Hey, It's Me...

We're already a week into 2025 and it's long past time I wished all my fellow creators and friends on Vocal a Happy New Year. I haven't been dragging my feet, so much as recovering from the whirlwind of chaos brought by the closing weeks of 2024.

Though you'd never guess from that opening paragraph, I'm normally something of an optimist. That being the case, I tend to find not just the positive side, but often the humor in situations and events. If you've followed my writing, you've probably noticed that slant, and yes, it's due to my completely unbalanced mental processes.

Christmas 2024 was probably the last we'll spend here with my family in Texas for some time. We'd all planned on a nice day at the home of one of the brothers, enjoying potluck finger foods. On Christmas Eve, that brother went by ambulance to the hospital. His wife arrived at the same place by the same mode of transportation that evening. They are both back home and recovering, but the dinner of course, didn't happen. Pam and I had a nice, quiet dinner at home, and we rang in the New Year the same way, keeping our dogs calm while the neighborhood exploded.

One of the December highlights was seeing the number of copies of my book sold rise to 25. Sure, 2,025 would have been nice, (and a fun coincidence, right?) but that's okay. Most of the sales have been Kindle editions and that's okay, too. I also ordered some author copies and those have been signed and delivered. I still haven't kept one for myself, but I need to order more and will keep one of those. I'm incredibly grateful to the readers that have asked for them.

In regard to the number of sales, first of all, it's a poetry collection, which probably isn't going to be a best-seller unless you have a last name like Frost, or Dickinson or Poe, and/or the talent that goes with that. I hope the collection of short stories I'm working on now will fare better. It's a fun subject and to my knowledge there are only a few titles out there on the same, so I'm hoping there's room for a newcomer.

I do have one copy of my first book, and that one was sent by my good friends in Baltimore who ordered one of the first copies and got the hilarious misprint from Amazon's first run. Not only is it printed upside-down and backward, it's printed, title page, Table of Contents and all, at the end of a book that's printed in the correct orientation. The subject of that book is a proper post-surgery diet for kidney transplant recipients. It includes a diet planner and recipes, so if I ever find myself in that situation, I'm prepared!

Chad and Britt, my Baltimore friends, now have their own signed copy of the actual book and I'm sending the misprint back so they can sign it for me. It seems only fair, although they did send a nice Christmas surprise, too. If you're a fan of seafood and you haven't tried Maryland crab cakes, I highly recommend getting your teeth into one (or more). I'll add a non-affiliate link at the end of this story to the restaurant that made ours. Be advised, they aren't exactly inexpensive and have to be cold packed, so shipping can be pricey, but if you're interested in a treat worth splurging on occasionally, add them to your list.

Last, but most definitely not least, I managed to make a purchase last month that compromised my debit card. In the interest of full disclosure, I overlooked what should have been the first warning signs. I did not overlook the following signs: the bogus sender's email address for the receipt thanking me for my “entry,” the record of that purchase and the record of another. Neither had anything to do with what I was supposed to have purchased.

The fun part? The second purchase was from a wig shop. (Yeah, I could use some head cover, I suppose, but I'm not quite that vain.)

Naturally, I immediately canceled and replaced the card and I've filed a fraud claim with my bank. (No merchandise was received for either purchase.) With luck, I'll receive reimbursment after they investigate. Either way, I'll attempt to avoid shopping stupidly in the future. No, that's not a New Year's resolution. I gave up on those long ago.

And Vocal? Well, my relationship with it is still a bit lackluster, for reasons I'm sure I've ranted about in the past. On the bright side, I managed to nab a couple of runner-up placements in recent challenges. I've had a few recent Leaderboard placements and I've been grateful for those. Most importantly, I received wonderful comments and a couple of nice tips. Both of those things are priceless.

So, let me close by thanking each and every member of my Vocal community for helping make 2024 something other than the disaster it tried to be on its way out the door. Your support is why I'm still here and the biggest reason I'm working on the second book and planning another poetry collection. That one will be previously unpublished work and will have more pages than you can read in ten minutes. Meanwhile, I plan to catch up on reading all the stories I've missed and get back to publishing again.

If you're reading this, and even if you're not, I sincerely hope that 2025 brings you more love and laughter than your heart can hold. Pass the rest on!

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Author's blatant promotions:

Here's that poetry collection for those interested:

And here's where those marvelous crab cakes were made:

And of course, you can find links to lots more of my Vocal stories on my profile page, linked below!