Agent Hunt

A 22-post collection

Flash Writing for a Dollar a Day

Not that I'm complaining too hard, but writing on Steemit earns me roughly one USD per diem. That's $365.25 per year. That, on top of the $100-something I make off of Smashwords per year, that still puts my income inside of the poverty line.

At least it helps pay for food.

I am going to frelling make myself get stuff ready for publication. The cover for Kung Fu Zombies so I can prep it for Lulu, the actual Lulu copy, which has a smaller page size than the one I edit in, and basically prep for a sequence of dummins moments because Lulu doesn't warn people in advance.

I'm prepared for this to take all day, so it's probably going to take less than an hour.

Now I've covered all bets, you can check in tomorrow to see what comedy of errors has happened to get it at least up and available. Including ISBN 'cause y'all know I will upload a book twice to get that thing up there in print.

Beloved and I figured that I probably shouldn't try to sell my non-Amalgam stories, no matter how much fun I have with them, because Amalgam is my brand and most agents aren't used to dramatic changes in theme like I do.

So... every other year, it looks like, everyone will be getting "one of the weird ones" via Lulu and if I can swing it at the same time, Smashwords. I think Smash doesn't care if you publish something there as well. I'll check.

Updates as I know what's happening.

And also, I would love to get Beloved to finally fix the window. This time, it was exactly the right size, but I measured it too large, and the new window has to be cut down.

In health news - I have learned that my Guylian stash is worth a quarter of my total daily carbs per teeny tiny seahorse shape. So I'm off the one-Guylian-a-day ration and simply gorging myself on delicious delicious carbs during one day of the week.

Not this week, though. I have to quit the carbs until next weekend. And by "quit", I mean "stick to the barest minimum of". Because the body does need carbohydrates, it just needs way less than we thought.

I also invented something of a taste thrill - Cream of Chicken and Bacon Soup. It's a slow-cooker meal, so you can set it up and let it simmer all day.

Implements
  • Slow Cooker
  • Dipper or large container for water
  • Sharp knife
  • Stirring Spoon
Ingredients
  • 6 filleted chicken thighs
  • 8 Chicken flavour oxo cubes
  • 1 packet of broccoli and cauliflower
  • 1 small punnet of sliced mushrooms
  • 4 decent-sized carrots
  • Herbs and spices to taste
  • Water to fill
  • 1/2 cup of real cream
Method
  • Peel and chop the carrots
  • Roughly chop the bacon, set aside in the fridge
  • Place chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and carrots in the slow cooker
  • Add the oxo cubes
  • Add the water
  • Add the herbs and spices
  • Set to "automatic" for a majority of the day
  • Add the bacon in the last hour and a half of cooking.
  • When it's all ready, break up the chicken and stir in the cream

Everyone had at least two helpings. It's a very tasty soup and very good for the low spoon days. I've needed to conserve my energies, lately, because excess carbage, but I should be back on to recovery real soon now.

But since my Beloved is awake, it's time to get on with things.

Fun times ahead

MeMum actually won a li'l something in the Lotto, and each member of the family syndicate gets a little over $100 bonus. However, Mum doesn't trust the post office to get a letter to anywhere if it has cash in it, so I'm courier for Beloved's Mum's dividend.

What happened to sending a 'Congratulations' type card with said dividend inside? It's not like the post office scours letters for that kind of deal. But then I remember that there's change involved and,

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SABLE

For anyone in the crafting arena, or anyone who lives with someone in the crafting arena, also knows about SABLE. For those who don't know, it's an acronym for: Stash Above and Beyond Life Expectancy.

...I happen to have enough earring and beading shit to currently last me a lifetime. So I should very likely make myself sit down and spend an hour or a half hour making earrings for EGDB like I've been gassing about for forever and a week.

I

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So much to do

I'm still doing the read-through of Beauties, and aim to get to the halfway point before the end of the day. Each chapter takes fifteen minutes away from other things.

Other things like writing my Instant, or working on the first five hundred words of the new book, Rael. And I haven't even written the nut notes.

They'll evolve as time goes by.

I've always needed nut notes to keep things straight. As I introduce people, I'll take notes.

And everything is

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...dagnabbit

Good news: I have found a way to do an efficient read-through of Beauties before I send it off to my dear, dedicated Beta-readers.

Bad news: It sucks balls and takes an age to do.

The method? I get my computer to read my book to me and follow along. Chapter by chapter. I have to take the time to devote myself to this so that my Betas have more to enjoy and less to do. Y'all should be backup to make

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Yoiks and Away, I guess.

Before I wanted to write a draft of the very polite letter I sent to the most recent A2B, I thought I'd check in on their website to see what their responses were likely to be like in the first place.

if we are interested in discussing possible representation, we will contact you by email or phone—typically within 6 weeks.

The time limit has run out. They haven't contacted me. So...

I pick another A2B and try again. At least the

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Small Progress

It's the first of March, and that means that I have seven more days to live through whilst simultaneously fearing acceptance and rejection. Acceptance means I get money, but I also have the possibility of going on book tours and talking at conventions and meeting fans.

And I have social anxiety.

If I am rejected... well, I have to go through all this AGAIN, and with a different Agent-to-be. Or, as I've been starting to shorten it, A2B. Which means another three

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