June 2023 News

Last month's goals were as follows, with goal bolded and results below:

- Store is online with LHKRAD merch (and LRK merch? And Silexare merch??)
Was I smoking crack? NONE of this moved one iota.
Not to make excuses, but establishing an online store was not as important as everything that did consume my time, including launching Lake Russell Kayak, working through some ARCery and proofing the book, and being a groomsman at my very special sweet boy Rustle Julien Addams' wedding. Pretty sure none of those spellings are correct.

left: I broke the law and took a pic during the weddering
right: LHKRAD represented in Barbados

- LRK logo is live, as are social media sites and the website. 
LRK Logo is in progress.
The only social I'll make for Lake Russell Kayak is Facebook. That's in progress.
LakeRussellKayak.com is live, but for now redirects to HartwellKayak.com. The website is (you guessed it) in progress.

- Preorder is live for Violence & Vigilance, book one of Turesia Untamed.
Well hell yes, that one thing is ready - Violence & Vigilance ebook on Amazon. 
For anyone asking me how to support this book, THIS IS IT. Preorder that book! In fact, THIS is so much IT that I'll say it again later in this post. A lot.

- V&V cover is COMPLETE including typography.
Not complete, but there is progress on this. In fact Shawn just emailed me while I was drafting this news.

Kayaks

We have expanded to Lake Russell. For the next three months we will occupy the concessions building out at Richard B Russell State Park. We'll rent kayaks, SUPs, and canoes and sell concessions.

Come see us!

As mentioned, the website and socials are in progress. Follow LHKRAD's socials for updates.

Writing

I re-established Sky Island Publishing LLC, which published A Sawmill's Hope in 2013 and Art by Tasi around 2014. I don't remember all the advantages of having an LLC from which to do business, but considering everything I'd like to accomplish it seems better to have than not.

At the moment its website - SkyIslandPublishing.com - redirects to this blog (as does DavidTList.com and Silexare.com). 

But more to the point, the preorder page is live for the ebook of Violence & Vigilance! This is the very very very very best way to support my authorly endeavors, and help guarantee their future!

Here is a link to the ebook preoder page.

finally.

Why should I preorder? Is it cheaper now than it will be?

No. It'll probably remain this price after it launches, and maybe even go down a dollar now and then. Preorder it for me. Preordering helps the book's sales rank which helps its visibility. In an ocean of books on Amazon, this helps tremendously.

But David I want paperback or hardback.

I'm working on those, I promise. KDP - Amazon's paperback handler - doesn't like books over 828 pages, which is going to be a problem. 

she's hefty

I'll go with IngramSpark / Lightning Source again if I have to but by God I don't want to. In the meantime, hold tight. Watch this space or my FB or Tw or IG or the actual Amazon preorder page. AND, preorder the ebook.

But David, I don't have a Kindle.

Doesn't matter, preorder it anyway.

But David, I won't read it, ever.

That's okay, preorder it anyway.

But David, can't I just send you money?

Sure! But that won't help the book. Preorders, purchases, and reviews are what feed this book and future books.

But David-

No! It's 5 doll hairs! Preorder it right now, right here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C542GC78!

I'll see you next month

dtl

May 2023 News

Hi. May we begin? 

I broke my toe April 1st. Ask me if it still hurts. 

Does it still hurt?

Yes.

Are you supposed to italicize the question mark?

For f's sake I have no idea, despite Lee Burton's efforts to educate me. Probably not. 

Writing

Last month I was wrapping up copy edits and I mentioned getting the book out to ARC readers. That's all done and as of now there are about 30 ARCs being read. I might boost that number with a service like BookFunnel or BookSprout. Because why not? The more reviews drop when the book launches the better. 

Haven't finished the Amazon preorder page because there are questions needing answering. Part of the book's mandatory details include Publisher, which will be Sky Island Publishing. They launched my first book and is who I'd like to rely on for all book endeavors. This means I need to establish that LLC again. I just don't remember how. 

How bout this: I'll aim to have the preorder page up by June. That gives me one month to sort out the LLC.  

Kayaks

Would you believe we had a record April? I feel like "we had a record..." is how I start a lot of these posts. I suppose I'll keep doing it as long as we keep breaking personal records. In April 2023 we did approximately 400% of the business we did in April 2022. 

noe canew

We also bought a new canoe, and are in the process of buying about 5 more kayaks. We'll need some at our new location, on our new (to us) lake: Lake Russell. By this time next month we will be the kayak renters and concession sellers for Richard B Russell State Park.  We start there Memorial Day.

Slight frustration: LHKRAD has things to sell. Hats and stickers so far, but more on the horizon, and I don't have a reliable way to sell them. I suppose the problem is information overload. There are a hundred services that will host the store front. There are a hundred other services that will do shipping for me, and even store products in a warehouse. I have not devoted enough time to research and pull the trigger on anything. I hope that improves by this time next month.

