BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter…

Notice how I start my blogs that way a lot? Yeah, well, just one of those things…

Anyway, those of you who follow me in the aforementioned  social networking venues are aware that I have been furiously hurling words at the page for the last couple of weeks. I know many have assumed that I was working on another Rowan Gant Investigations novel.

Well, actually, I wasn’t…

(Never fear, the next RGI installment will be out next year in July…)

However, what I was working on was being a closely kept secret for a couple of reasons.

1. My publisher didn’t want to jump the gun.
2. Sh*t happens
3. You just never know

Okay… So that’s three. Be that as it may, the project was under wraps because we really weren’t sure if it would be finished in time.

You see, I came up with an idea some time back for a story. A holiday story of sorts. I pitched it. There was a good reception. But I didn’t go home with the bride, so to speak.

Then, recently, I got the green light, with the idea that it would be out next year. Me, I didn’t want to wait. So, I ran off at the mouth and made a promise I wasn’t entirely sure my sorry ass could keep. That being that I would hammer out this Novelette in time for it to be released FOR FREE as an E-book, on Christmas, of THIS year.

Yeah, I know… Stupid, eh? But, the publisher agreed to give it a try and I started flinging. Of course, you know me. A Novelette (7500 to 17,499 words) turned into a Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words). I’ve been turning in pages as fast as I could spit them out, and it seems I did not disappoint my editor.

On top of that, the “Dead Santa” project I kept mentioning? Well… EK, The Chunk Man, and I – with the gracious loan of a Santa Suit from Missus Loota-Chack, did a photo shoot as well, and provided the art department with the pictures I had in my head for the project. They’ve already been hard at work as evidenced here…

So… On December 22nd, Merrie Axemas: A Killer Holiday Tale will be released in E-book format, FREE. For those of you who have yet to get yourself one of those nifty gadgets (such as yours truly) it will also be available in a PDF format and readable online.

I had fun writing it. I hope you have fun reading it… Stay tuned for the information on where and when you can get your copy…

More to come…

Murv

If you’ve been around Facebook lately, you’ve probably seen my “Note” about being busier than a one-legged cat in a paper kicking contest… wait… that’s… hmmm… Dammit. Someone must have spilled my metaphors and just tossed ’em all back into the box all willy-nilly and they’re mixed up…

(SIGH)

Well, no use spilling my tail over chasing a cry.

So, anyway… I’m full boated. Just way too much going on in one place, at one time. Therefore, today’s blog is more or less one of those CBS Sunday Morning, “We’ll leave you with…” sort of interludes. If you don’t watch CBS Sunday Morning, basically their sign-off for the show is that tag line, followed by some video of something, usually serene.

In my case, however, I’m going to leave you with some pictures of my Friday, a few captions, and an advertisement at the end. (Hey, THEY always go directly into a commercial, why can’t I?)

Jack-hammering out the section of walkway alongside Hell House. The sewer pipe for the West end of the house comes out right around the middle of the window, about 5 feet below ground.

Concrete pad gone. Pictured here is one of the two holes in the ground that were revealed beneath it. Because of the pressure on the pipe and the fact that it washed out, it literally sluiced away earth and clay, creating these two chasms that went all the way down to the broken pipe. We dubbed them The Grand Canyon and The Mariana Trench.

Don’t let appearances deceive you. That clay pipe only looks intact. The sweep (turn) is broken at both ends, the 2 foot section near the bottom of the picture is shattered underneath, and where Scuba Steve is standing there’s another two foot section of pipe. However, it is another 8 to 10 inches down because The Grand Canyon had washed out beneath it, so it had broken off at each end and simply dropped to the floor of said canyon. This, of course, resulted in the poo, etc, pouring out of the cast iron pipe to fill the void. It was, to say the least, a might stinky. Good thing it was cold (38 and windy) that day. If it had been July, August, or even September we probably would have needed respirators.

We had a piece of the high grade PVC on hand from installing the drainage system at Hell House a little over a year ago. A trip to the commercial plumbing supplier garnered us a “boot” to go from Cast Iron to PVC, and then another “boot” designed to connect PVC to Clay pipe. Here we have Scuba Steve inspecting his handiwork in search of leaks while we were doing a pressure test. Once it passed, we back filled with pea gravel and all of the dirt. A replacement concrete pad will have to wait until spring or summer next year.

There you have my Friday. The joys of maintaining inherited rental property. All I can say is, DON’T DO IT! Have rental property, that is. The headaches aren’t worth it, in my opinion.

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That’s it from Merp Central for now. I have a ton of stuff yet to do, not the least of which is finish a writing project that is due soon! :-O

More to come…

Murv