Reading a book the other day and channel surfing. I found myself alternating between the first John Wick and the film version of The Equalizer. Both films featured protagonists who were widowers with awesome killing skills battling cruel Russian foes who are heavily tattooed. As a general note: if your loved one is a cruel, heavily-tattooed Russian mobster, encourage him to avoid widowers. You just never know.
As a story-telling rule, Russian mobsters are way past their diabolical shelf-life. What's wrong with exploring vicious Chinese Communists as villains? Ah, that's right. Hollywood simply won't bite the hand that feeds them, no matter how many dissident organs are harvested. That's show biz.
They wait, these eBooks, for eyes to fall upon the words within. Let them be your eyes. What's it cost? Nothing but the time spent reading, always time well spent. That's how Smashwords rolls with their March Read an eBook promotion. Least you think this some manner of public service announcement, my books and essays are also available. (For free, until Saturday, that is.)
Oh, fine, all the books in this Smashword promotion are not free. Some are steeply discounted, others less so. But that is the way of commerce.
Also, you don't have to wear high heels to avail yourself of the service. This just happened to be the last unused promotional banner. Let your footwear reflect you as you indulge your reading tastes at crazy old Smashwords Read an eBook extravaganza.
FREE eBOOKS THIS WEEK! FREE FOR YOU, I SAY!!
(OR DISCOUNTED DOWN TO PLEASING LEVELS. EXCEPT FOR MY BOOKS . . . FREE UNTIL SATURDAY!)
नो बुक्स अरे अवेलेबल इन थिस
(None of my books below are available in the above language.)
Three of my eBooks will be free along with many others not to mention discounts galore. Starting this Sunday to next Saturday, glut yourself on the electronic word. Read on your phone, your Kindle or Nook, your tablet or laptop. But read, read, I say.
First off, excellent seven mile-run this afternoon on the bridal trails that encircle the golf course. Relaxed, practicing my various chi running focuses, finished strong. Then I begin my post-run stretches.
To better understand matters, there is a grassy area where I was stretching. Then a low concrete rail fence. Beyond that, the dirt bridle trail. Then a six-foot chain-link fence. On the other side of the chain-link fence is the golf course.
Golf balls occasionally drop into the grassy area. Not often, but occasionally, a golfer will ask you if you could bring over his ball. A polite request always results in a returned ball.
Today, there was a golf ball behind me as I lengthened various muscle groups. Something told me to kick it into the ivy. "What nonsense," I thought.
So on I stretched, working this muscle group and that. A voice sounded behind me from the golf course. "There it is. Behind that guy. Hey! Hey, you." Then "Hell-ooo" with a mocking lilt. "Right behind you. Get my ball."
Wow. It's like I was this guy's caddy. (He lost me on the 'hell-ooo.') But before I could brush him off, he erupted into non-stop profanity, cursing me for not quickly fetching his golf ball. My back was to Foul Mouth Duffer and I continued stretching, tossing off a curse or two of my own.
Back he came with his golfing partner. They hailed a woman walking past on the bridlepath. She was asked—politely I might add—to retrieve the cursed ball. Throughout, Foul Mouth Duffer stayed on his side of the chain-link fence and kept up a barrage of bile toward me involving the sexual act, the sexual act with my mother, me being fat and old, and, after I hoped he didn't have a heart attack, wished me death by heart attack while running.
At one point, he stormed over to his golf cart and threatened me with a golf club. When I didn't run, he grabbed his putter and stomped off, still cursing and swearing. I've known a few rageaholics in my day—been one myself a time or two—and realized this guy was in his own special land.
As soon as he was out-of-sight, I left. The whole incident reminded me of the that scene in Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man in which subject Timothy Treadwell erupted in a fiery rant against absent Fish and Wildlife agents. I'll let Werner Herzog take it from here.
Note: Thu. Feb. 20: I'm not normally so serene in the face of provocation. But after running over an hour and twenty minutes, my body was awash in yummy endorphins. Stretching out provided more. Were I paying my taxes, it might've been me chasing the feral golfer with a club.
Well, not so private. I'm posting on the Web. But given my traffic, it's nearly exclusive. If you skimmed my original kanban post, you'll recall me bemoaning my sloth in not taking a picture. Now I have.
Note My SEO-Free Heading!
Strange to loath search engine optimization when it attracts viewers. I must have a desire to failure, though it comes wrapped in fantasies of wild success. Still, my board lists the immediate, which consists heavily of updating all my old books, garnering reviews, new artwork, etc. Each day, I strive to write at least one page of a short story and a longer work that may end up a novella. Progress, consistency, and a visual record of achievement.
In the right of frame, you'll note a section of my running/exercise calendar. Last month on top and current month on the bottom for comparison. As of now, I'm doing better with running than writing, but that's only because writing is more difficult, especially when mixed with the many marketing chores facing the indie author. You can write what you like, but then it's up to you to sell it.
