This morning I posted the new Publishing Renaissance here on my personal blog by mistake. Then I Tweeted it. Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Unfortunately, it’s not the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, either.

The real article, in its correct home, can be found here: http://bit.ly/1KAilE

…you can catch Friday’s JJ Talk Radio chat here.

JJ Talk with RJ Keller.

Thanks to everyone who called in!!!!

A lot has been happening since I posted last, so I’m going to a Pot Pourri entry today.

Just a reminder that I’ll be interviewed on Blog Talk Radio with Dawson Vosburg & Stacey Cochran tonight at 8:30 EDT. You’ll be able to call in with questions or comments, so get them ready! (I would LOVE it if you guys would call in.) I’ll be Tweeting about it throughout the day, and will post the phone number when I get it. Or I’m sure it will be made available during the broadcast.

The Editor Unleashed/Smashwords Anthology is now available to download – for free! – at Smashwords in a variety of formats. You may remember that my piece, “Reflections,” is included. Check it out!

Speaking of checking things out, Waiting For Spring is now available in the Maine State Library system.

And finally, last week I shared my attempts at making an audiobook of Waiting For Spring with you all. The resulting video was a big hit. Unfortunately, the audiobook itself wasn’t. One might even say it sucks. A wise person is able to recognize their weaknesses, as well as their strengths, and – shockingly enough! – I’ve decided to act like a wise person with regards to my weakness in the art of voice acting. In other words, I’m canning the audiobook files I recorded.

Do not dispair! A very good friend of mine, Dr. Robin Altman (who is a child psychiatrist extraordinaire, a stand-up comedian, the author of Shrink Rap – An Irreverent Take on Child Psychiatry, and co-host of Movie Mavens) has VERY graciously offered to do the audiobook in my stead. She’s recorded up to chapter 4 so far, and I am very pleased with the results. She is simply amazing! Last night I was in tears while listening to the latter part of chapter four, which is exactly as it should have been. I’ve been playing around with it a little, experimenting with adding music and crap like that, so it’ll be a few weeks before it’s available to download. Keep in mind that we’re both working with home equipment, not studio-quality stuff…but I still think you’ll be pleased.

I’ll be doing a Blog Talk Radio interview with Dawson Vosburg & Stacey Cochran this Friday, July 24 at 8:30pm EDT. It’ll be live, so you can call in with questions about Waiting For Spring! (I would LOVE that…hint, hint, hint.) More info later on this week.

Here’s the link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dawson-Vosburg/2009/07/25/JJ-Talk-with-RJ-Keller

Since I had the house to myself most of the day, I decided it would be a good time to start recording the audiobook version of Waiting For Spring. Chaos obviously ensued.

 Backword Books is a new collective of self-published authors ‘who are united in purpose under one banner to accomplish three primary goals: 1.) Attain mainstream media coverage; 2.) Generate sales; 3.) Bring an aura of professionalism and legitimacy to self-publishing.’

 I’m proud and excited to announce that yesterday I was invited to become a member of Backword Books. Click here to go to the site, and to check out the other members’ books, as well as the blog (which I’ll be contributing to very soon). There’s some very amazing stuff there!

I’ll be blogging more about the site in the days and weeks ahead.

The family & I went to a Portland SeaDogs game this afternoon. Our seats were behind home plate, about five rows back, slightly to the right of home plate. From this vantage point I was able to ogle all of the left-handed players asses with impunity.

God bless whoever designed the modern day baseball uniform, with those snug, form-fitting pants.

The results of LLBookReview‘s contest for the 100th book to be reviewed on the site are in:

Waiting For Spring didn’t get the top spot, but it tied for second place, which is very cool, and I want to thank all of you who voted for it, and who spread the word about it as well. I also want to thank the LLBookReview team, not only for choosing Waiting For Spring as one of the six finalists, but for holding the contest in the first place. I’ve discovered some excellent books and very talented writers as a result.

All of the books featured there will be reviewed on LLBookReview during August, including Waiting For Spring. 🙂

 I just finished reading “Six-Hundred Hours of a Life” by Craig Lancaster, which chronicles 25 days (or 600 hours) in the life of Edward Stanton, a man with OCD and Aspergers syndrome. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s funny and touching and SO well written. I sat at my screen for over five hours and read it in one sitting. (I did get up once to go pee.)

 It had been on my To Be Read list for a few weeks, as it was one of the six books nominated for LLBookReview’s 100th book to be reviewed* but I bumped it to the top of the list after I read a review of it. I am SO glad I did.

It’s available on Smashwords in a variety of ebook formats (including PDF – which is how I read it – and Kindle/.mobi). It’s normally $4.99, but it’s part of Smashwords 50% off promotion, so you can get it for $2.50.  Or you can get it from Amazon.com.

Synopsis: Edward doesn’t trust anything he can’t verify. He lives in solitude in a house in Billings, Montana, and sticks to the few things he can rely on: the data he keeps, and his trusty videotaped episodes of the ’60s cop show Dragnet. But over the course of 25 days — 600 hours — events begin to draw Edward out and force him to confront a question: Can he deal with life on its terms?

Click here to read the review that prompted me to bump it to the top of my TBR list. I hope you all will do the same.

* Voting ended July 4th at midnight. Micha Berman’s Permanent Passenger won. I’ll post more about that later. 🙂