Thanksgiving Day. I'm writing this from my sister's house in Richmond, VA. My home.
About two months ago I received the first copies of my book. Ten of them. Excitement was in the air. I was (and am) a published author! Cool. I meant to keep a copy for myself, but wound up giving them all away. A few weeks ago I bought three more copies, and gave two of them away. (The other was sold. I needed the cash.) Once again I have no copies. But the pdf text is still with me.
A Facebook announcement was in order, but first I tried the links to make sure they were good. My friends responded well to the announcement and I created an "author" page for the book, but I haven't really done anything to promote the page except change the title picture. I don't want to be pushy. Self-promotion has never been my forte.
The first ten copies went to family and friends, many of whom were my 'readers'. All had presented good reviews for the book, and a couple were exceptional. My sister's husband is not a guy who reads a lot, but his evaluation was excellent. Another, my aunt Faye, who is a retired university professor gave the story high marks. She loved it, said there were no grammatical errors, and I had an excellent command of the English language. Cute. (It was actually her evaluation that prompted me to try and publish.) Everyone else liked the story too, so I was happy that Page Publishing picked it up. I put a special note inside each cover and sent the books away.
A few weeks later I checked my author's page and found out the book was in the 'promotional stage'. Page's people had put together a press release about my book. A copy was sent to me for my own perusal, and it was good. I commented on one thing. The same word was used twice in the same sentence. They changed the word and I approved it forthwith.
Thanks to my editor Courtney, who supervised all this. My experience with Page Publishing is still overwhelmingly good.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Candidate of the Apocalypse: Questions and Answers
Charles was at a town hall meeting answering questions: As usual these were completely off the cuff and unscripted. Although there had been pressure to 'plant' people in the audience who would ask softball questions so he could give pat answers.
During Charles' talk he had stated "The political elite in Washington would have you believe the problems we face are too hard for us poor ignorant regular people to understand, much less find solutions for. But I tell you this, There is no problem in Washington that practical intelligent people cannot solve, fairly easily."
The first questioner recalled the statement and asked: "Can you give us an example?"
"I'll give a couple of them," was his reply.
"First, Let's talk about the budget, something which is required by law, but the other party has been hesitant to do. I can solve the problem in a single statement. Last years actual revenue is this year's budget. How difficult it that? In that way the size of the pie is known, and the politicians can argue all they want about how many and how large the slices will be.
Next, how do we balance the budget? Require every agency to put away 5% of their budget in the bank as a rainy day fund. And if the department head cannot meet this metric, they will be relieved of duty. Fired." Charles secretly wanted to place an elected official at the head of every department for that reason, with an added law. If the director was fired they also couldn't be re-elected.
"What about the problem with lobbyists?" a man asked.
"Turn the process upside down. Up to now the lobbyists will come to Washington and wine and dine Congressmen. Or take them on an all-expense-paid vacation to the Bahamas, or, wherever. My change would be this: if a legislator wants a lobbyist to come to Washington, they will pay all their expenses. Travel, hotel and meals. All this would come out of their own budget. The lobbyist pays nothing. Can you see how the dynamic would change?"
Another stood: "Do you think this type of change can actually happen in Washington?
Charles nodded. "Yes, I think it can, but making things simple is not easy for the Washington elite. That's because people in that city have ulterior motives. Most of this is driven by party politics. So they can't make things simple because it would mean the job is easy and anybody could do it. Also, they wouldn't be able to grab power when the opportunity came.
Last of all, what about revenue itself? How come for many years now we the people of these United States have been complaining about the IRS, the size and scope of government, and endless regulation. Yet no one has offered any viable solution. In public anyway. Actually bills have been floated to take care of these very things, like the Fair Tax Bill, yet they have gone nowhere, they are victims of political maneuverings and insider politics. Most of the meetings which kill solutions are done in private so the representatives do not have to be answerable to you. I want to make the results of every meeting public along with the transcripts. That way you know who is offering solutions and who is obfuscating the issue.
The time for change, real change is now. But it will take more than just me. It will require a sea change in attitude by our representatives. That means we have to un-elect a lot of people. (Mostly those in the opposing party, but some in his own too.) And replace them with representatives who will do what they are elected for and actually represent you. Who believe in the rule of law, and who are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to preserve the republic for future generations.
Our founding fathers did this very thing. It's time our representatives stood for someone besides themselves."
For that he received a standing ovation.
During Charles' talk he had stated "The political elite in Washington would have you believe the problems we face are too hard for us poor ignorant regular people to understand, much less find solutions for. But I tell you this, There is no problem in Washington that practical intelligent people cannot solve, fairly easily."
The first questioner recalled the statement and asked: "Can you give us an example?"
"I'll give a couple of them," was his reply.
"First, Let's talk about the budget, something which is required by law, but the other party has been hesitant to do. I can solve the problem in a single statement. Last years actual revenue is this year's budget. How difficult it that? In that way the size of the pie is known, and the politicians can argue all they want about how many and how large the slices will be.
Next, how do we balance the budget? Require every agency to put away 5% of their budget in the bank as a rainy day fund. And if the department head cannot meet this metric, they will be relieved of duty. Fired." Charles secretly wanted to place an elected official at the head of every department for that reason, with an added law. If the director was fired they also couldn't be re-elected.
"What about the problem with lobbyists?" a man asked.
"Turn the process upside down. Up to now the lobbyists will come to Washington and wine and dine Congressmen. Or take them on an all-expense-paid vacation to the Bahamas, or, wherever. My change would be this: if a legislator wants a lobbyist to come to Washington, they will pay all their expenses. Travel, hotel and meals. All this would come out of their own budget. The lobbyist pays nothing. Can you see how the dynamic would change?"
Another stood: "Do you think this type of change can actually happen in Washington?
Charles nodded. "Yes, I think it can, but making things simple is not easy for the Washington elite. That's because people in that city have ulterior motives. Most of this is driven by party politics. So they can't make things simple because it would mean the job is easy and anybody could do it. Also, they wouldn't be able to grab power when the opportunity came.
Last of all, what about revenue itself? How come for many years now we the people of these United States have been complaining about the IRS, the size and scope of government, and endless regulation. Yet no one has offered any viable solution. In public anyway. Actually bills have been floated to take care of these very things, like the Fair Tax Bill, yet they have gone nowhere, they are victims of political maneuverings and insider politics. Most of the meetings which kill solutions are done in private so the representatives do not have to be answerable to you. I want to make the results of every meeting public along with the transcripts. That way you know who is offering solutions and who is obfuscating the issue.
The time for change, real change is now. But it will take more than just me. It will require a sea change in attitude by our representatives. That means we have to un-elect a lot of people. (Mostly those in the opposing party, but some in his own too.) And replace them with representatives who will do what they are elected for and actually represent you. Who believe in the rule of law, and who are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to preserve the republic for future generations.
Our founding fathers did this very thing. It's time our representatives stood for someone besides themselves."
For that he received a standing ovation.
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