 | 19 Jun 08 |
You work hard, you practice hard, you hone your skills, you keep in the game, and while you might be a bench warmer, you’re there, in the ballpark, a part of the team, and finally, after all that hard work, after all those days you showed up, you get your chance, and as you step up to the plate and look at your future amongst all of those screaming adoring fans, you nail it. You can hear that sound when the ball hits the sweet spot of the bat, and you know it’s gone. But as that ball is heading straight for the homerun wall that damn center fielder runs it down, makes the jump of his life, and catches it.
A gamer shakes it off and continues to work hard to step up to the plate again. Because statistically if you hang it there, you’ll get your shot, and then another and another until one day that ball sails over the fence. But there are always those fickle winds of fate swirling and waiting…to f&%$ everything up.
That’s kind of how I feel right now.
JADED released this week, and my historical debut, MASTER OF SURRENDER, releases next Tuesday. And I’m more nervous about these two books then any of my previous books. And the funny thing is, I’m not nervous about how they will be received. The feedback I’ve received from reader groups and booksellers on MASTER OF SURRENDER has been very positive. JADED? The characters are so meant to be, they wrote the story. So why do I feel like fate is messing with my stories?
The economy.
I remember how much things slowed down in the early nineties, but I don’t remember people loosing their homes. I don’t remember retail stores in my town closing up by the dozens. The rumors have been rampant in our industry of this company and that company clamping down. Publishing is conservative to begin with, but give them a shaky economy and they become more so. A lot of people are losing their jobs, and many book related businesses are closing their doors.
My husband has a saying, “Bad things happen to good people.” And it’s true. But then there is the other saying, “What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.” Again, agreed. I told the kids the other day, “Yes, things are tight right now, but it makes us all realize what we really need and how lucky we have been to have what we have. It’s not going to kill us to cut back.” Indeed, it will make us stronger, more frugal, less wasteful. Hubby and I have been talking solar power. When your utility bills run past the thousand buck mark in the summer time, it’s definitely something to consider. My next vehicle? A hybrid. I try not to use plastic, and we recycle like street bums. I rarely print statements out anymore. Going green has become something I automatically do these days. I think my next step may well be buying a Kindle. Not my reading preference, mind you, but I’m thinking of the trees here. Yeah, I have definitely gotten on the go green bandwagon.
How about you? Any green tricks? And with gas prices so high (we’re pushing 5 bucks a gallon hard here in Nor Cal) what are you doing for cheap thrills this summer?
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Karin, maybe instead of going on an expensive vacation, people will stay home and read books. Your books. I can see that happening.
My sister is flying in next month and my big family with all their extended family members will be coming over for a barbecue. That’s the only thing I have planned yet for this summer. As for being green, we’ve recycled for years and I’m not a huge consumer.
by Edie June 20th, 2008 at 5:00 amMy green efforts to date, other than those you mentioned, is buying the fabric shopping bags from my grocery store. Now I just have to remember to bring it into the store once I’m there. Another is combining trips. Since I live far from a city center (25 miles), when I do go I make sure to accomplish every task imaginable. No more back and forths like I used to do. I’m so glad I don’t have to make that drive for employment purposes anymore.
Back when Jimmy Carter was in office and we had that “gas” problem, everyone took the bus. In fact, we took the bus before the gas crisis. No one in my neck of the woods does anymore, which is a real shame. I got a lot of reading done on the bus, and if people would consider doing the bus-hop, maybe the book stores would flourish again.
by Kathy Calarco June 20th, 2008 at 5:08 amMy green efforts mostly have to do with recycling (to the point where there is sometimes more recycling then regular garbage) Like Kathy I also use the reusable cloth bags when shopping – not only do I save (my supermarket give you 5 cents back on every bag you recycle) by not using plastic but I like them better then plastic. Mine have a sturdy bottom so they stand up right in the car and I dont end up with half my groceries all over the back of my car when I get home.
