I've changed the title of my new novel from 'The Mindgod' to 'Stars in Chains'. Since it is 122,000 words long, I've made it into a two volume novel. Book One is 'Slave' and Book Two is 'Liberator'.
It is not easy to find a fitting and catchy title. I hope future readers will find this one intriguing enough to want to buy the books.
I sent it yesterday to MSFiction, my publisher, and I hope they want it. It has quite a bit of erotica in it. Kind of ironic, since I said I wouldn't write any more erotica, or at least less of it. But I wrote the first 40,000 words about 30 years ago and I liked the story, so a pulled it out of the dusty drawer and did some rewriting and finished it. I'm happy how it turned out, hopefully everyone else thinks so.
Now I'm ready to get back to 'Epsilon', but I have to read first what I've written.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Finished (sort of)
Wow. I finally finished my novel ‘The Mindgod’. 122,000 + words. Now the real work begins: Editing. I’m already at page 83 with that. There are 214 pages single spaced.
After that comes the spellcheck, but you can’t really trust that program. It doesn’t catch every misspelled word. The word might be spelled correctly, but it is the wrong word for its meaning. The title will definitely change. I’m still playing around with that. It is not easy to find a catchy title, one that fits to the contents of the novel.
I may have to make two volumes out of this novel because of its length. That means two titles.
Checked my sales at Fictionwise. The Xandra series was in number 7, 8 and 9 position for the last 20 days at August 20th. That has already changed. Now it is the digest Men of Eros, which contains my story ‘A taste of Paradise’, that is at number 4 position and number 5 in sales for the last 20 days as of today. That may change tomorrow again.
Once I'm done with Mindgod I will continue with 'Epsilon'. Of course, I'll have to read what I've written (60,000 words) so I get into the story again. I'm looking forward to visiting again the planet where dinosaurs roam and intelligent Spiders and Ants challenge humans for the right to Epsilon.
After that comes the spellcheck, but you can’t really trust that program. It doesn’t catch every misspelled word. The word might be spelled correctly, but it is the wrong word for its meaning. The title will definitely change. I’m still playing around with that. It is not easy to find a catchy title, one that fits to the contents of the novel.
I may have to make two volumes out of this novel because of its length. That means two titles.
Checked my sales at Fictionwise. The Xandra series was in number 7, 8 and 9 position for the last 20 days at August 20th. That has already changed. Now it is the digest Men of Eros, which contains my story ‘A taste of Paradise’, that is at number 4 position and number 5 in sales for the last 20 days as of today. That may change tomorrow again.
Once I'm done with Mindgod I will continue with 'Epsilon'. Of course, I'll have to read what I've written (60,000 words) so I get into the story again. I'm looking forward to visiting again the planet where dinosaurs roam and intelligent Spiders and Ants challenge humans for the right to Epsilon.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Mindgod
I'm at 103,000 words with my novel 'Mindgod' and still so much to go. It is becoming too long for one book. An ideal ebook is around 70,000 words maybe even less. So now I may have to make this into two volumes and that may be difficult. Where to make the break? Book one won't have an ending and Book Two won't have its own beginning. Well, I had to do it with the Xandra series. The second book turnd out too long so I made two books out of it, ending up with a three volume series. I had to do the same with Seeds of Chaos and The Stardogs. I find it difficult to write a short novella. It seems I can't get enough into the story if it is short. Once I'm done with 'Mindgod' I will continue with 'Epsilon'. I'm at 60,000 words with that one and no end in sight yet. But right now it is not on my mind.
The other book I started, 'Xandra Four' (no title yet), I've written around 20,000 words with that one. After I finish Epsilon Xandra Four will be my next project. I'm excited about it but it will have to wait. I'm trying not to think about it because I need to concentrate on finishing Mindgod and then Epsilon. With Summer and lots of stuff to do in the yard I don't have as much time to write as I would like. Things are slow and yet, I'm surprised how much I wrote. When I sit down with my laptop and start writing the story flows amazingly well, almost as if someone is dictating it to me. Strange. No writer's block here I'm happy to report.
Sales of my books at Fictionwise seemes to have picked up but I don't know how it translates into figures. The money I get from those sales is pitiful indeed. Nobody can claim I write for the money. If I didn't enjoy writing so much I would have quit a long time ago.
The other book I started, 'Xandra Four' (no title yet), I've written around 20,000 words with that one. After I finish Epsilon Xandra Four will be my next project. I'm excited about it but it will have to wait. I'm trying not to think about it because I need to concentrate on finishing Mindgod and then Epsilon. With Summer and lots of stuff to do in the yard I don't have as much time to write as I would like. Things are slow and yet, I'm surprised how much I wrote. When I sit down with my laptop and start writing the story flows amazingly well, almost as if someone is dictating it to me. Strange. No writer's block here I'm happy to report.
Sales of my books at Fictionwise seemes to have picked up but I don't know how it translates into figures. The money I get from those sales is pitiful indeed. Nobody can claim I write for the money. If I didn't enjoy writing so much I would have quit a long time ago.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Star Trek, Dinosaurs and more
I’ve been busy and have neglected my blog a bit. There is not much news anyway. I crossed the 90,000 word mark with my novel ‘Mindgod’. The End is in sight, but I’m still throwing around things in my head how exactly I will end the novel. As I’m writing new ideas pop up. Sometimes that means going back into the story and adding or deleting paragraphs etc. At first I had in mind to write between 70,000 and 80,000 words but when I got there I realized I couldn’t end the story yet. There was just so much more to tell. Sometimes I’m amazed how the writing process works. I sit down and don’t know exactly what I’m going to write next, I might write down a word or sentence just to get me going, and then suddenly the story begins to flow again and takes me somewhere I had not foreseen. I enjoy writing my stories much more if I don’t know where I am heading as opposed to writing an outline and following that. Somehow it takes the fun out of writing and the surprises that sometimes appears. It must be boring to do ‘Formula Writing’, where everything is dictated how the story must progress and end and on what page a certain thing has to happen. Not for me. I need to go ‘Where no man has gone before’, in the words of the original Star Trek series. ‘Man’ in this case me.
