Monday, February 23, 2015

What Am I Missing? Just a Little Silliness Along With This Week’s Smashwords Coupon

I seem to be missing something, but I can’t remember what it is. Here lately I seem to be having a lot of trouble with my memory. Well, maybe not just lately – this has been going on for - for longer than I can remember.
More than anything, I’m losing my words. I’ve tried doing those memory tricks, where you remember George’s name because you picture him in the jungle (GEORGE of the JUNGLE), and you remember the jungle by thinking of the bars you climbed on a playground (a JUNGLE GYM) and so the next time you see him you picture him in the jungle and call him “JIM.” If I were able to remember all those clues correctly, then I wouldn’t need the memory tricks in the first place.
I’m not the only person who’s losing things. Lots of things go missing. Car keys for as long as there’ve been cars. Evolutionists have been MISSING a LINK since before I was born. There’s the Lost City of Atlantis. UFOs are always disappearing.
I know that rubber is wearing off everyone’s tires; does anyone know where it all went?
Change is getting lost all the time, but no one seems to care. The only reason we know it was lost is that it’s always being found. It keeps coming back like a bad penny. Never mind, I’ll pick it up anyway.
What happened to all the caffeine they take out of coffee when they make decaf? I’ve asked them to put it in mine when I eat out, but they can’t seem to find it.
I see signs for lost dogs all the time. Not so much for cats, even though dogs are kept on leashes and the cats are the ones that are allowed to wander off. Go figure.
There are missing persons, too. Jimmy Hoffa. Amelia Earhart. The crew and passengers of the S.S. Minnow. Oceanic flight 815.
I hear all the time about people trying to find themselves. Maybe this wouldn’t be a problem if they’d just open their eyes. “What? Am I Missing? Oh, here I am! What a relief that’s over.”
They sell a device you can attach to your keys so when you lose them you can press a button and your keys will beep so you can find them. What makes them think I won’t lose the button? What works better for me is to develop habits – make a point of always putting your keys in the same place, then you just have to visit that place to find them. Make the place somewhere you visit often and it will be harder to lose.
I bet people stopped visiting Atlantis as often as they should, and they finally lost track of where it was. I wonder if Hoffa didn’t have any friends to visit him, and that’s why he vanished. Note to self: be sure to have lots of friends. Maybe that way I won’t have to find myself.
But one thing is certain – no matter what you’ve lost, it’s always in the last place you look. Of course, if you find it, then it SHOULD be the last place you look; why would you continue looking after that? “Glad I finally found that – now let’s see if I can find it again somewhere else.”
I think I’m still missing something; anyone else?.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
This week’s featured eBook is William’s paranormal romance (not THAT kind of romance) “Through Her Eyes”; here’s the smashwords.com link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/169294?ref=notimetothink
Use coupon code NY28M to get 50% off the list price at check out at smashwords. The coupon will be good through Monday, March 2nd.)  Enjoy!

<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication "Saturday He Fed the Cat") can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink


Monday, February 16, 2015

Projecting Weakness (AND This Week’s Smashwords Coupon)

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace." – George Washington.
It isn’t just about having the equipment built and the manpower available to wield it. It’s about projecting the conviction that you are willing to use it.
I know this isn’t the worst of times – I’m just frustrated at how various portions of the world stage have fallen into chaos through the weakness of the newest Neville Chamberlain.
He is negotiating with a state that sponsors terrorists to allow them to build a nuclear weapon. What else could he mean for them to understand, when he is afraid to put sanctions on them for fear of making them mad?
He sent FIVE leaders of the Taliban (another terrorist organization) back to the battlefield for ONE worthless deserter. He negotiated our withdrawal from Afghanistan with those same terrorists.
He tells Israel to behave themselves as Hamas terrorists attack them.
He allows Putin to gradually assimilate Ukraine back into Mother Russia (Barack - is that what you meant when you said to tell Vladimir that you’d have more latitude after the election?)
He abandoned Iraq and the people WE liberated who wanted their freedom (remember those proud, purple fingers), then allowed Iraq and a neglected Syria to become the birthplace of Islamic State, whom he says we are fighting (although a couple of days ago we had marines in a compound that ISIL attacked and WE WERE NOT INVOLVED in the fighting.)
A Jordanian pilot is murdered and the Jordanian King and his people not only vow to destroy every last one of the monsters, but act on it. How many Americans has the Islamic State killed? And we are still in the process of degrading them (odd – we have them on the run so much they seem to be spreading out over more territory than ever.)
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Ultimately, no one is afraid of the stick – it’s the person wielding it that’s important. It is obvious that the current occupier (and much of his party) doesn’t have the stomach or inclination to even carry the stick, much less use it.
I know our country isn’t weak, but THE WORLD, both friend and foe, sees that we are being led by a confused, self-satisfied APPEASER, who is either ignorant of history or thinks he is better than all that, and HIS actions (and inactions) and HIS words (and silence) are what the world considers when they decide what they can get away with.
Perception becomes reality in this case. And the clock is ticking on the end of his final term; we can expect more turmoil before his successor is sworn in.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
This week’s featured eBook is “Passed Life”; here’s the smashwords.com link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/144238?ref=notimetothink
Use coupon code NV53M to get 50% off the list price at check out. The coupon will be good until Monday February 23rd.  Enjoy!
<<<>>> 

