Life in general...

Well, last week my kids would not stop fighting with one another. They would fight over toys, so we would take the toys away. Then they would fight over pens and paper, so we took that away. Then they would fight over pillows or blankets on the couch so we made them sit on the floor. Then they would fight over what was on TV so we turned the TV of. Not to be out done they then turned to fighting over whom was looking at whom the wrong way.

Suffice to say we got more than a little bit frustrated at this and I finally grounded them for the weekend. Unfortunately that didn't seem to stop it so we started adding days on to their grounding until now they are grounded solidly through next weekend. Here's the kicker though. Next Saturday they have their belt testing for Karate and one of the tenants over at the dojo is that people are behaving well both at school and at home. So I am torn between allowing them to test for their belts despite the fact that they are grounded, or holding them back for a few more months because of their behavior...

Now I am not a total jerk mind you. I did give them an out. Another item that comes from the dojo is what they call a 'self discipline sheet' which is a piece of paper with three sections on it, each section having ten lines. The idea is that every time the child does something around the house or school without being asked, such as picking up a mess, emptying the trash, and so forth, they can fill out one line with their good deed. I told the kids that for every ten lines they filled out they could discount one day from their grounding, which at the time did NOT include the Saturday of their testing.

Since then they have continued to be at one another's throats and the days have been adding up so that now, as I said previously, they are grounded clean through their belt tests. They have not even tried to fill out their self discipline sheets (One of them has about six lines filled out after eight days and the other is at three or four lines maybe). 

Frankly I am at a loss for what to do. Nothing I say or do seems to make any impression upon them where their fighting is concerned, nor where the self discipline sheets are concerned. The older boy already missed his promotion last round because he didn't fill out any of his homework cards and he didn't seem too upset about the ordeal. I'm not sure that holding them back is something that means enough to them to actually qualify as punitive measures.

I've tried taking the toys out of their rooms, shutting down their computers, grounding them and everything else I can think of and nothing seems to make any sort of a lasting impression on them. I just don't know....

On another note, the press releases about the book should hit the news wires tomorrow, so hopefully we will see some activity from that. Also, progress is still being made on the RPG book, although it is slow due to work. I hope to pitch it to the company this week or next, we'll see how it plays out. I am still trying to work out a signing with the local Barnes & Nobel but I am not convinced it is going to happen considering their policies. We'll see.

Alright, I am going to try and get some work done on one of these stories so I am signing off. I will talk to you all next time so until then, keep fighting the good fight!

And so it begins...

In truth it began a number of years ago, but Last month the publishing process was completed and now I am wading into the interesting world that is PR (public relations) and advertising.

Just this afternoon I submitted a press release to a couple of newswire services concerning the release of 'The First Key of Kalijor'. I have no idea how many, if any, publications will pick it up, but at the very least it will be listed on google news and yahoo news. We'll have to see what happens.

If you got here from an address you received from some sort of news article or RSS feed, please drop a comment letting me know so that I have some idea about how useful the last few hours have actually been. Then head over to the storefront and buy a book or two, everyone needs a couple copies. They make great gifts and the gifting season is just around the corner now. THey also make wonderful paper weights, jack stands, fly swatters, projectile weapons, kindling, door stops, and oh yeah, there's a story in them there pages too!!

Ok, so I am a little strange, but anyone who has known me for more than about 10 seconds would have been able to pass that little nugget on to you had you but asked for it! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Let's see, other news...... Nothing really races to mind....

I have been trying to arrange a couple more local book signings, but it seems as though most of the local book stores have been run out of the game. I'm not sure if it is the doing of the big-name stores or just some other economic factor, but it kind of sucks either way. I love Lulu.com and everything they have enabled me to achieve thus far but their one major flaw at this point is that they do not buy books back from stores. The unfortunate (for me) side effect of this is that I can not get in the door there to do a signing with my own stock of books, and they will not buy books that they can not return.

I am going to talk to some PR people about the possibility of me buying back unused stock personally, but I have extremely limited funding for that so it can't happen terribly often right now.

Oh! I would also like to put forward at this point that since I DO have stock in hand at this point, I am willing to send you a SIGNED copy of 'The First Key of Kalijor' for $23US. That's $18 for the book and $5 shipping (only to locations inside the United States, if you are outside the US, please contact me and I will get back to you with shipping costs elsewhere). I will of course sign your copy that you already have, but if you don't live in or around Westminster CO then I am afraid that you will be personally responsible for the cost of shipping the book to me for signing and then back to yourself again. That is not something I relish doing but right now I just don't have the funds to be absorbing such things right now. Although I am sure such a time will come along in the future. :)

Alright, I think I am about done now, so thanks for stopping by and I will see you all later!!

Looks as though it is working....

SO it looks like this is functioning. Now my next task will be to get it looking more like a piece of my site... Time to brush up on the CSS skills I guess.

Of note, I have added a few more short stories to the Writings page, namely the seventh installment of the Jumah's World story, and the last bit of the Vincent Torres series, along with a little epilogue that may have a bit of a spoiler in it so consider yourselves warned!!!

Getting Started...

This is the very first edition of Kalijor daily. It is mostly for the purpose of making sure it works and I am sure there will be a much more meaningful post added here in the very near future.

So keep checking back as I am just getting going!

Ciao!

Paul Lell