Speaking of Star Trek, we saw the last movie and were disappointed. They made Kirk such an idiot. The scene where he is running around in the spaceship chased by a young Dr. MacCoy was absolutely stupid. An eight year old Kirk racing in an old Corvette and then bailing out at the last minute? Come on! And the old Mr. Spock appearing on the scene at the exact moment Kirk needs help? A little farfetched. How stupid are we as moviegoers? I’m not commenting on that, but I read other reviews and many people thought it was the best one yet. Wow! There were some good scenes I enjoyed. I’m easily pleased when it comes to Science Fiction movies. I wish there’d be more good ones around. Most of the movies these days are relying on special effects and are much to loud and furious for my taste. For instance I really loved the first ‘Matrix’ movie, but didn’t care for the following two. The second one was so loud I had to stuff Kleenex in my ears. Actually, my wife and I did that in the last Star Trek movie.
We went to see ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’. What a wonderful show. Those dinosaurs are so lifelike they are scary, especially the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Hard to believe that creatures of that size once roamed the Earth. To see the narrator walking between them really demonstrated their immense size. Humans would have had no chance to survive in those days.
I’ve always loved dinosaurs. That’s why I wrote my novella ‘Cliffs of Time’ where humans go back to 100 million BC. Before I wrote that story I didn’t know that T-Rex didn’t appear until 75 million BC. I did some research to make the story authentic and learned quite a bit. Stuff I never learned in School.
In my novella ‘Outpost Epsilon’ I populated a planet with giant mushrooms and dinosaurs. In fact, I liked the story so much that I started a novel titled ‘Epsilon’ where I go into more detail about dinosaurs, intelligent giant ants and spiders, and the geography of the planet Epsilon. I’m at 60,000 words with that novel. I put it aside to write ‘Mindgod’ and I’m anxious to get back to it. My characters are waiting for me to finish telling their story.
By the way, ‘Orola, Warrior Priestess’ never did reach number one position at Fictionwise, only ''Outpost Epsilon' did, but I’m happy anyway.
Speaking of Star Trek, we saw the last movie and were disappointed. They made Kirk such an idiot. The scene where he is running around in the spaceship chased by a young Dr. MacCoy was absolutely stupid. An eight year old Kirk racing in an old Corvette and then bailing out at the last minute? Come on! And the old Mr. Spock appearing on the scene at the exact moment Kirk needs help? A little farfetched. How stupid are we as moviegoers? I’m not commenting on that, but I read other reviews and many people thought it was the best one yet. Wow! There were some good scenes I enjoyed. I’m easily pleased when it comes to Science Fiction movies. I wish there’d be more good ones around. Most of the movies these days are relying on special effects and are much to loud and furious for my taste. For instance I really loved the first ‘Matrix’ movie, but didn’t care for the following two. The second one was so loud I had to stuff Kleenex in my ears. Actually, my wife and I did that in the last Star Trek movie.
We went to see ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’. What a wonderful show. Those dinosaurs are so lifelike they are scary, especially the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Hard to believe that creatures of that size once roamed the Earth. To see the narrator walking between them really demonstrated their immense size. Humans would have had no chance to survive in those days.
I’ve always loved dinosaurs. That’s why I wrote my novella ‘Cliffs of Time’ where humans go back to 100 million BC. Before I wrote that story I didn’t know that T-Rex didn’t appear until 75 million BC. I did some research to make the story authentic and learned quite a bit. Stuff I never learned in School.
In my novella ‘Outpost Epsilon’ I populated a planet with giant mushrooms and dinosaurs. In fact, I liked the story so much that I started a novel titled ‘Epsilon’ where I go into more detail about dinosaurs, intelligent giant ants and spiders, and the geography of the planet Epsilon. I’m at 60,000 words with that novel. I put it aside to write ‘Mindgod’ and I’m anxious to get back to it. My characters are waiting for me to finish telling their story.
By the way, ‘Orola, Warrior Priestess’ never did reach number one position at Fictionwise, only ''Outpost Epsilon' did, but I’m happy anyway.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Reader's Ratings
I just checked the status of my novella ‘Outpost Epsilon’ and found that it slipped down the ladder in sales. I also noticed that two readers decided to rate it. One thinks the story is ‘okay’ the other one gives it a ‘poor’ (Sigh!!). I enjoyed writing the story and I think it is a great :-) story. I am reminded of a Seinfeld Episode where Jerry's mother says: "How can anyone not like my Jerry?" How can anyone not like my story? (Sigh again). It makes me sad if a reader thinks it is poor.
I went through the list of other books and found the ‘Alien Seduction Digest’ received one ‘great’ and one ‘poor’.
‘Interplanetary Passion’ by Jaden Sinclair was rated by 104 readers (wow!). The majority of them find it good and great, but there is still someone who rates it as ‘poor’. This leaves me wondering about what a reader expects when he/she reads the blurb. It would be helpful if we as writers could find out why one reader thinks a story is great and another one doesn’t like it. Just to say: “This story is poor,” without an explanation leaves me questioning it and wonder. Does this reader expect more intrigue, more adventure, more romance, more erotica? Or was there too much?
