"Roundheads and Ramblings"

April 2015

On the Move

Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2015 6:55 PM

A busy day today. First a trip to the bank to take care of some more financial details. Then on to Lowe's to buy some spring plants: lavender, begonias, a bush tomato, peppers, chives, oregano, thyme , rosemary, and two kinds of basil. Then, after a break for a telephone chat with a dear friend, I was off again to get the planters all cleaned out and tuck the new plants into their summer homes.

And all the time, my Apple watch was keeping track of how much activity I was getting in --twelve hours during which I up at least part of the time, 240 extra calories burned, five minutes of strenuous exercise, almost 3000 steps and a distance of well over a mile walked. There's something of the "Big Brother" syndrome in having my every move tracked, but then, if it keeps me moving, that's a good thing.

I've earned some TV time tonight.

The Royalty Game

Posted on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 7:04 PM

Over on LinkedIn a week or so ago, I answered a question about selling self-published books in independent bookstores. Most of the discussion had centered around how difficult it is to get bookstores to take indie books and give them shelf-room. Oh the ranting and tearing of hair that was going on.

My response was "Why would you want to do this?" My argument was that by the time your book goes through the print-on-demand publisher who produces the hard copy , the sales force that sells it to a distributor, the distributor who ships it to the bookstore, and the bookstore that takes its overhead costs out of your profits, there's not much left. Authors can make much more money by avoiding the brick and mortar bookstores and going exclusively with internet sales.

I received a notice today that one of my POD books sold a bookstore copy. And here's the breakdown. That soft-cover book would cost me $6.10 if I bought it from CreateSpace. The list price is $17.95, so if I turn around and sell that copy to my neighbor, I pocket $11.85. If I take it to a lecture and sell the copy to a member of my audience, I sign it, charge a flat $20.00, and come away with $13.90.

But this book went from CreateSpace to Ingram, a a highly-respected book distributor used by the Big Six (or Big Four and a Half) and a major bookstore in a major city. I got a statement on my royalty share, stating that they will be sending me $0.26.

Yes, that's right. Twenty-six cents! That's my total royalty, and it may be months (years) before they send it to me because they only issue royalty checks over $10.00 (or maybe $20.00).

I rest my case.

Here's Looking at Monday Morning

Posted on Monday, April 27, 2015 10:31 AM

What's happening around the homestead? Is there hope for this week? Do the "goods" outweigh the "bads" or should I go back to bed? Here's the tally, as I see it.

My Apple Watch has shipped-- 2-4 weeks early!

But Jill Swenson reports from Minnesota that Jell-O may be on the verge of disappearing. Whatever will happen to church suppers and neighborhood potlucks?

My birthday month is almost here.

But Ronni Bennett says that the movers and shakers of the world no longer care about my opinions because I'm one of the old (really old) folks.

The Memphis Grizzlies have won three in a row in the playoffs.

But point guard Mike Conley is out with multiple facial fractures after taking an elbow to the face in the last game.

One Lion friend was named to the North Carolina Hall of Fame, and another was elected as District Governor in Florida this past weekend.

But in Tennessee another Past District Governor and long-time friend has died.

The sun is shining (at least for a few minutes).

But it's cold!

"Damned Yankee" is one year old this week, and it has sold over 800 copies on Kindle.

But I'm still bogged down at the half-way point of its sequel, "Yankee Reconstructed."

The royal baby is due.

But we still don't know if it's a prince or a princess.

On the whole, I think I'll make the best of this week, because, after all:

My Apple Watch will be here tomorrow!

Winners and Losers on Aisle 3!

Posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 3:34 PM

It’s been a strange day. All the dire predictions, starting last Friday, of terrible storms and tornado warnings, have now passed, and we have glorious green foliage everywhere against brilliant blue skies, but without receiving a drop of rain. But the downside is that the temperature has now dropped from the eighties last week to the forties last night. And the furnace picked this morning to quit working. The whole system is getting a checkup on Friday; I just have to figure out a way to keep warm until then.

My solution for today was to go to the grocery, where I could hover around the deli department’s freshly roasted chicken warming displays. That was cozy but I began to look like a chicken predator.

The rest of the grocery was strange, too. I needed a tablespoon of lemon juice for a recipe. The produce department only had bags of 24 lemons, no individual ones. So I headed clear across the story to bottled juice, where I found an empty shelf labeled lemon juice. All they had left were half-gallon sized bottles. Remember, I only needed one tablespoon. That recipe went back into the box.

I scored a triumph by remembering both sour cream and a cucumber to make German cucumber salad. I’ve been thinking about making that for weeks but alternated between forgetting the sour cream or forgetting the cucumber.

Now feeling proud, I rewarded myself by purchasing a single cream stick topped with heaping swirls of chocolate fudge (69 cents worth of indulgence) in the bakery. It was destined to be tonight’s dessert. Except — when I got home, I found it at the bottom of a bag under a pile of canned goods. Cream stick will have to be licked off the paper it was once wrapped in.

And to top off the day, I replenished my supply of kitty litter. The bag boy asked if I wanted each of the packages in its own separate plastic bag. “Of course not,” I said. “Not unless you plan on punching holes in the paper containers.” Karma! When I unloaded the car, I started with kitty litter and carried the first two bags to the back of the garage. One bag slipped as I lowered them to the floor. It hit the concrete with a bang and the whole bag split open top to bottom. I now have 10 pounds of litter to sweep up.

Maybe I'll go back to bed until summer arrives.

A Spreadsheet for Writers

Posted on Friday, April 17, 2015 12:40 PM

That's what it looks like. If you think it would meet your needs, you can download a working copy here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eqbhktno1yor6g1/Writer%27s%20Expenses%202015.xls?dl=0

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