The official blog of Brown Posey Press Author, Radio PA Network anchor, Blog Talk Radio host, and more than occasional problem causer, Tory Gates. Welcome, share and enjoy...hopefully ye shall be left to think.
Well, I'm probably not going to offer you any Earth-shattering stuff this time, and I largely detest year in review laundry lists. I'm trying to think exactly what I should say as I look back at my 50th year. My half-century has been a good one, not always great but I can't complain too much. If anything, I've advanced in a few ways, and I'm finally starting to see things come to fruition, which is pretty cool. So, let's see...1st things first, radio survivor. After nearly two years at Tango/GeoTraffic Network, I finally left when the place I really wanted to work and end my career at had something open up. It's like this: I am Morning Desk Anchor for the Radio Pennsylvania Network, which means you hear me delivering the updates in the AM drive our network of stations all across the commonwealth. There's a lot more that goes into it than you can imagine. I get up at 2 am (boo!), but I get out of there like before 9. That's pretty awesome. The work in itself is involved, and there's steps, and there's a lot to keep your mind on. After some rough spots, I'd like to think I've figured out how to do it and hopefully do it well. Now to explain...WITF (the NPR/PBS) affiliate in Harrisburg, does own Radio PA, but we are a separate entity. Works well. I'm with the same people I've been around nearly six years, a short ride to work, a building that's nice, equipment that works (and gets fixed if it's not--CONCEPT!)...all good. This is my last stop in my radio career. I want to end it here. That's it. I've done everything else I set out to do, now I need to do this. And do it right. Work in progress, but I'm getting better at the new job. I've my hand in at another place which I've often spoken of by talking about Dante, and you can guess where that goes. But it's life. Now...how about this...I'm gonna need your help here:
Okay, I don't know why that does not get bigger, but no matter. It's finally happening. "A Moment in the Sun" comes out on March 1, 2016 on Sunbury Press Books. Published, by a real publisher. Ain't that some shit? This will be available on the Sunbury website, and through indie bookshops (wherever you are, they should be able to get this, if they don't have it in stock...that is something I want to see). I'll be trying to get it into stores on the local level, and also I'll try my best to get it into bigger ones. Our plan is also to do some appearances around this area, and beyond hopefully. I will be signing and also reading, that's the plan anyway as we carry on with some different ways of making this work. I'll be asking you when the time comes to forward my message that the book is out on social media. Just one time, I think...I want to get this to as many people as I can, because maybe, just maybe...someone will buy it. And read it. And like it. And lend it. And recommend it. That'd be nice. I have much more in the can, and I'll be concerned with getting the next one out much later, but it's there. I am still writing. I am writing new things, I've two new manuscripts this year, I have two or three more I need to write, and I have an idea burning for another. That's how it goes. Other writing I do...you can find me on BroadwayWorld.com on occasion, writing features and stuff, and I've had some great conversations with people this year. Some of them individuals I've admired and have incredible respect for. A lot of Skype chats, that is true, but sitting down in an empty theater after a show, and having a long interview/talk with Joe Ely was probably the highlight of my year. Nicest guy.
Not from that date, just a bit earlier in the year. This type of setup, and format. Way cool. Back to the radio thing...it's well into my fourth year of hosting a program on the London-based Radio-Airwaves Station...you can find us at www.radio-airwaves.co.uk -- always growing and being different, I'm usually on Sundays, hosting The Music Club, from 3:30 ish to 6 pm Eastern. I had a slight brush just the other day with melanoma...got it off my face, everything's cool, no cancer, none of that. My health is good...my mind is somewhat settled after quite a bit of turmoil, and I hope to end the year pretty quietly. And then make one hell of a noise with that book...this is the best thing I've written, maybe not the most creative, but it's a step forward, and we've got to get it done.. I have to get it done. So admittedly I'm not around that much, but this is what I do and I have to do it. The future is bright, no matter what your situation may tell you. Find yours, go for yours. As my friend from XM always liked to say, "Let's make it a good one." Peace, Out.