Writing, like any art form, is a passion. We write because we need to put our dreams on paper. It is a fortunate and lucky writer who manages to get paid a lot of money; most of us don’t. I’m not saying we would refuse the money, but let’s face it, the lack of compensation does not stop us from writing. We write to still some yearning we have inside us. That’s how we start out, but as we progress we want to share our stories with others. We want the readers to feel what we feel when we put our tales on paper (these days into a hard drive), and the last thing we want is to make readers feel they’ve wasted their time and money. I wish I could say that I don’t care about what a reader thinks, as long as I am happy writing my stuff, but that would be lying. I care. That’s why it would be nice to get some feedback. I know, I am dreaming, that’s what a writer does best, but it still would be nice.
I went through the list of other books and found the ‘Alien Seduction Digest’ received one ‘great’ and one ‘poor’.
‘Interplanetary Passion’ by Jaden Sinclair was rated by 104 readers (wow!). The majority of them find it good and great, but there is still someone who rates it as ‘poor’. This leaves me wondering about what a reader expects when he/she reads the blurb. It would be helpful if we as writers could find out why one reader thinks a story is great and another one doesn’t like it. Just to say: “This story is poor,” without an explanation leaves me questioning it and wonder. Does this reader expect more intrigue, more adventure, more romance, more erotica? Or was there too much?
Writing, like any art form, is a passion. We write because we need to put our dreams on paper. It is a fortunate and lucky writer who manages to get paid a lot of money; most of us don’t. I’m not saying we would refuse the money, but let’s face it, the lack of compensation does not stop us from writing. We write to still some yearning we have inside us. That’s how we start out, but as we progress we want to share our stories with others. We want the readers to feel what we feel when we put our tales on paper (these days into a hard drive), and the last thing we want is to make readers feel they’ve wasted their time and money. I wish I could say that I don’t care about what a reader thinks, as long as I am happy writing my stuff, but that would be lying. I care. That’s why it would be nice to get some feedback. I know, I am dreaming, that’s what a writer does best, but it still would be nice.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The number one position
It finally happened. Outpost Epsilon is at number one at Fictionwise. Orola moved into number four position. All of my other books also moved ahead a bit.
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90231/Outpost-Epsilon/Herbert-Grosshans/?si=0
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b90231/Outpost-Epsilon/Herbert-Grosshans/?si=0
Thursday, July 02, 2009
More news from Fictionwise
Good news. Outpost Epsilon made it to number 2 position in sales yesterday and Orola is at number 5. Maybe, just maybe...dare I hope?...one of them will make it to number one position. I haven't had a best seller for a while.
On other notes, I am at 71,000 words right now with 'The Mindgod'. I'm writing every chance I get, which is usually in the evening. We hardly watch TV in the summer. During the day I'm busy with my yard. The garden and other stuff. I've made some progress with my patio. I've put down 12 patio blocks. Only 122 more to go... Preparing the 'bed' is the hardest job. All that gravel I have to remove and distribute on the driveway. With a shovel and a wheelbarrow. And a bad back. In addition, the patio blocks are heavy too. But it will look nice when it's all done.
On other notes, I am at 71,000 words right now with 'The Mindgod'. I'm writing every chance I get, which is usually in the evening. We hardly watch TV in the summer. During the day I'm busy with my yard. The garden and other stuff. I've made some progress with my patio. I've put down 12 patio blocks. Only 122 more to go... Preparing the 'bed' is the hardest job. All that gravel I have to remove and distribute on the driveway. With a shovel and a wheelbarrow. And a bad back. In addition, the patio blocks are heavy too. But it will look nice when it's all done.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
News from Fictionwise
'Orola, Warrior Priestess' and 'Outpost Epsilon' are available now from Fiction Wise. Just click on the titles and it'll get you there. They are in the last positions for sales (naturally, they've just been added). We'll see how fast they move up in sales. A little Holiday Romance is at position 5, Beyond the Stars at position 6, and Dual Visions at position 11. My other books have slipped. Maybe Orola and Epsilon will bring those sales up also.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
More about the President and the Fly
Wow. I posted my article about Obama swatting a fly at ‘Allvoices’. I’ve had already over 880 views and some comments. Amazing how much buzz a tiny incident like that can cause. Check it out here: Allvoices.
It is the same article I have below. I changed a couple of things to make it more presentable.
It is the same article I have below. I changed a couple of things to make it more presentable.
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Fly
US President Obama killed a fly. Nothing unusual. We’ve all done that at one time or another. Except for the Peta people. They practice a catch-and-release program with insects. Give me a break! According to them ‘Flies have feelings too’. Maybe they do, but they are a damn nuisance, and there are way too many of them.
I sometimes wonder about people like that. Where do they live? Under some protective dome on a planet called “Moron’?
Do they know that flies carry all kinds of diseases? Do they have any idea where the fly that manages to land on your sandwich has been before? How about mosquitoes or ticks? Anyone who lives in the real world and has experienced them will gladly help them into insect heaven or wherever they end up if there is an afterlife.
Mosquitoes carry the West Nile Virus and ticks can give you Lyme disease. My cousin was bitten by one of those mosquitoes. He spent time in the hospital, couldn’t remember his own name and spent months trying to walk again. My son was luckier, he only had the lesser symptoms. Let those Peta people get bitten by one of these critters and they may change their tune.
I love animals and I don’t believe in senseless killing of animals, but there are limits. I feed birds all year round. I have birdhouses in the yard for them to live in. If I catch a spider in the house I carry it outside and let it go, but most of the time if an insect enters my home it is considered an intruder into my sanctuary and it will be dealt with harshly. The sentence for break and enter is DEATH. Last year I caught and eliminated 17 mice in my garage. I’ll be on the lookout again this year. The traps and the cheese are waiting.
Live and let live is a wonderful concept, but we are living on a hostile planet. We’ve been at war with the sauna and fauna, with the viruses and bacteria ever since Homo Sapiens appeared, and before. There are carnivores, omnivores, herbivores and who knows what else on this planet. One eats the other. That’s how it was designed.
