Write Your Book! It Can be FREE if You Do it Correctly.

     I say "free" and what I mean by that, is that it didn't cost me any out-of-pocket money to write and then publish my book. It was literally free, but you do have to have a computer with Word, and you do have to have internet access. I'm not talking about 100% totally free, but you don't have to pay a big-time publishing company, or even a small boutique publishing company to publish, format, and/or design your book. You can (with a bit of patience) do it yourself. I'll explain. 

    I'm going to use "Murder Book" as an example because I have paid for every other book I wrote prior to Murder Book, to be formatted, edited, published, and then printed and distributed. You do still have to pay if you want to promote it, but I bet there are ways to do that by word-of-mouth, and other formats such as Tik Tok, and Facebook; the list is endless.

    OK, so you want to write a book, and you've got a story to tell. Great, get your computer, and be sure you have a word processor loaded onto it. I use Word by Microsoft; others may use Google Docs or any other format. I prefer Word.  I really preferred the older versions, but then again, the new versions probably have more capabilities when it comes to the actual formatting of the book. It's a trade-off.  I wrote Murder Book in about 2 months' time. I started it in genuine in June, but I had started a bit before that, just sort of playing around with outlines and such. We'll say I wrote it in two months. Then, I called around, hunted the internet for places to just take the document in Word, which was 83400 words or so, and to just format it using a 5"x 8" book, and I needed a cover for it too.

    I ran into three major problems. (1) Either they could format it and not do the cover, or (2) they could do the cover, but didn't want to format the book, or (3) they could do both and they were really expensive. I tried contacting folks on Fivver who were talented, experienced, and needed a good reference, as they are usually cheaper. I found GREAT people, but some of them seemed REALLY shady. I had a gal promise me to do the formatting for $10 and that just seemed crazy since I had paid an actual professional publisher over $700 for the same service a few months back. Why or how could she do it for $10? Turns out I was being RIPPED OFF by the publishing houses. I can do EXACTLY what they did for zero cost! NOTHING.

    The lady who wanted to charge $10 told me how. I sent her $10 by the way. I don't count that as part of my book prep, it was more or less a thank-you. She appreciated it. She told me how to do the format, which two videos on YouTube to watch, because they were really close, but a little different; she felt it was good to point out their ideas and methods were really good, but they do have slightly different results. I watched, I learned, I took notes, and then I applied my new knowledge, and guess what, it worked.  I managed to format my book in less than 30 minutes. I can do the next ones much faster, but I was learning how, and even 30 minutes isn't bad. I waited four weeks for one publisher to get my book formatted and sent to me for approval. I did it in 30 minutes!!

    You write your book, and you save it as a PDF. Then you go to Microsoft tools and you input all your needed measurements. I'll actually make a blog soon with all the directions. That will make people happy.  Anyway, I wanted to know if I had the ability to possibly make a cover that I liked as well. Turns out I do.  I watched about four or five videos, and the ones I found most helpful suggested that I go to Adobe and download it for a month (free trial) and then go to Canva and do the same. Canva has a 30-day free trial as well.  I went to Adobe Stock, and I downloaded 10 free photos that I may want to use in the future for books. I think I screwed them up when I downloaded them as I resized them. Don't do that. I may have to do another free month using another email address to get the same photos but in their original size.

    Once you download the photo you want you upload it into Canva, AFTER you download the KDP book cover format template, which also is free. You just have to find it. If you use the Canva book design tool they tell you where the sites are, and there are more than just KDP, but I know they do 5"x 8" books, so I went there. You have to do a bit of research, trial, and error, practice, and have patience, because you have to get the spine width to fit your book size. My book has 395 pages. It is 83400 words, and I am using regular paper, nothing fancy. You'll find that fancy adds width. So, once you have figured out your sizes, you add that to the Canva template, and you upload your photo for the cover.

    The front cover is what you're uploading, the back cover is handled differently. You choose your texts, you put them in, you choose colors, you change fonts, but remember if you use a font that is not open-sourced, you may have to get a license to do that. That can cost you, so remember to also do your research to find the fonts you need and want. There are thousands that are free, you'll probably find many you can use.  When you get the front cover done, you read the instructions on Canva to show you how to upload the solid color for the back, stretching it over the entire border of the template. If you don't stretch it the distributor will kick it back saying the size is off by fractions of a fraction of an inch, but it matters. COVER THE DAMN TEMPLATE.

    Done. You have created your book in Word, you have saved it in Adobe as a PDF, uploaded it into MS, and formatted it, you've researched to find out how to change your chapter styles, your headers, your footers, your numbers, heck, you've even done your freaking cover for FREE!! WOW!  The next thing you do is upload each, two separate files, into your Ingram Spark account under new titles. I use Ingram Spark, you can use KDP or whoever you want.  Ingram Spark is not charging to upload a title. It used to cost $50 for the book and $50 for the cover, but they had a bit of competition recently, and they dropped those charges. Woot!! (again, if you want to promote the book it will cost you, but writing it and getting it to the point of distribution doesn't have to cost you.)

    I paid $1250 for "Faith Walks" to go from my computer to being a book. I paid the same or close to it for "Of Kilted Pleasure" and for "Jude's Almost Daily Blog Book". I paid about $700 for my less than 100-page poetry book. NOT AGAIN. "Murder Book" looks as professional as any of my other books, and I did it for NOTHING. You can't count the cussing, fussing, screaming, or wall-kicking moments that I had. I will be so much better with "Pinball", in fact, I've already downloaded the cover for "Pinball" and about four other books I will write. I know they will all be about the same size, so I used that same template. If they are not that size, I'll simply fluff and stuff until they reach that size.  I'm happy with my newfound creative side.

    Was it easy? HELL NO. But, I did learn a great deal not only about book creation but also about myself. I won't format for others, but I will do what my associate did for me, I'll tell people which YouTube videos to watch, and where to find the right templates. I'll list the steps below. Let me know if you're wanting to write a book and publish it for NOTHING. I'll send you in the right direction if I can. Woot!! 

 (email: jude.stringfellow@gmail.com)

Photo Credit: Canva.com

How to format a book using WORD:  (1)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MVpdQcDpSk

                                              (2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em9lLPb-M9s

 

How to create a Book Cover in Canva.

1.       Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldvCEutpYf8&t=110s

2.       Use the KPD Cover Calculator online for free: https://kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator

3.       Get an Adobe Stock free trial subscription: https://stock.adobe.com/promo/firstmonthfree?gclid=CjwKCAjw8ZKmBhArEiwAspcJ7lNTfgpjM7QQJIAC1YgcrrcEKpZikwZpjfPpEBDKU4iYA-GjrH0OUBoCBRIQAvD_BwE&ef_id=CjwKCAjw8ZKmBhArEiwAspcJ7lNTfgpjM7QQJIAC1YgcrrcEKpZikwZpjfPpEBDKU4iYA-GjrH0OUBoCBRIQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3085!3!646642325987!e!!g!!adobe%20stock%20free!284119129!16998447289&as_channel=sem&as_campclass=brand&as_campaign=US|CPRO|Stock|PURCH|AS_Brand_Exact|GG||&as_source=google&as_camptype=acquisition&sdid=KQPCU&mv=search&as_audience=core

4.       Get the Canva free trial subscription: https://www.canva.com/free/

 

Insurance Adjusters Have a Job to Do.

