what's longer than three inches?

Last week, my beloved California Golden Bears suffered a terrible embarrassment. They averaged only three inches a carry in their football game against our hated rivals across the Bay. Three inches. That's less than half the size of a Kindle Fire's screen. It took them two plays to go almost the length of the Kindle Fire screen.

Speaking of the Kindle, you can get one of my short stories for free today and tomorrow (October 25 and 26). People have called Distractions "funny," "charming," and "pretty twisted."

Today and tomorrow, they're also calling it "free." Go get it. Read it. Let me know if you like it.

Why I'm voting absentee, and busting elitist prejudice

(Playing along for the first time ever with Road Trip Wednesday at YA Highway)

I voted absentee four years ago because I expected to be traveling for work. This year, it's a different reason:

NaNoWriMo!

(cue gasp)

What, you are screaming to yourself right now, is a talented and experienced author like Peter doing slumming around with the amateur word-count hacks in NaNoland?

My friends, drop your academic literary elitist prejudice for a moment and join me on a journey. It's a journey of a young man who strayed from his passion, who followed the siren songs of family, prosperity, and homeownership. It's a story of despair and triumph. But most of all, it's my story.

Turn the Wayback Machine to 1987. Picture a college apartment with an Apple ][+ in the corner surrounded by spent packets of Top Ramen and empty Coke cans. Next to the 21-pin dot matrix printer sits the first 80 or so pages, on continuous-feed computer paper, of a 20-year-old young man's first novel manuscript. On top of that sits the young man's first rejection note, a form rejection from the fiction editor at Redbook magazine with "good work, please send more in the future" scribbled in black pen.

Set the dial two years ahead. The young man is flush from his first publication success, a dual contest win for short fiction and poetry in his Engineering school's annual literary publication. His mother, visiting for graduation, makes him pose with the check he won.

The young man graduated and took his engineering degree to Seattle for his first job. His sweetheart still had one year of college, so he spent his evenings at his electric typewriter, alone in a dim economy apartment kitchen, working on short stories and a new novel. (That first one he unceremoniously stowed away in a box somewhere.)

A year later, that new manuscript was left off after chapter four, and that sweetheart had become his wife. He moved back to Berkeley for a different job, a better job, with high hopes for his career. At 26 he and his bride bought a home. His career managing a technical publications department at a software company was exciting and dynamic. And he hadn't written any fiction in months.

Five years later, the demands of two children and a larger home and a bigger job kept him far from the joy of writing. He was important now, an up-and-comer, a father, a husband, a homeowner. What little extra time he had, he spent keeping children safe as a school crossing guard.

When he turned 35, he knew he had strayed from his dream. He had no regrets, but he wasn't sure how to get back on that path that he had loved so much. He dabbled with poetry again, bought a blank journal and filled it with a lame-ass story he would never show to anyone today in a million years. He started another novel, got to chapter three, and decided it was crap and not worth finishing.

By now, you've figured out that I, I was that young man. A sad story. The story of millions of people; the story of a single soul. It could have ended there.

But a magical thing happened. November came. November 2004, specifically.

I discovered a thing called National Novel Writing Month. A few thousand people were involved. I could do that, I thought. And I did. It was hard. I started with only a vague idea of character and setting, and the plot unfolded as I wrote. By December I had 50,000 words. By February I had a completed manuscript at 69,000 words. I had done it. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful.

Most of all, I knew I could do it again. Better.

And I did. The next three years I completed novels in November, each one progressively more accomplished, more polished, more complete than the ones before. I learned to avoid plot holes, to study and refine character motivation, to wipe out -ly words. Like Batman, I had my daytime persona--husband, father, laborer, homeowner--but my secret identity as a writer began taking over my psyche bit by bit.

All told, I completed four NaNoWriMo manuscripts. I haven't published any of those, but I did go on to publish my fifth novel, Semper, which was not a NaNo book. Today, I'm on the verge of publishing its sequel.

Might that have happened without the magic of NaNo? There's no way to know for sure.

But this year I'll be jumping back into that frenzied rush of adrenaline and caffeine to start a new project. Because I've been to the mountaintop, I know what it takes to succeed. And I'll be prepared. Oh, I'll be prepared. Words will tumble out like Halloween candy from a bowl with a note on it saying "please take only one," and analogies will thicken the prose in the way that peanut butter sticks to the roof of a dog's mouth. And cliches will wallow like pigs and soar like eagles while metaphors mix like dead horses being beaten. And in the end, when all is said and done, when all is done and said... things will have been written.

This didn't have to be my story. It could be the story of any number of people. Six, for example. Or ninety-one. That doesn't really matter. What matters is that NaNoWriMo picked me up, dusted me off, and told me, "You can do this, mister. Never forget who you are and where you came from. Now get up, get back on that horse, and write."

And that's what I intend to do. Just as soon as I finish this game of Words With Friends and respond to this guy's political rant on Facebook.

The uniform comes off: @BoyScouts and @bsamdsc, you got this WRONG.

Sometimes an event happens that clarifies a difficult, murky situation. Such an event happened today. I got an email. That in itself is not unusual. This email came from our local Boy Scouts council leadership. That is a little unusual, but not terribly. But when I received this particular email, I swear I could actually hear that other shoe hitting the floor.

My last blog post was about BSA's national anti-gay policy. That post focused on the meaning of leadership. How can BSA profess to teach young men to become effective leaders when they're saying that roughly one in every ten boys (or one in every twenty-five, depending on which experts you believe) need to be excluded?

