A bad couple weeks - for all of us

And if I read the deal to raise the debt ceiling (to pay for bills already authorized, IOW) correctly, it'll be a bad couple of years until rational thinking takes the Congress back. Without some way to stimulate the many millions of us who are not millionaires or oil companies to purchase things again, no hope do I see. The idea of cutting spending to stimulate job growth is just stupid. This economy is built on demand. Without demand, business has no reason to add jobs, or to create its own upstream demand for material. The demand in this country is created not by the relatively few millionaires (buying gold to protect themselves) but by ordinary citizens. If they have money to spend. For these people, money to spend comes from jobs. You will have noticed the circular nature of this: to get money, people need jobs; to get jobs, business needs demand; to get demand, people need money. Government is the only entity that has no axe to grind except improving America. That's where stimulus spending comes into play. Unbudgeted dollars added to the economy through whatever means seem reasonable as long as the means create jobs.

Doing away with government creates Mogadishu. I admit it, I read Bob Cesca since Chez Pazienza pointed me that way, and this cartoon points out the end game of the Republican fantasy.

Unless something completely unexpected happens, we're set for two years of a dead economy - which may take decades to recover - as well as continued erosion of women's rights, regulatorily approved corporate abuse and at the end of the day, higher taxes because the Republicans wanted it all their way. Or Mogadishu.

Of course, there's the chance that in two years, all of us sheep - because of Faux News and the other mainstream media - will forget that the Republicans caused all this and vote them in again. And that will end the economy. Not only sick people will have to die to get help under Paul Ryan’s plan, so will the rest of us.

Write the President, your Senators and Representative. Tell them what you think, and then vote the way you think! I don't care if you agree with me or not - though I think you you should - but you should express your feelings. You can also express your feelings in the comments.

Everyone, be well.

Good as my word: I sent the following message to the White House today:

President Obama, I hope it’s a good day aside from the debt crisis.

I am so grievously disappointed in the 'deal' being bandied about - without having any good knowledge of it, to be sure - that I don't know where to turn.

It seems obvious to me that you may avert the Republican created debt crisis, and that's probably good, although I would have preferred by now a unilateral approach on your side. However, the deal, without the possibility of revenue increases or any hint of stimulus spending, dooms the American economy until such time as the voters wake up and elect members to repeal this mishmash (polite word) and enact a budget that recognizes that the driver of this economy is not millionaires (or even five-hundred thousandaires) putting money in their investment accounts, it's the other people, the little people if you will, driving demand. That's what business wants to see before adding jobs or creating the follow-on demand to produce new product.

If I thought you were less mature and adult than I expect you are, I’d demand that you now refuse any deal without a revenue component, and allow the corporate overlords to beat the Republicans into submission as interest rates go up and the economy tanks. As it is, I’ll only suggest it, because I think the damage will be done either way, and by signing the deal as I understand it, you reward the least worthy without a significant benefit.

Or you can take the tack that on the basis of the 14th amendment, the debt ceiling is specious and should never have been enacted, and just pay the bills. To me, that seems the best course. It would allow the budget process to continue without ruining the country’s reputation.

Thank you for listening no matter your choice.

And also today to my representative - Yup, used the Paul Ryan line again:

Dear Representative Lynch,
Thank you for inviting me to be part of the open town meeting Friday. I was pleased to hear your viewpoints in person.
I was unable to be part of the whole meeting, and I regret that. Also, I was unsure just how I would have gotten a question in the queue, as I didn’t do anything in that regard.

I will ask a question here: Given the likely content of the debt ceiling bill, how in Heaven’s name does the Congress, or the President, expect to get the economy going? Where will the revenue increases come from? How about stimulus spending? With the millionaires investing their tax breaks in investment accounts - or gold, more likely now - who will create the demand that business MUST see before adding jobs or creating their own demand for materials?

Does the economy have to tank for another two years to fix this? If so, what are the odds that the Republicans will be elected in on the basis of a lousy economy that Faux News and the other mainstream media will have forgotten they caused? And that will end the economy. Not only sick people will have to die to get help under Paul Ryan’s plan, so will the rest of us.

