Thursday, May 29, 2014

My Dream Endorsement for When Pigs Fly

President Clinton talking about When Pigs Fly
I won't lie. After a phenomenal 2012, my ebook sales hit the skids and haven't recovered--yet. The
successful tactics of '12 faltered in '13, and truth be told, I've been too busy in '14 to even try much marketing when results are so paltry.

So it's with pleasure I share with you my dream endorsement. No, really. It was a dream I had this morning just before my wife told me I was sleeping too late. In an unspecified city I am walking on the sidewalk, and President Bill Clinton sees me and beams with delight. "Hey Bob!" he says, hardly able to contain himself.

Then he shakes my hand with a strong grip. "I loved your book, man."

Next he's giving me a bear hug as I ask him, "You mean When Pigs Fly?"

"Oh yeah, man. That was great."

So there you have it: a presidential seal of approval for my work.

In my dreams.

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Nightly entertainment

Walter White,
maker of meth and mayhem
In the evening, after emails are read, dinner done and dishes washed, we spend a couple of hours watching TV shows on Netflix. The run-of-the-mill fare doesn't interest us, and comedies with laugh tracks are a bore. In fact, most comedies are a bore--this from someone who loves to laugh. Our tastes run to dramatic crime shows and smart drama, and if a little humor is occasionally woven in, that's a bonus. Some of the series we have truly enjoyed in the last couple of years include Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, Damages, Dexter, and Breaking Bad. My wife is not a sports fan, so for a series about a high school football coach to capture her rapt attention is quite an accomplishment, which is what Friday Night Lights did for both of us. But the most fascinating series are those with deeply flawed characters--a vile, cutthroat lawyer, a serial killer who targets other murderers, a high school chemistry teacher turned meth maker. Now we're watching Walter White, who has lung cancer and has turned to making meth to support his family when he's gone. He sets off a chain of disasters that might make you think the world would have been better off if he'd been strangled in his crib. But he sure is fascinating.