How bout this: I'll plan to have an online store by next month. However, last year we did $2,924 in the month of May. If trends continue as they have so far this year and we do 400% of that number, I won't have time to do a damn thing but pull kayaks, wash kayaks, and put gas in the truck. We'll see.

Paludarium

She's rocking, baby. Just still adjusting to her new inhabitants, including "Bug", the goldfish, who has sucked down every bit of algae, the freaking hog. 

I don't necessarily regret bringing a goldfish home... but, much like pugs and hairless cats, goldfish are decorative aberrations that cannot self-regulate and would benefit from total annihilation.  

While watching our goldfish gorge itself I'm reminded of what Ber, the uergata chieftain, says to Irdessa the Undying about the orcanes of Fohrvylda:

“Mankind, for all its misguided efforts, regressed them into a fate worse than death. Cancer. Vostuar rejects what they have become.”

In the case of Bug the goldfish, I suppose it's Voa'ur, the goddess of water, who rejects what they've become.

Next Month

Ok, to review goals:

- Store is online with LHKRAD merch (and LRK merch? And Silexare merch??)

- LRK logo is live, as are social media sites and the website. 

- Preorder is live for Violence & Vigilance, book one of Turesia Untamed.

- V&V cover is COMPLETE including typography, which is where we're hung up at the moment. Ball's not in my court. If it hasn't moved by this time next month I will change typographers.

See you then

dtl

April 2023 News

Happy April! I've got no April fool's nonsense for this post. Already got that out of my system.

We had some funs in March.

Wife and I saw Steel Panther!
That's a bucket lister for me...
 which is good because I don't think sweet wife wants to see them again. 😃 

Went to the Georgia Aquarium with all the chirren and then some.
I took a ton of pics, but this is my favorite.

We went to a ... drive-in laser show?
Wifel and her friend organized this. All I did was drive.
It was awesome. If we do it again, I'm bringing some sorta enhancements. 

Let's get into the meat n taters.

Writing

My copy editor returned my book on the 27th and I've been blazing through it. This was his second read-through and while he isolated considerably less concerns than on his first, it took some time. Surely because the book is ~850 pages. I've crushed most of the small quick changes and am left with, at the time of writing this, 150 comments left to address. 

Some of these late-stage comments are merely observations, like these:

Elaga's poor shins. 

Vyker is conflicted.

The majority of the comments are more like this:

This one's a quick fix. Most late-stage edits are.

I think I'll release the book in late July or early August. That gives time to finalize the manuscript and rouse up some hype.

I've assembled a list of ARC readers. These are folks who will get an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review when it launches, or before if the site where they'll review it will let them. 

Once ARCs are sent out I'm opening this puppy up for preorders, and I'm going to commit shameless acts to pursuade you to buy yours. 

I'm tossing around the idea of having an in-person launch party. Unsure how much attention such a thing would garner, but it's a possibility. And I've been thinking of it happening in a bar-type scenario. Or a brewery...

Paludarium

It's impossible to get a flattering picture.

The Kingdom of Zeal thrives. We've added some life. 

The pond was becoming overgrown with algae, so I deemed it time to add a goldfish to the population. Rowan and I went to a nearby pet store and I went overboard. 

We got 2 African dwarf frogs, a goldfish, and a black racer snail.

The frogs are my favorite addition.

They explored the place and eventually settled in the grass.

These guys crack me up.

Between me and you, I regret getting a goldfish.
This one's a cow, slurping up all the algae and displaying near-zero intelligence.
I believe that goldfish, much like gerbils and pugs,
are man-made aberrations: dysfunctional and yearning for apocalypse.

Turbo, the black racer nerite.
This guy roomba's around the tank cleaning glass and stones.

I found a frog in the garage the other day and made him a temporary guest in the Kingdom of Zeal. He's a too large to live their full time, even if he manages to stay full on flies, spiders, slugs, and snails. I need more non-weed plants in the terrestrial parts. 

Speaking of snails, they're taking over. 

I named him Silverchair

These little fresh-water snails are all over the place.

Caught the frog using the shell-fountain as his personal bidet.

Hans!
He's so sneaky, but was curious about all the new guests.
Soon enough he got back to tunneling, his forever pastime.

Kayaks

We had a record month. Performed 466% better than March 2022, which was our first March to be open. 

I'm looking forward to it heating up so I can pull kayaks around again. That might seem like a weird thing to miss but compare it to sitting at a desk all day long saying "Have you tried restarting?" and I think it will all makes sense. 

Had some rainy deliveries lately.

Had some shiny deliveries too.

Oh, guess what else. We got merch. 

Next Month

ARCs will have been sent, and possibly some reviews for this book will be available! Preorder site will be live. Yak slinging will be in full force. Merch store will be online. Time'll tell what else.

See you then

dtl