Thank you for listening. If you have answers, I’d be interested.

Open Letter Day

Open letters to my Senators and Representative. I hope you will take a minute and do the same for your Senators and Representative, whether you agree with my feelings or not.

To John Kerry, US Senator, Massachusetts
The current charade over the debt ceiling

I hope that you will do all you can to assure that any plan implemented to avoid default, or to reduce the deficit, includes revenue increases along with spending cuts. I will find it *very* difficult to support any candidate who cannot see his or her way clear to making sure that the 'pain' is shared.

thanks for your attention.


To Scott Brown, US Senator, Massachusetts.

Hello, Senator Brown. As an independent voter, I could not support your special election effort. However, your record since being elected has exceeded my expectations.

But to current affairs. I find the posturing in Washington - on both sides, but to me, far more obnoxious on the Republican side - has brought me to a tipping point. I will not be able to support the candidacy of any person who does not agree that revenue increases must accompany the necessary spending reductions in order to put our (the US) financial house in order. I cannot accept that this problem - brought on by years of neglect from both parties and both the Congress and the White House - must be solved in a relative instant and on the backs of only a fraction of the citizens.

I hope that this position makes sense to you, and that you are able to help the Congress and the government make positive progress in the days ahead.

Thanks for your attention.

To Stephen Lynch, Representative for the 9th District, Massachusetts

Rep. Lynch, I hope that you continue to support the notion that revenue increases must accompany the necessary spending cuts as you and your fellow representatives attempt to put the US financial house in order. The Bush era tax cuts for wealthy Americans must go; they should not have been continued the last time this came up.

Please let your fellow Representatives know that some citizens feel as strongly about this as the 'no tax ever' constituency does about raising taxes, and I think there are likely more of us, especially as the effects are understood.

Thanks for your attention.


So far, I have a robo-reply from Senator Kerry.
Update:
I also received a robo-reply from Representative Lynch. 

I'm happy to see any opinions expressed in the comments.

Don't Blink, President Obama!

Don't bail on revenue along with cuts.

The plan you've offered isn't great, but it's far better than anything the Republicans are willing to offer. It will be interesting to see how far Wall Street will let them go before pulling their reins.

In my spare time

I read a bunch of web comics and a couple of web serial fictions. One of the web serials is
Dragon Wars: A Young Adult Fantasy Serial
Here's the story blurb from the site:

Young Adult Fantasy. Three British teenagers are dragged into another world to be warriors in its millennia long conflict with the dragons.  This ongoing Fantasy series will span several sub-genres. *updates Mondays and Fridays*.

I recommend it highly. Becka Sutton updates the main story twice a week and she has a side story going as well.

I'll mention others as I go along, so if you try Dragon Wars and like it, you may find something else you like as well.

Well, it's been busy

That's not a bad thing, but it means that some things don't get all the attention they deserve. Like the blog.

I have been editing the heck out of Mercenaries Book One, and have been receiving valid and useful comments from those who are critiquing it. I've pushed back the release date; I'm hoping for August 1 now. And I'm making the same kind of cuts and restructuring changes in Book Two as well, so maybe I can get through the critiquing phase a little faster on that one, and have it ready by November 1. We'll see.

I also have done some story development for the book to follow Mercenaries, Freedom No Matter. And the six part series, titled Game of Life, has been getting a little attention as well.

There are also the usual things: yard work, finishing the downstairs room (almost done, now. Just needs new ceiling and rug), housework, fix the car, play with the grandson. Nothing exciting there and I'm sure every one of the readers here have their own set of similar distractions from writing.

On the Road

Leaving now for a weekend in Ohio.

My brother is graduating with his MBA - so proud!

Back Wednesday; see you then.

