, the agency model, and so many other terms, the internet is abuzz with information right now. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone is claiming that people want cheaper ebooks. People want to spend less money on books than what the Big 6 is charging. I keep hearing all this noise.
I’m subscribed to a lot of blogs and have done enough reading to formulate an opinion. I’ve even given myself time to digest all of this information to be able to form a coherent thought about all of this. Being that I’ve bought books for a good majority of my adult life (and enough of my teen life) I know enough about books and how much they cost. Do you want to know what I think about all of this?
People will pay what they’re going to pay.
It really is that simple. It doesn’t matter if an ebook is $14.99 or if it’s .99. It really doesn’t matter. People will pay what they’re going to pay. Let me explain
I’ve bought a lot of books. Boxes and boxes of books. I love to read. There are some authors (like Tad Williams) that I will buy the hardcover as soon as it is out and devour it. I’ve paid as much as $29.99 for a hard cover novel. It never bothered me. Other authors, let’s just take Piers Anthony as an example, I’ll pick up his books in trade paper back. The most I’ve paid for a Piers Anthony novel is around $6.99 or $7.99. The point is, the price isn’t what got me to make the purchase. The author is what got me to make the purchase.
But that’s physical books. Perhaps I’ve put more worth on having a physical copy, right? Well, let’s look at my buying as of late.
I’ve picked up a lot of free ebooks. I’ve read a couple. They’re alright. I’ve picked up a large number of .99 books. I’ve read a few. They’re also alright. I haven’t picked up a stinker of a .99 book yet because I’m picky. I’ve picked up a few stinker free ebooks and I can see why the person is giving them away. These make up less than half of what’s on my ereader at the moment. Most of what’s on my ereader? Samples and books over $4.99.
That’s right. I only have a few books in the $2.99 – $4.99 range. Why? I really like the authors and I wanted to get their novels. I will always buy a Stephen King novel. I love his writing even if Under the Dome left me underwhelmed with the ending. I still loved the characters, the incidents, the mystery. The ending just sucked but I still got my money’s worth. I’ve picked up 11.22.63 and the Wind Through the Keyhole. It doesn’t matter what the price it. I’ve got a few Mike Stackpole novels on there as well. Again, I’ll buy whatever he produces because I really enjoy his style of writing.
But let’s look at the samples. Do I only pick big 6 books? NO! I’ve got a lot of Nightshade books (bought some of them outright), I’ve got Apex books, Edge/Tesseracts, Pyr, and I do also have some Big 6 books. The publisher isn’t what’s driven me to purchase the books. It’s the author being out there, talking about their book. It’s me getting to know the person that wrote the novel, looking at the first few chapters in the sample and I’ll buy a copy. I’ve got Skalzi’s Redshirts on my reader. Fun stuff. I’ll be buying the book when it comes out. Doesn’t matter what the price is. I know I want to read this book. I’ve done this with many authors.
Beyond that, I’ve got Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds also. Why? I’ve read his blog. I enjoy his writing style. I will pick up the next book I know even though I haven’t read the first. It didn’t matter what the price was. I wanted the book, I bought it.
You may think, “Well you must have a lot of extra money to buy all these books.” Not really. I don’t spend as much on books as you might think. I’ve gotten some book that I was waiting on when they were suddenly free on the Kindle. I’ve won a couple in giveaways. Some were dropped to .99 and I couldn’t pass up on that deal. I’ve even gotten a couple free because I blog and every once in a while I’ll do a book review. Give me a free book, I’ll review it. It’s the least I can do.
But my point is I’ve only a few times in my life cringed at book prices. You want to charge me $21.99 for an ebook? That’s pushing the limit a little too far. Unless it’s an omnibus with three or four novels. Then I’ll pick it up. I bought the Stieg Larsson books for $29.99. Why not. That’s three books. They’re getting great reviews. They seem to be worth the price. I’ve also picked up a trilogy for $2.99 because the premise sounded interesting.
I’ve bought books from people I follow on twitter. Why? They seems like interesting people and I like to support interesting people.I’ve got a few Scott Roche books on my ereader and I do need to get through them and review them. Same with Justin Macumber and Zoe Winters.