When I purchased my car last summer knowing that my commute would be 25miles each way I wanted a fuel efficient car (even if I couldn’t afford a hybrid, and I even get better mileage then some hybrids) and my car is a Low Emissions Vehicle. I also save on gas with my Sam’s club membership so I get discounted gas there (it is still just under $4/gal there where as else where around it has crept up to just over $4/gal)
I am not sure how the economy is going to influence my summer vacation plans, but I cant wait for some vacation time. I don’t even think that I would mind just staying at home. I live just around the corner from a beach on the Chesapeake Bay so its within walking/biking distance that when I decide its time for a vacation to go sit on the sand and read a book its close and I don’t have to use any gas to get there.
The one thing that I dont see happening is me giving up my books – it would just be too hard. I love them and the feeling of them in my hands as I read. I have thought about getting a Kindle, but I just dont think that electronic readers are for me – although it would be easier to conceal exactly how many books I own.
by Tiffany June 20th, 2008 at 7:24 amCongrats your multiple releases Karin! It’s an exciting time for you–one which you have worked damned hard for.
Just a comment, my husband was in England just over a week ago and gas was $9.00 a gallon there, and a light continental breakfast was about $22.00.
Here in So Cal, we’re heading for that $5.00 mark too–I don’t drive anywhere on a whim anymore. And I don’t turn on the air conditioner until I can’t stand it any longer. It’s hard on everyone these days.
by Jen June 20th, 2008 at 7:41 amP.S. I haven’t cut back on books! Books are still cheap entertainment, and boy, do we need entertainment now!
by Jen June 20th, 2008 at 7:41 amNo way am I cutting back on books. Jen’s right. Cheap entertainment. I love to see them on my shelves and love to feel them in my hands. A Kindle seems so …cold.
My recycling bin is much bigger than my garbage bin and I’m trying to drive less since my suburban gets a lovely 12 MPG. I was discussing hybrids with a patient who owns a car repair shop and he said to wait on hybrids. He claims it’s only temporary and technology has better things on the near horizon. He also mentioned that the hybrid batteries might be an issue when they die. I think he meant a cost issue and recycling issue. I listened, but I still think the hybrid Tahoe is looking awfully good these days.
by Kendra June 20th, 2008 at 8:24 amNever did do plastic to any extent. Hubby has always been the “if we don’t have the cash – then we don’t buy it”, except for vacations, that is when the plastic gets bent, but pay it off A.S.A.P.
My next vehicle will be something of the hybrid type, but that’s not for another three years. My Sonata gets pretty decent gas mileage.
We as americans need to take a good hard look at all the excess we have and enjoy compared to other countries and stop boo hooing so much.
Congrats to you Kars on all your releases – still waiting for my copy of Master of Surrender
by Mary June 20th, 2008 at 9:00 amEdie I know I’m going to be doing a lot of reading this summer. And how fun you’re having that big family bash!
Kathy, I’m so glad I no longer have to commute either. Taking the bus? Haven’t been on one since…geez since I can’t remember. I have a shopping center within walking distance. I can see hoofing it to pick up odds and ends.
Tiffany, I keep meaning to get the cloth bags. It’s next on my agenda. We have also changed out all of the regular light bulbs to the squiggly ones. I forget what they’re called. They burn 75% cooler and take 75% less energy and last freakin’ forever. I grew up not far from the Chesapeake Bay. I miss it.
by Karin June 20th, 2008 at 9:41 amJen I knew gas was expensive over there but wow! 22 bucks for a continental breakfast!??
Must have air conditioning. I can’t/don’t/won’t hold off. My office is upstairs and it gets the hot afternoon heat. The fan only lasts so long and we get hot weather here in the summer.
and hey, I’m hoping book buying habits will not succumb to the economy.
Yay, Kendra! I’m not cutting back on them either! I have too many friends to support.
Mary Mary Mary you people must recycle! California has been doing it for years. We have recycle bins that get picked up every week. Not sure how man y other states do it. But I can’t bring myself to throw a plastic bottle away or the newspaper away in the regular trash. I must go in the recycling bin.
by Karin June 20th, 2008 at 9:50 amI can’t think of a lot of things I can do to cut back more.
