July Winding Down

We decided to spend a couple of days at Rancho Reeves in the country.

It's a bit of a hazy day, but the sun is shining. After more than a week of rain at home, I'm happy to sit on the porch, sip a glass of iced tea, and look out over the wildflowers that are going to seed.

Yes, all the wildflowers are dried and brown. They follow the pattern of life as old as time itself.

It's kind of comforting. No matter the turmoil in the world, nature keeps on ticking away just as it has for millennia.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

This is a wonderful setting for gathering my thoughts, taking stock of what I've accomplished for the past 7 months, and thinking about how I want to spend the remaining months of 2024. Do you like to look back and then look ahead?

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I Will Not Watch the Olympics This Year

I can't believe it. I simply can't believe someone thought the entertainment at the opening ceremony for the Olympics was a good idea.

The Paris extravaganza had these advertisers: Coca-Cola, Delta, Eli Lilly & Co., Toyota, Visa, and Comcast’s Xfinity.

I was raised to respect every religion—to never mock another's beliefs. To see one of the most profound events of my Christian faith mocked was appalling. 

I couldn't even write about this until now. Why is it that people feel free to do this to Christians? If this had been another major religion, what would be the consequence of ridiculing it or insulting it?

Does our tolerance make people think we are weak? That they can insult our religion? That we will just laugh it off?

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I'm not laughing, and I'm not forgetting. I'm not watching the Olympics. In fact, I'm looking for a list of the other advertisers for the event so I can be sure I don't support them either.

Friday Facts About Rain

Since it's done nothing but rain every day for a week, I can't seem to think about anything but the obvious. Rain.

The Houston area had nearly 36 inches of rain from Jan. 1 to July 1—eleven inches more than normal.

I don't know the rainfall since July1, but I do know the whole area is under flood watch.

FACTS ABOUT RAIN

(1) Rain has a distinctive smell even though it is thought to be odorless. The earthy smell when it first starts comes from moistening of the ground. That smell is called petrichor, as coined by Australian scientists in 1964.

Petrichor is created by a byproduct of the decomposition of organic matter which is called geosmin which may be present in the ground is released in aerosol form when raindrops hit the earth's surface. Humans pick up the petrichor scent that’s present in the aerosols.

(2) Even though we think raindrops are shaped like teardrops, they're not. Most are round and plump like a hamburger bun unless they're larger than 1 mm. When they get large, the shape gets distorted.

(3) The average raindrop weighs about .001 ounce (0.034 grams), and that's less than the weight of an eyelash.

(4) The average speed of raindrops is about 14 mph.

(5) The rainiest place on the planet is Mawsynram in India in Maghalaya state that averages  467.4 inches of rain each year.

(6) The driest place on the planet is the Atacama Desert in northern Chile and southern Peru. This non-polar desert gets an average of 0.019 inches of rain each year.

Of course, sometimes rain may fall, but it never reaches the ground which brings us to our last rainfall fact.

(7) When rain falls from clouds and the air is very dry, raindrops can evaporate as they fall. Falling rain that evaporates before hitting the ground is called virga.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

That's all I have time for now. I've got to give Freddie a quick walk before the next rain shower.

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Review - A Family Affair - Netflix

Wow! Netflix finally came up with a great romantic comedy in A FAMILY AFFAIR starring Nicole Kidman, Zac Effron, Kathy Bates, and Joey King.

They've tried the romcom genre in the past, but most of their efforts have been less than successful. This one hit the bull's eye. If you haven't watched it yet, you're missing a great flick.

Zac Effron is perfect as Chris Cole, sexy, hunky star of action films. He is truly delightful.

Nicole Kidman is perfect as Brooke Harwood, a famous novelist and a widow of 10 years who has had no relationships since her husband died.

Joey King is letter-perfect as Zara, Brooke's self-absorbed daughter who is Cole's girl-Friday who is at his beck and call 24/7.

I don't want to give away any of the hilarity inherent in this second chance, age-gap romance that's exactly what you're looking for in a romcom.

The fact that it shows believable superficial Hollywood type characters who "grow" as people is the cherry on type of this delicious sundae of a movie.

A FAMILY AFFAIR was released June 28, 2024. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and produced by Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum for Roth/Kirschenbaum Films, the movie is a winner.

BY THE WAY

If you're looking for a romantic comedy to read, try Just One Look, a second chance romantic comedy that's now available at most ebook selllers: Kindle, Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

An absolute must-see movie. If you want to thank me for pointing you toward it, just leave a comment. *g*

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Politicians and Humor? Seriously?

Why don't we look at the lighter side of politics?

You may well ask, "Is there a light side?"

Yes, and it's found in the funny things past Presidents of the United States have said.

Let's begin with Harry S. Truman who said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

Abraham Lincoln said this of a fellow politician: "He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met."

Lincoln had quite a sense of humor. He once said, "If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee."