Well, here I am once again, sitting in one of my various "offices," and starting to find that the rat race that I spent six years trying to get back in so I could "make a living" is taking its toll on me. I'm certainly not unhappy to have a job, and to also have the health benefits that go along with it. Right now, no amount of holistic living, nuts and berries dieting and other obsessive ideas would be enough to keep me alive. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, I lack the time, money and expertise in the field. Too much travel. I drive too far, too often, etc. in order to make this living, and yet it is what I must do. Moving is not an option. There's not enough to make that work or worth it. So when do I write? I don't. I do edit, and I do map things out, and consider, but actual writing is something I have to really make time for, and there's little of that. I do not mean to complain. I know too many people in worse situations. I also refuse to succumb to Grumpy Old Man Syndrome, which I'm sorry to say afflicted certain people at said job. People who cannot accept change become an issue. Daily whining, bitching and moaning about the "way things used to be," and "back in my day, we did it like this..." Change is very difficult. Veteran broadcasters, just as much as new people can have a difficult time learning new systems, new ideas, new procedures. It's not always fun. But when you go into it with a mindset that the new way is WRONG, and the boss is WRONG, and that everything is WRONG WRONG WRONG, you're not gonna get anywhere. I am going to recall a passage from one of my favorite Douglas Reeman stories, "Pride and the Anguish." In a certain exchange, the first officer tells the navigator what he thinks of the ongoing, rancorous dislike between the latter and their captain. This fellow was disagreeable, stiff, and not always right, but he did have leadership qualities, stuck up for his men, and would never let them be put down by superiors who knew nothing about the war they were involved in. The Number 1 tells the navigator (paraphrasing), "Your whole problem with the captain is that you have never even tried to get along with him, and never even tried to work with him!" There's your point. This is not to play company man, either; you have to do what you can, best you can. If you can see changes needed, then you speak out, and you find a way to get them in. I felt weighed down, sad to say, by certain people who are my friends, but who allowed ego and not getting their way to be their undoing. Someone wouldn't see any need to change; someone forgot who is signing the checks; someone who was out for themselves; someone who did a lot of nothing; someone who got all butthurt because he/she didn't get their way on something. It gets a little easier as you get older, if you let it. So I'm not unhappy as I've said. But is this what I really want? I have said I would take less money to have a little better quality of life. And more time to do what I want to do. Now...about that: We are at this time waiting for "A Moment in the Sun" to get a release date. I have to look over the copy one final time, I must wait for the cover art to be finished off, and then we can start getting ready for the push.
Have you see it yet? Have I mentioned? Yes, I'm sure I have. If you see my Facebook posts or anything else, this cover by Mitch Bentley is all over the place. Yes, I'm shamelessly plugging this fucking thing. I have to consider a book release event, a physical one, somewhere that is central to my location, and one that people would actually show up to. I'd like to do that, and hope we might generate some interest, and yes, sales. These books to not make themselves. I would rather sell books and make a living like that, but as someone in "A Moment..." says the life of an artist making one's living that way is not practical. But it would be nice. Anyway, I am considering ways to get the word out there that my work will be available, and trying to get it into the right hands. Now, the good thing about my publisher, Sunbury Press Books, is that they primarily work with indie bookshops. Those odd little places that don't have gigantor space and signage, the one where actual, physical BOOKS can be bought, read, and so forth.
The online world has killed shopping of just about any kind... [phone call, hang on] I don't get many of these. But yes, one of my team got in touch, wow. Okay, I gotta get going, but yes I am soliciting ideas for places, and things I can do to get YOU to buy and read my book...shameless, I am! Peace, Out.