I think BSA's policy is morally wrong, ethically wrong, and also wrong-headed. It's ass backwards from a leadership perspective, from an American perspective, and from a management perspective. Why are gays excluded? Gay does not equal pedophile. Gay equals gay. Pedophile equals pedophile. BSA's history is littered with documented cases of covered-up child molestation. The anti-gay policy didn't do any good then in protecting the boys. Only in the past few years has BSA put in place strong policies to protect boys from predators, including background checks, biannual youth protection training, no solitary one-on-one contact, etc. Had those policies been in place, policies that protect against pedophiles, then maybe that abuse could have been prevented.

But that's not my point. My point is the email I got today. You may have read about that boy in a town nearby who is a shining example of all things Boy Scouts. Oh, wait, sorry. There's this one thing. He's openly gay. And for that, he was denied his Eagle rank, for which he accomplished all the requirements. The Scoutmaster of his troop refused to sign off on the boy's excellent Eagle project. And now, in this email I've received, the Council stands behind the Scoutmaster's decision.

I've heard this argument made before. We were just following orders. People might disagree about the policy, but there's nothing we can do. Our hands our tied. It was a "good faith" effort. (Which is an odd use of the phrase here since faith (in the religious sense) is typically correlated with gay discrimination (see: reasons Prop 8 passed).)

Anyway, this email hit my inbox hard. I'd imagined the policy to be a result of BSA being headquartered in Texas. Everyone in California knows that Texas is a wacko tea party Bible Belt kind of place, right? That could never actually happen in the Bay Area. (Ooh! Ironic prejudice alert!)

Well, it did. It happened here. In my own council. And they aren't standing up for the scout. They're backing the adult leader. Which is what has happened for decades. Too bad for the 17 year old boy who did everything right and trusted the adults around him. Too bad they are kicking him to the curb. But the adults, they made a good faith effort, you know?

No more for me. I cannot wear the uniform any longer. I cannot hold an official position in the BSA organization, no matter how puny and insignificant my role as Assistant Scoutmaster of a troop of 35 boys is. When a boy as courageous and upstanding and model as that boy is (according to what I've read... I do not know the family personally) is crushed just for being who he is, it's wrong. As an organization, we should be celebrating his leadership and accomplishments. As a society, we should be congratulating him for overcoming the bullying he's experienced.

In Michigan, an unpopular girl is made fun of by her peers, and she gets a huge rally of support from her community. This boy accomplishes all he has done, and the adults around him tsk-tsk and suppress him further, rallying around the poor Scoutmaster who was put "in a difficult position."

It's all so backwards and wrong. It makes me really sad. Shame on you, BSA. Shame on you, Mount Diablo Silverado Council. I know you will grow up and change one day. But today? Today's a bad day.

Still wearing the uniform... for now. #BSA blog #leadership

It's important to allow yourself some distance from an emotional event before deciding how you feel about it. Two months may not be enough for this one. I'm still deeply disappointed and hurt by Boy Scouts of America's decision in July to reaffirm its policies of bigotry and discrimination.

This is not a new struggle for me. I work with gay colleagues, party with gay friends, and socialize with gay neighbors. I would be honored to go hiking and camping with gay scouters.

I won't get into the stupid back and forth about "gay people are people too" (duh) or "I know more divorced straights than still-married straights" (true) or "being gay isn't a lifestyle choice" (duh, true), or "the US military is more tolerant than BSA is" (hoo boy). Those points have been made and apparently hold no water at BSA headquarters in Irving, Texas.

Instead, I want to say the following.

Dear BSA,

As a trained Scout leader who has been a den leader, pack committee member, troop committee member, and Assistant Scoutmaster for nearly a decade, I have recited the Scout Oath and Scout Law countless times. I have worn the uniform in public, have recruited families and boys into the organization, have taken responsibility for the safety of other people's children in the wilderness. I have celebrated with boys I've helped achieve the rank of Eagle.

I take very seriously my role in helping the boys develop into mature, responsible young men with an understanding of leadership and an ethic of accountability. The beauty of the scouting program is its emphasis on coaching the boys into becoming effective leaders. Every aspect of the program pushes the boys toward self-reliance, leadership, integrity, and cooperation.

Unfortunately, the national board of directors of BSA has forgotten what leadership really is. Leadership is far more than simply being in charge.

Leadership is courage. Leadership is the ability to put one's own prejudices and fears aside in the pursuit of getting the most of every member of the unit, thereby getting the most from the unit. Leadership is accepting every boy as he is, and believing that every boy can become a strong leader if given the right tools, coaching, and examples. Leadership is empowering others to be better than they think they can be.

Leadership is not fearful or boastful. Leadership is not arbitrarily exercising power over others. Leadership is not cliquish or exclusionary. Leadership is not punitive or petty. Leadership is not compromising values for revenue. Leadership is not telling someone they are less than they really can be.

While a bully can be in charge, a true leader is never a bully.

Today, I am signing a change.org petition asking our council to denounce BSA's policies of discrimination. Even if you are not in the Mt. Diablo Silverado area, please sign this petition.

I want to continue to be a scout leader. I know I am a positive influence for the scouts, and my own two boys get a tremendous amount out of my participation. I can lead without discriminating. I can teach the boys to be accepting of others and inclusive in their own leadership. I can show them courage.

But every time I look at that uniform hanging in my closet, I see bigotry, fear, and prejudice. I know when I put that shirt on, when I slip the neckerchief around my collar, I am painting myself in the colors of hate. Even if I believe in the values of scouting--and I do--this one policy so recently and unapologetically reaffirmed by BSA contaminates me. I, too, am victimized by this decision.