The majority of animal rights activists are living in a dream world. They are fanatics causing trouble, just like most of the minority groups who will do anything to call attention to their cause. Maybe their ideas are noble but as usual they carry it to the extremes, like the terrorist who blow up themselves and others for what they believe in. Or like antiabortionists who find nothing wrong murdering a doctor who performs abortions. (I’m not saying I am for abortion, but that is another topic).
Let’s get real here, peoples. Catching and releasing a fly borders on insanity. A person who does that should have his/her head examined and brought back to reality. All I can say is: Get a life.
I sometimes wonder about people like that. Where do they live? Under some protective dome on a planet called “Moron’?
Do they know that flies carry all kinds of diseases? Do they have any idea where the fly that manages to land on your sandwich has been before? How about mosquitoes or ticks? Anyone who lives in the real world and has experienced them will gladly help them into insect heaven or wherever they end up if there is an afterlife.
Mosquitoes carry the West Nile Virus and ticks can give you Lyme disease. My cousin was bitten by one of those mosquitoes. He spent time in the hospital, couldn’t remember his own name and spent months trying to walk again. My son was luckier, he only had the lesser symptoms. Let those Peta people get bitten by one of these critters and they may change their tune.
I love animals and I don’t believe in senseless killing of animals, but there are limits. I feed birds all year round. I have birdhouses in the yard for them to live in. If I catch a spider in the house I carry it outside and let it go, but most of the time if an insect enters my home it is considered an intruder into my sanctuary and it will be dealt with harshly. The sentence for break and enter is DEATH. Last year I caught and eliminated 17 mice in my garage. I’ll be on the lookout again this year. The traps and the cheese are waiting.
Live and let live is a wonderful concept, but we are living on a hostile planet. We’ve been at war with the sauna and fauna, with the viruses and bacteria ever since Homo Sapiens appeared, and before. There are carnivores, omnivores, herbivores and who knows what else on this planet. One eats the other. That’s how it was designed.
The majority of animal rights activists are living in a dream world. They are fanatics causing trouble, just like most of the minority groups who will do anything to call attention to their cause. Maybe their ideas are noble but as usual they carry it to the extremes, like the terrorist who blow up themselves and others for what they believe in. Or like antiabortionists who find nothing wrong murdering a doctor who performs abortions. (I’m not saying I am for abortion, but that is another topic).
Let’s get real here, peoples. Catching and releasing a fly borders on insanity. A person who does that should have his/her head examined and brought back to reality. All I can say is: Get a life.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Hello Visitors
As promised in my posting, I will send you a free story if you send me an email to hegro@shaw.ca
Monday, June 01, 2009
Another month gone
I’m finally finished with my garden. This year I am at least a week behind because of the cold weather. We had frost on Friday 29th of May and had to cover up the tomato and pepper plants. They survived. Today I spread fertilizer on the grass and as luck wants it, it started raining after I finished. Tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain, I’m going to spread some pesticides. The dandelions, as beautiful as the yellow flowers are, they are not a welcome sight on the lawn. And I have plenty of them. That means drastic measures need to be taken. In addition to dandelions there are other weeds growing.
My publisher MSFiction re-released my ‘Seeds of Chaos’ series with new covers. Check them out on my Website ‘Herbert’s World’.
I also did a minor change on the welcome page of my website. I added a picture that I drew a long time ago. I think it adds a bit of a fantasy setting to my site. I felt the welcome page needed something to make it less boring and more personal.
Some of my books are now available on Amazon.
My publisher MSFiction re-released my ‘Seeds of Chaos’ series with new covers. Check them out on my Website ‘Herbert’s World’.
I also did a minor change on the welcome page of my website. I added a picture that I drew a long time ago. I think it adds a bit of a fantasy setting to my site. I felt the welcome page needed something to make it less boring and more personal.
Some of my books are now available on Amazon.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Where is Spring?
This weather is just not getting any better. Where the heck is Spring? Summer is just around the corner and we still have frost at night. I’ve bought all of my plants and seeds and I’m ready to seed and plant my garden. My plants are standing in the garage, waiting and wondering what is going on.
I saw a hummingbird yesterday feeding from our feeder and today I watched an Oriole clinging to the feeder and dipping its beak into the yellow plastic flowers for some sugar water. Poor thing. It tired itself out by hanging on and pretending to be a hummingbird. Once in a while, it nearly fell to the floor from exhaustion and rested on the ground to try again a few minutes later. I’ve never seen that before. I wonder if it is common that Orioles feed from hummingbird feeders. They sure are beautiful birds.
The Juncos are gone now. They hang around only for a short time. We have plenty of sparrows, all different kind. I see a lot of Harris Sparrows; they have black heads and throats, with yellowish bills, and are fairly large. Then there are the White-Crowned Sparrows with their white strips running from the back of their head to the front. Some have three stripes, some only one. Some of them are probably White-throated Sparrows. There are also the Chipping Sparrows with their red heads. Of course, there are others that I can’t identify. I’m not really a bird specialist.
We’ve had a few American Finches on our Finch Feeder. Once they are here, they stay, but they do most of their feeding in the fall before they go back south. That’s when we get large numbers of them. Most of them are the young ones, they are quite small and need to fatten up before they leave.
A few Black Birds and Blue Jays also show up to scare the smaller birds away. They are a bit messy but they are beautiful birds. I don’t chase them away. We’ve also had a few Common Redpolls passing through on their way up north where they breed in the summer. I believe I saw a straggler yesterday, unless it was a Red Finch.