Greetings once more, blogworld...this is the first time in a while that I have time to write something other than what I am working on, and that is partly due to the inability to get in gear at a time when I must absolutely do it. Where have I been? Back on the road again for GeoTraffic.com -- after the layoff, I was called back in. Restructuring has gone on, and I am back in action for them. Needless to say, glad to have it, and I think we might just make a significant step in the near future. Gotta be optimistic. Busy doing my other jobs...Radio PA part of this week, which means getting out of bed at about 1:30 in the morning. Not much different than Geo, because the morning shift for me means getting up at 3:30. And the travel, and all the other stuff. Writing...okay, recently I hammered out after several false starts a manuscript called, "Night Dawn." https://www.behance.net/gallery/19966397/Night-Dawn-Chapter-5-Excerpt It is potentially a young adult novel about one person's struggle through a critical period of teenage life, rife with numerous issues...most of which I experienced myself. Long way to go before that's ready. I had to get it out of me. 20. I am not completely sure what counts as full and finished...but I may have 20 manuscripts or books written. 20. I can't remember if that number includes the horrific sci-fi novel I wrote in the 90's. But...since 2007, that's what I have been doing. 20. So...what of "Parasite Girls?" Forgive me, but I am going to say something that needs to be said. If I had a nickel for every single person who told me they were going to buy or download my book...I'd have a very big bag of nickels. To those who have, THANK YOU. I am appreciative and respectful that you laid your money down for me. I hope the book is worth it to you, and that you at least enjoyed it. I hope you also let others know it was good. The past year has been a year of learning what NOT to do. I have learned quite a bit about promotion on the fly, and I am going to have to use a very different set of tactics when I get the next one out there. And yes, the next one, "Drifters: Tales of the Southern Cross" has potential for more than one book, but that's too far down the road. https://www.behance.net/gallery/14840009/Drifters-Chapter-9-The-Lonely-Ocean There is a rough cut of it. I will be editing this fall, Mitch Bentley will be working up his magic for a cover, and I aim to publish again by Amazon.com -- I am not impressed with Smashwords and its lack of action, so I may not go with them for the ebook thing. This is more of what I write, the young adult world, a bit of fantasy, fiction, non-fiction, travel, and yes, madness. I'm good at the latter. I am also endeavoring to get another work, "A Moment in the Sun" a read from publishers or agents. This one is young adult/adult fiction...crosses over. Friends have told me this one has something more to it. I have to go all out for this...this is what I enjoy doing and what I want to do. The aim has been and still is, to get some of my work out there, get that built up, and then hope by the right time, someone will notice that, "Hey, this guy has something good." I think I do, anyway. One thing I've noticed--you still need a big name behind you, you still need a real deal publisher or you will not get much notice. I don't care what anyone says...we all can't get a "Colbert Bump," as a colleague suggested I go for, or have some self-serving twit on TV or wherever touching themselves over you. Doesn't work. A band can make their own records and tour...but you still have to have support behind the scenes. I am if anything, a stubborn SOB. I don't quit, even when my better judgment says I should. So yeah...it's a battle. But one that I approach with the idea that at the end of the day, I'm still alive. So I haven't lost. The one thing I wish I could get is about a month or two where I didn't have to chase money and could seriously map out what I need to do, beyond the writing. So far, I think a lot about it; not much more. It will get done when the time is right. Anyway, I need to hit the pool, and get ready for round two of my workday. Round 3 is at 3:30 am, or as my colleague Tim Lambert says, "Oh-Dark-30." Check out what I got on Behance...ask me questions, I'll have answers. Peace, Out.
...well, not exactly 30...tomorrow (4/1) will somewhat, approximately, kinda-sorta my anniversary. My 30th Anniversary in Broadcasting. Excuse me... ...30 Fucking Years. I don't even feel that old anymore. I started thinking about this earlier today and realized that if I don't write this now, I'm not going to do it tomorrow on the day of this momentous (hah!) occasion. So...let's see...where do I start? I've had people ask me a lot of questions about my chosen profession over the years, including the inevitable ones of, "How do you get started?", "Why do you work a job that doesn't pay anything?", "Why aren't you like Howard Stern?", "Why don't you want to host a talk show?", and fuck knows how many others. I've had all of those...the one about the money was occasionally alluded to by my family. But more on that later. I admit to having an interest and fascination with radio as a kid, but I also have to tell you I really didn't see myself as ever having an opportunity to do anything like that. Not that I didn't dream about it. Growing up in near the Canadian border, I got the best of both worlds, both US and Canadian radio, and that included music as well as news and other stuff. I remember certain personalities, people, music, etc. A lot of strange stuff returns to my brain right now...today, these things would never be done on commercial radio, and probably rarely on what is now called "Community Radio." Those low power FM's and the like that try to go as mini-NPR stations, doing their own thing, and relying on the kindliness of the public. Anyway...the whole thing for me started here:
Michelle Hartley painted this mural in the basement of Saint Joseph's College (of Maine) back in the 80's. I went to St. Joe's in '83, with no idea of what I would do for a career. I had horrific grades in high school; I was at best a bored and uninterested student in just about everything. Lots of reasons for that, but that's how it is. When I learned that we were getting ready to go on-air with an FM station whose signal in those days reached into Portland, I thought: "Oh...this might be interesting." We did not get on air until the afternoon on 4/1/84. I pulled a one-hour shift late in the first day. My first song as a DJ? I honestly don't remember. Well, fast forward to a month and a few days later back in Vermont. One day after going home for the break, I walked into the old WDOT-AM in Burlington, and by virtue of the world's shortest job interview, I had one. OK...so I didn't look back. Much. It has been one long and strange trip in so many ways. And the shit ain't over yet. I have passed through more stations (existing and not), more formats and more co-workers/colleagues than I can number or even remember. I've worked in the weirdest set-ups, the flashiest studios, and have dealt with the best...and not necessarily the worst characters, but some scary ones to be sure. When I wasn't being weird one. We constantly remake ourselves. Sometimes it works, but often it just does not. I have spent the majority if not all of my career not being known. And to be honest, I prefer it. I am a worker. I am a "Service Machine." This is not a bad thing, you know. There came a time in my career when my ego had to get smacked down, and fucking hard. It happened two or three times, very early in my career. I won't name names, or situations, but the deal was this: "Kid, you're good, but you ain't that good. You got a long way to go." And...I'll add this: "You must never stop learning." What I mean by that is you must never stop learning what you are capable of doing. When you get to turn your hands to something you never thought you could do, you become surprised and even stunned to find out...that yes, you can do it. And do it well. Yeah, I've had a few points in my life where I wondered why I got passed over for things. When I was younger, I irrationally and immaturely believed I was getting the shaft. Then...about ten years into my career a guy who came up behind me said the same damn things and an awful lot more. I suddenly realized he reminded me of me. Guess we all go through it. The business has changed. We can go on and on about how bad things have gotten, how the jobs have dried up, how the revenue is gone, and how we are no longer valued. I call bullshit. You know, I have not had a full-time radio gig in five years. I'm still jobbing, getting hours when and where I can. 'Cause this is what I do. I love the business, and the experience. Right now, I am part of a company that is headed into a new market and frontier...radio? Broadcasting? More the latter, but it's all part of the same damn thing. It may also seem strange to you that I spend two hours on a Thursday evening, hosting a show on a small internet station. www.radio-airwaves.co.uk I do it to keep myself sane at times. I can be like I was in college and play music I like, music that I think has value and play it for others. If you like it, great, if not, that's okay. People ask me all the time if I like what I do. My response is always the same: "BEATS WORKING!" If I had to do it over, I'd do it again. I'd hope with benefit of hindsight I might not make some of those mistakes again, but you have to learn somehow. Thing is: a lot of us do not learn. There are people in this biz who are one-trick ponies. They do one thing, and it may be good, but it doesn't always stand the test of time. You need to remake, like I said; adopt, adapt, improve. If you don't, you will be on the sidelines wondering why. I've been a DJ for nearly every format. I've hosted shows, co-hosted shows, produced shows, been a journalist, a traffic reporter, a this, a that, a manager...we all do these things. We don't always have the titles before our names, but we do them. I think at this point, my career went about the way it was meant to go. This is not just about money, but that's nice when you can get it. I've had other jobs, but this is not a job. This is what I DO. I also write, I play music, I do the things I enjoy doing. Yeah...I could have gotten a desk job, or some kind of management job, or whatever...I could have made more money, been more stable financially, but I would not have been happy. Rich People have Rich People Problems. If I was, I'd deal. I didn't do too badly, though. And I'm done. I like where this thing is going, and it opened doors to everything else. It was not always smile-inducing, these past years, and it was not always fun. But it was different. That makes it good. You think this many years is something? One of my colleagues at the new job has been in this business, non-stop, 51 years. That's right. Guy's a legend...and he's now a traffic reporter. He still loves it. So do I. Do what you love, life is too fucking short to be bored or killing yourself. Friend of mine once had that great job, but he said the stress got so bad, he was pounding a six-pack of Heineken every fucking night to get through it. Not worth it. For me, this is. I have broadcasting to do, even in the shadows. I make a difference in a small way, but a good one. I do everything else because I think it makes a fucking difference. Forgive my self-centered thought...even if it is just for me, in that moment. Been fun...and I have more waiting for me. Peace, Out.