 Everyone thinks they pay too much for auto insurance; some even think it shouldn't be forced on people. Let's go down that rabbit hole, shall we?  If carrying minimal coverage on a moving vehicle wasn't mandatory in all states, how many folks do you think would carry their liability insurance? How many people would cover their cars and trucks if their finance company said "Hey, it's OK, we trust you, you can just keep liability, and if anyone hits you, they can pay the payments, and restore or replace your car."  Well, think harder.  The answer is NO ONE.  Insurance is expensive, and it's expensive for several reasons. One of which is clear; the insurance carriers are expected to pay claims.  Have you ever stopped to think about just how many accidents and what I call "idiot moves" there are on a daily basis just in the States?

    In some parts of the United States, we won't name names, the people under the age of 25 just seem to think that the laws either don't exist or that they don't have to follow them. When a person doesn't carry insurance, then hits someone, or causes an accident, YOUR premium, my premium, and the premiums for any and everyone will go up a bit. Consider an entire group of people who are under a certain age; now think about those who are much older. So many older drivers should not be on the road. They often can't see clearly, or respond quickly enough, and they cause accidents or idiot moves as well.  Now, throw in a bunch of people who don't live in our nation legally, who feel it is not necessary to follow rules of any sort. They're out there driving as well.

   You can't, (with any sanity) expect an insurance carrier to just dish out the funds to pay for all the replacements and repairs needed if and when these accidents happen. If they did a car would literally cost a person over $200,000 for the privilege of driving, because only cars that were covered by carriers could be on the road. You pay the insurance company for the car, not the dealer, that's how that would work. We have it so much better than people know, but most have their heads stuck in the sand thinking the big bad insurance companies keep jacking up their premiums and they never pay claims. When there is a claim, they say, the insurance carriers tell their adjusters to only give someone the bare minimum! This is so far from the truth, it's hilarious.

    We (adjusters) are trained to give exactly what the car was worth just seconds before the accident. You can't expect to wreck a $5000 car and walk away with a new $35000 car; it doesn't work that way. We take depreciation, we take betterment, we take the year, make, model, options, and wear into consideration. If a car has a dent or a ding, we're not going to total it, but we are going to lean towards totaling a car that would cost more to fix it than it is worth. When we do that, it's an estimate, not something set in stone. The owner still has the right to say "fix it" but if the carrier of the insured party says no, it's probably going to be a no. They'll end up paying the person what the car is worth; which isn't always the best solution, but it is one that makes sense. As a matter of law, insurance companies can't give a person MORE than what they had. They can't better the situation; that may come about through personal bodily injury, but not property damage. 

    Adjusters KNOW, we KNOW that our estimate is low. We can't get up under the car. We can only write what we can see. We can't pull off the bumpers to see the damage behind it. We can't look up under the car really, there will be damage we can't see, so that's why there are supplements to all (all) estimates. We even encourage people to go to the shop (two or three) and get an estimate. These shops can even use OUR estimate to start with and make those needed changes. If they are reputable we usually pay for it. We're in the business of coverage and restoring people; it's not an us-against-them scenario. We're neighbors, friends, colleagues, just like you. I promise you, I'm always going to err on the side of the insured; my insured. If you're my client, I'm going to give you the estimate I would give myself in the same situation. I want you to be restored. We usually accept supplements from the shop without issues.

    When the damage is under a certain amount, say under $6000 to give an example, many adjusters have the authority to just go ahead and pay those claims; it's when a car or truck hits the "over threshold" limits, that we have to give it a total loss and bump it to upper management. We still have to write the estimate. We don't get out of that; in fact, we have to write the estimate, find the salvage price, and figure out if there is any way to save it. It hurts us, just like it hurts you if there are overpayments; it all trickles down. We pay insurance premiums too.

    It's when insured lie, hide things, don't disclose things, or try to get one by the companies that we deploy investigators and the like. Body shops for auction houses are notorious (infamous really) for being really good at concealing prior damage caused by floods or collisions. A person buys a used car and they want to check the CarFax...OK, but the only people who report to CarFax are the insurance companies after a collision or flood. If someone had a wreck and had it fixed without a claim, that car could be a time bomb waiting to go off; and CarFax won't know it.  If you're going to buy a used car you need to take an experienced body shop person or car adjuster with you to show you where the welding marks may be, or the replacement parts, or other than factory parts.

    While we're talking about other than Original Equipment Manufacturers, let's talk a bit about After-Market, Recycled, and Salvage pieces. They sound bad, right? They're not. They are usually just as good if not exactly like the O.E.M. parts, and most of them are warranted for the time you own the car; check into that. We're not talking about pulling a piece off a wrecked car; that's another story. We're talking about pieces made outside the factory, but they are absolutely equal in most ways. I would say every way, but I don't want legal issues. They're really good parts. You save money because you cut out the middleman, and they're guaranteed. They have to be painted, undercoated, the whole work. There are laws about that too.

    So, I guess what I'm saying is, before you go off half-cocked thinking your adjuster was too busy to come out to your house to see your car, and you had to send in pictures; remember this is 2023.  We can actually get you your check FASTER this way, and save us money, which saves you money.  That trickle thing works both ways. I can only write what I see. If you send me crap pictures, I'm giving you a crap estimate. When you get to your shop they'll supplement it, but the adjuster most times, will not "make something up" or intentionally leave something out. We have very very regulated software. We're not allowed to close out a claim until we've gone through the steps and have obtained the green lights to move forward.

    There, I feel better. 

Photo Credit: CarPro.com

Hermione Granger, Much?

 When I was born I was not very healthy. No, I wasn't that "bouncing" baby, by any stretch of the imagination; some in the delivery room (including the doctor) believed I was stillborn. A nurse, we don't know her name, decided I wouldn't die, and whatever she did to me has never been discussed. I don't think my mom knew in fact. She may have breathed into my nose, she may have spanked, me, whatever it was, I began to breathe. I didn't cry. (That came later) I was given a chance; God had another plan, I suppose. 

    I've never been quiet except that ONE time; that's it. The ONLY day in my entire life that I have shut up has been noted as being my first. It's the whole, "I was dead, but I got over it" thing. I'm here to say, I've absolutely mastered the art of being heard no matter where I go.  This week I am in training for becoming an Auto Claims Adjuster. I could be independent, or someone may end up hiring me, but I'm learning to estimate cars. It's fun, challenging, and very important actually. I love it.

    During the training, we have about 38 people left. We started out with 47, and this is only day 3. I think we'll lose a few more tonight, and maybe end up with 24 when we finally reach the last day. It is not easy. It is tough. It is competitive, it is just really great content. The class is intense on purpose. We had to pass a series of testing and videos, and modules, all full of (stuffed with) information about cars and what happens to them during and after catastrophic events such as hail, tornadoes, floods, collisions, even vandalism, and hiding larger animals. 