I started planting an apple tree but had to give up because it began to rain. And that after the weather people said this morning no precipitation today. Well, we all know how dependable those forecasts are. Luckily, it didn’t rain too much and I shall carry on tomorrow. Actually, I have two apple trees to plant. I did manage to plant a Pyramidical Cedar though. The one we had in front of our fireplace didn’t make it through the winter. I’ll never buy another Cedar from Home Depot again. Or Walmart. Those Cedars are grown south of the border, in the USA, and not hardy enough for our climate. This was the second one that didn’t make it. That means I lost two years of growth. The one I bought cost me $50.00 instead of $20.00, but it was grown in Manitoba and I have a five-year warranty on it. We’ll see. Cedars are finicky. Many of my neighbors planted large numbers of them around their properties and most of them turned brown and died. I never asked where they bought them, but I’d bet not at the local garden center. I’m not trying to run down Home Depot and Walmart. They are good stores and I buy there. In fact, when I was in business, I bought most of my materials at Home Depot, but there are just some things you have to buy at the right places.
The only good thing about rain is that I get a bit of time to do some writing. I’m over 51,000 words now with my ‘Mindgod’ novel. There is more to come.
I saw a hummingbird yesterday feeding from our feeder and today I watched an Oriole clinging to the feeder and dipping its beak into the yellow plastic flowers for some sugar water. Poor thing. It tired itself out by hanging on and pretending to be a hummingbird. Once in a while, it nearly fell to the floor from exhaustion and rested on the ground to try again a few minutes later. I’ve never seen that before. I wonder if it is common that Orioles feed from hummingbird feeders. They sure are beautiful birds.
The Juncos are gone now. They hang around only for a short time. We have plenty of sparrows, all different kind. I see a lot of Harris Sparrows; they have black heads and throats, with yellowish bills, and are fairly large. Then there are the White-Crowned Sparrows with their white strips running from the back of their head to the front. Some have three stripes, some only one. Some of them are probably White-throated Sparrows. There are also the Chipping Sparrows with their red heads. Of course, there are others that I can’t identify. I’m not really a bird specialist.
We’ve had a few American Finches on our Finch Feeder. Once they are here, they stay, but they do most of their feeding in the fall before they go back south. That’s when we get large numbers of them. Most of them are the young ones, they are quite small and need to fatten up before they leave.
A few Black Birds and Blue Jays also show up to scare the smaller birds away. They are a bit messy but they are beautiful birds. I don’t chase them away. We’ve also had a few Common Redpolls passing through on their way up north where they breed in the summer. I believe I saw a straggler yesterday, unless it was a Red Finch.
I started planting an apple tree but had to give up because it began to rain. And that after the weather people said this morning no precipitation today. Well, we all know how dependable those forecasts are. Luckily, it didn’t rain too much and I shall carry on tomorrow. Actually, I have two apple trees to plant. I did manage to plant a Pyramidical Cedar though. The one we had in front of our fireplace didn’t make it through the winter. I’ll never buy another Cedar from Home Depot again. Or Walmart. Those Cedars are grown south of the border, in the USA, and not hardy enough for our climate. This was the second one that didn’t make it. That means I lost two years of growth. The one I bought cost me $50.00 instead of $20.00, but it was grown in Manitoba and I have a five-year warranty on it. We’ll see. Cedars are finicky. Many of my neighbors planted large numbers of them around their properties and most of them turned brown and died. I never asked where they bought them, but I’d bet not at the local garden center. I’m not trying to run down Home Depot and Walmart. They are good stores and I buy there. In fact, when I was in business, I bought most of my materials at Home Depot, but there are just some things you have to buy at the right places.
The only good thing about rain is that I get a bit of time to do some writing. I’m over 51,000 words now with my ‘Mindgod’ novel. There is more to come.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Surprise, Surprise
Somebody screwed up. When I woke up this morning and looked out of the window I saw something that shouldn’t be there. Snow. Not on May 9. As a writer with a fertile imagination I immediately thought that I might have slipped into another dimension or possibly traveled back in time. Whoopee, I am young again. Then I looked in the mirror and still thought ‘time travel’. Only I traveled in the wrong direction: into the future. The image I saw in the mirror was that of an old guy in need of a haircut and a shave. Then reality set in. That old guy was me and I was still in the present. Damn!
Well, I guess I’ll have to beg my wife to give me a haircut. That always shaves ten years off my looks. Unfortunately not my age. Yes, that’s right, my wife cuts my hair. No, she is not a barber or hairdresser, but she has a talent for it. She used to cut our kids’ hair and one day she cut mine. I liked it and after that she did it all the time. There are advantages to that. I don’t have to take time off to go to the barber and sit and wait for my turn. I don’t have to pay and best of all, no tips. Well, that’s not true either. I help her with the dishes and with making the bed. And I go shopping with her. Although, she complains that we always buy too much when I’m with her and it takes too long, but she doesn’t mind when I carry the grocery bags.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and the weather people promised warmer weather. Let’s hope they are right for a change. Yesterday, I bought some seeds for my garden. I’ve already tilled it under and I’m ready for seeding and planting. Usually, I plant my garden in the last week of May or right after the long weekend. The way things are progressing it may not happen this year. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your plants die because they were hit by frost. Even the seeds won’t sprout if the soil doesn’t warm up.
I put out the Finch feeder and the Hummingbird feeder because somebody told me they saw their first Hummingbird in their yard. Poor bird. There are no flowers blooming yet.
