Santa Clarita 5k 2019

Back home and safe in time for the earth to move beneath my feet.

(Wow. Hot little earthquake just rocked the house as I sat down to write this. On it shook. But everyone is okay and the Internet didn't cut out.)

Back up in the foothills once again for a 5k. Super running weather: overcast with temperature in the mid-60s. I've run this race in 2007 and 2010. As you may note from the picture to your left, Santa Clarita has succumbed to the giant 5k medal bug.

No goodie bag, but a nice technical shirt.

I slept poorly last night, hated getting up early, and almost walked the whole thing, but I stuck it out for a 36:57 finish. That's seven minutes off from my January 5k.

Like '10, there are no more mile markers. Many people now run with phones in hand, listening to apps like Runtastic. Not me. I focused on my goal: finishing before anyone with portable oxygen.

Glad I went and did what I did. Happy July 4th! The grand experiment continues!

UPDATE:

My official finishing time and pace.

Tourist Promo for Portland, Oregon

Raise My Ranking During Hot Smashwords Sale

open culture.com

Raise it! Raise it high in the rankings, I say. For here is a reading bonanza awaiting you in the sultry month of July. I'll let ebook seller Smashwords explain more about their 11th Annual Summer/Winter Sale:

Are There Discounts of Some Kind?

"For the month of July only, thousands of Smashwords authors and publishers will provide readers deep discounts on ebooks. Discount include 25%-off, 50%-off, 75&-off and FREE. 

Explain More in Your Curious Way

At one minute past midnight Pacific time on July 1, the special Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale catalog goes live on the Smashwords home page. Readers can browse the catalog and search by coupon code levels [Indicating discount amount] and categories. After 11:59pm Pacific time on July 31, the catalog disappears. 

And Then?

The coupon codes are exclusive to Smashwords and will not affect prices at other retailers. There’s no need to remember coupon codes. Readers will receive the discount automatically by adding [a} book to their cart.”

Might I Suggest?

But don’t just add any book. Starting tomorrow through July, might I implore you to add one of mine? Yes, a plug, a pitch, a request, but, then, to do less would be to betray this very blog page as well as Smashwords noble summer sale.

I won’t do that. So stock up on your summer reading starting tomorrow. And read well this month. I’ll say no more on the subject. 

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Running, Writing, Vital Jake Plug

In Motion

Running consistently the last few months. My weight slowly trends down. With a 5k race approaching in three weeks, I'd like to work in some speed—a relative term when you're fat and slow.

No Story Like a Short Story

I'm hurrying along to finish another tale with a June 30 deadline.

T.L. Schreffler

Cohesion Press craves stories combining military and horror with an emphasis on last stands. I just so happened to have an unsubmitted story from last year that can be arranged to meet said criteria. Plus, I'm employing a new proof reader, which has forced me to advance my deadline. But we're talking upscale problems. 

"Prostate" eBook Selling Well

Very consistent sales, with a few purchases in the UK, Canada, and Australia. I welcome my English-speaking brothers in prostate cancer—and assorted side effects. I'm told this is Men's Health Month, a period dedicated to heightening the "awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys."

Back to Golf

In keeping with the spirit of the month, author Janet Farrar Worthington has been kind enough to excerpt part of my post-op cancer story on her VitalJake blog. Janet is a tireless booster of men's health in general and prostate cancer in particular. She's been a proponent of my book and I'm grateful for her promotion. 

With all the above in mind, I'm announcing the softcover version of They Took My Prostate: Cancer-Loss-Hope will be available August 9. I'll put up a pre-order page on Amazon for those who'd like to gift a guy facing this particular challenge. 

And a pleasant Sunday to all. 

Help For Indie Authors

Peace and Wellness to You

jpmacauthor.com is now LIVE!

Denver Post

Yes, This Was My First Rodeo

I'd thrown my saddle over the concession stand was kicking popcorn everywhere, convinced I was riding a web-building bronc. But for all my hacks and woes, the website is finally up and visible under its proper—may I add 'noble?'—name: jpmacauthor.com

Oh, sweet, merciful heavens. I came so near to quitting, scrubbing everything, sitting in sullen self-pity for weeks on end, cursing the unfairness of life and novice web-building.

 Word Press Lessons Learned

And not just Word Press, but Bluehost, Elementor and Namecheap. Essentially, I build my website backwards. First, here is a construction plan that seems proper in hindsight:

Obtain domain name. (Namecheap)

Choose hosting service. (Bluehost)

Select software (Word Press)

Add drag-n-drop page builder plugin (Elementor)

Namecheap assigns you Domain Name Servers. They must be changed and pointed to your hosting service. I didn't know this because I fell out of contact with Namecheap when I changed my hacked email before assigning a new email to Namecheap. 

Pinterest

(As a side note, there is a reason Robert Mueller found no Russian collusion. That is because he did not investigate Namecheap. In order to enter my control panel and change the DNS over to Bluehost, I had to spend over an hour in web chats and on the phone with Russians. Alexander and Olga were nice. Marisha had a world-weary attitude and sketchy English.)

The Short Version

Once your domain name is pointed at Bluehost—or whoever you use—then pick a template, change the settings in Word Press, toss up a site maintenance page, and build your website at leisure. When you're ready to go live, take down maintenance and present the world with your calling card.

I've lived this for two months and still have a yard-long list of tasks to finish. But I'm a wiser web-builder than I was on April 1. More importantly, I kept writing throughout, thereby saving myself from total, no-shower, eat-at-your-desk obsession. 

More soon on this web-building business. It might be nice to have some new books to add. There's a thought. 

Thoughts on Paying It Forward

Take a few moments and contemplate giving away from what you have. Not a lot of moments. Just some.

Quora Questions We Could Live Without

Long Term Troubles Loom for Kids and Cell Phones

Disconnected: How To Reconnect Our Digitally Distracted Kids by Thomas Kersting
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A short and sweet book, almost a long pamphlet, detailing the dangers kids face from extensive time on the Web. (Adults, too.) And while Nicholas Carr covered this topic a decade ago, there is new research showing a spike in the amount of time youngsters spend interacting online. As Carr pointed out in The Shallows, excessive screen time erodes focus, increases anxiety, and leads to social retardation. Ten years later, the situation is much worse. But there is hope.

Fascinating read, particularly if you have kids.


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Scott Captures Pacific Brutality

Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila by James M. Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With its emphasis on atrocities, the book examines the butchery committed by Japanese troops against the Filipino population of Manila during the fighting there in February 1945. Brutal as the SS in Poland, the deliberate murder and rape of civilians is augmented by the haphazard rain of artillery fire employed by the attacking Americans. Survival in certain neighborhoods was problematic and whole families up to several generations were annihilated.

Decisions by commanding generals MacArthur and Yamashita are examined, with the book closing on War Crimes trials held in Manila only months after the war ended, with Japanese mines still being detonated by the unwary.

Well-written and fast-moving, Scott explores a little-known aspect of the fighting in the Pacific; an atrocity worth recalling the next time someone cries, 'Hiroshima.'

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