    The course is designed to teach several people at once, so naturally the instructors would love to see more people than just me answering the questions. I do far more than my share of answering because so many people are either shy, lazy, unwilling, or they don't know the answer. I wait...I usually wait several seconds and then when no one chooses to answer I raise my hand. I feel there are at least a dozen more who actually know the answers, but they just don't want to speak up because if they are wrong they feel badly for missing the answer. That never bothers me. I just say "Oh well, I thought it was that" or "I missed it". I don't freak out over not knowing everything dang detail. 

    People are too sensitive. If you miss it, you miss it. At least you tried, and it's worth something to stand up and try! Today, before the day even got started, one of the instructors said "Jude isn't allowed to answer anything today." That was hard. I was over here dying!! I felt like Hermione Granger! My hand was on under my thigh so I wouldn't raise it and we're in Zoom, so I don't need to do that. I am an obedient student, however, and I did exactly as I was told. The instructor privately messaged me to say "OK, I'll let you if they can't".  That was nice.

    We did a Kahoots game, and I placed 4th, that means that others do know the answers!! I got 17/18 correct and that means that there are questions I don't know the answer to. They were fairly easy questions; not gonna lie, but still.   One person who placed above me said she was floored that she passed me. Please, I am by NO MEANS the standard. I just have a big mouth! I don't like to sit still if I know the answer and no one else is willing to say it. I do wait. I really do. 

    Well, for the next few days, we'll be crammed and jammed full of information. I hope I don't pop. I will be writing estimates in my sleep, I know I will be. After our final project, which is next week, I'll hopefully be able to take my own car and do an estimate on it, and then start going to parking lots and looking at damaged vehicles to see if I can do it there. I may go to a body shop and see if they'll let me hang out and write a few. It's good practice. One of the things I love about my instructors is that they are incredibly patient. I would NEVER have been so patient. I may have a knack for remembering things, and for speaking in public, but I am not as patient as they have needed to be. I would be zapping people - - you're gone, NOPE, no more excuses, I don't care. NOPE...gone.

Photo Credit:  ME...but I took it off of Kahoots. (I added the 4th out of and I think it was 38 actually....I found that out afterward.)

Be Prepared. It is a Choice.

 I'm going to try and be positive while writing this blog, but to be honest, I'm just over here shaking my head and wondering why folks will show up to a scheduled Zoom call completely unprepared.  We were told, (told, told, and retold) that it would be required to have a desktop or laptop, two monitors, a headset with a mic, as well the ability to download a certain program. We were told. Let me try to get that through, we were given at least 3 separate emails letting us know that before the Zoom we were to have these things in place.

    I get it if a person can't afford the desktop, the laptop, the monitors, whatever is needed. I do get that, I've been there a dozen times myself, but it is required. I have had to tell my kids so many times that we can't afford this or that; if you can't, you can't and you move forward or try to find a way. It may be that you have to wait until you can afford it before you can participate, but to show up to the Zoom where 50 others are ready to go, and not have what you need, is the epitome of not being ready. It doesn't mean that a person is a bad person; they're not being selfish or rude, they are just not ready. People, we have to be ready. We are required to be READY. 

    I'm thinking that being prepared for whatever can happen in life is a learned thing; we are to be taught. We need to be taught. This means we have to be willing to be taught. We do that by showing up, listening, following directions, and asking questions. Listening is extremely important. If we're not ready to listen, to gather the intel, to understand the situation, we're not going to be ready or able; we may only be willing.  Why am I going through this rant?

    I'm on a Zoom training session with about 50 folks. We've all been waiting for this particular class for over a month. Through a series of emails, we were told we needed to have certain components of equipment, we were told to download a certain program, we were told to show up at a certain hour, and we were told we were required to have a camera as well as a headset with a microphone. This is 2023. This is NOT something we don't know; however, we simply have too many lazy folks who just can't get their act together, or they don't put an urgency to what is required.

    Don't blame me for being direct. Don't blame me for speaking the truth. Don't blame me for being frustrated and disappointed with the generation(s) who think it's OK to be late, OK to be slack, OK to be less than what is required or expected. Why should 14 of us wait for the other 36 who aren't compliant? I remember in 2011 when I was asked to interview enough folks to meet the criteria so Xerox could hire them for open enrollment. We needed 80 folks. I had to interview 600+ to get 74 because so many folks were unwilling to be drug tested. Seriously?  Those that did pass that test were woefully unprepared for the first day due to either not being able to wake up, show up, or do what is expected of them.

    I didn't want to say it, so I'll let the instructor's words do the job for me. The instructor, who openly stated his age to be 46, said that out of the 50 people who were to show up and do the work as expected today, 48 did in fact show up, but 11 of them were late. He stated that 11 others were early, and the rest were literally signing in exactly at 8:00 a.m. CST.  He commended those of us who were early, and made the statement that of the 11,  9 of those people were "Boomers". There were no "Boomers" to show up on time or late. He then went on to say that there were too many folks under the age of 40 who either didn't have the withal to show up, sign in on time, or to have whatever was required of them.  The 9 "Boomers" to a person, had their equipment ready, their download ready, etc. He was making a specific point. I think I'm willing to make it as well.

    We may be older. We may be "over the hill" but most of us can still climb it without having to check our social media, take a selfie, and call a friend to ask for directions as to which way we were supposed to go up that hill. The generation just below mine is mostly responsible, but the one below that is disastrously late, and they don't give a rip to be apologetic because they don't actually think that their behavior is out of line. This, as they say, is our future. Welcome to a disorganized mess, is all I can say if that is what the world at large wants to accept.

    I'll give you ONE MORE example before I go. During the scheduled training the instructor gave us all a break so the ones who were not downloaded, prepared, and/or set up could do so.  He said, "Be ready, come back at 9:30".  When that moment came, there were six (6) people who took their damn break rather than taking the 20 minutes to set up what needed to be set up. When he drilled them about it, they said "You told us to take a break" I am NOT kidding you. This is where we are folks. Do we blame these people, or do we blame their parents? I bet you can't blame their grandparents!

GEEZ LOUISE!!! 

Photo Credit: Satsang.com

Pinball: Chapters Just Flying!

 After a true and real fight with Microsoft Word which just decided on its own to change the way I view the pages I am writing, I was finally able to beat the crap out of the keyboard and write FOUR chapters of the book this weekend. I wrote one chapter yesterday, and I wrote three chapters today. I'm really getting into this book, and I would not be surprised whatsoever, if I ended up writing the dang thing in less than a month like I did "Of Kilted Pleasure", but not for the same reason. 

I wrote the romance novel in less than a month because I thought I was going to be hired soon, and I wanted to get it published before that happened.  I'm going into training tomorrow with my claims adjuster career, not employment, but training, but after having the intense training I will be hired. It's just that I'll be working over 60 hours a week when I am finally hired.  So, in some ways, it's the same, but the reason I think I could end up writing the book in just a few weeks is because it is just flowing out of my head and into the computer.