A Cover from a Professional Illustrator

Being a newcomer to this self-publishing thing, I thought I would expose the contacts I had with Les Petersen as we discussed covers from idea to finished art. I hope to let other newcomer authors know that illustrators - or one at least: Les - are not difficult to work with, and are able to interpret and visualize scant comments far better than I. And perhaps other authors, as well. The exchange I have documented below led to the first draft of my cover; read it and believe that you too can work successfully with an illustrator.

I have personal experience with Les, and I recommend him unreservedly. The special deal he describes is available as I write this post, but contact Les to see if it he can still honor it. Even his regular prices don't seem that bad, though. I must admit that the cynic in me says self-publishing has been a boon for illustrators!

Below, the text of my messages to Les are in this background, and his responses are in this text. I've done some editing for clarity and extraneous content.
The story:
My novel Mercenaries; A Love Story, will be epublished. The plan is for it to go live on the Kindle store June 1. I thought my plain cover idea - text on a white background - wasn't nearly spiffy enough and I sought advice. I looked over blogs: Joe Konrath, Ed Cote, Derek Canyon among others.

Armed with their advice, I sent emails to a couple of illustrators. Les Petersen (who did the Twelve Worlds Cover) responded that he was putting together  a promo for the Twelve Worlds authors. The other guy apparently has enough business; he didn't respond.

I sent the first contact was through Les' web site "contact me" form:

Contact Message:

Following the very nice cover you did for Twelve Worlds, I thought I'd ask for ideas for a set of two books, adventure genre, epublished only. Being a complete newcomer to this, what can I tell you that would help you decide if you wanted to help, how much you might charge, what time frame would be needed? And anything else I've forgotten and shouldn't have!

thanks, tony

Les responded (quickly):

I was just about to write to your group with a 'special offer'. Here is the

draft of what I was going to put up. (this might change slightly but it'll

be close)

Special deal for eBook covers.

Professional illustrations for covers for "paper bricks" cost from $2000 up

to 'the sky's the limit'. I offer a greatly reduced fee for first time

self-publishing authors - who usually have a very loose idea of what the

real costs are and need the break - eBooks are similar to self publishing,

the fee is usually $US500.

Because I need to upgrade hardware and software I'm offering a special deal

to the first 10 people who'd like a cover illustrated and do it at $250 an

image.

Genre: I can do any genre.

Ideas for image: which should be as clear as you can make it (eg. a bear

wearing a tutu fighting a green space cadet) or a section of the manuscript

you'd like to see illustrated. I will accept drawings and reference images

as guides, or you can suggest similar cover designs.

I will need a complete description of the appearance and costume of

characters you'd like on the cover - if any.

Covers take about a week of work, and I'll work down the list, so first in

first served.

Rules of engagement:

- I will work to the best of my ability and produce as detailed and

appropriate an image as I can within time constraints.

- I will give you a sketch of my idea for the design as a guide to what I am

doing before beginning the final product. Be aware, the image WILL change

between sketch and final image because that's the nature of illustration -

the sketch is a guide to the final image rather than a rigid map of it.

- Though I will work on the image at a higher resolution (normally twice or

three times the dimensions) I will give you 600pixels wide by 800 pixels

deep illustration at a suitable resolution of less than 127kbs (which is

required by most epublishers). The higher resolution illustration will be

available for an additional $100.

- You will not be unreasonable about the image I provide and not demand too

many changes to get it to what you consider "perfect". I retain the right to

say no to changes if I consider them to be detrimental to the work or my

reputation.

- An author may ask for any number of covers, but must list the covers in

order of preference. I will do the first on the list as a priority work,

then MAY, if necessary, move to the next author on the list so that I get

all the artists' covers to them within a reasonable time. I will then return

to the works on the list.

- Because this is a special deal, this is not a work for hire agreement. I

retain copyright of the image, but you have sole use rights. In other words,

you can use it for what you want, but I get to use it as self-advertising

and for things like books on my art etc. I do sell cover images as posters

but I limit that to about 50 copies, and I also put some up on my website as

a low res image. If I have need of the image for any other reason, I will

contact you and discuss options.