I have not yet decided to abandon the uniform because I feel an obligation to the boys and the families in my troop. I like them all very much, and the scouting activities we do together are a lot of fun. I see the boys maturing year by year, and know I am helping them in their growth.

I have not yet decided to abandon the uniform, but I can feel that day coming.

Free book sites definitely spike download numbers

My book Semper is free for Kindle download on September 11 and 12. (Don't have a Kindle? You don't need one; most devices have a free Kindle reader app available.)

I've enjoyed having Semper in Amazon's KDP Select program, and I've blogged before about the reasons. (Just click the SEMPER tag in the right sidebar to find those posts if you're interested.) One thing I've found, without a doubt, is that getting listed on the "free kindle books" blogs is critical for getting big download numbers.

I have yet to enjoy some of the numbers I've heard out there. My best free runs have been about a thousand downloads a day, though I've heard of 20,000 or more for books in other genres (typically romance and thriller). Young Adult books seem to have a harder time getting traction on free and discounted days.

There are a lot of free book listing sites out there; just google them. Today my book is listed on Free Kindle Books and Tips, and I hope that one will bring in some numbers. Semper has also been on Pixel of Ink and other sites. On free days when I don't do any promotion at all, the numbers are miniscule. But when the book is listed on one or more of these sites, the effect is dramatic.

If you're an author with free days coming up and want to get listed at FKBT, go see their page for authors.

My top five #strengths: #4, #Positivity (blog)

Some years ago, I did this thing called Strengths Finder 2.0.  I am slowly blogging about my top strengths and perhaps about the least strengthful parts of me. For the other posts, check out the Strengths tag on this blog.

Strength #4:  Positivity

People strong in Positivity have a contagious enthusiasm; they are upbeat and can get others excited about things.

source unknown

When people who know me want to think about happy, positive things, they seek out puppies, rainbows, cupcakes, and Peter. Well, okay, that's probably overstating it, but the point is that I tend to see the good side of nearly every situation, and that rubs off on people.

While clearly there are some things that are bad and others which make me sad, I generally believe that all things turn out well in the end. If things aren't good, then it's not the end.

I also believe that (in general) things work out best for those who make the best of things.

I've been "let go" from jobs three times in my 23 year career. The first time was the hardest because even though the job market was decent, being laid off after seven years at one company carried with it many unknowns. Within days, however, I had a contract with one of my former company's big clients, so not only was I getting a decent severance, I was also making out on the contract.

The second time I was let go, so was everyone else. Yup, they shut down the company. I will never forget the CEO coming into the meeting room and saying, "The good news is we can pay you through yesterday." Such is life in a startup. While some of us panicked, I looked at this as the opening of opportunity. And it was. Six weeks later I was at a new job making more than I ever had before.

After the third layoff (another startup), I landed another contract in two weeks. That contract turned into a full time position and has led to where I am today, ten years later. Despite what Thomas Edison said, you never really know what opportunity looks like until you've missed it or grabbed it.

And so it goes. Sometimes change happens to you. I know worriers who try to plan for every contingency. Inevitably, something happens they never anticipated and didn't plan for, and suddenly their world falls apart. If you're one of those people, find someone like me to be your stabilizing influence during the rough patches. We can't fix your problems, but the first step is remaining calm. The second step is finding the positives. The third step is building on those positives.

The flip side of positivity is that I tend to be a very poor planner. Sometimes I go somewhere without complete directions and have to wing it. Or I'll be in a meeting and be asked a question I should have researched beforehand. (I'm working on that.) My positivity tricks me into thinking that no matter what happens, it will all work out okay in the end.

So far, it always has.

Come to think of it, it always will. Because if it's not okay, then it is not yet the end.

rules of the blog - thank you for complying

Since my readership has gone up recently (according to the analytics, not the comments), and since this blog just turned 8 years old, I figured it was time to institute a few new rules. Please, readers, when you visit this blog, observe these rules and the other rules I've posted in the past.

Especially be aware that while I welcome trailers (particularly movie and book trailers), this blog does not have sufficient facilities to accommodate the larger ones.

Make sure to follow all instructions when operating heavy machinery while on the blog.

And perhaps most important of all, a rule that should be self-evident.

Five awesome YA #books cheap! Aug 21-22 only. http://smarturl.it/future

Hey all, check out these five awesome books for a wicked cheap price, August 21 and 22 only.

You can get all five from our special Amazon page, here: http://smarturl.it/future

Have you read SEMPER? What did you think? Let us all know in the comments here. And if you really liked it (like, 5-star liked it), go write an Amazon review. And a Goodreads review, too, while you're at it. Are you looking forward to the sequel? It will be out toward the end of this year.

I am worried about my blog traffic sources.

I looked at my analytics this morning by accident, and I stumbled upon my "traffic sources" stats. Check out the diversity of search terms that brought people to my blog recently:

• porn star
• cicolina italy
• pedophile map
• anatomy of the inner elbow
• april knight porn star
• cicciolina today
• cicolina italia
• died in nepal bus
• friday porn star
• rural nepal

I get the Nepal stuff. And the elbow. The others, however, especially taken as a whole, trouble me a little. Is my blog really coming up in searches on those terms? I wonder why.

But is that better or worse then the days, four years ago, when searches for "hayden christensen porn" and "hayden christensen hair" brought people to my site?

Speaking of four years ago, apparently August 19th was the eight-year anniversary of my very first ever blog post. This one will be my 880th post since I started. Happy birthday to Corner Kick!

Summer #reading contest results and $154.56 donation to the #library! (blog post)

Back at the beginning of the summer, I announced two contests and my intent to donate all my royalties from sales of Semper to my library's summer reading program. Well, here are the results of all that. First, let's start with the sales and donation.