    Dang!! I sat down to write the second chapter thinking OK, I think I want to say this, or that. Then, before I knew it, the characters started talking to each other, and they made up stories, and decided things that I really couldn't disagree with. It was all I could do to keep up with them; my fingers were hitting the keys and my mind was thinking out loud in about six different voices! Posh said this, MacRae rebuts, then the good doctor comes into the mix to agree but throw in a scenario. I was all over Wikipedia looking up every serial killer's personal psychosis to determine which one or two of them could fit my characters!! FUN TIMES.

    I found a few really gnarly killers who I had never heard of, and of course, I wanted to spend time reading all I could about them. I just had no idea. I know it's something we all live with; people standing next to us in the grocery store could be a wanted-and-hunted preditor. It's just that I wanted to put two and two together a bit slower with "Pinball" but it doesn't seem as if I'm going to have that right. These characters want nothing else but to be alive, to stand up on their own, and speak!  OK, that's my cue! I'm their voice. I have to go where they want to go. 

    It's kind of funny really, because I love writing, and what I do when I'm not typing out the story, is I'll sit in my big chair with a dog or two, and I'll literally put a pen to paper on a clipboard to think of things I want the next chapters to include. I go to the latest (or one of) Erle Stanley Garner books I've been reading, or a recent Wilson's Tales of the Borders perhaps, and I'll find something fun to start the conversation, and just build it from there. These books never fail me. I take what I read, I rewrite, add to it, mix it around, and make it my own. There's nothing new under the Sun, so why try. I think someone once said there are only so many storylines out there, the rest are a combination of these. That makes sense.

    The science of psychology will be strong in this novel. The characters exhibit it, they discuss it, they run from it, and they create a good dose of it. I named it Pinball because the murderers (there are several but two in particular) will have similar experiences in their lives which could have caused their manic behavior. I'm by no means claiming it, and there will be a good disclaimer at the front of the book as well, so no one thinks I'm claiming to be a medical expert.  Pinballs are bounced around, they are shot back and forth. They experience life from a defensive mind rather than an offensive one; they believe what they are doing is justified when it is clearly not.

    One character will have had pinball experiences and NOT become a serial killer. He will not become harmful, so why is he different, why did his life not fall into the pattern that the other did? Was it love? Was it Christ? There was a reason. The book will not be a book of faith by any means, but we can't escape the fact that when a person is grounded in a worldview, they tend to act in what is their accordance with pleasing their Superior Being. In the case of Eoghan MacRae, that Being is in fact Jesus; and of course, His Father, God.

    I'll describe the brain matter as it is described in medical journals, but I won't be giving it verbatim, and I won't be crediting anyone in particular probably. I may mention that so-and-so said or believed, but this is not a medical book, it is a novel, and it should be understood that it is 100% fictional with tidbits of truth to keep it functional and interesting. In other words, I may say they ate a hamburger with extra pickles, but I don't have to credit the maker of the burger or the farmer who grew the cucumbers. It is what it is. 

    OK, well, I have to go to bed and get ready for tomorrow. It's going to be an amazing day. I'll be studying auto policies and what happens after a claim! Woot!! I'd love to say that work is as intriguing or as interesting as writing is, but I would be lying through my fingers if I did.

    Photo Credit: Etsy

    

Waffle House / The South's Equivalent to Camelot!

If you're from the South you get it. If you're from anywhere else, you have to come here to get it, but Waffle House is the best restaurant, the most "American" restaurant there is. Fight me, if you think I'm wrong. I'm not wrong. You haven't experienced America if you've not been to a Waffle House (pick one, any one of them) at say 2 or 3 in the morning for a bit of food, and a whole lot of WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

    It's been a minute since I've been to one, but after watching a few videos of what's been going on at these places, inside these hallowed squares, I think I need to venture back to one of the yellow-roofed master chef experiences; it could be a calling. I'm not sure. It could be that I just can't believe all the things (crap) I'm missing by sleeping in my bed at night, and not hanging out with the Wafflers. 

    A few of the more recent videos I've seen involve the staff (they are all specially trained, by the way) either dancing, singing, and/or twerking while cooking, they are also deflecting chairs, throwing dough, spilling coffee that didn't taste as good as perhaps one customer thought it should; they are tearing it up! People go in now to video, to upload stories of what they see and witness on TikTok to see who can get a better Waffle House video. No kidding. It's really addicting to watch.

    I know that in the 80's I used to go to the Waffle House after performing as a stand-up comedian. I would go in around 2:45-3:00 a.m., maybe get a big breakfast, maybe just some water with about 10 lemon slices, which could be considered 4 lemons.  I'd be the one dancing, but the staff would always join in with me. We'd have fun then, and that was 40 years ago. Times have changed a bit, I don't remember there being any mean brawls, which are being reported now. I remember laughing, dancing, one-upping, and meeting people you have never seen before because they were on their way to Dallas or something. 

     Matthew Mitchell, the Southern comedian on YouTube just posted a really fun video about the staff at all Waffle Houses being trained in martial arts as well as culinary specialties. He's not wrong. He's like "We'll teach you to chop, cut, poke, punch, and then we'll teach you to cook too!" He's not wrong. Kid Rock has a history (2007) of being arrested at a Waffle House. More than a lot of folks have been killed at a Waffle House; it's just a magnet for such behavior, and probably (no doubt) because it's always open. I know that Denny's has a slogan of "Always Open" but Waffle House is right there. They don't close. They stay open during pandemics. They stay open during tornadoes. They stay open during hurricanes. It literally took FEMA to close them down in some instances. People were not happy about it either.  (There are more YouTubes about that as well.)

    People get engaged at Waffle House. People get married at their favorite Waffle House. People have funeral and wedding dinners at Waffle House. It's just a thing here in the South. I saw a worker leave her post as a cashier to help a kid do his homework once. I saw another worker go into the back kitchen area and bring out a bottle of ketchup that was about to be thrown away. She asked the patron if he wanted to get some of it using a knife or something. The entire restaurant was out of ketchup, the manager had sent a kid to get some more, but the worker was like, "Let me see what I can do". This is the South. This is what I'm talking about. We are...all...Waffle House.  I'm going to put them in my next book. (Buy my books on Amazon. Jude Stringfellow.)

By the way, MY Waffle House is the "Airport" Waffle House on S. Meridian in OKC.

Photo Credit: Sander Baker OKC

Tech and I.

Technology and I don't always get along. I remember being about 24 or so and listening to my son's grandmother on his dad's side, say that she was just old enough not to have to put up with all the next tech coming out. She wasn't going to go out of her way to learn how to use a computer when the typewriter in her office worked just fine. She didn't want to have to be trained for a job she may only have for one or two more years before she retired. Over the next few years I watched her suffer and even be terminated by one employer for refusing to be trained to use their computer system. Her main complaint about it was that it was going to "take over the world" and I thought then she really sounded both old and pathetic. I was right, but now I'm that old and pathetic person.