The birds are slowly coming back from the South. On Thursday I saw seven Pelicans circling over our property. I talked to a friend this morning and he said that he has a pair of Mallards nesting on his pond and also a pair of Wood ducks in the nesting box near his house. Maybe Summer is just around the corner.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Well, I guess I’ll have to beg my wife to give me a haircut. That always shaves ten years off my looks. Unfortunately not my age. Yes, that’s right, my wife cuts my hair. No, she is not a barber or hairdresser, but she has a talent for it. She used to cut our kids’ hair and one day she cut mine. I liked it and after that she did it all the time. There are advantages to that. I don’t have to take time off to go to the barber and sit and wait for my turn. I don’t have to pay and best of all, no tips. Well, that’s not true either. I help her with the dishes and with making the bed. And I go shopping with her. Although, she complains that we always buy too much when I’m with her and it takes too long, but she doesn’t mind when I carry the grocery bags.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and the weather people promised warmer weather. Let’s hope they are right for a change. Yesterday, I bought some seeds for my garden. I’ve already tilled it under and I’m ready for seeding and planting. Usually, I plant my garden in the last week of May or right after the long weekend. The way things are progressing it may not happen this year. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your plants die because they were hit by frost. Even the seeds won’t sprout if the soil doesn’t warm up.
I put out the Finch feeder and the Hummingbird feeder because somebody told me they saw their first Hummingbird in their yard. Poor bird. There are no flowers blooming yet.
The birds are slowly coming back from the South. On Thursday I saw seven Pelicans circling over our property. I talked to a friend this morning and he said that he has a pair of Mallards nesting on his pond and also a pair of Wood ducks in the nesting box near his house. Maybe Summer is just around the corner.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Nothing political
Did my periodic check of my sales on Fiction Wise today. Here is the list of my book sales:
Stardogs 2 in position number 6
Cliffs of Time in number 7
Seeds of Chaos 2 in number 9
Stardogs 2 in number 12
Orion, the Hunt in number 23
Daughter of the Dark in number 27
Mother of Light in number 28
Goddess of Life in number 30
Seeds of Chaos 1 in number 31
Dual Visions in number 34
Men of Eros (Digest) in number 42
Midnight Raunch (Digest) in number 52
Beyond the Stars (Digest) in number 66
As you can see from 34 books 10 of them are mine. That is nearly 30 % of all the books published by MSFiction and sold on Fiction Wise. I have to admit that is impressive. If only the numbers were there to make it really special, but it still makes me feel good.
I’ve been busy with writing ‘The Mindgod’. So far, I’ve written 40,000 words. Most of the novel I copied (and translated where necessary) from my scribbler. I also edited it and re-wrote some at the same time. Now I’ve come to the end of what I’ve written, and from now on I’ll be working from scribbled outlines and vague ideas. That means it will go a bit slower. It’s been years since I wrote it (over twenty!) and, of course, I don’t remember exactly where I was actually going with the story (If I even had it mapped out in my head at that time). I wrote an ending for it but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it. We’ll see.
Right now, there is so much work in the yard and that keeps me from writing, but the work needs to be done. We’ve raked and cut the grass, collected and burned the fallen willow branches. It was a huge pile. I’ve tilled my garden once. Now I want to put in some fertilizer. In the past I’ve used Alfalfa pellets. They are actually rabbit food but Alfalfa is a good fertilizer. Last year, in the fall, I tilled a lot of leaves into the garden. They should help to make the soil fertile.
I also bought a couple ‘Goodland’ Apple trees. They need to be planted. The one I planted two years ago, died and my one good producer, a ‘Parkland’ Apple tree, didn’t have any apples at all last year. I hope it isn’t giving up now, I need that tree.
Today is quite cold (4 Celsius) and it is drizzling off and on. Not a nice day. It better warm up because I usually plant my garden in the last week of May when we shouldn’t get any more frost, but here are never any guarantees.
In case I don’t get a chance to post something until Sunday, have a Happy Mother’s Day.
Stardogs 2 in position number 6
Cliffs of Time in number 7
Seeds of Chaos 2 in number 9
Stardogs 2 in number 12
Orion, the Hunt in number 23
Daughter of the Dark in number 27
Mother of Light in number 28
Goddess of Life in number 30
Seeds of Chaos 1 in number 31
Dual Visions in number 34
Men of Eros (Digest) in number 42
Midnight Raunch (Digest) in number 52
Beyond the Stars (Digest) in number 66
As you can see from 34 books 10 of them are mine. That is nearly 30 % of all the books published by MSFiction and sold on Fiction Wise. I have to admit that is impressive. If only the numbers were there to make it really special, but it still makes me feel good.
I’ve been busy with writing ‘The Mindgod’. So far, I’ve written 40,000 words. Most of the novel I copied (and translated where necessary) from my scribbler. I also edited it and re-wrote some at the same time. Now I’ve come to the end of what I’ve written, and from now on I’ll be working from scribbled outlines and vague ideas. That means it will go a bit slower. It’s been years since I wrote it (over twenty!) and, of course, I don’t remember exactly where I was actually going with the story (If I even had it mapped out in my head at that time). I wrote an ending for it but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it. We’ll see.
Right now, there is so much work in the yard and that keeps me from writing, but the work needs to be done. We’ve raked and cut the grass, collected and burned the fallen willow branches. It was a huge pile. I’ve tilled my garden once. Now I want to put in some fertilizer. In the past I’ve used Alfalfa pellets. They are actually rabbit food but Alfalfa is a good fertilizer. Last year, in the fall, I tilled a lot of leaves into the garden. They should help to make the soil fertile.
I also bought a couple ‘Goodland’ Apple trees. They need to be planted. The one I planted two years ago, died and my one good producer, a ‘Parkland’ Apple tree, didn’t have any apples at all last year. I hope it isn’t giving up now, I need that tree.
Today is quite cold (4 Celsius) and it is drizzling off and on. Not a nice day. It better warm up because I usually plant my garden in the last week of May when we shouldn’t get any more frost, but here are never any guarantees.
In case I don’t get a chance to post something until Sunday, have a Happy Mother’s Day.
