RIP, Little Black Drive

Activity Update
It's been a while since my last update, so there is much to report. In my last blog update, I was begging for reviews and well ... I still am. But progress has been made and I have been extremely fortunate and thankful to have received some very kind reviews on the book at Amazon. They're not even from fictional people I created - although I will confess and admit I thought about it. ;)

Word is getting out, with many thanks to my publisher's marketing efforts. Google 'Pinesport Divide' and you can see his efforts are really starting to show results. In addition, I've been cruising all the forums/chat boards I can find to get the word out. If that sounds creepy to you, trust me -- it really is. From trying to convince complete strangers that my book needs to be on their summer reading list to suggesting to teenagers they would relate to my characters, anyone who knows me would tell you marketing (specifically, selling) is not my game ... and I'm sure it shows. But I will continue to explore and, hopefully, learn more about these marketing tools. After all ... I'm going to need some funny and humiliating stories to write about in my autobiography one day. Right?

Metal Lunchbox Publishing (my publisher) has come through in a huge way and managed to line up an interview with Hagerstown Magazine. They are reviewing the book now, and the actual article should be published later this year. More to follow. FYI - his book, Karate Dottie, will also be featured. Be sure to check it out!

Disaster Strikes
No doubt, you have all feared losing your wallet, or maybe purse, so I don't have to explain the devastating results that would follow. Luckily, I will not be sitting in the DMV this week with the rest of the scary people you typically find there because I still have my wallet. I did, however, lose something almost as important. For the last year and a half now, I've been carrying around a little black flash drive that might as well have been surgically attached to my hand, because it NEVER left my side, but the inevitable finally happened last week. It went missing! It had everything on it: budgets, past years tax returns, work files, plans, bills, and my writing. EVERYTHING! Before you start calling me an idiot for not backing up the drive, I do have backups, so all is not lost. However, it's been three months since my last backup, and that was right around the time I started the next book in the Pinesport series. I've spent the past week searching every nook and cranny, every place I visited in and outside my home, looking for this thing like it was the ring from Lord of the Rings and I was Golum. I think my wife even overheard me mumbling "my precious" as I lurked around. It's gone, and I have accepted it. That's alright, because it has actually turned into a positive thing and I have started the new book from a different angle which works much better. Still - it's hard flushing three months of work down the drain. Live and learn - I now have a flash drive connected to my key chain. Hopefully it's like lighting, and this will not happen again.