I can’t give up the car because my mother doesn’t get around well enough to take the bus. I can’t skimp on the air conditioning because my mother needs to be in the cool at her age and with her medical problems (but note, I’m not complaining about having to keep it cool since I don’t do hot weather). I can’t really recycle because my apartment building doesn’t provide separate bins for recyclables (I think they’re supposed to, but they haven’t done so yet), and my apartment isn’t big enough to save cans and bottles and paper so that I can recycle them myself. However, I don’t feel quite so bad about that because there are a number of regular dumpster divers that harvest pretty much all the recyclables from our bin.
I do work at home, which means I don’t have to commute. I try to do everything I can in one trip when we do go out in the car, and I try to plan the shortest possible route between needed stops. Except for trips across town once or twice a week to join my knitting group, just about everything we need can be found within three or four miles of home, which helps. I don’t do laundry until I have a full load of clothes to wash, and I don’t do dishes until I have a full sink of dirty dishes (no dishwasher here but me).
So, I do what I can, but what I can do right now is limited.
Oh, and we did do a long (almost two week), expensive vacation the first two weeks of this month (just as the gas prices were peaking, of course), but instead of taking the driving vacation I had wanted to, we picked out three locations and spent a few days at each. Probably not a good thing to do now, but my mother is getting near the point, I think, when she won’t be able to travel any more, and I wasn’t going to let the stupid oil companies take away the opportunity to take one more nice vacation with her. Also, I did a good amount of book shopping while we were gone, and I don’t intend to cut back on my book buying if I can possibly help it.
by Elaine June 20th, 2008 at 10:10 amI’ve given up driving just for fun, and frivolous trips, like to Berkeley for cupcakes. I’ve carried cloth bags or reused those handled shopping bags for years, and our city virtually forces recycling by giving us a tiny little garbage can and a huge recyclables can. But we don’t buy most processed food, so our packaging is minimal, and buy as much local, organic, range-raised, etc. food as possible. I just ordered 1/2 a grassfed beef so I won’t have to drive to the farmers market every weekend, although there will be freezer costs. I don’t like a/c, so it’s mostly only on at night when my husband is home or when it’s over 100 for the husky pup. I won’t switch to e-books, since between the reader and the book prices, it’s just way too much $$$, but I have been going to the library for the first time since I was a kid. Unfortunately, they don’t really carry romance.
by Poppy June 20th, 2008 at 10:11 amOh, but I’m keeping my 330hp coupe.
Although I do covet an all-electric Tesla.
by Poppy June 20th, 2008 at 10:14 amI am growing my own lettuce, tomatoes and zucchini. I recycle, use compact flourescent lights and water only enough to keep my trees alive.
I plan to entertain myself at home with a huge stack of good reads and my DVD collection.
by Bonnie June 20th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Speaking of the Chesapeake – we are vacationing close to home this year – going to O.C. at least two times. Don’t worry Kars I’ll eat lots of steamed crabs for ya (tee hee hee) 
by Mary June 20th, 2008 at 11:03 amHey Karin, congrats on your “babies” too! Big celebration! Let’s see, we use the new lightbulbs that spiral and look wierd. We have some tomato plants out, and have for a few years now. My big “bad” is water bottles. My next step is to buy a water filter for my sink, and use an eco-safe water bottle and carry it around. The water here in TN smells like chlorine coming out, and in several small counties around us they’ve sent letters that it doesn’t pass inspections. But assures everyone it’s probably not harmful. Okay, sure. My daughter and I want to visit veggie markets, and buy organic. I buy those in stores on a small level, but they’re so expensive. We want to go in together, and buy for two families to save at some point. There’s an organic farm on the outskirts, and the monthly service they have is more than one family can eat. So, we’d both win.
Man, I’m really worried about what so much environmental damage will show.
by LaDonna June 20th, 2008 at 11:13 amKarin,
Congrats on the two new releases, that’s wonderful news!
