Herd Mowing Success - Books Publishing
It's amazing to watch a small herd (some 30 cows, calves, and their bull) go to work on a pasture with forage over their heads. All while I'm writing, editing, publishing right along. 9 books hitting.
Hi,
Glad to have you open this once again (or even for a first time). Yes, life (and writing) goes along on this farm with trials, tribulations, joys, and marvels. And my daily/weekly writing continues as well. Glad to share this all with you.
Farming News - Whole herd grazing works. The story of the reluctant, well-mannered bull at market.
Writing News - Now publishing books 2 done, 1 bugged, 5 more to go. Disappointing book I received gives new lessons in writing and editing.
Fiction News - 3nd in series, Changes to that anthology (which is due to be published this week.)
Expectancy Factor - There’s that phrase that keeps your mind on an even keel.
Farming News
Nearby pasture - across the driveway from the front yard…
This pasture hasn’t been used in over a year. And you can see the cockleburr rising way over the cows’ heads. That fescue at their ankles was nearly up to their bellies when the were let in. What’s missing is the tall ragweed and horseweed that were also about 8 feet tall. (Because cows eat what they like most, first.)
Cows, as Andre Voisin says, eat with five mouths. One on their face and four hooves. What they don’t eat, they trample. And is the reason and success for “mob grazing” where you pile in a lot of cattle into a small space for a short amount of time. That trampling and manuring forms a near-perfect compost.
What experts suggest is to “eat half, leave half.” Which is good for shorter grass, as it allows regrowth. For lawn mowing, you leave them in longer to get that “golf course” look. And then don’t come back to it for a half year or more.
That’s the trick with rotational grazing - keep them rotating through pastures. What they are eating down now is what I’ll put the bull and steers in next Spring. It will be lush again by then - just not quite so much as this.
I’m fixing perimeter fences as I go (all these storms this year have pushed trees into fences at various points) and then let them into these as they wrap up the others. Fortunately, the weather allows this. (And one more reason I haven’t pushed them into some pastures until now.)
Our Reluctant, Well-Mannered Bull
Randy was being himself at the livestock market. Let’s review a core datum here: Good Animal Husbandry is when the animal decides to to where you want them to.
Randy was well-mannered, even spoiled a bit. It surprised me when he would simply stand there. Of course, when I unloaded him, I had a bucket of feed in the truck, so I led him up to his new pen with that and a small rubber feed pan.
And when I went back to see him off at the auction, I brought a bucket of corn-cob pieces to treat him, to show off his calm disposition by hand-feeding him. Fortunately.
When they took him for auction, I was watching overhead from their catwalks. And the guy was on a hot deadline to get him into the auction pen. But Randy didn’t understand. And would simply turn around and head back to where he was perfectly comfortable before. There’s little that a 185=pound young man can do to persuade a 1200 pound bull if they decide to go their own way.
But when that guy reached for the electric cattle prod, I yelled out “DON’T YOU DARE!” Because that would make the bull nervous and he’d show up in the ring as dangerous, unpredictable. I told the guy I’d come down and handle it.
So while the ring waited, I got my bucket and started hand-feeding him as I walked in front of his head. And every time those guys would try to use their noise-making paddles on him, he’d just turn back around to go the other way. He did follow my corn treats just fine.
Of course, that built suspense into the crowd as they waited.
I ended up with Randy in the ring, feeding and scratching him, and then led him away once the bidding was mostly over. And we got a nice price for him. That was a rare site for everyone - bulls aren’t usually able to be treated like that. My wife heard some sniggering in the stands. An amusing sight, I guess.
I wish she’d gotten the whole scene in a photo.
Later, I realized that my herding is mostly done by leading and calling the cattle, then the bull comes along with all those females as part of that herd.
Again, it’s always bittersweet as I work to find a new home for good bulls.
Tiny Home News
Green beans are done for the year. Still some tomatoes on the vine, and a couple of melons. But those are fewer. So you have to know when things are “in season” so you can them into bottles while you can.
Should have that title on Monday, and then we’ll take it to the Recorder of Deeds to make it official - and get a postal address.
Still enjoying the cooler nights. Our little exhaust fan keeps the place nice without having to use the A/C all the time.
Writing News
You’ve been following all the books I’ve been working on.
I started publishing these this week, which was needful before I could get that Kickstarter ramped up for real.
Here’s the list:
WriterpreneurOS - building a business for writerpreneurs
Copywriting for Writerpreneurs - 2nd in that series
(Also published as Breakthrough Copywriter, The Sequel - as a follow-up to my Breakthrough Copywriter book, a review about Eugene Schwartz’ work.)
The Basic Formulas of Fiction - by Foster-Harris and in the public domain. A reference work for the Professional Writer project coming up.
The WriterpreneurOS Workbook - reader magnet for the Kickstarter
The Only Two Ways to Write a Story - by John Gillishaw, excerpted, also in the public domain, also a reference work.
Death By Advertising Anthology - my fiction in it’s final long form
Writerpreneur: The Journey from Algorithm to Artisan - a collection of 19 ebooks into a big bundle - for that Kickstarter
Cracking the Cashflow Code - ebook only, but included in WriterpreneurOS.
I’ve gotten three books going on the process right now. Two are in the publishing queue of D2D, one is needing attention.