I started with $20 to donate from the author reading I did back in May. Then, from June 9 through August 18 I kept track of sales in-person and through Amazon. I am not including free downloads (a few thousand) during that period since, well, they generate $0 in royalties. Thus, no donations.

Sales in June

Semper e-book sales (US)	19 copies	$32.64
Semper e-book sales (other)	0 copies	$0.00
Semper print sales	5 copies	$13.58
Total	24 copies	$46.22

Sales in July

Semper e-book sales (US)	24 copies	$46.98
Semper e-book sales (other)	1 copy	$1.33
Semper print sales	4 copies	$15.88
Total	29 copies	$64.19

Sales from August 1 through August 18

Semper e-book sales (US)	6 copies	$12.24
Semper e-book sales (other)	0 copies	$0.00
Semper print sales	3 copies	$11.91
Total	9 copies	$24.15

Thus, my total donation during the summer reading program period is $20 + $46.22 + $64.19 + 24.15 = $154.56. Frankly, that's more than I expected. Thanks to everyone who purchased a copy of Semper during that time. Our libraries can definitely use the extra money.

The Contests
My big lesson from these contests was that unless you have a lot of time and energy to invest in promoting a contest, they're useless. Pointless. People won't enter. And they didn't.

So, after much deliberation and analysis of the entries, I have determined that eager entrant Dana wins one of the two prize packages I offered. Dana, look for an email from me to the email address you provided. Congratulations!

For the record, the new back-cover copy for Semper that Dana wrote is this (verbatim, with some semi-spoilers that probably won't ruin the plot for new readers):

At the ripe age of sixteen fate seizes Dane Semper's Son, and thrusts him into an adventure that will shatter all the unquestioned simplicities of his childhood. In the lush forests of his home, myth collides with reality right in front Dane, forcing him to question everything he thinks he knows. On the raw cusp of early manhood, Dane must learn to think for himself as he faces his father's death, choosing a wife, and the usurpation of his birth right. In unplanned defiance of his ruthless uncle a bold choice sends Dane and his new wife into exile. Cast out from the people he was meant to lead they must fight to survive in the war-scorched wasteland of The Radiation. Wondering if he can ever return home again, will Dane dare to discover within himself if he has what it takes to make things right?

Thank you, Dana!


One final note: Semper is temporarily discounted to 99 cents at Amazon for the Kindle edition. Let people know now is the time to get it. This price will be up only about a week.

Okay, another final note: I'm still hoping to get the sequel out in late Q4 of this year. Stay tuned.

Discovering yourself through to-do lists - blog #amwriting

We all have favorite self-evaluation tools. Some people love the Myers Briggs MBTI type. Some tell me they're a "red" or I'm a "blue" or something. I don't really get that one. Then of course there are various Zodiac assessments. Personally, I enjoy the Gallup Strengths Finder program.

Many of us use these and other methods to determine who we'll date, what we'll eat, or what career path we'll follow.

Several years ago, I discovered a different way to focus my career path. I call it the To-Do List Method.™

Early in my career, I became a jack of all trades. I ran a tech pubs group, programmed, ran a tech support group. I found things to like and things to loathe about every job I had. But I was at an inflection point in my career--to progress for real, I'd need to turn myself in one direction and go for it. Marketing? Writing? Programming?

At the time, I happened to be director of marketing at a company that made embedded system software for routers. (Not everyone can successfully market embedded router software, you know. Check out my portfolio; you'll find some articles I authored for technical journals during that time.) But as with all startups, and with every job I've had since, my daily to-do list was longer than the available time. Every day I'd start with, say, 25 tasks, but I had time for only 20 of them. Some of course were mandatory, and those always got done.

Over a few months, I paid attention. Rather than chastise myself for not getting everything done, I studied those items and realized that nearly all those leftover tasks had a few things in common. Most of them involved the telephone. A lot of them involved salesy activity. Nearly none of them involved creative output--design, writing, or problem-solving. And other things.

I also found that this method highlighted my strengths. Communication, creativity, storytelling were among them. I always thought I was bad at those things because I hate hate HATE talking on the phone. With anyone. Ever. But that's just the phone. I was a whiz at tasks that used those skills in writing. Press releases? Mine were really good. Support collateral for the sales team? Awesome. Brand development? Check.

My career has developed in directions I never planned or predicted since then, but I've helped it along by knowing what tasks will fall off the list at the end of a busy day. I avoid jobs that have a lot of them because if you have 25 tasks you enjoy, doing 20 is easy. But if you have 25 tasks you hate, doing 20 will make you miserable.

This came up recently online when someone opined on whether writers are born or made. Someone said, "People who love writing will find time for it." NaNoWriMo winners often joke about leaving the laundry and dishes unwashed for weeks at a time to get the word count. So yeah, I agree. If you have talked about writing for five years and haven't actually done it, you might do a little to-do list analysis of your own. Stop being miserable about wanting to write and focus on the things you do love. And if it feels like 100% of your daily tasks are mandatory obligations for someone else, then you need to reprioritize your life, not just your tasks.

For me, writing is one of those things I find time for most days, most weeks. Even if I don't write, I'm thinking about my stories, spending my downtime in writing mode. And I'm a happier person when I can do that.

Look at your to-do lists for the last few months. What things do you consistently leave undone? Don't be afraid of or embarrassed by them. Treasure them, because they are the buoys that mark your safe channel. Thank them, because they tell you what jobs and activities to avoid in the future. And if you care to share, let me know what they are in the comments.

