StarFleet Carl: Blog

Thank you, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, for my personal condition update from this past week. Chapter 22 is uploaded for Saturday. EMOTION WARNING FOR CHAPTER 22 - not as bad as when the MFA went to the Wall (which still affects me, and I wrote the damn chapter), but still pretty intense.

Without getting too much into the nitty gritty, I had a bad urinary tract infection. Of course, for guys, there is no such thing as a GOOD UTI - or even a mild one. We get one, it's automatically considered bad, because we don't get them that often.

Four days in the hospital, lots of drama the first day due to fever induced tremors, spasms, and convulsions and concern those had caused a mild heart attack, but not much after that, and net result is, lots of antibiotics and monitoring, and I'm released. Six more days of Keflex at home. One good thing about being a REALTOR(tm). No set schedule of hours, so I can be sick at home. Therefore, I shall veg for the rest of the day!

Chapter 21 is in the queue for Saturday. My thanks to everyone that's put something in the tip jar, it's appreciated, especially those of you getting Books One & Two, as those are actually both available for free on SOL. That's encouraging.

If you go back and read Book One on SOL, you may notice the first 24 chapters seem to have fewer errors in them. I've been working on that as well. When I have it complete, a revised copy will go up on Bookapy, which those of you who have purchased it will be able to get for free. There's not been any plot changes, just duplicate words, wrong word choices, and general grammar issues taken care of. Everyone that's been reading my books for a while knows that I did, upon (frequent) occasion in Book One, manage to get names wrong for girls.

For that one certain mooch - and you know who you are - there will be a bonus chapter posting, possibly before the end of July, depending upon reaching a certain milestone. Of course, that also means a longer wait with nothing new until Book Four begins posting on here around Thanksgiving. Sorry, I still have to sell property. (I've got a client coming in from out of state this weekend looking to buy half a dozen vacant lots in the city, so he can build on them, so I'm not chained to my desk, writing!)

Remember, End the Fighting, Destroy the bad Drugs, and Live in Peace.

How many of us remember that line, from the man in the Smoky Bear hat? Well, in this case, it's Chapter 20, and it's uploaded for Saturday.

Yes, I HAVE started writing Book Four. No, I doubt if I'll be posting any of it before Thanksgiving. Yes, when it's totally complete, it will go up for sale on Bookapy. No, I don't know when that will be. I do try to respond to all emails I get.

Book Three of Chapter 19 will get uploaded for Saturday tomorrow, with the Bookapy version (EPUB, MOBI, and PDF) all available for sale and download tomorrow. Please don't post spoilers for the book in the comments online - I will be monitoring that and have those deleted if you do.

Also, screaming, ranting, raving, and sticking pins in a voodoo doll won't help. They make may you feel better, but they won't help. For those of you who do get it and read it ... I gave VERY serious thought to ending it after Chapter 27. I decided that the angry mob that would descend upon Oklahoma at that point wasn't worth it.

According to Libre Office, which is what I'm using, A True History Book Three, with preface, is 408,766 words, two and a quarter million characters, and under standard, 14 point Times New Roman font, 966 pages long. It'll be longer than that when I add the cast of characters at the end - that's twelve pages all by itself. The completed book will go up for sale on Bookapy on July 1st.

I had someone ask what I planned on pricing it at, and I said either $4.99 or $5.99. They then asked, how can I justify charging that much for a book where most of it is already published. This was my response:

"People don't buy books on Bookapy that are available for free simply because they're in a hurry to find out how the book ends and don't want to wait two or three months. They purchase books on Bookapy as a way of saying thank you to the author for taking the time to create something that they found entertaining. If you feel that in reading my book, I have given you at least as much pleasure as eating a Domino's Pizza, (since they're $5.99 each), then buy a copy. If you don't, then don't."

I'm going to keep writing. I'm curious myself to find out what happens. I don't have a clue right now. I've started Chapter One of Book Four. I plan to start publishing it on here sometime around Thanksgiving. We're ready to buy the house, the paperwork got delayed for a month due to legal issues on the seller's end. I'm also working with several new clients still, and the housing shortage is still real in most of the country. (Good luck, New York City, you've screwed yourself!)