Hopefully, I’ll get the rest going today. Three of these will probably only go onto Gumroad for digital bonuses, the rest are all paperbacks.
That paperback process is after I post them as ebooks first. There are other details, but they are each built from their ebook, and so will go faster. Any ebook not long enough to be a print edition will probably stay on Gumroad for now.
Other Writing News
I was surprised to receive an unreadable 80,000 word ebook this week. The editor and authors are grossly mistrained. And just gives me more impetus to get these works from the OU Professional Writer course out to the world.
The book’s TOC was useless. The headings they use didn’t may any sense or excite interest. Like the whole book was just spewed out in a data-dump flood.
Of course, this is a learning opportunity as well.
Books, even non-fiction, have patterns readers want to follow. They have expectations as to formats and sequences. A book will develop a rhythm, and any decent book also has linear rising excitement as you go along.
And one thing is that readers expect chapters about 2,000 words long. And readable non-fiction has each chapter as a whole thought, contributing to the theme of the book, adding its own piece, and then leading the reader into the next chapter. Every single sentence makes the reader want to read the next and keep turning the page.
So when you bounce, that’s a fail on both the writer and the editor.
When a reader throws down the book in disgust, you just permanently lost a fan, let alone a customer.
Books should be perennial-selling, by word of mouth, and so both memorable and remarkable. Anything less is a waste of time in both writing and reading. Sure, that’s a high standard. But any well-trained author can master that and keep producing that quality indefinitely.
The usual problem is that most authors and so-called editors aren’t trained - or haven’t really studied their field to self-train themselves on what really works. It’s the biblical blind leading the blind. Anyone going through life successfully learn to discern, to discard the unworkable, to focus on the most effective way they can help others by following their own bliss.
Professionals live a life of constant joy - calm, cheerful, expectant (as Nightingale says.)
So I’ll probably find some time to completely revamp this errant book to get what I can out of it, just on that formula above. Most of it will probably wind up in the “Supplement” section in its back, while the few gold nuggets will be useful for repurpose, even springboard other studies.
WriterpreneurOS Posts
This is the last chapter in that WriterpreneurOS book - an exploration of getting paid to write. Books aren’t the end all a writer can produce to earn a livable income.
Fiction Posts
Third book in the “Death by Advertising” Anthology posted this week.
This is the first half of the Triangle story. Note the change in the story sequence for the Anthology below.
ICYMI: Here’s the full list of stories we’ll be re-telling. Probably end of October when they are all done - that third one is a longish novella, so I may have to split it up.
Death by Advertising
The Caretaker (under the C. C. Brower pen-name)
Triangle - A Memoir , Part 1
Death by Sales Pitch
Triangle - A Memoir, Part 2
Last Chance
Death by Marketing
The Chrysalis Cure
This aligns the two trilogies better in this book. The “Death by” series has a bit more action to it, but the whole series is overall a bit droll and quiet. The rhythm of these works seems to work better this way. You can see it flow better this way.
Chrysalis Cure is probably as long as Triangle, but has a different approach, since there is a villainous presence as a threat for that couple throughout - while they are working through their own demons. It’s probably the pinnacle of my fiction writing to date.
Meanwhile, that last book leaves enough threads hanging out for a sequel sometime later (probably a trilogy of it’s own, I imagine - whenever I get back to fiction.)
Expectancy Tips
Again, the core of this all goes back to Nightingale’s Strangest Secret - “We become what we think about.”
When you find yourself ill at ease, reflect on what you’ve allowed into your space that day. Because what you allow into your mind will keep racketing around in there until you let it go, or it dissipates against the inflow of other materials.
When you watch a movie, you keep thinking about the story for three days or so. And reading an involving book will do the same, even longer. Because you’re getting into the characters every day as you read the next installment or episode.
Politics this week reminded me of this. That “debate”. And its following commentary. Because it’s a zero-sum game. No one really wins, they just keep fighting against each other. And our current scene has all the angst and suspence a person could want.
But any creative person already has enough to keep them more than busy. Their bliss muses are calling constantly with more ideas.
It’s just better to focus on your own talents and output than to get involved with dead-end conflicts. You get more out of life by seeking to love unconditionally and help openhandedly. Always. Try it for yourself.
Still working on my bonuses in the paid subscription area. You can visit https://store.livingsensical.com for my numerous discount-priced collections of books, courses, materials. As usual.
Kickstarter Previews
Still need your feedback on the Kickstarter preview.
Please visit the preview and use their comment area to tell me what needs to improve - or just give me (needed) attaboys.
Kickstarter display page here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481356435/1548894263?ref=a5wy7u&token=315549e4 (Feel free to share that preview…)
Sign up to be notified when it goes live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robertworstell/writerpreneur-cracking-the-cashflow-code-non-fiction-book (Sign up now. Share that link with anyone you know who it could help.
PS. I discovered late pledges have been implemented by Kickstarter - so mine will have these for all who missed the initial roll-out. Lots of great stuff. When we get back to it.
A Special Offer Returns
Continuing along - the beta-readers version of WriterpreneurOS is now available as updated. It will be available at this link until I put up the final version (shortly).
That link is also Pay What You Want - a nice way to donate.
Here’s the link: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/WOS01-beta-readers
AN ASK: if you’ve downloaded it, please give some feedback. Leave it in the comments, send me an email. Something, anything. Like it, could be better.
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I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
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