Well, greetings once again...I'm sitting in the Office for the first time in several days, and I'm in one of those contemplative moods. This could be trouble...for a lot of folks other than me. Here's a link to the new job: http://widget.geotraffic.com/ You can install this useful little widget onto your own website, please do. I have yet to figure out how to incorporate the damn thing into this blog, but oh well... Geo has given me lots of fill-in work, and I apparently am doing a decent job. I am thankful! Nice to work with old friends again, and to meet new ones. We've got a future, and it's nice to be part of it. OK...company blather outta the way...yes, I'm feeling positive. It is a long drive on Route 30 to Paoli, and then the short drag down 252 to Newtown Square, but it's all good. Time to think, listen to obscure music on my iPod, and find out what else is happening. I tend to listen to NPR (except when they are on yet another beg for money drive...a certain station seems to be doing it all day, all night, all the time), but I also listen to other stuff on occasion. This leads me to my first observation of things that make me want to do an obscenity-laden rip job on people who seem to think they know what's what in the news. The vaunted KYW Newsradio 1060 (my friend David Payne went off about this on Facebook) last night, led with the Earth-shattering, End-of-the-World-As-We-Know-It headline...wait for it... ...DESEAN JACKSON WAS CUT BY THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES! HOLY MOTHER(FUCKER) OF GOD & GODDESS! HOW WILL WE EVER RECOVER?????!!!!!????? Yeah...WORLD WAR FUCKING 3 could be ready to break out in Europe (if certain politicians and the military-industrial complex have their way)...the futility of declaring war on Russia could come, 100 years after Germany proved its utter idiocy...we STILL don't know where that Malaysian airliner went down, and WTF happened there...the Taliban (read radical Islam's answer to fundamentalist Christianity) are again operating with impunity in Afghanistan...BUT OH MY GOD D-JAX GOT CUT FROM THE EAGLES!!!!!! I never cared for the Eagles, never...the Andy Reid follies were amusing, and the Chip Kelly saga was good for a chuckle...but back to the news thing, and it's here that Jackson could have ground for a major fucking libel suit. Basic points: Jackson came off a career year...true, a prickly personality, moments where he didn't seem to give a shit, then suddenly making an impact. Supposedly the Eagles tried to trade him, but couldn't. Price tag? Yeah, he makes damned good money...and the Eagles are notorious for pinching millions. Thing is, there have been rumblings and mostly rumors and innuendo spread about the Philly area and beyond that Jackson was acquainted with LA gangs. No one has accused him of being affiliated or a member, and Jackson flatly denies that. But the bigots around these parts and elsewhere have pushed that rumor without any proof for a long time. Now a New Jersey website is claiming it. Jackson has not been accused of any crimes. Did the Eagles dump him because of the money? Or did the NFL tip them to something? Either way, it's a smelly story...but does it rate being the top story on a supposed news leader? NO. But then, I guess I'm an old guy who doesn't know much about today's media. Hell, I'm working in a company that's entered a new realm, so I'd like to think I'm seeing some new things. ### Okay, I had to get that one off my chest. Now...next up: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494401975/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494401975&linkCode=as2&tag=coverscroll-20 Yes, a shameless plug for "Parasite Girls!" Getting ready to hopefully move on some more promotional readings, but that thing called work has been a matter I've had to take in hand. Meanwhile, I'm sorting out ideas, and getting a plan in place for the future. I believe that a next step for my follow-up is a story I recently wrote, that is adult fiction with a serious crossover to the young adult world. Half-step, but a good one: https://www.behance.net/gallery/A-Moment-in-the-Sun-Chapter-1-Rough-Draft/13569033 "A Moment in the Sun" I really feel is that step. This turned out to be a good story; it carries on with my ideas of handling certain concepts, and might work as the next step. Then, we might be able to make a full step into the YA world with "The Drifters." https://www.behance.net/torygates See everything and more here. So I have to try and focus what brain cells I have left to decide how to proceed with this. My thoughts are to release these next two into the wild over the next 12-18 months. I have to see if this will work. Getting "Parasite Girls" in motion was a year-long operation. I have more to do with it. So much to think about, but then actually move on. I really do need to get going...work, my brain, various thoughts on different stuff. For once, I've felt in a state of mind where I'm calm enough to actually sit here and write this, and get it into a form where I can look back at it. This is what I do, folks...the writer writes, always. I did not like that movie, but a true thing. As someone else noted, even if you are just thinking about it in your head, that's writing. It counts. See ya.