I haven’t cut back on buying books, because I just wouldn’t enjoy life without a good book to read. However, I’m sad to say that I’m not currently buying hardcover books. I feel bad about that because there are a lot of author’s out there that I want to support. Unfortunately, I just can’t afford those hardcovers right now. As soon as they hit paperback, I’m there!
by Mary-Frances Makichen June 20th, 2008 at 11:53 amCongrats on the books. Can’t wait to get my hands on Master of Surrender. We recycle, have a garden, use the weird lightbulbs, and cut down on excess driving. We live 50 minutes away from the hubby’s job, so that’s necessary. Vacations aren’t in the budget this year, though we may have to do some traveling to say goodbye to the hubby if he goes overseas. Cutting back on books should be the 11th commandment.
by HollyD June 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pmElaine, cutting down on the exhaust fumes by combining trips is huge as well as waiting to do laundry and dishes when you have a full load. You could try those weird looking new bulbs. They really cut down on cost and energy. And glad to hear the book buying is not going to suffer.
Poppy, lol on the forced recycling. I remember when they first started it years ago, I was a little irked that through my efforts they were making money! I mean they want me to pay my bill *and* give them recyclables they can covert to cash? Where’s my rebate?
Now hubby and number two son save all of the clear bottles and cash them in on principle.
Bonnie, I wish I had a place to grow veggies. I love home grown tomatoes.
LaD, we have lots of organic farms out here, and a killer Farmer’s Market Saturday mornings, which I usually miss out on because of RWA chapter meetings or life interruptus. But I think tomorrow I may go down and do some shopping. Our water stinks, literally, here too. We buy big five gallon jugs and use it for everything. I need to buy a few of those eco-safe water bottles. We buy too many cases of the singles.
Hey, Holly! Thank you. and I’m keeping everything crossed hubby DOES NOT have to go overseas again.
by Karin June 20th, 2008 at 12:29 pmMy hubby and I are going to take a few short vacations this year. We’ll stay within a couple of hours of home. We don’t have to go far to hit the great vacation spots. Tahoe, San Fran, Napa, Monterey and Carmel are easy.
Assuming summer ever gets here, I will be lazing in the pool, reading paperback books (which can be both dropped in the pool AND recycled—rethink the Kindle–plastic is NOT a reneweable resource, comes from petroleum by-products and cannot be tossed in the curbside recycle bin).
We’re staying close to home this summer. It will be the first summer in a long time like that. Should be interesting.
by Amy Addison June 20th, 2008 at 12:31 pmAmy, I’m not completely sold on the idea of a plastic reading device (mostly because I love the feel of real book in my hand), but I know many agents and editors are using them now to cut back on printing, and lugging manuscripts around with them.
Sigh. summer hit us months ago. It’s in the 90′s here now.
by Karin June 20th, 2008 at 1:21 pmI signed the kids up to get games online via gamefly–they get 2 a month for less than blockbuster charges and I don’t have to use the gas to get to blockbuster and return them.
the Kindle IMO is great but still has bugs to work out–it could have been much more user friendly …and well COOLER (ask folks about the forward button…and the power button is on the back WTH?). IMO Apple needs to make an e-book reader. I also don’t really care for Amazons online monopoloy…but I’m not 100% sold on the Sony e-reader either (though my agent loves hers)
by Ames June 20th, 2008 at 3:23 pmBTW I just bought EIGHT books–so far the economy hasn’t crimped my style too badly. We’re eating out less though…. and I dont even want to think about my electric bill with the boys home all day.
by Ames June 20th, 2008 at 3:24 pmI’m staying home more. Working in the garden, reading books, and watching DVDs. I am shutting off lights more.
Bad me…I’m ordering items more online from those who offer free shipping. Rather they spend the money on gas than me!
by kmg June 20th, 2008 at 4:19 pmKarin,
I’ve always dried my clothes on a clothesline (it’s Arizona, they’re dry in a minute)
When our dishwasher crapped out we decided to wash dishes by hand.
When our lawn mower crapped out, we got a hand mower (too bad it doesn’t work all that well and we have to supplement with the Toro)
We have two Toyota four-cylinders.
We recycle.
Since I’m a writer, I don’t go very far, so gas lasts a long time.
