too much of a really good thing!

Kindell, the Kindle, is a blessing and a curse.  I can now buy books with such ease!  Long gone are the days of pondering & justifying my book-purchasing-fetish.  Now, with one-click shopping @ Amazon.com, I get instant gratification.

What.  A.  JOY!

Except...  I'm probably a little out of control.  OK, not probably.  Am.  And not a little, but alot.  I am out of control.  I can't stop.  I already admitted, via the 161 project (which I bet, if I counted, it'd be more like the 200 project), that I have more books than I can possibly read.  So what do I do?  I buy more on the Kindle.  Hmmm...

I've discovered Kindle Freebie Websites, too.  There's Pixel of Ink, and I Love E Books, not to mention, Amazon itself contributing to my obsession.  They just make is soooo easy!

And even tho I need to stop, I need to envoke self-control, what do I do today?  I buy a trilogy.  That I don't have time to read!

Seriously????

    

Somebody stop me.

Falling off the face of the earth & climbing back on again...

That is me.  I am re-emerging from a detour I didn't know I had taken.  It started earlier when a Facebook friend posted that his wife had written an e-book and I decided to buy it.  Not becauses I'm really interested, but because I'm really supportive that way.

Besides, it was only $1.99.

I had to register with Smashwords and that's when the fun began...  I had to go to my email to get the confirmation.  WHAT A SHOCK when I saw that I had 3160 unread messages!  So I scrolled down & saw that I had not checked messages since April 27.

2012.

Over an entire year ago.

What the hell happened?

I truly do not know.  I can tell you I've had good intentions.  I can assure you I've overloaded myself.  But, still.  53 weeks worth?  Really?

~sigh~

Well, the good news is I whittled it down to 85 messages in my inbox and I'm posting to my blog.  Not how I expected to spend my evening but apparently HOW I needed to.  And, I have new followers on Twitter and several friend requests on GoodReads (more neglected social media!).

All in all, all is well.

But, please, I ask of myself, don't let another 53 weeks go by before I do it again.

~sigh~

The Class of '65 turns 65

What  REALLY Happened to the Class of '65? 

Well, I don't know.

But back in '78 (or so) I did.  I knew cuz I read the book.  A mere child of 11 or 12 and I'm reading THIS book.  Why???

Cuz I was born in 1965.

My sister & I would walk to the store - it might have been an Eckerd Drugs - and would buy candy, lip gloss, MAD Magazines and the occassional paperback book.  This was one of those books.  My sister wanted to buy it, I'm sure she coerced me into chipping in by pointing it out it was about THE YEAR I WAS BORN!  How could I possibly NOT want to read it, too? 

I have no idea where our copy is but I remember it fondly, altho sporatically.  It was the pictures in the middle that fascinated me the most (but I did read it, not just look at the pictures.  Honest.)  I can still see the portfolio picture of the beauty queen - gorgeous!  And the girl who had just had a baby (literally - her boobies were showing!).  The guy - I think his name was Brock - who was the hunk, became an actor, then killed himself (I forget how).  I think there was a story about him that he dunked a basketball in the wrong goal scoring for the other team.  Story upon story of admitted drug use, sexual exploits (oh my!), arrests, and just plain sadness.

Hopes, dreams, expectations, realizations, defeat, acceptance, life.

These stories never left me, although, now they're vague.  I kept them for years, definitely through my own graduation and several years after.  Whenever I think of where I am, where I thought I'd be and whether or not I'm truly OK with it, I think of this book.  As young as I was, it was a real eye opener for me.  The saying "we plan, God laughs" truly comes to mind.

So, after all these years and my own dog-eared copy long gone who knows where, why now do these men & women come to mind?  I really don't know.  In a fit of insomnia recently, it popped in my head.  And I started doing the math...  the Class of '65 would be... turning 65!  Wow.  That was too good to not comment on.

I understand there are follow ups but I haven't delved that far yet.  Maybe soon.  I'm more in awe of the fact that these kids, who were only 10 years out of school when I stumbled upon their stories, are grandparents & great grandparents now.  Their careers are coming to an end, they're thinking about retirement.  They're probably paunchy, wrinkled and gray...

And I am not far behind them!  Just tonight I sent out a Facebook message to a few classmates reminding them that this was our 30th Reunion year.

Ouch.