One day first lady Eleanor Roosevelt left the White House to visit a penitentiary. When Franklin D. Roosevelt asked where she was, he was told, "She's in prison, Mr. President." To which he replied,  "I'm not surprised, but what for?"

When Calvin Coolidge announced he wouldn't run for re-election in 1928, a reporter asked, "Why don't you want to be President any more?" Coolidge replied, "Because there's no chance for advancement."

In 1980, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter were running for President. When Reagan heard Carter was supposed to appear on 60 Minutes to talk about his accomplishments, he said, "But that will leave 59 minutes to fill."

Theodore Roosevelt once said, "When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer present or not guilty."

Jimmy Carter said, "I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can’t get my wife to go swimming."

President Carter, proclaimed as one of the worst presidents ever, also said, "My esteem in this country has gone up substantially. It is very nice now that when people wave at me, they use all their fingers."

"If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth." —Chester A. Arthur

Since I started with a quote from President Truman, I'll end with one. He said, "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician."

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Which quote did you like best?

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Self-Publishing Potential 2024

Since the first half of this year is history, it's a good time to take stock of what's going on in self-publishing.

Why have so many authors embraced self-publishing?

The answer is easy. Authors enjoy having more control over bringing their stories to readers.

Often, they also have higher income without the middle "man" of the traditional publisher and/or an agent.

That's one of the reasons behind the 17% annual growth rate according to Blurb, founded by Eileen Gittins in 2005.

Blurb is a platform that facilitates creating, printing, and publishing independent books. By the way, traditional pubishing had only a 1% growth during that same time period.

SELF-PUBLISHING REWARDS

In 2022, more than 2,000 self-published authors earned over $100K in royalties, and many of those authors were women. Around 67% of self-published books come from women authors which is quite a contrast to the traditional publishing world.

Monetary rewards aside, self-published works are now being accepted by prestigious awards like the Pulitzer and the British Book Awards. I was amazed to learn that a self-published work can be submitted for consideration.

Self-published books now make up 30 to 34% of all ebook sales, and there are nearly 300 million self-published books sold each year. What does it mean for an author? The market is growing so there's room for new authors.

According to Alex Newton and his K-Lytics reports, 58% of the Top-400 most sold Kindle books of 2023 were romance titles.

For 2024, the forecast from several sources named these as trending genres: Romance, Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction, Romantasy, and Young Adult.

NOT ALL ROSES

Discoverability is the most important factor in book sales for self-publishing authors. Yes, there is room in the marketplace, but there is also tremendous competition. 

You can write the best book in the world, but if no one knows it exists, you may end up as one of the 20% of authors who have no income from writing.

SELF-PUBLISHING IS A 1-MAN BAND

When I started self-publishing, there were no companies offering services like formatting ebooks and print books, cover design, proof reading, marketing, etc. I had to learn how to do it all. I made mistakes too, but I learned from them. Now I'm able to easily format an ebook which means I'm not paying $50-$100+ for this service.

The more you learn to do, and do well, the less overhead you incur. Just make sure that what you do looks professional.

Now there are many companies offering every facet of publishing including proofreading, editing, design, format, distribution, and marketing. These services may or may not be in your budget. That's for you to decide.

BOTTOM LINE

What should a self-publishing author do with the information I've presented? 

(1) Write the best book you can.

(2) Get it professionally proofed and edited.

(3) Package it so it looks as if it came from a traditional publisher—whether you do that yourself or you hire a company to do it.

(4) Learn how to market your book with successful online ads.

From conversations I've had with readers of just about every gennre, most readers don't know, or care, if a book is self-published or traditionally published—unless they are jarred from the story by several typos, wrong word usage, poor grammar, etc. 

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Readers are there for the story. Don't give them a reason to be shocked out of the story by poorly presented text. That can be the kiss of death for an author.

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Free App - JustWatch

If you have multiple streaming services, there's an easy way to find a specific movie or TV show.

Visit JustWatch, a platform that's free and offers a way to search quickly for a specific title without going from app to app.

Why scroll through all of the apps on your TV when you can do a search for a title and find what streaming service offers it. 

If you just want to browse, JustWatch it also comes in handy. When you find a show or movie that interests you, you can immediately see which streaming service offers it.

The platform which has an estimated 40M users is free and also offers recommendations, streaming charts, and categories to make finding something to view even easier.

The platform is easy to use, available on several devices, and shows only content that's legally available Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and many other streaming services—all in all, they list more than 500.

There is a JustWatch Pro, but the free version is powerful so useful I doubt anyone would want to pay a subscription fee for the Pro level.

PERSONAL DATA

The platform does collect some personal data and may store the digital footprint of the device you’re using, such as your IP address, date and time of access, and identification data of your browser and operating system. 

If you register for a paid account or leave public feedback, they may collect personal information, such as your name or email address. However, the personal information is deleted as soon as the process is complete.

If you don't want to provide that information, using a VPN helps.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

If you find yourself endlessly scrolling for something to watch, you should try JustWatch. It might save you a lot of time.

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