Thursday Afternoon Ramblings

January 20, 2011 D.A. Adams Leave a comment

I finally found the time to format both my books for the Kindle. It’s a project that has been idling on my to-do list for two years. When I would think about it, I would be up to my eyebrows in work, and when I had the time, I wouldn’t remember to do it. However, both have been submitted for approval by the Amazon team, so I should know by tomorrow if they’re approved. I’m not 100% satisfied with how they looked on the preview screen because the Kindle strips away most formatting, but hopefully they’ll be legible enough for the average Kindle reader.

It’s fairly obvious that e-books are the future, so I’m going to try to get mine out there in as many formats as possible. Next, I’ll submit them to Lightning Source, my current printer, for them to distribute in their network. I’m hoping that these new outlets will help to get the series wider exposure. With book three nearing release, it would be nice to broaden the audience. My fellow independents can attest, often in this industry, we work and work and work without seeing much in return because making a dent in people’s consciousness has become extraordinarily difficult recently. People are so overwhelmed by commercials and marketing that a lone voice from the independent realm is often lost in the din.

Yet we still press on, hoping to build an audience and hoping that one day all of this effort and energy will be worth it. Even though we all proclaim that we don’t write for the money, most of us want at least to make our living solely from our writing, and while that doesn’t sound like an unreasonable wish for a novelist, in this country at this time, it often feels like an absurd pipe-dream. Maybe it was always this tough, and I just had unrealistic expectations. Country musicians used to call it “The long, hard road” to success, and maybe writing has always been this difficult to break into. All I know is that I’ve gotten a tremendous amount of positive feedback on my books, but to the large presses, I’m not up to par. Either my readers are fluffing my ego or the editors are out of touch. Either way, I’ll press on, writing a series that lives up to my standards and promoting as much as I can.

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General Posts

Wednesday Afternoon Ramblings

January 19, 2011 D.A. Adams 4 Comments

I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I feel like a kid most of the time. When I’m standing in front of a class full of students, I often think, “What in the world makes me think I’ve got the right to pretend like I’m an expert in anything?” In social circles, even if I’m not the youngest, I often feel like I’m the least in seniority of anyone there, and when around my peers, I rarely feel as if my maturity level is as well-developed as theirs.

On the plus side, I still have childlike wonder about things that I enjoy. Because I often feel young, I rarely feel old, which I’m certain is a good thing. Despite the aches and pains in my physical self, my spirit is still vibrant and positive, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

On the down side, I often defer to others because I so often feel as if their maturity and judgment must be better than mine. Despite having experienced and overcome a lot of obstacles in my life, I still don’t feel as if I’ve earned the right to consider myself wise. I often wonder if I’ll ever feel like an adult, if there will ever come a day when I look at myself and see a grown man instead of a kid. Does anyone else feel this way? If so, please leave a comment and share your experience with this feeling.

Humor

Political Ramblings

January 18, 2011 D.A. Adams Leave a comment

Breaking News: Americans Demand Dumber Political Candidates

In a stunning development, American citizens are protesting in the streets, demanding that political parties offer less intelligent, less educated candidates in the 2012 elections.

“It’s simple,” said Joe Workman, organizer and activist for the movement known as STUPID (STart Using Politicians that Is Dumb). “Our school system is ranked 14th among developed nations and keeps declining, but our leadership still ranks 9th in terms of intelligence and education. Clearly, our elected officials don’t match the electorate. We must have dumber, less informed politicians.”

Amazingly, in a showing of bipartisan cooperation, the demands are coming from both Democrat and Republican voters, and protests are being held not only in all major urban districts but also in small towns and rural communities.

“We is tired of them fancy Ivy League pollyticians,” said Cletus McOnetooth, president of the Arkansas Chapter of STUPID. “Give me simple folk in charge of nuclear war and global economics.”

Predictably, there is also resistance to the movement, especially from highly educated citizens such as Dr. Lottastatz of the Center for Researching Research.

“If our politicians get any less intelligent and less educated, there’s a 99.9% chance that we’ll have a 100% decline in economic productivity,” claims Dr. Lottastatz. “The research is very clear.”

“That’s simply not true,” counters Dr. Fullofshitz of Fox News. “Those evil socialist commies want intelligent leaders who can trick the American people into believing that reforming corruption is in their best interests. His scientific research is biased and tainted by his liberal agenda.”

Intrigued by the healthy debate, I rushed to South Carolina to sit down with my old friend Joseph Cartwright III, conservative talk radio host and blogger, and leader of the Tea Party in the Palmetto Bug State.

“The Democrats have been electing stupid people for years. Look at Hank Johnson and his capsizing island inquiry. He matches the average American for lack of intelligence. Not to mention Gray Davis. He was really the trendsetter in this dumbing down movement.

“But the Democrats have nothing on us. We in the Tea Party have been doing our part to help this trend for a couple of years, now. I mean, look at Sarah Palin. You have to admit, you can’t get much dumber and less informed than her.

“And Sue Lowden. She’s so uneducated she suggested trading chickens for healthcare. If that’s not dumb enough for the American public, what is?

“And of course, our coup-de-gras, Christine O’Donnell. You find me a politician with less intelligence than that woman, and I’ll show you someone in a vegetative state.”