Scatterbrained Ramblings

Clouds Are Pretty (and Other Ramblings)

October 18, 2017
So something that I try to do when the weather is nice is go outside and just lie in the pasture, looking at the clouds. It is immensely relaxing, and for just that little bit of time, all of the stress I’m feeling completely disappears. It is a wonderful feeling, especially when the herd comes over to get scratched while I’m at it.

Not everybody is as fortunate as I am, and so not everybody has a nice pasture to lie in when the weather is nice. Therefore, have some cool-looking cloud pictures (and one picture with no clouds…because blue skies are pretty).

That reminds me: I am a very blessed guy. Now, don’t go rolling your eyes and stuff. I do it, too, so that’s why I’m telling you not to, and I’m not being hypocritical. I’m not one who preaches my religion very much (or at all). In fact, I’m pretty private about it. I might do an entry on my beliefs one of these days (or maybe later today; I seem to be on a roll), but for now, suffice to say that I think it’s very important to count your blessings, and not just from a religious perspective. I find that deliberately taking the time to enumerate the things for which I’m grateful helps my mood overall, and doing it habitually makes the downs in life easier to cope with. It’s one thing to remember that things could be worse, but it’s another thing to recognize the things that you should not only not-lament but celebrate!

So if you’re reading this, then I challenge you to list five things you’re grateful for. They can be clichés or completely original, but they should be heartfelt. Since I’ve had a lot of practice with this, I’ll list ten:
1. My camper is intact; nothing is broken (for right now).
2. My animals are all healthy.
3. I am healthy.
4. I have a good-paying job.
5. I live in a place where I can go outside and look at clouds like the ones above.
6. My family is healthy and safe.
7. I’m eating a Reese’s…and it’s hard for anything to be bad when you’re doing that!
8. I watched a YouTube video today of a bug getting hit by a bug-zapping fly swatter today. The fly’s carapace and head literally blew off of him. That was so very satisfying to watch. (Memo to self: blog entries on why I hate flies and mosquitoes…)
9. I live in a country where I don’t have to worry about the government coming after me for writing any of this.
10. Today was a productive and nice day.
Okay, your turn!
Ads?!

October 18, 2017

So I just found out that readers may occasionally see ads on my blog. For this, I apologize; I didn’t put them there, and in fact, WordPress wants me to upgrade and pay to have them removed. So, I apologize in advance: I’m too cheap to pay to take the ads off on a blog site that I don’t really anticipate very many people reading. Hopefully y’all are all using some kind of ad-blocker anyway; I sure like Adblock Plus (no affiliation; I just believe in giving credit where it’s due).
First Impressions So Far

October 18, 2017

I gotta say, WordPress seems to be pretty darn easy to use. It’s very intuitive. I can see why so many sites run on it. I suspect I’m still just scratching the surface, but so far, so good.
The Blog Entry That Used to Be a Page

October 18, 2017

Okay, a bit of stream-of-consciousness follows… It’ll explain it all at the end.

As I’ve mentioned in at least one post now, I self-published a couple of books on Amazon. They’re adult-themed; you have been warned. Most of my writing is adult-themed. I should check and see what the guidelines are on here; we’ll see how much I have to tone it back.

Anyway, links! Yes, links to books. And also links to other stuff I’ve set up to try to get the word out. I’ll try to keep this page updated as I publish more books.

My first (published) book, Human-Centaur Relations, is about a guy, Bryce, 19-ish, who lives in England with his grandpa. All Bryce’s life, his grandpa has told him stories about how the stories the Greeks told us about centaurs are all lies; centaurs were really gentle, kind, nurturing souls that humans libeled to compensate for how badly we treated them. So Bryce has quietly caught the infection his grandpa has: he desperately wants to meet the centaurs. Unlike his forbears for generations, Bryce is going to get lucky enough to do just that. And I think that’s where I’m going to leave you to read the book. There will be sex.

Human-Centaur Relations on Amazon

My second published book is called Shane and Colton. I haven’t said it on here before, but I’ll say it now; I’m a furry. No, that doesn’t mean I’m covered in hair (well, there is that, too…); it means that I’m an anthropomorphic animal enthusiast. For those who still don’t know what I mean, think Bambi: he’s a talking animal who can make facial expressions. He’s a form of anthropomorphic character. Now, for giggles, have him walk upright but still have back hooves and hands on his forelimbs. Now you’re getting in the realm of what I’m talking about. Consider Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde from Zootopia. There ya go.

That little aside aside, Shane and Colton is about Shane, an anthropomorphic horse, and Colton, an anthropomorphic cougar. Shane is an attorney, and Colton is his favorite prostitute. In their world, spit handshakes are legally binding (and don’t ask me how, but somehow enforced by magic—just go with it; it’s fun!), and so when Colton tries to get the best of Shane during a spit handshake and fails epically, it ends up with Colton moving in with Shane…as his slave. That turns out to be fortuitous because Colton knows something about a case Shane is working on that will help convict the guilty and free the innocent. That’s where I leave you; there will be sex. I think that should be my catch-phrase or something: “And that’s where I leave you; there will be sex.” But that’s a lot of typing, and even though I type 100 WPM, give or take, it’s still a lot of typing. Maybe I’ll abbreviate it to “ATWILY;TWBS”. Know what? I like that. If I can remember it, I’m using it.

Anyway, a link: Shane and Colton on Amazon

As a bit of other news, I’ve commissioned a book cover for Shane and Colton, and depending on how that goes, I’m planning to publish it in paperback. I just think it’d be awesome to actually have a copy of my own book in my hand. Just makes it feel…so much more real, you know?

Update 2017-11-24: The paperback version is finally here and available from Amazon: Shane and Colton (Paperback)

What else…

Ah, yes, links to things.

Facebook Page

Goodreads Page

More news, more news…I’ve applied to publish on Apple and gotten approved, but I don’t want to use my legal name, so I’m working through that. Might try for Barnes and Noble, too. We’ll see.

Know what? The engineer in me can’t stand all this freeform stuff. This “page” content is getting moved to a blog article, and then I’ll put up a new page with nice, clean link information.
Random Thoughts

October 18, 2017
Let’s see. I’ve had a number of thoughts cross my mind as I’ve been going about the site, setting up my About and Contact pages, etc. Here’s a nice list of some of those.
1. I love breakfast, but I never eat it. I should eat breakfast more often!
2. Blue skies are great. Blue skies with cool clouds are better. The background picture for the site is one I took while lying in the pasture.
3. My memory is terrible.
4. I need to start a page about my books.
On that last note…
Popping My Cherry

October 18, 2017

I’ve heard about WordPress off and on over the years. I remember when blogging was a new thing, and I remember thinking to myself, “why would I want to do that?” For that matter, I remember thinking, “why would anybody read what I wrote if I did?”

Admittedly, not much has changed in my thinking in that regard; while I lead a life that is interesting to me, I can’t imagine that it’s particularly thrilling to others. Nevertheless, I’ve published a few books on Amazon now, and I have to admit that I enjoy it. Writing is one of those things that “feels better out than in,” and barring writing more full-length novels, this seems like a good way to blow off some steam while thinking about what my next story will be. So, in short, you could say that I’m starting this blog for me, not for you, and that makes it feel less narcissistic somehow; I’m not writing to garner everybody’s attention; I’m writing because it feels good to do so. And I get WordPress experience. I’ve seen a number of job postings where people need people familiar with WordPress, and being able to claim some familiarity with it would be a good start. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.