    I grew up with amazing high-end tech on one hand, because my dad worked for Western Union, and they were partnered with AT&T and Bell Telephone, Southwestern Bell to be specific. He was privileged to learn things that were literally decades ahead of their time; people would never have been ready to accept what all he had his hands on in 1967! I remember sitting at a desk in his office and watching a "monitor" that looked like a stylized television set. He turned it on from another place in the office. His face appeared right in front of me. It wasn't television; it was intranet. It was being used by the military and some government offices. It was a big big secret. We could talk through a microphone to each other. That was so cool 

    He could also turn off the electricity in our house from the office. He could put in codes and numbers and do the same with anyone's house if he wanted to, but he told me that would be invading their privacy. It was, however, a trick the government or police could use in cases of emergency, such as when someone was robbing a bank and the vault had an electric latch! Can you imagine? Again, that was 1967. I was 5-6 years old and really learning stuff.  I wish I had stuck with it. I grew up and started forgetting stuff.

    Now, sometimes, not all the time, Tech and I have arguments. Usually, Tech wins and I have to use other Tech to find out what my problem is; sometimes I learn, and other times I cuss my head off, turn blue, spit, and scream until someone else comes to save my ass. It's just the way it is, and no, I won't apologize for it. I'm trying to do a better job with it. Let me give you an example or two.

    About four years ago now, I bought an Mp3 download of an LP from a guy in Scotland. I didn't know what I was doing, it wasn't opening. I wrote to him, and he tried to explain it, but whatever he was telling me to do, my computer just flat didn't have the same words, tabs, labels, whatever. Turns out I was using a newer version, and they didn't always have the same labels or locations for the means in which to find the data. He didn't know how to help; I didn't know how to just say OK, never mind. It took a few times before either of us realized the issue; and yeah, I felt really stupid. Then, because of the places I went to go find what I needed, I accidentally invited a hacker into the mix, and within minutes of me downloading the Mp3, $99 had been taken out of my PayPal account.

    The next day my bank called me to see if I had made a purchase of $99.00 from a person in the UK; I had not. I told them it was about $15.00, and they said that there were two transactions. I KNEW the man hadn't taken my money. I just knew he had not done that, so I wrote to him, letting him know what happened, and I showed him all the correspondence from my bank.  He was of course upset about it, thinking I was blaming him, but I wasn't. I swear, I was not. I just wanted to let him know if it was happening to me, it may be happening to others. 

    Well, he couldn't replicate it, and guess who was blamed....me. Turns out the bank investigated it and found that his site did have a problem in that it was attached to a crawler or something, and it came from his personal website. I sent the information to him again, he closed down the site, and he thanked me, but still, there was that underlining issue of him thinking I was blaming him when really, I was not. TECH bites.

    Then today, I was using my Word program to start a new book and on its own for NO REASON decided to not do page breaks. I could use the Show/Hide feature and see it, but it wasn't actually breaking like I like to see, which is literal space between pages! WHY? There was NO REASON for it. I had not gone into the program to change my preferences, but when I used Google to find answers it told me to go into my preferences. OK, where do I find those? I had to Google that too, and you guessed it, Windows 11 is different than other versions, so I'm over here cussing and swearing (screaming) that the directions online suck! They lie! They're full of shit! I was not nice. 

    I decided to be logical. I accepted the fact that Windows is a good program, but that the newer version had made changes I really can't understand or like. I thought about how I would VIEW the page, and it hit me; instead of going to the Layout page as was directed, I went to the View page and moved the cursor over the icon of the single page rather than where it had somehow been placed.  I now have my page breaks the way I like them, but the fact remains that the Google instructions for Windows 11 were not correct. This happens to me all the time. Someone on a video will assume I know where to go, they'll start their instruction and I'll be like "NO, I don't know where to find that page!! WAIT".  It's so dumb. So often, and so me.

    I try to breathe and think when Tech and I have these disagreements. I know Tech will win every last time, so I need to keep up with it. I realize that by not keeping up with it I will only suffer and cause others to suffer as well; that doesn't stop me from wanting someone much younger than I am to come along and help me. I gave birth for this VERY REASON!!  At least I know I have some help with Google if I can't find a kid willing to help me. Now that my grand are 10 and 12 years old I have an entire new generation of geeks to lean on, and that makes me really happy.

Photo Credit: The Economic Times

    

Pinball Begins.

So, after thinking about it, I may or may not end up writing both books at the same time. I'm sort of in a mood to just keep writing the murder books. I know I can't get too bogged in it because I love the Kilted series too. It's only three books, so I could just write those and be done, but I think I want to put space between those anyway. I won't be too disappointed if Ewan and Aria really do spend a year apart from each other. Right now they're living separate lives so they can learn to live on their own and become the people they are meant to be. It's so romantic it makes me laugh. They could fall into each other's arms instantly, but they want to wait it out and let their love truly grow through appreciation and ...blah, blah, blah.

    What that means is, I am reading the notes I have already written for Pinball, and the very first note is that it takes place right after Murder Book. That means it takes place on New Year's Day 1930. It takes place in Edinburgh first, because Posh needs to go back to the States, but he just met up with Elaine. He and she need to have a moment, of course, then we can get into the reasons he goes back to the States to continue to catch the last of the Rub-A-Dub killers. The one that got away.

    I don't want to say too much, because if I do I would give away too much of the book I just wrote. Pinball will be a dive into the minds of the two separate murderers; John Reid whose real name is Walter E. Sanders, and Wade Murray, who really is Wade Murray, but uses the name Edward Sands when he's either in the U.S. or Canada, and when he was caught red-handed by Delores Muir the night he murdered Nathan Flores and David Sloan at her Inn up by the Leith Docks. You remember it, it's the Blackbeard Inn. Great place. I've stayed there several times, and since I know Delores personally, I never pay a penny. 

    Pinball will go into detail about the psychosis of the two killers, and where it will compare the two diagnoses, it will not be an end-all sort of medical thing. I will not be going into too much detail other than to describe how their manic behavior festers and manifests itself. I'm not writing a medical journal; I'm writing a murder thriller. I'll use parts of other books, journals, videos, and shows to draw any and all understanding and inference. I'm thinking I may go watch a few more Quincy shows. Love that man.

     I'll likely throw in a recipe for biscuits and gravy, maybe have Ama Posh make a heap of them for the boys. Fergy comes back to help and just vacation with Nick, but ends up falling in love and staying. That will need to be a tryst since he's still married up in Chicago; he and his wife are on the skids. He knows better, and Ama sets him straight about it. Nick doesn't apologize for what she says to him either. Instead, Nick tries to help him obtain his divorce.