Monday, April 20, 2009
S-Words
Smart, Stupid and Stubborn. They all start with the letter S. In fact, Stupid and Stubborn have the same first three letters. That’s quite a bond. Well, sometimes it is Smart to be Stubborn and Smart to take a Stand, but sometimes it is outright Stupid. I’m talking about Chrysler and its employees. Chrysler is on the verge of bankruptcy. Extreme measures have to be taken to Save the company and thousands of jobs. This is not the time to play tough, concessions need to be made. But of course, the Unions with their own agenda won’t listen to reason.
Electricians, Plumbers, and other construction workers earn about $30.00 an hour in Manitoba. Those are considered top wages. These tradesmen (I refuse to use the word ’Tradesperson’ or ‘Journeyperson’. It sounds so Stupid) work in all kinds of weather conditions. Much of the time outside. They have to go through years of apprenticeship training and go to school to get their papers before they can earn these wages.
Now, $60.00 an hour (that is after the drop of $19.00 Chrysler and the government propose) is not such a bad wage. I’m sure there are many unemployed workers who would gladly work for that. I’d bet that even a lot of employed workers would jump at the chance to work for that kind of money.
We are in a deep recession and being reasonable only makes common Sense.
I know what it means to make concessions. In the late eighties and early nineties, I experienced economic difficulties and had to adjust my prices down. Way down. Was I happy? Of course not, but it was a matter of Survival. Swim or Sink. I chose Swimming, barely Staying above water and I Survived the crisis. Nobody worried about me then.
I won’t feel Sympathetic either when Chrysler goes bankrupt because its employees (and Union) refuse to be Smart. Those unemployed autoworkers won’t find another $79.00 or even $60.00 an hour job. They’ll be lucky and happy to find work that pays minimum wage.
Somali Pirates is another S-word. Our Canadian government sent a helicopter and a Destroyer into the region plagued by pirates. Yesterday, they chased a pirate boat for Seven hours to finally catch and disarm Seven pirates only to let them go again so they can hijack another ship and take more hostages. Wow! Two S-words immediately pop into my mind: Stupid and Suckers. Those pirates must be laughing their heads off, while every other country groans. Any respect we had went out of the window. How many dollars did that useless little maneuver cost the Canadian Taxpayer?
But why are we Surprised? We let known terrorists into our country. When we catch them, we don’t send them back to their own country because they might be prosecuted there. We even pay them millions of dollars compensation when they have the audacity to sue us.
In days gone by, they used to hang pirates from the gallows. After all, they are nothing but common criminals. But, then again, we treat criminals with kid’s gloves. We call them misguided, troubled Souls.
Sorry about that but it needed to be Said.
Electricians, Plumbers, and other construction workers earn about $30.00 an hour in Manitoba. Those are considered top wages. These tradesmen (I refuse to use the word ’Tradesperson’ or ‘Journeyperson’. It sounds so Stupid) work in all kinds of weather conditions. Much of the time outside. They have to go through years of apprenticeship training and go to school to get their papers before they can earn these wages.
Now, $60.00 an hour (that is after the drop of $19.00 Chrysler and the government propose) is not such a bad wage. I’m sure there are many unemployed workers who would gladly work for that. I’d bet that even a lot of employed workers would jump at the chance to work for that kind of money.
We are in a deep recession and being reasonable only makes common Sense.
I know what it means to make concessions. In the late eighties and early nineties, I experienced economic difficulties and had to adjust my prices down. Way down. Was I happy? Of course not, but it was a matter of Survival. Swim or Sink. I chose Swimming, barely Staying above water and I Survived the crisis. Nobody worried about me then.
I won’t feel Sympathetic either when Chrysler goes bankrupt because its employees (and Union) refuse to be Smart. Those unemployed autoworkers won’t find another $79.00 or even $60.00 an hour job. They’ll be lucky and happy to find work that pays minimum wage.
Somali Pirates is another S-word. Our Canadian government sent a helicopter and a Destroyer into the region plagued by pirates. Yesterday, they chased a pirate boat for Seven hours to finally catch and disarm Seven pirates only to let them go again so they can hijack another ship and take more hostages. Wow! Two S-words immediately pop into my mind: Stupid and Suckers. Those pirates must be laughing their heads off, while every other country groans. Any respect we had went out of the window. How many dollars did that useless little maneuver cost the Canadian Taxpayer?
But why are we Surprised? We let known terrorists into our country. When we catch them, we don’t send them back to their own country because they might be prosecuted there. We even pay them millions of dollars compensation when they have the audacity to sue us.
In days gone by, they used to hang pirates from the gallows. After all, they are nothing but common criminals. But, then again, we treat criminals with kid’s gloves. We call them misguided, troubled Souls.
Sorry about that but it needed to be Said.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Signs of Spring
Spring is here for sure. I counted over 50 Robins in our yard today. And a whole bunch more in the neighboring properties. They were digging in the grass, sitting in the trees and singing their beautiful songs. They won’t be around for a long time, probably just passing through. I also saw two red-winged blackbirds and one woodpecker. In addition to the many sparrows and juncos (another type of sparrow). A couple of blue jays also made their usual appearance by our bird feeders.
Took a walk down to the Red River. The water is still high and moving quickly. We’re expecting another crest in a few days. It wasn’t exactly warm today, only 5 degrees Celsius. Next week they promised us warmer weather.
Looking forward to working in the yard again…cough…cough…
Took a walk down to the Red River. The water is still high and moving quickly. We’re expecting another crest in a few days. It wasn’t exactly warm today, only 5 degrees Celsius. Next week they promised us warmer weather.
Looking forward to working in the yard again…cough…cough…
Saturday, April 18, 2009
FictionWise Stats
Periodically I check my sales on FictionWise. I did yesterday and found that 9 of my 13 books available on FictionWise are in the top 27 in sales, that means 1/3 of the 27 books sold on that date are mine. 'Cliffs of Time' is at number 3 position, 'Orion, the Hunt' at number 7. In fact, Orion is my bestselling book so far. Pretty impressive I’d say. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that my books are selling hundreds or even thousands of copies (sigh!). When it comes to being profitable these sales mean little since I get only pennies for each book sold, but I’ve whined about that before. They are good for my ego and that’s all, but I’m still happy.
