Saturday Night Message: Week of July 6 to 12
Days Till Novel Launch: 112
Sunday, July 6, 2025
9:02 p.m.
And just like that, the Fourth of July holiday weekend is over. :-)
It’s been a good weekend for productivity. In fact, I may wrap up the last of the work on the welcome page video tonight and get it posted.
11:07 p.m.
And the video is done and live. It’s posted on the About page and on the Welcome (landing) page.
If I never, ever…ever open and use iMovie again, that will be fine with me. ;-) Oh, I may very well have to do that at some point, but I’m calling this whole video aspect of the project DONE.
In other literary news…
I continue to read The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim DeFede. Continues to be a great read. Tomorrow, I start working on a couple of press releases to promote this Substack publication.
First, I rest.
Monday, July 7
9:17 p.m.
Been a quiet day with a lot of reading. About a month ago I did a lot of impromptu overtime to help with a pop-up project at the office. Afterwards, my boss called me to say thanks. He couldn’t offer me a cash bonus or anything, but he told me I could take a half day off sometime, as long as I told him in advance.
Today was the day. I hit a goal on another project early in the day, and the email/chat radar was quiet. I suspect lots of folks added a PTO day to the long holiday weekend. So, I dropped my boss an email, he said “Okay,” and I logged off after lunch.
No major plans. I did a little cleaning around the house. Sent a couple of personal emails. And I’m read…guilt free.
Tonight, I’m gonna do some cleaning at my desk and get organized…creating a game plan for the press release. Actually, there will be two press releases. Speaking of which, I’m wrapping this up for the night. Yak at yah later…
11:34 p.m.
FYI for Paid Subscribers: Starting tonight, I am creating the two MS Excel submission tracker spreadsheets. I’m creating them on a Mac. Once done, I’ll send them to my Windows machine for some Q&A, and then I’ll create a paid subscriber post. I’ll set it up so you can click a button and download the source file. You may already have that special post by the time this Saturday Night Message comes out. Tuesday, July 8: Trash Day, Part I
7:53 p.m.
Busy today at the tech writing writing gig, but busy is good. Trash day. My better half and I did a monster supply and grocery run. Settling in.
Eryn had an interesting time after work today. She dropped by her beau’s place, and his dog decided to visit her in the driveway. ;-)
Did I mention that Eryn has hyperosmia? Yep, she’s a "super smeller." Been meaning to have her tested for years…just for fun. The first time we took her to the beach, within about ten miles from the ocean, she began screaming uncontrollably. After a few days, she calmed down, but it wasn’t the most pleasant vacation. I’m sure it was worse for her, esp since she was so small at the time.
Oh, and it’s Tuesday:
I’m off to work on spreadsheets. Later gaters…
Wednesday, July 9: Trash Day, Part II
Lunch
Submission tracker spreadsheets created and tested. Paid Subscribers: I'm fairly certain that you'll have that special post BEFORE this weekly message goes out. If not, it won't be long.11:43 p.m.
More progress on the paid post work this evening. I’m glad this day is over. Here’s the view from the back deck late this afternoon. My camera is crap, so it’s not clear. But Mr. or Mrs. Bunny has been living under or pool deck for a good while.
Closing Thoughts: Some weeks, Baby Bigfoot makes trash day (Part I & II) much more complicated than it needs to be. I’ll share more about Baby Bigfoot soon!
Thursday, July 10
5:16 p.m.
Able to get errands done during lunch hour, so I can start work earlier today/tonight. Listened to the below podcast episode today while working. It’s worth 30 minutes of your time. :-) You should be able to click the Play button below.
The following mailer arrived in the post today. :-)
Spalding knows how to network! It helps that The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing is a great program. Kathleen runs it. This reminds me of the below podcast featuring her. It came across my social media feeds yesterday.
I’ll listen to it in a moment as I continue work on the spreadsheets. Click here if you wanna listen to it, as well.
11:22 p.m.
That was a great interview with Kathleen! :-)
It has been a good evening. Finished and posted the spreadsheets post, and there is a good chance I may have done it correctly. There is always something new to learn with this software.
And while I worked on the spreadsheet post, I started printing off materials for the fall semester at WKU. Online, I’m teaching English 200: Introduction to Literature. First, I design the course, then I create the syllabus, then I design and create the online course. Then…finally…I’m ready to teach the class. It’s a long prep process, which is why I’m starting now. The fall semester starts closer to end of August.
At least I am not…cursed…with nothing to do. ;-)
Night…
Friday, July 11
9:44 p.m.
So….is everyone in a foul mood tonight, or am I the only one? Oh well, I’ll get over it.
In other news, it’s Friday:
Okay, most weeks…I forget to paste in the “New to You” video from Parnassus Books. Not sure why. Anyway, it’s a good way to spend a couple minutes. Hope you enjoy.
Editorial Note: "Hello" to the new subscriber I met on Charlotte's Zoom call today! Thanks for jumping on this e-hay wagon. ;-)Oh yeah, there’s a good chance that everyone received the post today that was for the paying subscribers. I hope the paywall break doesn’t put you in a foul mood. If you have no plans to be a writer, then you won’t be interested in those other posts. Just delete them, guilt free. ;-) I’m making every attempt to make as many general interest, literary posts as possible open to all.
10:16 p.m.
Spending a little time cleaning out my e-mail in-box, which I treat as my to-do list. I’m on a series of online media feeds that send me all sorts of literary news. I let it build up, and then I cherry pick items to share on social media. I started doing that tonight, and good-golly, all of social media is so politically toxic. The vast majority of the time, I’m on them only long enough to send stuff, and I avoid twitter if at all possible. It’s especially bad.
If you notice my feeds, you will see no politics or religion…or as little as possible. And I post only good news. There’s plenty of negative news associated with the publishing industry and book world, but I assume that other folks are more than happy to spread the bad news.
My goal with anything associated with THE E-POSTLE or me, in general? Whenever you see my name come across your feed or in your email in-box, I want it to ignite positive thoughts.
Saturday, July 12
2:53 p.m.
Today has been spent at the desk, completing WKU teaching to-do items for the fall semester. Had some yearly training, and I needed to clean out my packed WKU email in-box. Emailed the campus bookstore to verify which of my text books are available digitally only and which could be hard copies. I prefer having the students purchase and use real, old-school textbooks. I find that they tend to complete more homework on time when the books are real.
One text is the below academic edition of A Christmas Carol. When I teach a lit class in the fall, I always make sure to assign this text as the book-in-common selection. And the academic edition has lots of fun stuff in the back, like book reviews in local papers from the first edition’s printing in London.
Okay, I’m hitting the POST button. I’ve got errands to run, and I’m starting on the press releases tonight.
As always, Freckles sends her regards…