    Pinball will have a series of gruesome unfortunate killings in the U.S.A. and one in Scotland. The one in Scotland is in the jailhouse and where fingers point to Fiona Hay Brown, it may have been someone else; we'll just have to see who did it. The reason "mystery" if there is one, is will Eoghan ever truly be free from Jane? She is out on her own, still sleeping with Reid, but instead of keeping her end of the deal with the police, she tells Reid what's going on, and it leads to real trouble both for her and for Eoghan. Will she ever learn? Geez, what a dumb selfish bitch. Oh well, it's a good character flaw to work with.

    I'm reading the notes today, pulling out things from those, and sort of thinking of the first line. I want the first line to be great. I want it to lead into the rest of Chapter One which is the chapter that sets up the book. I need to have the end worked out before I start the beginning. That way I know where I'm going, and when to stop. I have all nine books started if you consider that I'm putting notes down for each. I will build on one from the other, and carry instances, incidents, and events from one to the other. Some will be solved, some will not, some will linger, and some will be flatly dismantled. Life.  The next nine books (and more) will share Nick Posh's life from my brain to all of you. (...and the lives of dozens of others through various stages of character development.)

Photo Credit: Rightmoves.co.uk

CONGRATULATIONS!!! WOOT!!!

 Let me just say that I love the words "Congratulations" when I see them written out in printed words on the Ingram Spark site. That means my book has been submitted and it has been accepted. WOOT!!  I'm able to say that I have successfully uploaded "Murder Book" and it will be processed this week. I will have a copy of it in my hands by this time next week, and I will go over it, and see if I need to make any corrections. If I do not, I will post it as is, and start the process of promoting the book. If I do have to make corrections it will only take two days to do; such a great tool!!

    The whole font-not-being-embedded issue was a real issue. I've had it before, and I thought I knew what I was doing, but I didn't have an active Adobe account subscription, which was why I couldn't make changes. I was not even on the trial sub, I didn't have one, so it wasn't uploading the fonts I needed.  What really upset me is that the two fonts that refused to upload were both products of Times New Roman! C'mon, folks, that's a gimme!! That's such a freebie!! But, it wasn't embedding for whatever reason, therefore, it wasn't there, and Ingram Spark would not accept it. 

    Done!! I am done with Murder Book unless there need to be corrections made. I can start fully on both Pinball and Of Kilted Love. Those are the two I am choosing to write simultaneously. What a weird thing to do; but it's also something I think will help my creative mind to wander where it should, would, and could be wandering. I don't want my mind to stay in one place too long. 

    One of the things I really love about Ingram Spark is that you choose the price of the book, but then again, I hate that I only have some say in the matter. I tell Amazon and others that I'll allow up to a 55% discount for the book if they need to do it, which is great, and that's what they do. I only make about $1.98 per book in the US, and much less around the world, if it is in print. I think I make more for the eBooks. I will be checking into uploading those very soon. I have to figure out how to change my PDF into an EPUB file so I can do that. Ingram will charge me .60 per page, so that's $202 which I don't want to pay. If I can do it myself, I'm going to do it myself.

    Amazon will likely ask for $19.00 for my book. I told them $16.00 but they'll take that, add in the 55% which is $8.5 savings, then they double it, $17.00 and add $2.00 that they pay me. That's what I'm told is their way of pricing book. If I go lower than $16.00 I make about .85 per book and that wouldn't really be a good thing to do. I'll do that once the eBooks start selling because I would think I will make more on ebooks anyway. We'll see. It's all about promoting in the beginning and I don't have the money to do that right now. It will happen.

    For now, I'm just really happy that the book was uploaded, accepted, and is now being created so I can approve it. I really really hope I don't find any more mistakes. I went through it 3x and then went back over it skimming for red or blue underlines for misspelled words, grammar or spacing issues, so I could make those adjustments. I added about 100 new words to the dictionary I think. That's the best way to avoid having to see it underlined over and over again on my manuscript. The words "MacRae", "Hanshaw" and "Crainer" which are names, were all unrecognized, and I had to add them.  Geez.

    I'll keep you posted. It should be in 3 days that I get the email saying it's ready to order. I'll order it, wait for it, get it, read it, make any and all corrections, and it will and should be ready for public purchase by the 5th of August.

Photo Credit:  Ingram Spark

Ding Dang It!! It Didn't Work!

 Well, phooey and fudge!! I am just too bummed out right now, but tomorrow will be another day, and I can get the thing done I think. What am I talking about? Well, my book "Murder Book", of course. I finished it. I read it through literally three separate times to go through it for spacing, spelling, grammar, and all sorts of other stuff. I made it all so very pretty, and I even formatted it to the 5"x8" size it's supposed to be. I worked on the cover, and I created it 100% in Canva. With really cool fonts that I feel that I embedded. 

    So, when I went to Ingram Sparks' site to upload my book, and to upload the cover, the book cover was accepted, but the book wasn't. There were issues with fonts. OK. I need to go back through it and embed certain fonts. I really thought I had. I went back over the cover, checked the fonts, and added ones that looked like they may not be added. I did the same with the Word document in the PDF. It's a learning thing. I'm still learning. I had to go into fonts again and add them again, but OK, I can do that. I did that. 

    When I tried to upload the thing, it was still giving me the same errors I got the first time, saying that there were fonts not embedded, but I don't see them, so now I have to call the Adobe guys tomorrow and get it all straightened out. Actually, I could call them now, it's open 24/7, but I'm a bit tired after the last of the reading, and the disappointment of it not being accepted. I was just so hoping. It will be OK, I'll be OK. I just hate the hassles. I'm learning, so that's good. I won't consider it a loss because I know I can call the support team at Adobe and they'll fix it within a minute. They always do. I let them just take over so I'm not confused.

    This time I will write down what they say. I went online and looked it up, and did what the instructions say to do, but apparently, I still missed something. I hate that, but it is what it is. I should be far more concerned with other stuff, not the stuff I know can be fixed. It's just that I really wanted to do this by myself and not have to ask for help; oh well, I'm not above it. I can do it. I am open and willing to be helped. But that doesn't mean I won't fuss about it. 

       So, after I get the thing loaded tomorrow on Ingram Spark, I'll order ONE copy and have it sent to me as soon as possible, so that I can go through it with another fine-toothed comb, but this time reading it as an actual book. I'll then mark it up and find the mistakes or corrections I need to do. It's $25 each time you pull it and have it redone; so I only want to make ONE correction round. I'm actually hoping I don't have to make any correction rounds. Wouldn't that be nice? If I could get through the mess without making a single correction I will be thrilled. I don't know that it's realistic of me to think that way, but you never know. 

    I find at least one mistake in almost every book I read. It's fun now to try and catch them. We're talking people like John Grisham, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, you know, people who have money to pay for editing. I still find errors in those books and it just makes me feel so very good because I'm over here editing my own to save money. I know it's hard, and I know it takes time, but I would just rather not subject myself to having to let someone else edit my work. If that makes me a control freak, then I guess I'm a freakin' control freak. (I know, I am one.)