DC mini travelogue - with photos!

The first time we took my older son, Ethan, to Washington, DC, he was less than a year old and it was a week before Clinton's second inauguration. The weather was like ten degrees out. Kelvin. We saw a few monuments but not much.

The most recent time we took him was last week. He turned 16 while we were there, and the weather was like 102 degrees. Celsius.

No, seriously, it was hot. And humid. Hotter and more humid than the jungle in Nepal.

This time, though, we saw tons of stuff. Way more than we expected, and everything was awesome. And accessible by Metro.

We did the basics like the Capitol tour (disappointing; we saw only three rooms and didn't see either chamber of Congress, which I'd hoped to see) and the Air and Space Museum.

 That's the Capitol. I have better pictures, but I'm not authorized to show them because the person in them doesn't like the way she looks even though the rest of us think she looks beautiful.

It's actually shocking how few photos I have from the Air & Space Museum, given how totally freakin' awesome it is and how enthralled all us boys were the whole time.

We also saw a few unexpected gems, though. The US Postal Service Museum, for example. Free and shockingly interesting. Cool exhibit about the Pony Express, a very interesting look at the automation and logistics of this enormous organization, and a stuffed dog. No, really. A taxidermy-stuffed dog.

Another unexpected gem was Newseum. I'd never heard of this before, and it's not free like the Smithsonian museums, but I could have spent a week there. They have some awesome displays of original documents from the last three hundred years, a big section of the Berlin Wall, a neat video analysis of political campaign ads through the years, the most incredible gallery of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, and a moving 9/11 exhibit, among other things. Well worth the time and money spent.

Plus, they have this awesome patio looking at the Capitol building. You can't tell it's 95 degrees, can you?

My favorite of the week, I think, was the Library of Congress. What a gorgeous building, and all devoted to books and history and learning and creativity and culture. It's a true monument to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. We had a fun docent and got a great tour. I like this place so much I would consider moving to the Capitol Hill area of DC just to live in walking distance of the reading room.

The front of the Library of Congress.

Our tour guide, Robert, asking Sam some questions.

Me in a not so great picture with the archway behind me.

The Library from across the street as we left the Capitol building.

Since we were in Washington, DC on July 4th, we thought we should see the fireworks over the Mall. Although it was insanely muggy and kind of hot, we went anyway, and I'm glad we did. Fortunately, the fireworks were awesome and lasted more than fifteen seconds.

Where we almost stopped to watch them, but I don't think we'd have seen anything here.

Waiting patiently, with iPod Touch in hand.

Cool to see the fireworks with the Washington Monument in the background.

We also visited the National Institutes of Health where my brother cures cancer for a living. We saw his lab late at night when we wouldn't bother any of the workers. Security was impressive at the gate, but they let us in even when they learned he was my brother. Here's Dr. Dudley showing Sam how to use the microscope:

Fortunately, he keeps his lab cleaner than he kept our shared bedroom when we were growing up.

We also saw many other things, some of which we photographed and some we did not. For example, the Holocaust Museum was astonishing and gut-wrenching and beautiful. The International Spy Museum (privately run) was fun and interesting, but I might have preferred watching a marathon of History Channel specials on espionage and spies from WW II and the cold war. And some photos from other places we visited:

The Supreme Court. No oral arguments were being heard while we were there, but we got to see the courtroom, and the building and hallway exhibits are interesting in their own right. It was neat being there only a few days after the big Obamacare decision.

The Hirshhorn modern art museum was far more interesting than I expected. We only breezed through a small portion of it, but it was interesting and fun. I generally am bored by modern art, but this was well put together.

We walked through most of the monuments on our last full day, Monday, July 9th. The great thing about this was that the heat broke, so it was only about 90 degrees. It felt quite comfortable. This photo is from the Korean War monument. We also visited Lincoln, MLK, Vietnam War, and World War II (below).

I can't believe it took me 45 years to see these things. Even though the weather was terrible (if you ever go, try to go during the cherry blossom season even though I think it gets insanely crowded), every museum and monument we visited was beautiful and very well done. Be prepared to have water and food taken away (every museum had a security checkpoint), and be prepared to spend $15 a person on a meager lunch. But also be prepared to be amazed and inspired by the history on display and the grandeur of the experience. Simply amazing.

Donation report for June #ebook #contest blog with photos from camp!

You all might remember that I'm running two contests during the summer, and also that I'm donating all my royalties from all sales of SEMPER between June 9 and August 18.

By any measurement but mine, the response so far has been, well... Underwhelming. Disappointing. Pitiful. Lame. My measurement, however, indicates that things are going really well. Because, well, some people are reading my book, and there were two new unexpected 5-star reviews posted to Amazon recently. Plus, the effort I've put into promotion has been, well... Underwhelming. Disappointing. Pitiful. Lame.

You might see the cause and the effect there, if you look really hard.

Anyway, on to the Results So Far (excluding free downloads):

Semper e-book sales (US)	19 copies	$32.64
Semper e-book sales (other)	0 copies	$0.00
Semper print sales	5 copies	$13.58
Total	24 copies	$46.22

So, not a lot. The good news for all of you is that there are very few contest entries so far, and the contest runs another 6 weeks or so, so you've got plenty of time to win a $50 donation to a teacher, and a $10 gift card for yourself.

Oh, and I had the very, very great satisfaction of learning that the boy scout camp where my kids go one week every summer has a library. So of course I inscribed a copy and donated it to the library. I hope some of the kids read it.

Sequel Update

Going well but slowly. I'd hoped to have it out in November, but that's looking unlikely due to things like Day Job obligations and really awful stuff like spending quality time with my kids in the wilderness of the Sierras (last week) and the heart of our nation's capitol (next week).