And touche.

from John Sandford

I have a few "favorite authors" - those that I will read absolutely everything they write that I can get my hands on.  Dennis LeHane is one, I've mentioned him many times.  So is Jennifer Haigh.  And then there are writers that I read regularly, not necessarily because they're my favorite writers but maybe because I'm following their character thru a series (Sue Grafton's Kinsey Malone) or because I started with their first book & am numbly making a collection (John Grisham), or because I enjoyed one of their books & am hoping I'll enjoy more (but haven't quite yet, as would be the case with Scott Turow).  There's more, many more but amongst the collection is a stand-out.  This writer has had my heart from the first opening line I read and I've followed him & his characters (yeah, he has more than one), through book after book after book, and I've stalked him on Facebook, repeatedly check his website and joined his forum.  He is the writer I hold high above the rest.  He is not just my favorite of my favorites, he's THE BEST storyteller I've ever read, and if I thought about it, I'd have to say, he's the writer I respect the most (Stephen King would be a close second).

Who is this highly regarded phenomenon?  None other than...

John Sandford

I met him, in the literary sense, when my flight attendant roommate brought home "Rules of Prey," a paperback a passenger gave her as he exited her plane.  I picked it up & didn't put it down until I turned the last page.  I immediately went to the bookstore - Waldenbooks - and picked up his next two novels - same main character, same series, all have the word "Prey" in the title - already out in paperback.  I read them both within a few days and said, "when's the next book coming out?" 

Ahhhh, herein lies the problem: because I'm quirky (I admit it), I can't buy the hardbacks because I started my series collection in paperback.  Yeah, really.  Soooo, not only do I have to wait for the new books to release, I have to wait for them to be released in paperback!!!  That's, like, forever!

But I've made it through, and have even included his spin-off series in my reading collection.  I harbor every word, I covet every book.  I think this man humbly walks on water.  Such an inspiration to me (he started out as an investigative journalist), I'm in awe of him - and the reason I'm posting all this about him now is because this is what he posted today on
Facebook:

I've got a complete draft of Silken Prey, but it still needs a lot of work. I'll spend the next month doing that, the editing, take a week or so off, and then get started on the next Virgil Flowers novel. I think one problem that beginning writers have is that they try to make the first draft perfect -- and perfection is tough. I don't work that way. I try to get a decent first draft, then really bear down on the rewrite. A rewrite's a lot easier to get done when you know the whole arc of the novel. In the first version of this novel, for instance, the personality of the chief villain, a woman whose name is Taryn Grant, is a little too vague. I need to punch her up a bit, but really, that only takes a few hundred words, and because I now know all of her appearances in the novel, I can spread those words out to the appropriate places. (A novel has a certain pacing, which is damaged if you put in big blocks of description ...or characterization. You can take all the information from those blocks, break it up, spread it around, achieve the same end, and nobody notices.)


Feel like that is written just for me!  He's saying, "you can do it, but ya gotta just do it."  Damn.  He's not just a great storyteller, he's a great writing coach, too.

...Sinister...

image from Wikipedia

OMGosh...  humored my son & let him drag me to see this movie.  Sinister.  The name says it all.

A true crime writer, in hot pursuit of his next "big thing" that will re-put him on the map - his "In Cold Blood" as he himself tries to explain to his reluctant & fed up wife, stumbles upon a wealth of information about horrific,gruesome,  ritualistic entire-family deaths, including the death of the family that lived in his house before he and his family moved in... 

His immediate reaction is to contact the police, but then he realizes the information is his & his alone - this could be "it" for him.  He decides to continue his research on his own.  Eventually, his research leads to history repeating itself.

Once you know the story in it's entirety, you can't help but wonder if it would have made any difference in the end if he had brought the police in...  And you ponder if his situation - his "secret" knowledge - was unique to the fact that he was a true crime writer.  Had you or I stumbled upon the information, most likely, we wouldn't have kept it to ourselves - we would have called the police immediately.  So, the previous victims that were stalked...  did they have knowledge of the previous crimes??? 

Just curious.

The ending leads to alot of post-thought, which means it's pretty good, right?  If it was "silly" or "stupid" we'd dismiss it right away.  But this one keeps me thinking, has me wondering, "what happens next???" 

Was the film worth the $62 we spent for the 3 of us to go (three tickets + food & drink) and me losing my phone (we found it!)?  Uh, yeah, I think it was.