His writing (including his latest ePublication "Saturday He Fed the Cat", with 50%-off coupon MM79K extended through February 20th ) can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Monday, February 9, 2015

Finding the Time (AND This Week’s Coupon)

Because I talk to SO MANY people who would be writing IF ONLY they had the time, let’s talk about finding it.
Circumstances will come along that interfere in your ability to write. Maybe it’s a death in the family. Maybe your child is sick, or you’re sick. Or you’re selling your house, or your favorite show is on, or the phone rang or an email beeped or a text buzzed. We are all different: in our writing methodology, in what our lives are like, and to attempt to come up with a one size fits all solution to everyone’s “if only I had time to write” syndrome is futile. But I can discuss what mine is like – what stops me, what I do to make time, and, more importantly, to MAKE MYSELF WRITE.

My History as a Writer

When I decided in 2004 that I needed a creative outlet I considered ACTING, but that requires the involvement of others. MUSIC meant I would either need to join a band or build a sound-proof room to keep from driving my family crazy. I settled on WRITING speculative fiction, because I could do on my own, practically anywhere. I used to write stories for fun decades earlier in my teens, revisited writing when I returned to school in my late twenties, and I knew it was something I could do and enjoy.
Having chosen writing, I wanted to “do it right”, so I started reading HOW TO books and blogs. If you’re going to write in a genre, you should also read that genre, so I started working through David Pringle’s list of the 100 Best Science Fiction novels. I joined an online writer’s workshop, participated in forum discussions, critiqued postings of other writer’s first 13 lines, and volunteered to critique entire stories. Of course, doing these things had nothing to do with the most important thing you have to do when you’re a writer:

Heinlein rule #1: YOU MUST WRITE

In 2006, I finally started writing. I resurrected the last story I had ever written (a 1700-word exercise for a college course on mythology), and decided to rewrite it from scratch. Over the next couple of years I completed the story (8000 words) and in 2008 started the process of {send it out, get rejected, rethinking, rewriting, repeat} until “Passed Life” was whittled down to its final version (5800 words) in 2010. This was a clear violation of:

Heinlein rule #3: YOU MUST REFRAIN FROM REWRITING, EXCEPT TO EDITORIAL ORDER

Do not spend your time rewriting the same story over and over again; you will not improve your skill set as well as you will by writing new stories. As a result of spending all this time rewriting, I didn’t finish my second story until 2010.
At the end of 2010, I set writing goals for the first time; I was going to write six stories in 2011. But the time I set aside for writing each day (10pm-11pm) was consistently trampled on – there was almost always a reason that I couldn’t write, so by June I had only finished one story for 2011 and started my second. That’s when I found Dean Wesley Smith’s website and read about the sacred cows and myths of publishing, and Heinlein’s rules. I applied myself, and accomplished my goal of six stories by the end of the year.
(I’m going to stop recounting history at this point – I won’t bore you with another FOUR YEARS of “and then I…”) Now, on to the meat of what you need to know.

YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

One of the changes I made was to reschedule my writing to 7:30am-8:30am, and that time (for various reasons) worked almost perfectly for over a year. Does your life allow you to function under some sort of consistent schedule? If so, lucky you! Find the  time that you can set aside when no one is likely to interrupt you and commit to write right then.

WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR WRITING COMMITMENT, KNOW WHAT’S IMPORTANT AND BE FLEXIBLE

I said that my morning writing schedule worked for over a year. Mine is one of those lives that almost always have interruptions (a “best laid plans” kind of life.) I reached a point where I had to use that time of day to catch up with work when other things in my life impinged on my job (good old work-life balance.) Now I tend to write a lot in waiting rooms or wherever I am at whatever time possible. Don’t restrict yourself to when and where you do your writing. Also,

DON’T LET YOUR TOOLS DICTATE WHETHER YOU CAN WRITE

Again, we’re all different. I use word documents for my writing – sometimes on my laptop, a lot of times on my NOOK using a fold-up Bluetooth keyboard (I bought an iPhone 6+ a couple of months and the keyboard syncs to it just fine – I may start writing on it.)
The important thing to me is to have my writing implements available whenever, so they don’t dictate when I can write (my cell phone should be a natural – when ISN’T it available?) Maybe you can handle dictating your writing (into a special device or your phone – speech to text technology is leaps and bounds better than it was when I first tried it in the 90’s.) Or you could just kick it old style (pen and paper – carry pocket notebooks like I used to in the 70’s.) Use whatever you can think of to maximize your opportunities.

MICHAEL JORDAN WAS RIGHT: JUST DO IT

I know this seems over-simplified, but it’s what all this really comes down to. Yes – things will happen in your life that will knock you off the writing horse (or bicycle, if you prefer); whatever it is, be flexible enough to get back on ASAP, even if it isn’t the same way you used to do it.
And if you want to write, take a long serious look at what’s preventing it. Let’s face it – even for professional writers, it requires discipline and commitment to force the words onto the paper (or whatever medium) where other people can see it. Find out what’s stopping you and push through it.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
This week’s featured eBook is “A Dish Best Served”; here’s the smashwords.com link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/144238?ref=notimetothink
Use coupon code TS57T to get 50% off the list price at check out. The coupon will be good until Monday February 16th.  Enjoy!
<<<>>> 

William Mangieri’s next release will be "Saturday He Fed the Cat" on Friday, February 13th. 
His writing (including his latest ePublication “Dredging Things Up”) can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Monday, February 2, 2015

Let the COUPONS Begin!!!

Time to focus on the writing business - well, not writing exactly, but marketing and promotion.
For those of you who really know me, or who’ve been reading and paying attention, a theme that occasionally repeats in my postings is the continuing saga of William Mangieri and the Horrors of Self-Promotion.
In everyone’s life, there are times when you HAVE TO SELL SOMETHING – whether it’s ideas or positions, or merchandise. It’s very hard for me to approach anyone and suggest that they part with their hard earned money to buy something I’m selling. Back in my teens, I did the door to door thing, but it was with people who already wanted the product – I was really just a deliveryman. When I hit twenty,  I was suckered in by one of those ads for an office job that would always be filled by the time you got there, but “We do have some sales openings” (ALWAYS selling VACUUM CLEANERS.) I trained for a week, and the Filter Queen was an excellent machine if you wanted to suck up carriage bolts, but I was horribly uncomfortable asking ANYONE to buy one. Of course, $400 seemed like a huge amount of money to me in 1977, but even if it had been $40 I still would have struggled. I lasted one weekend and then looked for employment elsewhere.
I haven’t been doing this writing gig for very long. I know I can create product, but I cripple myself when it comes to promotion. It would be easy to use the excuse that this world of eBooks and Indie publishing is such a new thing that no one really knows how to do it, but the fact is that I SUCK AT IT.
In an effort to give SELF-promotion another go, I’ve decided to try out the COUPON feature on smashwords.com. So, each week I will feature a 50%-OFF COUPON on a selected ePublication.
Of course, I’d appreciate it if those of you who take advantage of this “deep discount” would PLEASE post a review after you’ve read it (I am amazed at how hard it is to get those – I thought that nowadays everyone and their cats were posting their opinions all day, every day, on everything online. Who knew this wasn’t the case?)
BE AWARE: the coupon is only good on smashwords.com, but you can get any format there, whether you use a Kindle, or a NOOK, or whatever device you do your reading on.
This week’s featured book is “In a Flash”; here’s the link to the story on smashwords.com: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120247?ref=notimetothink
Use coupon code FY86V to get 50% off the list price at check out. The coupon will only be good until February 9th, so GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!!!
(sorry – didn’t mean to be pushy - just saying…)
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Dredging Things Up”) can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink

