BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Those of you who have been reading Brainpan Leakage on a regular basis have probably noticed a change or two over the past couple of days. Nothing major… Just stuff like the virtual sofa is now against the South wall, the recliner has some new rips in the Naugahyde, and the coffee table is upside down on top of the bookcase…

Okay. So the changes are a bit on the major side…

“What prompted this?” you ask.

Well, it’s like this. An out of control WordPress Update with out-of-state vanity plates reading “VER 2.9”, jumped the curb and ran right through the front wall of my blog.

Really…

It was a mess…

Fortunately, nobody was hurt… Well, my feelings were a little damaged, but then I’m a Pisces and we know how that can happen. Being the loving wife she is, E K hated seeing me in such a state, so she slapped me around a bit to put things into perspective. Once she was finished abusing me I went off to nurse my wounds and ruminate on the fact that things could definitely be worse. Suddenly… well, once I stopped bleeding… the world looked quite a bit brighter.

And so, here it is in a nutshell. The out-of-control vehicle called WordPress “Carmen” came crashing through the wall, just as I said. Upon doing so, it leaked fluid from the radiator all over my carpet and dumped oil on my knick-knacks…

To translate – my theme, or as some would call it “Skin,” is equivalent to the carpet. My plugins are equivalent to my knick-knacks… By way of further translation, there were, to say the least, some major compatibility issues between my theme, some of my plugins, and the latest version of WordPress.

Now, I’m not about to complain. WordPress is free. So are the third party plugins and themes. If I was paying for it, I’d probably have a gripe. But, hey,  since I’m not shelling out any cash I’m not about to point any fingers. An upgrade is an upgrade, and sometimes you have to make a few modifications in order for the new part to fit. Sooooo, I simply retrieved my mop and bucket from the closet and cleaned up the mess. Then I visited the hardware store for the necessary items to effect repairs. Finally, I consulted with my interior design consultant – read,  E K – and did myself a bit of redecorating.

No worries… I think it came out looking fantastic… Of course, E K is responsible for the aesthetics.

And, besides, it had been a year or so. It was time for a fresh coat of paint around here. I just hope VER 3.0 waits a while before crashing through the wall of my den.  I’m just now starting to get comfortable with the new digs…

However, if another collision is the plan, I would like to suggest to the development team at WordPress central that the project name for 3.0 be designated, “Evil Kat”…

More to come…

Murv

… Ben had turned up the volume slightly on the television when the Saturday night movie had been interrupted for a breaking news update. Brandee Street, her cameraman, and the pilot had been arrested all right—but not before getting the morbid video into the station’s hands. Even through the overblown colors of the malfunctioning set, you could easily make out Ben, Constance and me on the balcony of the apartment. We had fought a desperate fight, but in the end the sheet had fluttered enough to give at least a partial view of the woman’s nude remains.

We all stared silently at the picture as the talking heads behind the anchor desk identified us each in succession. It was all we could do to stifle disgusted sighs as they proceeded to tag us with a sensationalized nickname. A moniker that would unfortunately not only stick for some time to come but was also picked up immediately by every other station and newspaper in the bi-state area. We had been christened “The Ghoul Squad.” …

Some of you may recognize the above paragraphs as having been excerpted from Never Burn A Witch, the second novel in my Rowan Gant Investigations series. And, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter it’s a fairly good bet you’ve already heard about the “official” RGI GHOUL SQUAD. But then, maybe you haven’t, so that’s why I am going to flap my metaphorical gums about it here.

One of my fans, Walter Hardin Jr. to be exact – as I definitely want to give credit where credit is due – mentioned to me that I really needed a “Street Team” to free me up from some of the time-sucking promotional activities that come with the whole “being an author” profession. I thought I knew what a “Street Team” was, but soon discovered that there are two types – professional and fan-based. It was then I remembered something from my youth – The KISS Army. I was never a member myself, what with Styx being my ear candy of choice, but believe me I went to school with many of the KA inductees.

So, I did a bit of research. Then I researched some more. Then I got together with my publicist (Wendy) and my pa/publicist (Scott). They both gave me some great input. Then I ran it past a couple of friends, one of whom had done time in the music biz – they all had great input too. Some ideas were weeded out, others were solidified. The ones we liked most got a quick swipe of the photo fixative lacquer – sorry… had an old 1960’s Polaroid moment there… Anywho, it seemed like in the matter of just a few days I went from, “Street Team? What’s that?” to “YEEHAAAAA! Street Team!”

Better yet, a whole bunch of folks out there in Interwebz land did too…

And so, the RGI GHOUL SQUAD was officially born.

Complete with its very own website and everything, the “Squad” was set to go live January 1, 2010. But, that was before I committed premature post-aculation. By this I mean, while starting to write the posts that would fill the news section of the RGI GHOUL SQUAD website I neglected to turn off the ping.fm updater. As soon as I let loose with that first post it was all over Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace – not to mention a few other social networking venues.

Email began to pour in – “The join link doesn’t work!”, “There’s a password on xyz link so I can’t get to it!”, “I want to join right now!”… and so on. You get the picture.

Suddenly, I was busier than a cat covering up sh*t with all my email answering to explain the situation. But, I just couldn’t keep up. Don’t get me wrong, I was – and am – ecstatic that so many folks expressed an interest in the “Squad”. I simply wasn’t prepared to handle my screwup.

So, instead of fighting a losing battle I focused my energies and resources on making things happen a little quicker. Therefore, the RGI GHOUL SQUAD officially went “live” 18 days early – this past Sunday, December 13, 2009 to be exact. Hmmmm, 13… Seems kind of fitting in a lot of ways.

If you think you might be interested in checking out the “Squad,” its benefits – and responsibilities – then maybe even joining up, you can find the official website at www.rowangant.com.

Just be aware – I am NOT going to wear all that facepaint, breathe fire, spit fake blood, or even sing Rock And Roll All Nite…

Well… Okay… Maybe I’ll sing, but only after a few beers.

More to come…

Murv