Photos from camp!

The Program Office and flags

Lovely mountains surrounding this gorgeous valley on the Stanislaus River

Finally arriving at camp after 2+ miles hiking!

The boys getting ready to break down camp after a week.

My truck. Probably the only 1994 Toyota SUV in the country with
stickers for Obama, Glacier National Park, and NaNoWriMo.

Blog: Why I'm so glad I self published my book

It's now almost five months since I launched Semper, my YA sci-fi/dystopian book. You may know of the summer contests I'm holding. If not, check them out. Don't worry, I'll wait for you.

Back? Cool.

Writing a book is hard. It's the intellectual equivalent of walking into a forest with a box full of hand tools, clearing a spot of land, and building a house. (Extend that metaphor to its limits. Go ahead, I dare you.)

I've built five houses that way, plus a bunch of sheds. (Intellectually, of course. I would probably cut off my arm if I tried to build an actual house.) Each was better than the previous, and Semper was the first that felt really good. Like I-would-be-proud-to-have-my-name-on-it good. So, I wanted to show it to the world, right? You do all this work, you want it to be something.

So I decided to self-publish it. I say that like it was an easy decision. It wasn't. It was way harder than, say, deciding between clapboards or aluminum siding. This was a very, very difficult decision... right up until the moment I made it. Since that instant, it's been one of the best decisions of my life.*

For the record, I'm not here to take sides in the self- versus traditional-publishing debate. I'm one of those people who hopes one day to live in both places--the handcrafted cottage in the woods, and the industrial high-rise condo in the city.

I promise, I'll stop extending that metaphor now.

I don't know what would have happened if I'd really pursued "traditional" publishing. I did send out a few queries, got a few rejections. I figure that if I'd managed to get a contract, my twitter profile would say something like "debut novel due out in 2014." Instead, because I self-published, I can already say things like this:

• Semper has been downloaded on Kindle over 5,000 times and sold over 100 print copies.
• I've spoken on a publishing panel and held an author reading, each drawing about 30 people.
• Someone else's kid climbed 30 feet up a redwood tree to spend the afternoon reading my book.
• Someone I've never even heard of in another country I've never been to wrote a 5-star review of my book.
• I was stopped at a wine and art show by a friend-of-friend I hadn't seen in years who gushed about how much she loved Semper (ok, coulda been the wine).
• At least two adults who are very well read and have high standards have recommended Semper to their book groups.

And the most recent thing:

• The daughter of a friend wrote her 10th grade book report for English class on my book because she liked it so much.

Is that the coolest thing or what?

* your mileage may vary

Free #YA #ebook plus #contests and #prizes!

It's June 9th. The first day of our local library's summer reading festival.

Today, SEMPER is a free kindle download. It's supposed to be, anyway. It's just after midnight Pacific time as I type this, and I see it's still $2.99 at Amazon. So check the price before you click "buy".

Better yet, I am donating all my royalties from the sale of Semper between June 9 and August 18. I am doing this in two fun contests and one donation. The donation will go to my local library to say "thank you" for all the years my boys have enjoyed their summer reading program.

The contests give you something, and your favorite teacher something. For full details, hop on over to my Semper page on my web site or go straight to the page that describes the contests.

I hope you'll get the free download, read the book, enter the contests, and tell all your friends about the contests, too. I think you won't be disappointed. Better yet, buy the book when it's not free so I can donate more to the library at the end of the summer.

Thank you!

What's on your summer reading list? Let me know in the comments.

#Summer #Reading programs! Contests! Prizes! Books in a tree!

Our local library has a summer reading festival from June 9 through August 18. Everyone seems to be talking about summer reading lists. Of course, I expect all of you who haven't read Semper yet to add it to your own list. It's a great read for the beach or the pool, but it's even better in a tree. Proof:

My book. Not my kid. Not my tree.

If you don't have a redwood handy, or if you're afraid of heights, try something less challenging to start such as sitting in a chair, or lying on a couch. Consumer warning: feedback from actual readers indicates that opening Semper before bed may result in a serious loss of sleep.

June 9 through August 18 is also the Semper Summer Contest! More details coming June 9 (watch the blog). There will be two ways to win fabulous prizes. Both involve actually reading the book (or doing enough to fake it). Fortunately, since the book will be free on Kindle on June 9 and other days during the summer, you won't have to pay.

On the other hand, I'll be donating my royalties* from ebook and print sales between June 9 and August 18. The winners of the two contests will each receive a $50 Donors Choose gift card to spend on an educational project (among other prizes). I just searched their site and found 817 projects tagged as creative writing and 9,516 for reading.

What's not to like? Read a great book this summer and earn support for your favorite teacher's classroom. (Psst: Tell all the teachers you know about this so they can get the $50 donation when you win!)

Tell everyone you know about this. Heck, tell everyone you don't know, too. Teachers and libraries need money, and I'd love your help in giving them some.

* Up to a total of $1,000 in donations. I'm not made of money, you know. But if I get a ton more sales than I expect, I'll up that limit to something that a reasonable person would be okay with. If you find a reasonable person, call me. No, wait. Just let them be. It is an election year, after all, and reasonable people are very rare and would like a little peace.

My first #author reading, and my #YA #ebook still free #kindle download on Monday. Blog & photos!

Not quite four months ago, I published my YA kinda-dystopian kinda-sci-fi kinda-coming-of-age novel, Semper. On Sunday, I held my first author reading.