We don’t use air conditioning, but we do have a swamp box cooler (the kind I grew up with), plus a bunch of fans
However, We do have a pool (no heater) I would argue that in Tucson Arizona, if you don’t have air conditioning, you NEED THE DAMN POOL!
by J. Carson Black June 20th, 2008 at 4:53 pmEveryone is doing the same thing we’re doing. I’m just thinking before I drive or spend. Do I really need to do this? Me and hubby walked to the store the other night, for something I needed that was small. We stopped and had a cold coffee, and it really was a very enjoyable evening. We talked and walked, and just were together. In Ireland, they walk everywhere, and cars are small, maybe…we’re headed that way and when you think about it, it really isn’t that bad.
by Lee June 20th, 2008 at 6:40 pmWe eat out less too, Amie. grr, which means I’m cooking more.
kmg, online shopping is definitely a way to cut down on energy costs. I have ordered more through amazon and bn.com this year then all the other years combined.
Jake, you win the prize for most energy efficient!
Lee, as kids we walked everywhere. I love to walk. Not only do we save gas, not pollute the air but it’s great for our bodes. win win win
by Karin June 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pmSometimes you look around and say, “I’m already doing all this. Where else can I cut back?”
As a product of the 60′s, and living on a single university professor’s salary, we’ve been economizing almost our entire lives. I bought my new car a year ago, and at the time the payback on hybrids wasn’t necessarily worth the increased cost, but I got a low-emission, high mpg Honda Fit. And my pickup-truck driving husband who hates small cars is now ‘borrowing’ it or we use it when we go somewhere together.
I’m in hot, muggy Florida, and I’ll give up just about anything BUT my a/c. Can’t survive in the sticky heat. However, it runs at 80 degrees during the day. I crank it down at night so I can sleep, but there are some sacrifices I’m not ready to make yet.
I make one trip out a day unless there’s a darn good reason to leave the house again. Some days I never leave the house (and I enjoy those) I grocery shop once a week and if we run out, we do without. (Not having kids around anymore helps on those mild runs). Hubby does a Costco run because as Janet Evanovich pointed out, it’s a “Senior Buffet”, and he fills his tank while he’s there.
Haven’t used plastic bags for grocery shopping in over 10 years, and we recycle any that we do get. A friend sent a scary powerpoint on how much plastic is out there clogging up the waterways, polluting the land and water, and killing wildlife.
We have a compost bin out back. Grow some of our own vegetables (I picked 4 tomatoes this morning), but that doesn’t save money! It’s hubby-therapy.
Hubby’s workplace does major recycling, and he schleps all our paper that the county doesn’t accept to work where it goes to a big shredder and is recycled. He even collects batteries because they need special recycling. Takes all our used electronics to a special center.
But I’ll never give up reading books. I got an eBookwise a year ago — the Kindle hadn’t come out, and the Sony was getting bad reviews, and it’s only $139. I use the library a lot for books released in hard cover, and may or may not add them to my keeper list when they come out in e or paper. And maybe more people will read more since they’re traveling less.
However: CAVEAT on those dishes. Depending on how you wash them, washing by hand can actually use MORE water than an efficient dishwasher.
by Terry Odell June 21st, 2008 at 3:16 amAnd here’s a tip…plugged in appliances (hair dryers, curling irons etc) still suck juice even when they’re off!
Terry I’m in Texas so A/C is just a MUST but I actually turn mine up at night–and run fans
by Ames June 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 amNice post. Not many can write so nicely. To write is an art. Many writers have this talent as an inborn quality. For some of them, having great writing accessories can help. For eg, take a look at http://www.apassionforpens.co.uk/
by prav June 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 amAmes — yeah, bummer about all the extra current appliances suck. And all those LED lights on everything — practically light up a room.
I figure if I’m running the a/c after the sun goes down, then it’s not competing with solar input. And when the outside temps don’t drop until way late, there’s no way the house can cool off without a/c — we have a ceiling fan above the bed AND the a/c. I need my sleep.
by Terry Odell June 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 am