Greetings, one and all...I have returned to the blogosphere after hopefully catching my breath, and figuring out just where the hell I have been the past weeks. I have never been much for diaries, though I do still have a leather-bound journal full of multi-colored scratchings from about ten years ago. Why I keep it, I have no idea. The things you find when you are digging around in the hoard/closet. I don't know if this is counts as spring cleaning, but I decided to drag a pair of bookshelves from my closet into my bedroom. And no, I didn't remove the books. That's just how I am. So anyway, I then spent the better part of the past two late nights re-sorting my books, as sort of a literary "High Fidelity" scene. I don't have enough space in the room to put all my books there. So I have to figure out what I don't need/want at hand, and put those back in the closet. Weird, I know. Interesting to see a lot of these again...I do realize though, a bunch of these are headed for one of those big metal dumpster/dropoff things. I have to do it, not much choice in the matter. So yeah...the past few weeks have found me busy here: http://www.geotraffic.com/ This is my new company...I am back to being a traffic reporter, and we're on a new platform with a different target. This has a future, I feel and we're taking the small steps forward to get us where we need to go. I'm back in broadcasting of a sort, what can I say? To use a MASH reference: this is "meatball surgery." There is no finesse in this art, it is grunt work, but it is work that requires some smarts, common sense, and an ability to think on your ass...because we're sitting. I am also back to driving long distances. I've done this before...back in the starving, struggling days of the early 90's, I drove a Dodge Lancer to its death (at least three times) when going from Watertown to Hyannis to do a $5 an hour job, because...I wanted to be broadcaster. The dream job of 2004-09, XM saw me drive from York, PA to Washington, DC and back, five days a week or more, for all that time. Now I'm driving a similar time frame but a few less miles. Why? I like where I live...I know, I swore up and down I was going to get the fuck out of York and never return. Then I realized where the new job was. I didn't like that area the first time I worked there...I still don't like it. This is better, and so it is. Now...about this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494401975/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494401975&linkCode=as2&tag=coverscroll-20 I know, I have to shamelessly plug. I am writing this just after making a sale to a friend of mine of "Parasite Girls." Sales are slloooooowwww...how it is. Also, had a long Facebook chat with a dear friend who told me what was "wrong" culturally with the book. And of course, she was right. I do not think any of these things are terrible errors, but I understand them. I did my best to get it right...it's kind of like this: when I edited and edited, and did everything I thought I could possibly do to get it right, I finally had to say, "Enough!" You can only do so much. I think it turned out well and I'm happy with it. Here then, comes my dilemma: what do I do next? Ihttp://www.wattpad.com/39695970-a-moment-in-the-sun This is the first chapter (rough cut) of "A Moment in the Sun." Wattpad is a social media/writing site that is new to me, and I'm trying it out as a means to get some new audience in the mix. You can also read this, and much more at www.behance.net/torygates Anyway..."A Moment in the Sun" was written at the beginning of this year. It came quickly; this could be the step up I need. Here's the deal..."Parasite Girls" became the test case for my writing. It is straight fiction; "Moment..." is fiction, but as the main characters are all teenagers, it can be considered a crossover to Young Adult, which is what I mostly write. Half-step, maybe? The story is fully set in Japan, and again I touch on a phenomena which is not unique to that part of the world, this time. Here is the story that inspired it: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23182523 Now in this story is referenced a manga, "Welcome to the NHK." I got the first volume, and I was not terribly impressed by it. The storyline was too typical, and did not touch enough on why the main character was hikikomori. Didn't explain it well. I had a couple of ideas on what to do with this, but then "Moment..." made its way into my brain and would not leave. A close friend of mine read the first chapter aloud from my Behance site...her husband said that sounded good. Hmmm... Not long ago, I described the story aloud to another friend. She was busy clearing her desk and doing that kind of work, but her ears pricked up. She said, "That's the one." I wonder...it is a specific story, a few more characters than "Parasite Girls," but easy enough to follow. I think this is the best step up. Then, following this I can again do a full-blooded YA story, which likely will be "The Drifters." What is happening here is that I feel in a hurry. I feel like I have got to get these out, but I cannot throw money into the creation of a project, then jump to the next. It just does not work. I am promoting "Parasite Girls," and once I get off weekends, then I can really do that. Each of these projects is time-consuming. I have talked about how "PG" took a full year to realize. Yes, it did. I'd already written it; but then what followed was every single thing you need to do to make it real. I am also again trying to find a publisher/agent...it's worth trying now, because I have a book in hand. Here's the next one, and the next one, and the next one...better risk I'd say. Staying the course, being patient, keeping myself somewhat together. Yeah, I have to do it. There's no time for worrying, I have to just keep on doing all these things. The shit ain't over yet.