A good creep-me-out for Halloween is always welcomed!

BOO! 

Leo, Leo, How Far Out Thou Are, Dear Leo

If you asked me if I was a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, I'd say, "no, not really."  But the truth is, I do appreciate his work.  I realized some of my favorite movies are "Leo Movies."

I'm coming to realize I'm a romantic & Titanic is a truly romantic move.

This movie had me on the edge of my seat.  I still think about it.

Totally bizarre, totally unrealistic, but I was totally mesmerized.

My favorite book by my favorite author.  The movie followed it almost exactly, so I completely "got it."  From what I understand, not everyone did.  Their loss.

Upcoming:  The Great Gatsby.  I think he's PERFECT for the role.  Cannot wait.

did I sell out???

When I got Kindell the Kindle, I immedately bought a cover to keep him safe.  Of course, I went to Amazon, my all time favorite store!  I picked a beautiful red one - my favorite color.  The day after I placed my order, I got a confirmation email that my item had shipped already - how exciting!!!

So, I spent the next two weeks running to the mailbox everyday:  did it come today?  Is it here yet???  Well, it never was...  After such huge daily disappointments, I went back to my order confirmation and then the shipping notice.  There was nothing to suggest any kind of delivery delay, but I did notice there was no tracking information.  Hmmm....  what's up with this, I wondered...

After a few more weeks of it not arriving, I tried to contact the vendor.  There was a long distance (of course) phone number, and not toll free, but when I called all I got was a recorded message advising that packages travel from overseas and often take weeks to arrive!  This is the FIRST I was hearing of this!  Just to make sure, I went back & reverified the information I had, includiing researching other items for sale by the same vendor & can find NOTHING to let the buyer know it's an international purchase.  Even more frustrating is that once the recorded message ran its course, the call is disconnected - there is no opportunity to leave a message or any additional information on how to reach the vendor.  So frustrating!!!

I can be tenacious and after I researched the seller online outside of Amazon in search of some contact information, I sent a message to the seller through Amazon's "contact seller."  I never heard back.  My last recourse was to reach out to Amazon.  They were soooo helpful but said they could not get involved until 3 months had passed.  At this point, I only needed to wait 2 weeks to hit that mark.  Incredibly, after 3 months, the package had still not arrived, and I still had no further information from the vendor.  True to their word, Amazon stepped in on my behalf and contacted the vendor through their means.  They confirmed the package had been shipped, but there was no tracking information because the vendor sent it regular mail.  Aaarrrggghhh!  So... if it's lost in the mail there's no recourse?  There's no way to find out where it is right now???  How close, how far?  Delivered, mis-delivered, left with a neighbor, sent to a wrong address, waiting @ a post office in another state or right around the corner?  Better yet, if it finally arrives but I say it didn't, then the vendor cannot prove otherwise?  You know, this really just doesn't seem like good business (common) sense to me!

But, you know, about a week later, it did arrive!  Finally, and I was a happy girl, but this customer service faux pas just didn't sit well with me.  When I got the email request for feedback, I gave it.  Yep, my honest opinion.

A few days later, the company emailed me and asked me to remove my negative feedback.  I refused.  They apologized but I said, "not good enough."  I explained that while I would never do business with them again, they needed to make some changes for their other customers, namely, identifying themselves as an international company,  to send their packages via a trackable method AND to provide a means for customers to contact them directly, not just some bogus state-side message that asked for continued patience!  They promised to make changes, now would I please retract my negative feedback.  Um, nope!  So, they appealed to my logical side.  My pocket book.  They offered to refund me in full.  I declined, again.  They offered AGAIN.  I asked them if they'd make the changes I requested.  They promised they would.  I pondered it for a few days, then relented.  Yeah, I sold out and deleted my feedback.  Before you can do that, Amazon wants to confirm the retraction is of your own free will and not because of pressure from the seller.  I just hate to lie!  I didn't know what to do...  I wanted Amazon to know that the seller had pressured me, but I had given my word to the vendor that I'd delete the negative comment.  My inner conflict was decided by posting a blog about the whole thing.

I don't feel good about my decision, even though I ended up getting the cover for free.  I think I'd rather have spent the money and had an honest transaction.  Blogging about it doesn't help me feel any better.  Yeah, to answer my own question, I did sell out.

~sigh~