What? It's Tuesday? Already...No, it's Wednesday

I have to admit I forgot Monday was posting day here on The Murphey Saga. I didn't forget it was Monday though, four weddings called me away from home for most of the day.

I did manage another thousand words or so in my new nonfiction, "Are You a Survivalist or a Prepper?" The word count is over 26K and that's where I'm going to stop. I've included some black and white photos too. I'm not sure how this will play out on e-readers though because I've never tried it before. That's not to mean it hasn't been done before.

Actually, my Monday went into the wee hours of Tuesday when a neighbor knocked at my door around 11 PM. Now normally, that sets off alarms in my head. His wife was at work with their only car and his four month old son was having difficulty breathing. I threw on my jacket, I was still dressed because I was writing, and ran across the street with him. It was an easy fix by clearing out his airway where phlem clogged it. Holding the baby face down and at a forty-five degree angle, and a couple pats on the back cleared it. Some times it's nice having an old nurse around. I placed pillows under his crib mattress raising the head of it. The baby was already on home oxygen due to a complication at birth. I stuck around long enough to calm the frightened father and make sure the baby was breathing okay.

I often take it for granted what I'm capable of and what I know as second nature not realizing that many do not have this knowledge or expertise. It kind of brought home the point of me writing, "Are You a Survivalist or a Prepper?"

Yesterday was spent working on the book trailer video for the new book. I think it's awesome, but it still needs some tweaking. Yeah, yeah, I remember that I can tweak something to death. I used a lot of pictures from the cover in it because the book is about surviving crises, and preparing for them in advance...in other words, not getting caught with your pants down. It always amazes me what is on the internet under "Creative Common" licensing and can be used for commercial applications.

About book trailers? Although I've gotten a lot of feedback about my videos, I don't see where it has boosted sales of my books. On the other hand maybe it has in a small way. Since I started publishing them I've had about 45 views (not viral by any stretch of the imagination, but I really haven't promoted them either) across the board on each, while those I've done for others have seen views in the thousands...go figure. Personally, I just enjoy making them. I'm still looking for the magic cheap solution to self-publishing.

Now for the fun stuff with this new nonfiction...editing, but with this book being under 50K it should only take a couple of days unless inspiration hits again and I add a few more thousand words. Next will come the formatting for print and e-books.

Right now I'm torn between waiting to publish until after the end of June because of the Southeastern Writers Workshop. They have cash and prize contests for different categories of writing...this conference covers the gambit: nonfiction, poetry, YA, Romance, limericks, novels, and a long list of other types of writing. I have toyed with the idea of entering it into the nonfiction contest. It would mean a delay of two months total from today and I may or may not win, or even place.

A decade ago (wow, has it been that long?), I won the "Jarvis Award for Humorous Fiction." It boggled my mind that I beat out all the other contestants and gave my writing the shot in the arm it desperately needed. I had revamped one of the writing exercises from Compuserve's Book and Writers forum for my piece. That same year, I also put up "Escape from Second Eden" which did not win, place or show. While my new zombie book, "Zombie Apocalypse: Travelers" could be entered under fiction, so could "Surviving Hank" or "The Mayan Serpent." I could also enter the children's category with one of the "Sweet Haven" series. "Oh Bother!" to quote one of my favorite children's books. So many decisions and so little time...deadline is May 1st. Anyhow it's time to sh!t or get off the pot. I'll muddle it over in my mind for a couple more days and then decide.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.