So where do I think books should be priced? Well, I think that depends. If you’re an indie author who’s got one or two books out, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick them up for .99. If you’ve got several books out then I wouldn’t be surprised to see them at $2.99 as I would think you’ve got more books out, you’re good at this writing thing. If you’re doing this for a living and making money and you’ve got a proven track record, I’d be more than happy to pay $5.99 and up for one of your works.
My point is it’s not the price that’s important or at stake here. It’s the author. Price for me depends on how established you are. Do I like what you’re doing and I’ll be willing to pay $12.99 or more for your new novel (like the next Wheel of Time book) or are you a brand new author who I’m willing to take a chance on? It’s not a hard and fast rule. You can’t put a line in the sand and say “No one will ever pay more than this” because you’ll be wrong. Sales figures prove that. Look at the Amazon top 100 and you’ll see prices all over the map. It’s something personal and something that each author needs to figure out for themselves. Just because J.A Konrath says “$2.99 is the golden price point for a book.” Doesn’t make it true. It only makes it true for him. It makes it true for people who’ve set their price at that level and had success.
What are your thoughts on ebook pricing? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
Tomorrow I’ll write about ducks
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Feliz dia de las Madres
Today is Mother’s Day in Mexico. Yes, it’s not the same day as Mother’s Day in the US. It always catches me by surprise. If you’re Mexican (and you know it) I hope you had an awesome day!
My favorite daughter had her first day back at practice. You wouldn’t know that she missed three weeks of practice. She was back swinging and jumping and doing great!
Me? yeah, I’ll talk about me more tomorrow (and ducks).
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: May Gray
In the San Diego area we have something every year called May Gray. It’s when the marine layer comes in and engulfs the city with haze. This will run into June and become June Gloom. It normally burns off, but every morning is filled with fog and dampness. This means if you wash your car, it’ll most likely be dirty the next day due to the overnight moisture.
What this means for me is headaches. The high humidity helps my sinuses fill to the bursting point. It’d be nice if I could just blow my nose and be done with it, but that doesn’t happen. Ah well. Life goes on.
Yesterday my favorite daughter was supposed to be back at volleyball practice. She had to do a one mile run on Monday so her ankle was sore and she didn’t practice. Darn it. There’s always tomorrow.
I started this post early in the morning. It’s not 8:30PM and I’m just getting back to it. It’s been one of those days where everything happens to keep you from getting back at it. I’ll get over it.
I met with my co-author, Mike Plested, tonight and we had a great conversation. We’ve both been busy wrangling cats and find a point where our paths cross has been difficult. Somehow the stars aligned and we both looked into the face of God and saw each other looking back.
Okay, that’s just weird. But we discussed several things including: Marketing the Action Pack Podcast to reach a larger audience, Beta readers for Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty (now that editing will be off to him shortly), our top secret project, and several other things. Our paths are intertwined at this point and that’s a big plus. Mike has gotten some great contacts out there in the writing universe, I’ve got…production value? Yeah, let’s go with that. I’ve been cranking out a large number of words and I intended to keep getting more and more written this year. I’ve only just begun.
Since the first of the year I’ve written nearly 184,000 words. I’ve completed a few new short stories, the Action Pack, gotten deep into To Fall From the Sky (to be shelved until a later time), and more. I’m 20 days (roughly) ahead of schedule and I couldn’t feel better about it.
Yes, I should be doing more to promote myself. I’ve been lacking in that department. This summer I plan on stepping that up. June will be a very VERY (did I say very?) busy month. It’s JuNoWriMo. I am taking a vacation at the end of the month. There’s more volleyball practice. I’ll be starting a new project at work. There are other personal issues that shall not be discussed here. Even with all that going on I’m still going to blog daily and I will complete JuNoWriMo (50,000 words in the month of June) before I go on vacation. I know I can do it.
This is what I mean when I say I’m in production mode. I’m producing more words than I ever have before. It feels great and the May Gray and June gloom will do nothing to stop me from writing more.
On the reading front (you may have noticed a couple of book reviews) I’m reading Stephen King’s 11.22.63 and The Wind Through the Keyhole. I’ll post reviews on those once complete. I’m loving 11.22.63, The Wind Through the Keyhole, not so much. One feels like a great King novel, the other feels like… It’s hard to say but it’s almost like he’s just trying to cash in on the Dark Tower once more. It’ll all be in the review.