Monday, January 26, 2015

Denying History

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Charlie Brown has a DEJA VU experience with Lucy and a football – she’s REALLY going to hold it for him this time so he can kick it. Was Charlie Brown insane? Or just naïve? He hesitates, definitely remembers how often Lucy has failed him, but HOPES that things will be different.
Of course, when Charlie Brown trusts Lucy and she once again tricks him, Charlie is the only one hurt. The rest of the Peanuts community doesn’t come crashing down as jobs disappear. The comic strip isn’t filled with a mushroom cloud. They don’t lose their heads. Charlie Brown falls on his butt to give us a lesson in resilience, and faith – showing us how we should all be in a PERFECT WORLD – what we should strive for. Lucy reminds us that there are people out there in the REAL WORLD who don’t have our best interests at heart.
Departing from Mr. Santayana’s statement, Charlie Brown DOES remember the past – he just chooses to try again and hopes for the best. 
Why would someone be unable to remember the past?
  • ·        Blocked because too unpleasant – or would rather not think that it could happen again?
  • ·         Never learned it, either through neglect or revisionist history?
  • ·         Relativism – the past isn’t THEIR past – it was someone else’s and they are disassociated from it?

This last seems the most likely in the continuing strange case of the supreme narcissist Barack Obama and where he has taken U.S. foreign policy (and the world along with it.) He doesn’t seem to have any regard for history, and those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
The North Korean nuclear program is a remarkably clear template for how not to handle Iran’s ambitions. Our leaders at the time thought they could convince an evil regime - through talking - to not pursue their evil aims, and two liberal, Democrat Presidents (sorry, but that’s what Carter and Clinton were) left the doors open for Beloved Leader to get the nukes he wanted – even with a little help from us.
But this is not a learning experience for Mr. Obama, because:
  • ·         It just hasn’t been tried by the right people yet.
  • ·         It was only impossible because I wasn’t been here before.
  • ·         Carter and Clinton just didn’t have my personality or charm.
  • ·         Neville Chamberlain had nothing on me.

Albert Einstein is attributed with giving a definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 
You can’t argue with crazy people; to win an argument with anyone, you must first have some common ground. Sometimes the talking has to end, and YOU JUST HAVE TO STOP THEM.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Dredging Things Up”) can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink


Monday, January 19, 2015

Hey - It’s Not Your Birthday!

It’s MY birthday – time for more FREE STUFF!
It used to be that the Birthday Boy (or Girl) was the one who got presents on their birthday. They’d throw a party and invite their friends, and everyone would bring a gift to honor the special day AND NOT EXPECT ANYTHING FOR THEMSEVES (other than a little fun with each other, of course.)
Something went wrong a few decades ago – when we started throwing birthday parties for our son, we found out about GOODIE BAGS. Oh, no, you can’t invite children to your child’s birthday party unless you’re prepared to give the invitees presents, too.
What do we blame this on? In traditional Hobbit birthday celebrations, the birthday Hobbit would give gifts to his guests; Look - I know Tolkien’s books were among the most popular works in history, but that wasn’t anywhere near universal saturation. I know plenty of those parents (and certainly their kids) hadn’t read it, so I don’t think that’s what caused it. 
I think it was part and parcel of the DON’T INJURE THEIR LITTLE EGOS movement – you know, the same one that says there can’t be winners and losers – everyone gets a ribbon or a trophy or a present JUST FOR BEING HERE, and if they can’t have something, well, it’s not because they didn’t EARN it - someone must be keeping it from them.
These people grow up and think they’re entitled to whatever they want for FREE. They’re in a store and decide they want something, so they just take it. Either they don’t know (or most likely DON’T CARE) that their shoplifting is paid for – not by the store, but by the other customers; the prices we have to pay (those of us that do) has shoplifting losses built into it.
They think they can get FREE medical care – someone else will pay for their insurance, their medicine, their doctors. They DON’T CARE that the money is coming out of someone else’s pocket – sometimes it’s even someone they know.
I remain baffled to this day why these people were unaffected in 2012 by the simple argument that our country can’t continue to spend money we don’t have because WE ARE STEALING IT FROM OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. I would think that would make a difference and change some minds, but maybe they don’t care about their own children, either. (I’m probably being unfair – I’m sure they’re busy teaching their own kids how to get their own free stuff even as I write this.)
Our Redistributor-In-Chief’s latest contribution is FREE COLLEGE FOR ALL! He just has to make sure to make those evil rich people pay for it.
People used to joke about politicians promising A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT. The politician would get elected, and then he’d fulfill his promise. Funny – why does the chicken in your pot look like the one that used to be in mine? Except it looks smaller; it’s missing a drumstick. Oh, look what the new King’s chomping on…
Ever wonder how people who’ve done nothing but run for public office all their lives seem to become rich?  
There is no FREE LUNCH; we all pay for it in the end.

