My Blog is Feeling Neglected

I've never gone five days without posting, and where, by the way, did the time go? My quitting smoking journey is going a bit smoother, but I'm still dealing with some brain fog. I haven't actually stopped all together---I need something to look forward to, after all, but I've reduced my habit by 75%, and have probably gained 10 pounds in six days (okay, maybe a pound, but still).

All is quiet as usual on the publishing front. I've had no sales since January 31 (when I sold one copy), but somebody is at least still reading, according to my KU report. What's odd is that 201 pages of The Diner Girl have been read this month, and the book is only 79 pages long, so a few people? But why? I'm certainly not promoting it (or any of my books), and it's never exactly been popular. Maybe some people were looking for a quick read. Its Amazon page shows that people who viewed that book also viewed Running From Herself, but I guess they weren't willing to pay an extra dollar for a full, fat novel. This is all semi-intriguing, but not particularly. Read it; don't read it; I've essentially given up.

On that note, I followed the trail of my book blogger's recently published book, because I wanted to see how a professional went about promoting. She seemingly signed up for a few blog tours, and I checked them out, even contacted a couple, but I never opened their email responses, because that idea's about as stupid as everything else I've done to promote. Plus, as you know, I'm done paying.

Back in December, Thomas Umstattd recommended Bookvault, which was having a Cyber Monday sale, and although I really didn't need another book distributor, I signed up because,...well, it was free. The site is basically for print on demand and for linking to places like Shopify and Payhip in order to sell books from the author's website. The only feature that could potentially be helpful to me is that its uploaded books are available in The Great British Bookshop, so a new avenue for selling. 

Well, my upload did not go well, and it was totally my fault. I inadvertently checked the box indicating that I needed an ISBN, when I already had one for Running From Herself, so when I tried to upload the paperback cover, it was rejected due to the original ISBN being printed on the back. It was a whole go-round of trying to get that issue fixed, which Bookvault was great about. They told me the best option would be to delete the book and start over. I deleted it, but haven't started over. I feel that something else will go wrong and it'll end up being a giant time waster. Anyway, though, try Bookvault if you're looking for any of its advertised features. It actually has human customer service reps.

If you read my posts about trying to contact my third grade teacher, when last we talked, I'd decided not to do it. Well, delusional thinking took hold a couple of days ago, and I did it! I sent a very pleasant email and even said, "Please don't feel obligated to respond." She obviously took that to heart, because she hasn't. In a way, I feel small and insignificant, which I guess I am to her after all these years. (I mean, come on; it's been decades.) Still, a part of me was hoping to hear back---just a quick acknowledgement. (Those teachers on the subreddit lied to me, by the way.) But it's all okay. I'm not devastated, and I'm even a bit proud of myself for having the courage to do it. I don't have a bucket list, but if I did, I could now cross that off.

In conjunction with my Memorygram book project, I spent some time online trying to find a place from my childhood, a cherished memory of a place that no longer exists. Every method I tried was a dead end, until Google's AI offered a tidbit of help. That led me to newspapers.com. For anyone looking to learn about their family's past, this site is great! I did find what I was looking for, but I needed to sign up for a free seven-day trial, then leave notes all over the place to remind me to cancel before they started charging me $79.00 a month. But I made great use of those seven days. I found a lot of very interesting articles about both sides of my family; certainly facts I'd never known. 

And speaking of the aforementioned teacher, before my trial ran out, I did a search for articles about her as well. An interesting fact: Back in the 1960's, women were never referred to by their first names, at least not in newspaper articles. It was always "Mrs. Ed Butterball" (or whatever). So foreign to me, as if women didn't exist as individuals. I suppose if they were single, they'd be "Miss Mary McLamb", to tell the world Mary hadn't yet landed a husband. "Yes, she's an old maid at the age of twenty-two." Such a different world. I'm hardly a feminist, but I am an individualist, and nobody's taking credit for my accomplishments but me. So, yes, I found a few articles about my teacher, but they were filed under Mrs. Ed Butterball. (No, her name isn't actually Butterball.)

And thus summarizes my week.

If my head clears, I might go back and try to re-upload my novel to Bookvault. Or not. I do need an activity that takes my mind off smoking.