    So, I'm about to walk the dog, play a few games of solitaire and head off to bed. I will sleep, have wonderful dreams, wake up, walk the dog again, make coffee, pray, eat breakfast, write in my journal, and then settle in and call Adobe. I want there to be peace and tranquility as we venture into the world of embedding fonts to make my book acceptable. I'll even keep them on the phone so they can help me if I don't do it correctly. That's what I did last time, and they were just so sweet. I recommend being a member of Adobe when you can, or if you can. I do it for about 30 days then I let it go until I'm about to publish. Then I do it again, so I can use them if I need to. That's why I'm trying to learn this, so I don't have to use their team again. I don't like spending money on something I really should know how to do!!

    I'll get over it, but not today. I've been frugal too long for me to think it's going to happen overnight. Maybe after I sell a few million books. 

  

Photo Credit:  Adobe.com

Hats Off!! (Thank you, Nathan Flores of San Antonio)

 If I'm 100% honest about it, there are probably a dozen or more Nathan Flores living in San Antonio, TX, but the one I am personally thanking today is from a specific recruiting company. If he gives me permission to say where that is, I'll update this post, but I don't want his company to get onto him for allowing their name to be mentioned if their legal department has an issue with it. The same company said I could not mention where Kevin worked; Kevin is in another book I wrote.

    So, Nathan Flores, is a recruiter, a really cool guy, and he loves to dance. This fact was made known to me when I found him and his colleagues whooping it up on video when one or the other of them posted it on LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn. It's become a really good place to hang out with proven professionals who like to meet great people to discuss both personal passions as well as professional goals.

    Nathan found my resume and wanted to discuss an opportunity he had with a great company in Norman, OK. He's in San Antonio, so I wondered why Kevin didn't have that particular assignment. I found out that all of the companies, even though they are connected, are franchised now. I get that. It's a Subway thing. They can use the same logos and such, but they are independent.  Nathan wanted to talk to me about the job, but instead of calling me back, the man decided to dance!! Seriously? Really? You're going to ghost me to have fun? Damn!! (:

    He called me today, and we went over what it would take for the company he's looking to place me with, to actually hire me. Well, for one thing, they'll have to wait a week because I'm going through the Pilot Catastrophe training. I'm not missing it for anyone. I'm going to be that much more valued when I complete it. Nathan understood and even said he would use that as a means of leveraging my position because it shows my dedication and discipline; good move, Nathan.

    Since my new book "Murder Book" has a guy named Nathan Byers who is murdered, I thought I would run it by Nathan Flores to see if he wanted me to change the name of the dead guy from Byers to Flores. To my surprise, he say he would love it. He said he's always been fascinated with serial killers, so it would be awesome to be murdered by one in a fiction novel. There you go, I love that sort of spontaneity and devotion to one's hidden passions. 

    Nathan's name was changed from Byers to Flores, and I've even thanked Nathan on the "Thank You" page for allowing me to "kill" him in the book.  Again, there are no doubt countless Nathan Flores in the world, but this one has given me permission, and I thought that was very nice. If he also finds me a great job, hey, I won't complain. I can always do whatever it is that he wants me to do, and do claims on the side, as well as write, as well as trading Forex. I'm good. I won't be bored. People ask me if I watch this or that television show, and I'm like...what's television? No, I don't have time, sorry.

    Well, with that, I thank you one more time Mr.  Nathan Flores of San Antonio, TX and I hope your family can still recognize you after you've been murdered. It wasn't an easy one either buddy; nope. The guy was plied with alcohol first, had his throat cut, then was dumped out a 2nd story window, propped up by a tree, and had his limbs tied up with a Turk's Head knot or two, before being stuffed in a barrel with a bit of sulphuric acid and water. He was dumped by the bay and found by a kid. It's just another day in the life of a Rub-A-Dub murderer. (I should add in the book that Nathan's family mourned for him back in San Antonio, TX.) 

Photo Credit:  Collector's Weekly. 

Being Put in My Place!! Thank You, God.

 Yesterday, I was sitting around minding my own business. As you know, I do that. I was working on my latest book, "Murder Book", and I was coming up with a way to do the cover myself rather than pay for it. I'm that way; I'm frugal. I was sort of thinking about my career path, and then someone emailed me right when I was thinking about what my next steps may be. I love it when God does that. He's always there.

    The email was from a group called First Source Team. They wanted to know if I had a minute to talk; I did. They're a good group of folks who not only find you the best possible career out there; they make sure you are chosen over all the other candidates who are applying for the same job. Think about it, one opening equals only one winner. There isn't room in the chair for two folks. You are you, they need to see who you are and if you are the one they're looking for. With Google and other companies like them getting more than 2,000,000 resumes each year for various positions, think about how many people are being rejected; let alone ghosted. Geez.

    I'm not going to try and work for Google, that's not my thing. I'm a Claims Adjuster now, and I've been applying for and being rejected by dozens of Insurance Carriers who, like Google, get far too many candidates and they need to weed through them. They don't use humans to do that anymore. Who knew? I guess I sort of figured it out when I was was receiving the same (exact same) letter of rejection from the same company as I was applying for the same position over and over again thinking to myself if they're still advertising the job they must not have filled the position. It was sort of like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome; not going to happen when their AI is set to whatever they were looking for. I didn't meet that criteria.

    The folks at First Source Team were telling us today on a group webinar, that less than 30% of the resumes shine, and they have a less than 3% chance of hitting the 90% needed mark or score in order to be processed to the next level. Companies with true and real human HR teams may not experience those numbers, but they too are told to look for keywords to "weed" out, to eliminate those who don't fit the bill to a tee. Not many people (if they tell the truth) are going to be 90% or greater in terms of a match, but you can revamp that resume to give you a boost; can't you?

    Today, after the webinar, I went over my own resume, and I changed not only the fonts and the style, but some of the keywords, the buzzwords if you will, and I placed the entire thing in a format that would read better should a human look at it. I'm told to revamp the thing for EVERY single application so I can add their buzzwords and their keywords into my resume; makes sense. My generic one is pretty good, but is it good enough? Maybe not.  So, thank you First Source Team for putting me in my place, showing me what I was doing was average at best, and why it wasn't cutting it in the real ugly nasty, and messed up recruiting world we live in today.

    I have a one-on-one with them tomorrow to go over more details and to narrow down my search to the companies that (a) I want to work with and (b) they want to work with me. I am only applying for Claims Adjuster/Reviewer roles, so that narrows it down significantly; but there are things I can do to make my resume pop and my LinkedIn profile more beneficial. Greater numbers of folks are hiring through LinkedIn now; professional people anyway. I changed my profile photo, added a better background, redid the lineup for my experiences and I changed a few words to reflect what it is I want out of a career. I want to review, examine, investigate, and estimate damage. I don't want to be a sales agent.

    With the way the world is turning to AI for everything; you gotta beat that game now to be seen. You gotta be in it to win it. If you don't, you'll be spinning the wheels and wondering why. It makes sense now why so many recruiters are ghosting us. They never really see us to begin with.

Photo Credit: The Economic Times

OMG! OMG!!! I Can Make Book Covers!!!

 When I say this is a GAME CHANGER, I mean to say I don't have to pay anyone to either format my books or to do the cover design. That's literally 100% of what I was paying Xlibris, iUniverse, Palmetto, and others in the past to do. I would write the book, then I'd pay to have them format it, trim it up to the size of the book I wanted, and then design a cover for me. I don't have to do that anymore!! I can literally do it on my very very very very own. I just completed my first book cover and I only cussed for two solid hours! You can chalk that up to being a freakin' miracle.

    Everyone tells you that using Canva or CreateSpace, etc. is so hard, and that you can't figure it out yourself, or that the trim has to be exact because if it isn't Amazon will kick it back to you and you'll have to trim it up again. OK. Well, now I can do that. I was faced with that issue with my book Periwinkle. I didn't know what I was going to do because the book size hadn't changed when I published it in 2005, but apparently, Amazon is no longer making books that size. I have to redo the cover. I didn't know how to do it myself, but now I do.

    I know how to think of a book title, write a book, edit said book, trim it and format it and save it as a PDF and then download it into a file so I can upload it onto the publisher's site. I know how to come up with a cover design, trim that, create it, add text, and photos, and even change up the fonts and colors!! I will only get better as I go. I'm not ever going to pay another publisher; just the printer and distributor. I think, if I'm not mistaken, Ingram Spark isn't even charging us to upload our files now. I may be wrong, but I will find out. I will upload my new book "Murder Book" on Thursday of this week and then when it's set I'll order one to see if it's perfect. If it is I'll have it set for distribution!! Woot!!

    I got so excited about knowing how to do the book cover that I made the book cover for the next book. I'll continue to do this for all of my Nick Posh books now, and my romance books, and just have them waiting on me to write the actual books! I'll have 15 book covers ready by Saturday probably. I know me. I will do that. I really will. I have too many stories in my head, and without having to pay anyone I can write and upload like a crazy woman. Yes, I can!! I'll have 10 books written and uploaded by this time next year I'm sure. I just have to find the time to promote them so people will know they're out there, ready to be bought.

    I'm going to download the printed books in 5"x8" and the eBooks as well. The eBook cover is easy too, and the trim for it means I have to transfer my PDF to an EPUB file; I'll YouTube that tomorrow. That's the next step so I can get "Of Kilted Pleasure" out there. I have to do an eBook cover for it, but again, not a problem. I am just too too too happy right now. Really, no, really. I'm super happy. The neighbors probably think I'm fit to be tied because the entire time I was learning how to do the manipulations from my files to Canva, I was cussing and fussing, and calling the YouTubers everything but good. I was really upset because the videos were old enough that the Windows program and websites are different now, and I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't get my freakin' photo to stretch, then it dawned on me that it was because I had resized it before I had uploaded it. I shouldn't have done that.

    We live, we learn, but before we learn we swear like the Devil and ask Jesus to forgive us over and over and over again. At least I do. I don't know about you. OK, so I have Murder Book's cover, and I'll post it now. It's simple by design, and there is a reason it looks the way it does. You'll just have to read the book to find out. 

Photo Credit: ME!

Options. I Have Them.

 I wrote this blog earlier, but when I re-read it I think I may have come across as either being rude or arrogant. I didn't mean to; it just sort of came out that way. I wanted to say how grateful I am that I have options, but I didn't mention the word "grateful" so people would have thought I was just saying how wonderful it is; rather than understanding that I really am very appreciative of having those/these options.

    I'm not working right now. I've taken off the time I need to hunker down and study all I can about being and becoming a full-time Claims Adjuster either for Auto or Property, and who knows, maybe both.  I'm not one to climb a roof, so any field work is out of the question where property is concerned, but I will do what I can from the comfort of my home in my jammies and on my computer.  It's a tough life; I know.

    Claims Adjusters are the unsung heroes who come along and help folks get their lives back after a collision, comprehensive loss, or catastrophe. We are the silver lining if you will.  Learning the trade has not been easy, but it has been fun, challenging, and interesting. I've been in insurance for years; reviewing, selling, investigating, etc. Now, I'm going to be estimating damage, authorizing settlements, and being the white-hat good-gal for a while. If I need to review, examine, and otherwise support for a while, I can do that too. It's a process.

    Because I'm licensed in my home state of Oklahoma, and in 9 other states to be a Claims Adjuster, I will not have a difficult time finding employment once the CAT season starts. Once it starts, once I'm hired, I'll be trained, and there will be no living me after that folks; I will be valued. With the experiences, skillsets, knowledge, and licenses I have today I can start at a salary higher than what I have ever made in the past. It's true. One of the best-kept secrets in the industry is the compensation that Independent Claims Adjusters make. It's upward of $100K annually, and that's below average. I'll settle for average until I am fully trained.

    The hours are long; the work is steady. There will be times that I will want to chuck it all and go back to a regular day job, I'm sure. The thing that I will use to keep me focused is my goals board. I have a goals board with a few photos on it to keep me focused to the point that I won't stop until they are all accomplished. Having options is so good. It means I don't have to accept a job just to pay the bills. It means I don't have to put up with office politics, drama, bullying, baby showers and retirement parties. It means I don't have to be there when the boss says I need to be there because I work for myself. I am the boss.  By the way, I get there pretty early and I stay really late because I push myself. 

    Having options means I can study when I need to. I can take off work and go on a vacation. I can choose to work 20-30 hours overtime if I don't want to go home or take a vacation. I can pull in the money for a project, and then pay for it faster. I can pet the dog in the middle of a Zoom call.  I don't have to pretend someone's kid is adorable or listen to what someone else is planning to do over the holidays. Last year I wanted to choke myself every time one of the 7 other women in the room talked about who was assigned what dish and how much freakin' drama it would cause if that person decided to bring the "bad" casserole. I wanted to puke!

    My best friend says she'd die if she had to stay home and work. I won't go back to the office. I like my freedom, the coffee is so much better at my house, and I don't wear silly makeup, I don't do my hair, I don't even wear shoes! I do wear socks. I will say that. I do put the socks on my feet. I roll out of bed, walk the dog, make coffee, pray, write in my journal, sign on, and work. I don't have to check to see if someone has turned on the TV. I don't have to check to see if someone is messing with the thermostat. I don't have to worry about getting there before the boss, or parking in someone's spot. I don't have to give a damn if my boss is in a pissy mood or if someone thinks I ate their lunch. (I don't, I never do)

    Being old has its benefits too. I was just made aware that I can start collecting my Social Security benefits in November. I can file in August. Woot!! I'm going to go ahead and do it now so I can invest every month; I figure I can do a better job investing than the government ever could. I'll Forex my money every month and add to it. I didn't realize it until today, but it's actually enough money for me to live on since I don't live outside my means. I have even more options now!!  If I wanted to, I could just sit at home and write.  WOOT!!  I think next time someone calls me and asks me to consider a job that is not only less pay than I deserve but also less enjoyable, I think I'll just say "No thank you, I'm good."  It's taken a long time to get here, but I'm here.

Photo Credit: Basmo.com