Just saying…
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Dredging Things Up”) can be found in many places, including:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink


Monday, January 12, 2015

Climate Common Sense

Beginning, middle, and end; those are what we’re told stories are supposed to have. We need to know what happened in the past (where we started), what’s happening now (here in the middle), and that there is a conclusion coming (the end.) If these things are missing from a story, we become disoriented as readers and – well – it’s not a story. It’s a sketch, or some other odd writing exercise with no purpose other than for the writer to practice putting ink on paper.
I always thought one of the things that made humans special was an awareness of time/history/the past (how much do dogs even THINK about time travel?) Maybe that’s WHY we have a need to see cause and effect. AND why, if these aren’t readily apparent to us, we try to figure out the answer to what the cause and effect are. Sometimes we even MAKE THINGS UP so we can feel like we understand it (and are in control.)
Unfortunately, we live in a time where people think there’s only HERE & NOW, and can’t interpret how we got here (because they don’t know where we’ve been.) It’s hard to judge cause and effect if you have no past to study. If all you are aware of is that it feels warmer (or colder) this year than last year (or heck, last month), it’s really hard to understand that there are natural cycles occurring.
Climate doesn’t stay static (stationary) – it’s dynamic. Over the time that there’s been an Earth, how many “climate changes” have there been? How many warmings? How many ice ages? I don’t know the answer to this, but my COMMON SENSE helps me to remember that there have been several, and that we HUMAN BEINGS have had nothing to do with causing them. So, why would anyone think that climate change is something new?
COMMON SENSE would lead you to believe that if something has been going on for thousands (or millions) of years before we could have an impact on them, MAYBE WE’RE NOT CAUSING THEM.
It was warmer in the Middle Ages than it is now. How? Were there more SUV’s back then?
It was warming on Mars at the same time (20 years ago?) that it was warming here (when it used to be called Global Warming, as opposed to the 1970’s, when they thought we were headed for another Ice Age.) How can that be, unless there’s something impacting both planets (the SUN, maybe.)
A few years back, it was revealed that the climate alarmists were actually HIDING DATA that didn’t match their theories, and BLOCKING discussion and publication of conflicting viewpoints. That is NOT what REAL SCIENTISTS do. And yet, the carbon demonization movement rolls on and takes up more and more of our economies. There are people in this movement who won’t be happy until they can regulate how many times you and I exhale (carbon dioxide.) Or stop our cows from flatulating (expelling other greenhouse gases.)
While trying to reduce carbon footprints, have they figured out how to maintain the forests (those things made of trees that need carbon to live), or do they think we need fewer of those, too?
Does this sound sane? What does your COMMON SENSE tell you?
This is not the hottest of times. It is not the coolest of times (sorry for the paraphrasing, Mr. Dickens.) It was both colder and warmer at other times. Just because a little chicken (several little chickens) who wish they were bigger have declared that doom is at hand and are having a pecking party about it doesn’t make it so. Listen to your common sense.
Just saying…
<<<>>> 
William Mangieri’s writing, including his latest ePublication “The Final Ending?” (and “Dredging Things Up”, scheduled for release January 16th) can be found in many places, such as:

Connect with him on Facebook at:   http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink