Keeping Busy

It’s been very busy around here the last couple of days. On Saturday I spent about two hours in an online Zoom conference with several of my writer friends. This was my first time doing something like that, and I was very pleased with how it went. We shared a lot of ideas, I picked up some tips on marketing, specifically Amazon ads and Facebook ads, and I may be trying some of those before too long. It looks like we will be doing more these conferences and I am looking forward to them as much for what I can learn from my peers, as for having the opportunity to interact with them on a virtual face to face basis.

My second proofreader sent me the corrected version of The Road To Wrinkle Ranch and I made her changes, then sent it off to the last proofreader. While waiting for her to get back to me, I wrote the blurb for the new book yesterday, and then wrote the first chapter of the next book in the series, which will go in the back of the new one as a teaser. With that out of the way I started working on my author’s newsletter so I can send it out as soon as the new book is live on Amazon.

Then I got involved in a long and somewhat frustrating waste of time with a person who wanted my advice on an older Class C motorhome he is thinking of buying and wanted my opinion on. By the time I had looked at the third picture he sent me, it was obvious the thing was a total wreck. The sidewalls are cracked and delaminated, the ceiling is stained on the inside and sagging down in places, there is obvious rot in the area over the cab, and more pictures he sent show a lot of other issues. I told him it wasn’t worth anywhere near the $7,000 the person wanted for it because it was going to cost him a small fortune to get it on the road. That began a back-and-forth with him trying to justify his reasons to buy it and me trying to talk some sense into him. I finally gave up. It’s his money, if he wants to waste it buying a bag of problems, that is certainly his right.

The RV world suffered two losses in the last few days. I shared with you a few days ago that our friend Don Del Rosario passed away in Arizona, and then I got word that Gary Bunzer, who wrote the popular RV Doctor blog and was a member of the RV/MH Hall of Fame, passed away from complications from COVID-19 on Friday. Gary was a very nice man and one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met when it comes to the technical aspects of RVs.

Gary’s death makes four people I know who have died from this terrible disease, and one person is still on a respirator fighting for his life. And we got the news last night that one person here in our small subdivision has tested positive and another is waiting for test results. Please stay safe, people! As somebody said on Facebook, lifting restrictions because the curve is flattening is like saying the parachute has slowed our fall, so we can take it off now. This is not over, and I believe it’s a long way from being over. People keep saying we need to get the economy moving again, some even holding armed protests to demand it. Fine, you fools go ahead and do that while I say safe at home. Just don’t ask me to shed a tear at your funerals.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Congratulations George Rawley, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Dead Letter by Catherine Bender. It’s the tale of amateur detectives in their golden years with a treasure trove of unexpected skills and unconventional tactics, including a sweet wheelchair-bound grandmother type who is a master computer hacker, a semi-retired actress who seizes the opportunity to live her dream of being a super spy, a homeless veteran, and other blue-hairs who are not content to rock their lives away in boring retirement. We had 53 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.

Thought For The Day – If I die because of some idiot’s irresponsible behavior I am going to be SO pissed…