Quick word of advice: Don't schedule your very first-ever reading for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on one of the most beautiful Sundays in spring. It's a tough draw, and I didn't know if anyone at all would show. But 30 or more people gave up two hours of this gorgeous day to hear me read from my book, talk about writing and publishing, and eat snacks. And it was wonderful.

Most of those people were friends, and about half had already read the book. I made a few sales and got a wildly fabulous, enthusiastic thumbs-up from the one person in the crowd I had never met before. She bought the book and seemed terribly excited to read it.

Dear friends Susan and Linda arranged the whole thing. They reserved the local library's meeting room. They arranged snacks and drinks. They made signs. They made awesome signs!

They even provided a table drape for the front table. I arranged a few of the publications where my work has appeared before. Mo Poco helped by holding up the Unlucky 26.

From left to right on the table:
Thereby Hangs A Tale (defunct literary journal)
Caesura
The First Line
The Unlucky Children of Marrow Moor
THEMA (behind the table, on the floor)
The 2009 San Francisco Writers Conference Anthology (on the floor)

The room was beautifully set up, with signs all over and the snacks and drinks in the back. They had "food from the book," but it really wasn't. It was an approximation, which, frankly, is good. The food mentioned in the book is really not very tasty.

Yes, I did actually read portions of the book. I've never much liked listening to others read aloud to a group, so I kept the passages short. It was difficult to pick passages that could be read without extensive background (turns out they needed background anyway) and without spoilers (turns out a couple snuck through anyway). And yes, I did not shave. What the hell, it was Sunday.

I also spoke. A lot. About the writing process. Where ideas come from. My personal progress from know-nothing to author. There were some really good questions, and in the end if the attendees had even ten percent of the fun I had, then they probably thought it a well-spent two hours.

Huge thanks to Susan and Linda (and Roger!) for putting this on and making it so easy for me. I hope I get to do more of these in the future.

STATS
My book is a free download on Kindle today (May 20 and 21, 2012). In the first day and a half, it's been downloaded 1,000 times (exactly) in the US and a handful of times in the UK and Germany. So far, the high water marks are

• #3 in Children's Action-Adventure
• #23 in all Children's
• #178 in free Kindle store

The only place I know of that picked up the free run was Pixel of Ink's Young Edition. That, plus a couple of tweets of my own, are the only real promotion for this. Pretty happy with 1,000 downloads in this run but would love a few hundred more before Monday is done!

#Nepal #travelogue part 7: water buffaloes and moneychangers

This is the seventh and final of several posts about our recent totally awesome family vacation to Nepal. We worked with the fabulous folks at Geographic Expeditions to plan and book the trip.

Although the view of the Annapurna range from the Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge patio was amazing and made me want to sit there all day just gazing and sipping tea, we had a day hike scheduled and so had to grab our water bottles and sunscreen and get walking.

We sat down the night before with Jalak, our resort manager, to plan out our hike. He offered several options. The long hike would take us across a ridge with fine views, then through a Gurkha village. It looked pretty vertical and would probably be 8 hours or more. We opted for the medium hike, which they pegged at five hours. They were pretty close. It was about eight miles, I'm guessing.

We were treated to the wonderful company of a local man, Harry, as our guide. He lives in the neighborhood and knows many of the people we saw on our walk. He carried our box lunches for us and explained the different aspects of daily life as we wound our way up and down through terrace farms, past trekking tea houses, through tiny village areas, and in and out among haystacks and water buffalo and laundry strung up to dry.

For some reason (maybe the colors) I tended to snap a lot of photos of laundry strung up to dry.

We set off after breakfast, perhaps 9:30. I carried our day pack with full water bottles. Boss, the dog that had adopted the lodge as his home, decided to come with us. Good thing he did, too, because at one point we needed the protection.

Sam watches our guide, Harry, say something insightful that I have forgotten.

Harry's wife sells jewelry at the end of the lodge's long driveway. We bought some at the end of the hike. One of those boys is Harry's son; the other is his best friend, born on the same day at the same time as Harry's son. Cute kids. Lovely family.

Our first half mile probably took the longest even though is was the lease picturesque. We stopped to take lots of photos (most of which don't make it to the blog). The rest of the trip was pretty steady walking, at a reasonable pace. The morning heated up until it was over 80 degrees by midday and moderately humid. It was a sweaty day, but not overly uncomfortable. A good, challenging hike but not what I would call strenuous.

The little buildings all along the way were filled with character and either made of stone or very colorful.

I have no idea what this says (maybe it's one of the many schools we saw along the way but probably not because there's no English on the sign), but I love the mountain behind it.

This little girl was so happy to have her photo taken! She was a real cutie.

See what I mean about colorful houses?

See what I mean about laundry strung out to dry?

As we walked, the views from the ridge of the valley below were almost as spectacular as the views of the mountains, which were visible along about two-thirds of the hike.

This was a gathering area, where in the old days the town would have meetings. There wasn't any official town council. Instead, people would come here to settle disputes or discuss matters of import.

It's also a good place to rest.

The farmers still plow their lands by yoked oxen. Click on this picture to see the larger view, where you can see the guys walking with the plow. The farming really is primitive, although there's good cell reception. (Harry took a couple of calls on the walk.)

Another farmer walking with his oxen, carrying the yoke. We figured it was so the oxen didn't have to walk on the road and probably get run over by a bus.

The crops grown in the area are rice, sweet corn, and wheat. I'm not sure what this woman is doing, but it looks like she's separating the wheat from the chaff.

More laundry! On a stone house.

Just to change it up a little, a house not made of stone and not that colorful.

These boys were so happy to see us and walk with us for a while. We saw them again a little later. Apparently they had already been out running around and were running home.