- I will be open to ideas for cover design but I can say no to any request

that might be detrimental to my reputation. If necessary, I will refund

moneys.

- The fee for service must be paid ahead of start of work via paypal.

I sent the following:

Les, thanks for the feedback.

I'm still up in the air for what I want, but you've hit my price point

for two covers :)

I am looking for advice; here's what I know.

The complete story is in four main sections, packaged as two books, Part

One and Part Two in Book One, and the last two in Book Two.

I would like a strong identity between the two covers - perhaps the only

thing that changes is Book 1 becomes Book 2, for example.

Given the diversity of settings, I've been thinking of no image at all,

just the name, etc. While that should be easy to do, do you have any

opinion, or any experience to say whether or not that would work from my

POV? I don't have any good idea how the thumbnails would look.

The title is Mercenaries: A Love Story.

I categorize it as Adventure. To give you a brief idea of the story:

Beckie, her brother Mike, and their friend Melissa, are teens who get

involved assisting Ian Jamse and his group of mercenaries in halting a

child abuse ring that operates in Europe, the US and Far East. Book One

is 13+ in my mind; Book Two is probably M for mature.

The setting is contemporary in terms of time. Physically, the locales

are, for Part One: Hawaii, for Part Two: London and Rome. In Book Two,

Part Three is mostly in New Mexico and Arizona, and Part Four is in the

Bahamas and Thailand.

It feels to me like trying to capture the sense of these in a single

image wouldn't work well, though using Beckie and Jamse together might

allow the strong identity I would like while playing up the 'love story'

aspect.

If you have any thoughts, please shoot them back. And if you are willing

to take on the two covers at US$250 (I assume) each, I'll pay as soon as

you tell me how. I'd accept the terms you listed.

Now you get a chance to tell me what else I've forgotten to tell you!

Les responded (again quickly):

Thanks for the explanations, these all make sense.

I'm quite used to dealing with series of books since most fantasies are trilogies. We usually use a very similar layout and then change one major element. We can do this with the two books.

Can you describe your characters, please. What they look like, what they wear, what they might be armed with (if anything) etc. And what the mercenaries might be dressed like. I'll look at a setting for them that's European in flavour (Paris and Thailand are usually quite identifiable)

I'll draw up a sketch and send it to you and with that sketch might come a few other questions which'll pin down the final images.

And I sent him the following:

The thoughts I had on the cover contents and the questions you asked:

Beckie, the heroine: age: 17+, height: 5'0" (153 cm), weight: 99 pounds (45 Kg), slight build, Caucasian,  hair: chestnut brown, eyes: grey

Ian Jamse, mercenary leader: age: 30,  height: 6'0" (183 cm), weight: 178 pounds (81 Kg), wiry build, Caucasian, hair: dark blond, eyes: blue. No beard or mustache.

Trillian  (Jamse's ocelot) - a relatively smaller  example: 26" (66 cm) length with 12" (31 cm) tail, reddish brown coat with typical black spots, 18 pounds (8 Kg).

How about:

Book One:

Beckie next to Jamse not touching, Trillian between them rubbing against Jamse's leg. Beckie in typical late teen jeans and plain oxford shirt or blouse, bright color. Jamse in slacks and shirt that imply a professional demeanor while on the casual side, subdued colors.

Book Two: same pair except closer together with Trillian outside, still rubbing Jamse's leg. Both in pseudo military gear. Not holding hands or linking arms, just arms touching, I think. Maybe hips, also, depending on how comfortable that stance would look.

Plain solid color backgrounds.

please let me know what you think.

Within a day, I received the first version of the Book One cover.  We've dealt with minor modifications (lightness and darkness of features, Beckie's height, Trillian's size) since then, and the final version took Les less than two weeks from initial contact - well within my schedule!

Final (the sixth version)

Selected earlier ones are in sequence below, from the first on.

One

 Two

Four

With this example, go ahead and talk to an illustrator about your story's cover. It's a doable proposition, and a professional cover will lead readers in to the professionally written world you've created.