I’ve got some editing to do before I get to bed. My talk with Mike distracted me away from writing about ducks. I’ll get to them tomorrow.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Flossing.
I’ve been negligent over the years with regards to my dental health. Oh sure I brush daily. I make sure to rinse. I’ll use a toothpick when I need to. But flossing?
That was until the other day and I brushed my teeth and the toothpaste was a slight shade of pink. I didn’t think anything of it and actually thought it might be the toothpaste. It had an orange stripe in it. The other day was 6 or 7 months ago and the slight pink would come and go. Finally a couple weeks ago that slight pink became red.
I decided that my gums were bleeding and that’s never a good thing. It felt like I had something stuck in my teeth, but it wasn’t just in one spot, it was in several.
A few years ago I had been to the dentist and had several sessions over an 8 month period where I had ‘deep pockets’ where the tartar on my teeth had gone below the gum line. The dentist suggested removing my wisdom teeth to help me better clean those back teeth.
*note: I still have my wisdom teeth and I intend to keep them. When in the Navy they wanted to remove them because a new dentist needed practice and mine were coming in. I asked “Do I have room in my mouth for them?” “Yes.” “Are they impacted?” “No.” “Is there a problem leaving them in?” “No.” “Will it cause crowding of my teeth if they come in?” “No, there is enough room for them.” “Then no, you can’t have my wisdom teeth to practice on.” That was my last trip to the Naval dentist and I still have my wisdom teeth.
During all the cleanings I had over that multi-month period the dentist kept asking the same thing; “How often do you floss?” The answer is obvious. I didn’t. So I started to floss. But flossing is a royal pain in the backside. So I stopped. Until I realized that this blood when I brushed was the same symptom I had when I had my other dental issues. It was time to get serious about flossing again.
So I bought those picks with the floss in them. I used them and OMFG! My gums felt like they’d been bit by red ants. OW OW OW and double OW! I did it the next day with similar results. My teeth even hurt. After the third day not so much bleeding. And now after five days it’s better better. Not nearly as much bleeding or pain in the gums. At least when I brush the toothpaste I spit out stays whitish instead of pink.
I’m going to stick with this flossing stuff. I like my teeth. I’d like to hang on to them for a few more years. I love dentists reactions when they count my teeth and realize I still have my wisdom teeth. Sure I’ve got fillings, but I’ve got my teeth. I intend to keep them for as long as possible.
On the writing front, I wrote over 3000 words yesterday. I didn’t get any editing done, but I’ll be back on it tonight.
My favorite daughter has volleyball practice. This will be her first practice back since spraining her ankle. I’m hopeful that all goes well.
I need to meet with Mike Plested so we can discuss another super secret project.
So much to do, so little time.
I’ll write about ducks tomorrow.
Until tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: ASSEMBLE!
Yesterday started out a day trying to figure out what to do. We were up kinda early and I got ready, went and got breakfast and coffee for the wife. We thought about going to a Hawaiian celebration in the park. We’d seen that on the news the night before and again on the news that morning. We also saw Cinco de Mayo celebrations around town both on the news the evening before and that morning. Both looked like fun. We were having a difficult time deciding which to go and do.
So instead we went and saw the Avengers. It’s a small film that’s out. You might have heard about it. It was alright.
No, it was freakin awesome! I’ll be doing a review on it as well as reviews on the couple of books I finished over the weekend. I’m working on a plan for my reviews where I’ll look at it from a fan perspective and from a writer’s perspective. It’ll be good to do the compare/contrast of what I liked as a fan, and nit-pick as a writer. I’m enjoying doing reviews and I hope to do more in the future.
After that we went back to the Millican’s house and watched Thor, ate some great clam chowder. During the week we’d seen The Hulk, parts of Captain America, and Iron Man (1 and 2). I was well prepared for the Avengers. They did a great job wrapping everything together. I’ll mention all that in my review.
All in all, it was a good weekend. With the reviews I’m going to write up, I don’t have time to do that post about ducks. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 