I had an interview with Whohub. If you are interested in reading it here is the link: whohub.com/hegro
I’ve been able to do a bit more writing. I put aside ‘Epsilon’ and Book 4 of ‘The Xandra’ and started a novel, which I wrote years, and years ago. I never finished it and I’m determined to finish it now. So far, I’m up to 20,000 words. Part of the novel is written in German (yes, that’s how long ago I started writing it!), which means I have to translate it into English. The novel is titled ‘The Mindgod’, but that may not be the title when I’m finished with it. I had a dream last night where an old man asked me if I was still writing. When I answered ‘Yes’ he said, “That’s good. You always finish what you start.” Maybe that is my subconscious telling me to finish all the stuff I’ve started writing. Wow! I have a lot of work ahead of me.
All of the snow is gone now. We are lucky because we are not living in the Flood zone, even though we are close to the Red River. They declared Winnipeg a disaster zone. Most of the farmland south of Winnipeg is flooded and it looks like a huge lake. The Red River is 20 km wide in some areas. Some towns are isolated islands, cut off by flooded roads. North of Winnipeg many houses and cottages have been destroyed by giant chunks of ice that were pushed on land.
It proves again, Mother Nature is stronger than ‘Mighty Man’. Floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes. We are helpless against the forces of nature. But of course, that is not enough. We still have to make war and kill each other. Another Canadian soldier, a young woman, was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago. What a shame. I cannot support that war, not anymore, even though I support the young men and women who are there fighting a losing battle. You can’t fight religion. We in the Western World are trying to push our ideas on people who have lived with their customs for over a thousand years. You can’t change people unless they want to change. Yes, it is crime how the women are treated in those countries and we want to help them, but what is the price we have to pay to bring about changes? How many people have to die? Do we have the right to interfere in other people’s affairs?
People in the so-called civilized free world have always meddled. Missionaries went to Africa to enlighten the people who lived in the jungle. They were perfectly happy before the Missionaries came. They didn’t want to be ’enlightened’. I could go on but I won’t. Those are facts of history and can’t be denied. Do-gooders and fanatics always believe that only their view is right and everyone else is wrong and needs to be freed from their evil ways.
Of course, there is more behind it than what it looks like at the surface. The need for power and control is one of the factors driving some of these people. Money and greed are two more. Let’s face it, we are a violent race, and this will go on forever as long as mankind does not evolve and learn from mistakes.
I had an interview with Whohub. If you are interested in reading it here is the link: whohub.com/hegro
I’ve been able to do a bit more writing. I put aside ‘Epsilon’ and Book 4 of ‘The Xandra’ and started a novel, which I wrote years, and years ago. I never finished it and I’m determined to finish it now. So far, I’m up to 20,000 words. Part of the novel is written in German (yes, that’s how long ago I started writing it!), which means I have to translate it into English. The novel is titled ‘The Mindgod’, but that may not be the title when I’m finished with it. I had a dream last night where an old man asked me if I was still writing. When I answered ‘Yes’ he said, “That’s good. You always finish what you start.” Maybe that is my subconscious telling me to finish all the stuff I’ve started writing. Wow! I have a lot of work ahead of me.
All of the snow is gone now. We are lucky because we are not living in the Flood zone, even though we are close to the Red River. They declared Winnipeg a disaster zone. Most of the farmland south of Winnipeg is flooded and it looks like a huge lake. The Red River is 20 km wide in some areas. Some towns are isolated islands, cut off by flooded roads. North of Winnipeg many houses and cottages have been destroyed by giant chunks of ice that were pushed on land.
It proves again, Mother Nature is stronger than ‘Mighty Man’. Floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes. We are helpless against the forces of nature. But of course, that is not enough. We still have to make war and kill each other. Another Canadian soldier, a young woman, was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago. What a shame. I cannot support that war, not anymore, even though I support the young men and women who are there fighting a losing battle. You can’t fight religion. We in the Western World are trying to push our ideas on people who have lived with their customs for over a thousand years. You can’t change people unless they want to change. Yes, it is crime how the women are treated in those countries and we want to help them, but what is the price we have to pay to bring about changes? How many people have to die? Do we have the right to interfere in other people’s affairs?
People in the so-called civilized free world have always meddled. Missionaries went to Africa to enlighten the people who lived in the jungle. They were perfectly happy before the Missionaries came. They didn’t want to be ’enlightened’. I could go on but I won’t. Those are facts of history and can’t be denied. Do-gooders and fanatics always believe that only their view is right and everyone else is wrong and needs to be freed from their evil ways.
Of course, there is more behind it than what it looks like at the surface. The need for power and control is one of the factors driving some of these people. Money and greed are two more. Let’s face it, we are a violent race, and this will go on forever as long as mankind does not evolve and learn from mistakes.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter
Spring is here for sure, even though we still have snow on the ground. We’re finally getting warmer weather. The coming week it is supposed to stay above zero Celsius even at night. That means the snow should be melting away. I picked some pussy willows yesterday and I saw my first Robin. The geese are also coming back in huge flocks.
I did not get a chance to take a picture of the Robin I saw, but I found this one on this cool site http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/photo48252.htm
Happy Easter to everyone.
I did not get a chance to take a picture of the Robin I saw, but I found this one on this cool site http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/photo48252.htm
Happy Easter to everyone.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Only the geese are happy
Took a ride down to Lockport for a look at the St. Andrews Lock and Dam. This is what it looked like:Like the title says: Only the geese are happy.
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