Todd Keisling

My wife is one of the most resourceful people I know.  The ingenuity she possesses never ceases to astound me.  A couple of years ago the driver seat in our car was unable to roll back.  This presented a rather big problem.  Being a tall guy, I have to have the seat moved as far back as it can go; Erica, on the other hand, is almost a full foot shorter than I am, and has to have the seat up farther.  I can’t drive with my knees in the way, so we put a lot of wear on the car seat, moving forward and back.  One day it locked in place and refused to move.  Unfortunately it was in Erica’s position.  I tried everything I could to move that seat, and to no avail.  She had to drive me to work that day.

Later, when I called home to discuss taking the car to the dealership, she told me we didn’t have to.  Erica fixed it in less than five minutes with some tape and a bent wire hanger.  This was the first fix of money, and over the last year or so she’s turned her resourcefulness toward more creative ends.  Sure, she still manages to fix the odd thing here or there, but since she was laid off from her design job last year, she’s spent most of her free time making stuff.

I made that sound more sinister than it really is.  In truth, the only sinister part about it is that her crafting has left our living room in a constant state of disarray.  As time went on after her lay off, and the job market continued to flounder, I suggested she put her creative outlet to work.  So, after a Summer’s worth of prepping, I’m happy to announce that she opened her own store on Etsy this week.  She’s selling homemade jewelry and bead work, and she’ll also be listing some of her textile things as well.  Take a look, peruse the goods, and buy something for yourself or someone else.  They make great gifts (insert proverbial wink and nudge here).

Clever Little Thing on Etsy

TK

Well, I’m happy to say this week started on a better note than the last.  I spent the weekend being delightfully lazy, planting my ass on the couch, playing video games and watching horrible movies.

And now?  Now it’s back to the daily grind yet again.  But, the good news is, I started the second part of THE LIMINAL MAN today.  Yes, I know it’s long overdue.  Yes, I know it’s months behind schedule.  As it stands, I intend to have it done by Fall of next year.  Yes, I know I said it would be done by the Fall of this year.  When I said that, I didn’t know it would become what it is, and I didn’t foresee a whole army of obstacles surfacing between then and now.

This time I’ve got a solid outline of the second part, with the beginning sketches of part three.  I’ve got a plan.  It may not be the best plan in the world, but it’s a plan, and for now I’m going to run with it.  I’ll be unplugging myself every evening around 10 PM and working two hours each night before bed.  When I wrote ALT, I worked Monday through Friday, taking the weekends off to recharge and think about what came next.  I think that’s partially why the book was done in two months.  I haven’t stuck to a schedule this time around, but that’s going to change starting tonight.

So there you have it.  That’s the plan.

TK

I love this time of year, and I hate it, too.  I love it because it’s not too hot or cold, the leaves change, and the air is crisp.  I hate it because it’s the last hurrah before Winter comes to stay for a while.

I finished the edits for the first part of THE LIMINAL MAN last week.  It was nice to tighten the reins a bit before moving on to the next section.  I’d intended to start part two in earnest this week, but my health decided to decline a bit, and so I was preoccupied.  I’m one of those people blessed with temperamental sinus issues, and they usually like to creep up and remind me they’re there four times a year, when the seasons change.  Last weekend I woke to discover my head full of snot and my skull caught in the unrelenting grip of some invisible giant.  It was not fun.

It progressed until the middle of the week when my teeth started to hurt.  I left work early.  The pain was so bad, I resorted to one of those toothache kits with the cotton balls and bottle of clove oil.  I must’ve been a hell of a sight, coming home with a bag of tooth meds in one hand and a bottle of Irish whiskey in the other.  After self-medicating, I had the hilarious epiphany that I felt like a writer, nursing myself with the healing power of bourbon.  It was one of the few things I did feel.

Thursday morning I woke with a throbbing pain in the lower left side of my jaw.  I couldn’t bite down.  A section of my gum was swollen.  One tooth seemed to pulse with electric shock every time I opened my mouth.  Growing up with a mother who works for an orthodontist, I sort of knew what it was, even though I didn’t want to admit it.

Yeah, it was an abscess.  I took a day off from work and spent the morning searching for a dentist who offered a reasonable rate (as I have no dental insurance), and who would see me with such short notice.  I did, and Erica and I ventured over to American Dental that afternoon.  Now, I knew going in there that I was going to lose the tooth.  Usually with an abscess, by the time you’re feeling the pain, the tooth is already dying.  This leaves two options: root canal or extraction. One’s about $1700.  The other is about $126. With an exam and x-rays, that latter total comes to about $200.

It seemed like a no-brainer. The dentist, who maintained a weird, timid smile the entire time, asked if I was sure. I told him yes, I was definitely sure, and five minutes later it was out. It’s been a very long time since I had a tooth pulled, but one thing I never forgot was the cracking sound as it’s extracted, and the spots of light dancing before my eyes as it’s yanked from my skull.  Yesterday reaffirmed those memories as valid ones.  Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” was playing on the radio. Thinking of that song makes me nauseous now.

So, after a very long, tiring week, I’m writing off the weekend, and starting fresh on Monday with Part Two.

More soon.

TK

Instead I’m putting off sleep to check email, catch up on the latest goings-on in the news, and check the rankings one more time. I woke this morning to find a note from Erica on my desk which suggested I check my mail. She sent an screenshot of my Amazon sales rank from around 2 AM.  My book sat at 30,621.

Now, it’s been pointed out that the Amazon rankings are really fickle and that I shouldn’t get that excited about it. I google around to find an explanation of how those rankings are determined. One site suggested a book would need to sell around 3k copies a day to be in the top 10.  Five-figure rankings suggest 4 to 5 copies a week. Considering the rank was in the millions over a month ago and practically not selling at all, I can live with 4 to 5 copies a week.

One interesting thing Erica pointed out to me, though, is that while the book club exposure has helped, it wasn’t until I left a copy of the book at a bar in Philadelphia last month that the ranking really started to climb.  It could be a coincidence but, then again, I don’t really believe in coincidences. So, if the person who picked up the book at Kung Fu Necktie last month happens to be reading this, please let me know. I’d love to know how far that book has traveled.

And now, to bed with me. More soon.

TK

Ever since the book club thing came about, I’ve fallen into a habit of checking my rankings every weekend.

Today I noticed two things:  First, Amazon replenished stock of A LIFE TRANSPARENT. Always a good sign.

Secondly, I noticed this:

Emphasis is mine, of course. For a little perspective, the book used to hover in the millions. A couple of weeks ago it hit 500k. Last week it went up to 700k. Now this.  For a little book I self-published, without the backing of a corporate entity, a professional editor, or an agent, it’s certainly doing better than quite a few others.

In the words of Danny DeVito, my balls are on fire.

With that, I bid you good evening.

TK