The Story Continues

Ah, yes. The later years.

I was going to title this first piece The Story Winds Down but realized that might sound as if I had a lingering, terminal condition and planned to give long and detailed descriptions of my decline.

In fact, except for this dodgy knee, I'm fine. Susan and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this year and we both wonder at how quickly it went by. This is not a complaint, and we didn't waste 20 years, but looking at it now, it's been no time at all. The good news is we're still friends. We laugh a lot, enjoy each other's company, eat good food, and this is where I want to be.

Which is not to say that's the end of it. The past few years, since I've published my novel "Grants Ferry"...

Himself, the Award, and the Book

(Shameless commercial:
http://www.amazon.com/Grants-Ferry-David-Chase/dp/1477538313/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370166826&sr=1-1&keywords=grants+ferry+by+david+chase)

...I've been having to be nearly as creative thinking of ways to get it in front of people as I was when I wrote it in the first place. And with no money to hire publicity, it's all about opportunity.

Sometimes, after considering it for a while, I decide I'll take a chance and spend a bit of money. The most recent was this past summer when I entered the novel in a competition run by the Independent Publishers of New England.(IPNE). And it hit. I was a Finalist in the Literary Fiction category. Now the award certainly can't hurt but to be honest there has yet to be a huge spike in sales. Give it time.

But like I said, opportunities come up all the time. Lately I've been getting a lot of "personal" emails from Barack and Michelle. I think it's nice we're all on a first name basis now, but these friendly, chatty emails always end with a request for money. I've got nothing against the Obamas. I voted for him both times. But it does rankle me a bit when someone with a cushy salary, living rent free in a house full of servants, wants me to send him a few dollars.

So I decided to write back. I don't have the email handy but basically I thanked them for the note but I did wonder why the only time they write is when they want money. So I explained that Susan and I are living on Social Security and a $10/hr part time job and that our discretionary income, what there is of it, is too dear to be sending it off to a bunch of people with big salaries who will probably spend it in ways generally unacceptable to me. On the other hand, I have this novel, "Grants Ferry". And I include the link to the Amazon page, just like I did further up on this page, and suggest they might consider buying a copy and sending the Amazon link to all their friends. After all, a nice royalty check from Amazon might encourage me to offer some meager financial support to noble causes.

Nothing yet.

When they start paying attention to me I'll start paying attention to them.