Their sticks were connected to the wheels, which was unexpected but necessary due to the rocky, uneven nature of the road.

These boys were washing their clothes in a stream that had a stone washing area built into it. The stream runs downhill, then is channeled into this washing area, and runs on its way below. They were working hard, scrubbing against the rocks. I'm very glad we have washing machines.

This boy played the flute while the others washed the clothes. I assume he's their little brother.

After we crested the top point of the hike (not sure of the elevation gain/loss on the hike, but it was very up-and-down vertical the whole time), we came down this other side of the ridge which overlooked the big lake in the valley.

Another unauthorized photo.

I should remember to take my dorky day pack off before the photo is taken.

Better, but I should also remember to move it farther away, out of the shot.

A pretty section of open ridge top, unlike most of the walk which was a combination of dirt trail, rocky cart path, semipaved road, and stone village paths between homes.

Boss stayed close. At lunch, he was so close that he almost managed to eat half of Sam's lunch before Harry whacked him away with a stick. (Whacked Boss away. He didn't whack Sam with the stick.)

A beautiful little trekking lodge along the Royal Trek. A small part of our 8 mile walk coincided with the Royal Trek, which is a hike that covers four days and follows the route that Prince Charles hiked in 1980.

Another section of the Royal Trek portion, with stones laid out to show the way.

This little boy brought us sodas to go with our lunch from the tiny tea house along the Royal Trek path. We ate our lunch right here, on the hillside, and paid him a few hundred Rupees for the sodas.

Water buffalo wandered all over the place. Mostly we kept our distance, and they all watched us warily. At one point, we stopped while Harry peered up a side road at a gathering of people who looked very concerned. After a while, we went on our way and Harry explained that a water buffalo appeared to be dying over there, and the people were very upset. Nearly every family has a water buffalo, and it's important for sustenance (I guess milk and whatever). If a family's buffalo dies, it's very hard for them.

Another time, while we were sitting resting, a buffalo wandered near us and started looking aggressive. It was not happy with our presence. Harry said, "Come along, come to this side of the road, and we should hurry along." At that point, Boss leaped between us and the buffalo and started barking at it. The great protector, Boss! He bought us enough time to make our escape. The old man who owned the buffalo giggled himself silly, I think.

At another point on our hike, we were stopped by a very old farmer. I think he was Moses' nephew or something. He had a handful of coins, and Harry helped broker a transaction. Turns out his coins were mostly Euros, with some other unidentified European-looking coin. We estimated he had about a dollar's worth of European money. He asked, would we like to buy it from him? For a hundred Rupees, we did.

Haystacks also were all over the place. Every house had a large one, built by tying the hay to a tall, bamboo pole in the center. Hay would then be cut from the stack as it was needed.

I found this encouraging. Along the short portion of our walk that coincided with the Royal Trek, these garbage cans offered a place to drop litter. Mostly we didn't see much trash on the ground in the high, remote areas, but there was enough to remind us that there's really no litter or garbage control in Nepal.

Another laundry shot, with Harry, Boss, the boys, and a view.

Remember the little boy above that brought us sodas for our lunch? This is the trek tea house he brought them from.

A gorgeous stone stair leading up from a small village section painted in a lively manner.

Laundry, this time with goats. Here we paused to speak with a woman and her younger daughter. Harry spoke with them. I can't remember if he translated for us or what they said.

 

Along the way, we came upon an independent, organic, time-traveling coffee farm. Oh, wait, that's the Nepali year 2060. Which means the farm was established nine lunar years ago, which means little to me other than it's not as old as Swayambhunath or as young as Twitter.

The farmer and his son. They both spoke very good English. The boy said he was 14 years old, but he looked not much more than 10 or 11. Very nice gentleman. He showed us his coffee plants, the beans he was drying, and some of the product that had already been packaged. We bought one package for 300 Rupees (about four dollars). Haven't tried it yet.

A view along the road as we hiked up into the hills. This is a good look at a typical section of the rural roads, where civilization has overrun the place. Seriously, this was the most built-up section along our hike. We were in rural Nepal, and Nepal is like the rural part of the world.

But not so rural they can't charge their cell phones.

Although we had one more full day and one more morning in Nepal, this is my last travelogue installment. The day after our hike, we had breakfast and then headed to the airport where we flew from Pokhara back to Kathmandu. Our guide picked us up and brought us back to the Yak & Yeti hotel, where we spent our final night. We wandered around Thamel in hopes of finding a new restaurant to try, but it was the Nepali New Year which meant the teenagers were out in the non-tourist areas, and many of the tourist restaurants looked closed or nearly deserted. We ended up returning to the beer garden we went to on our first night, and we were not disappointed. It was even better this time.

Our departure the final morning was uneventful except that Sam had forgotten to pack his mini kukhuri knife in the luggage, so it was confiscated by Kathmandu airport security. He was really sad, but we stopped at a gift shop and picked up some Nepal playing cards. Thai Airways flight back was less good than the flight there, but it all worked out okay. Try not to sit in the last row if you want a choice of meals. (But on the final meal they did start with me because they felt bad I didn't have a choice the first time. Thai Airways is awesome.)

We overnighted at the Radisson at LAX, which would have been very nice except their phone number at all the airport kiosks was wrong, so we never were able to call for the shuttle to pick us up. Fortunately, we could walk the 1/2 mile around the airport and a few blocks to the hotel. Which was pleasant and comfortable, with a good shower. Then our final leg from LAX to SFO was delayed 90 minutes, but eventually we made it home.

Best.
Vacation.
Ever.