2008 was a pretty rough year for Mainers in many ways. Being a rural, wintry state, we really felt the effects of the obscenely high gas and oil prices; we watched helplessly as more mills and other companies shut their doors, or otherwise cut back on their labor force; and – perhaps most unsettling of all – the number of domestic violence murders tripled in number from 2007. (SOURCE: Bangor Daily News.) In fact, “60% of the murders in Maine last year were a result of domestic violence – including five people charged with killing children.” (SOURCE: WCSH6.com) With the economy set to get even worse, and knowing that hard economic times usually means an increase in domestic abuse, I shudder to think about what those statistics will look like by the end of 2009. Consider this:

• Conservative estimates suggest that only about half of aggravated and simple assaults are ever reported.
• In Maine, the crime of Domestic Assault, as reported to police, occurs every 96 minutes. (Maine Department of Public Safety, Uniform Crime Report, 2005.)
• Every year over 7,000 Maine women are physically or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner and over half of them (57%) are injured as a result of the violence. (Maine Center for Disease Control, 2008 )
• One in 20 new mothers in Maine report experiencing abuse during pregnancy. 

(SOURCE: Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence.)

Those of you who’ve read Waiting For Spring know that it includes a subplot involving domestic violence. In fiction, I was able to see to it that the offender got justice. In real life, of course, I have no such power. I do have the power to help real life victims of domestic violence, though, if even in a small way.

In that spirit, I’m announcing that the proceeds from the sale of Waiting For Spring at Amazon.com (both the trade paperback version, as well as the Kindle version) will be donated to Spruce Run, a domestic abuse project that provides information and support to all people affected by domestic abuse. Any donations received for the downloaded version of the book on Smashwords will also be given to Spruce Run. In addition, the proceeds from any copies sold directly from my CreateSpace page will be donated. (Keep in mind that an author’s royalties end up being more than twice the amount on CreateSpace than on Amazon.com, because there’s no money going to Amazon…which means the amount donated to Spruce Run would be twice as much from any books sold from there.) This includes any copies of the book sold thus far on Amazon and any donations received from Smashwords. (This does not, I’m afraid, include any of the proceeds from the Lulu.com version, which is no longer available, because that money went towards getting the Amazon version published.)

For those of you who live in Maine, my next step is going to be getting the book into local bookstores. The proceeds from those sales will go to Spruce Run as well. I’ll keep you posted on those developments.

In the meantime, for those of you who have been contemplating buying a copy, keep the donation thing in mind. For those of you who have already read and/or bought it (or put a tip into the tip jar at Smashwords), consider telling a friend or two, or more, about it.

I know this post has a lotta links and statistics, and it’s pretty late at night as I’m writing this, so if you’re confused – or if you have any questions at all – feel free to shoot ’em into the comments section here in this post. Or, if you’d rather, my email address is rjkeller.wfs@gmail.com

As many of you may know, fellow writer Travis Erwin has suffered a devastating loss. Last weekend, his family’s house burned to the ground. Thankfully, he and his family all got out in time. But they lost everything they own.

A site has been set up to help them out as they start the difficult process of rebuilding. Please consider donating if you’re able to.

Habitat for Travis.

I’d also like to post this, from Travis’ own blog, for you to consider:

Lots of you have asked how you can help, so swallowing my pride I’m going to list the few things that come to mind concerning my boys.

Children’s books. My boys are 6 and 8 and they both love to read and I know at some point they are going to feel the loss of their books.

Hot wheel cars for my youngest. They sell for about a buck and I imagine they would cost only a bit more than that to mail. I know it would bring a smile to his face to find one in the mailbox.

Also if any of you live in the Orlando area or are visiting Disneyworld soon I’d love to replace t- shirts they boys picked out while we were there. My oldest is a size 10 or I think a child’s large and he had a shirt with Mickey Mouse’s body that said I’m the big cheese. His younger brother wears a 6 or a small and his ad a picture of Mickey and Goofy dressed as pirates along with a treasure map and it said How to Be a Pirate. It is very silly I know, but they spent a week agonizing over what shirt to pick and then they were gone before they ever got to wear them at home. I would gladly repay anyone who can find those shirts for them.

Also, according to Erica Orloff:

…his wife is emotionally suffering and is a scrapbooker who lost all her supplies, so perhaps you might have these things just gathering dust in your closet.

If you’re able to help out in that way, Travis’ address is posted on his blog.

On a very different note, I forgot to let y’all know that yesterday was my day for posting at Publishing Renaisance. Well, it was. Check it out here. Actually, you should check out all the posts over there while you’re at it.

I think the title of this blog post says it all, but I’ll repeat it anyway – complete with exclamation point – because I’m pretty excited:

Waiting For Spring is now available in trade paperback at Amazon.com!!! (I guess that’s three exclamation points.)

That means it’s eligible for the free, supersaver shipping thing on total purchases of $25 or more. CLICK HERE to check it out. The snazzy ‘search inside this book’ feature hasn’t been enabled yet (I’m still working on it), but you can search inside the book anyway by following this link.

Or, if you prefer, you can buy it directly from my CreateSpace page.

And, of course, it’s still available on Kindle and in various formats at Smashwords.

Today my kids’ Christmas vacation ended, which means that mine ended, too. Back to the ole homeschooling grind, which I normally enjoy. Today, though, both of my kids had algebraic related difficulties, which means that I had algebraic difficulties, too. We finally managed to get through it (although it was touch and go for awhile), but it left me asking the same question I asked when I was in school over 20 years ago:

Who the fuck ever uses algebra in their daily lives? Seriously.

I’m not talking about simple stuff like figuring out what “x” is in x – 73 = 569. I’m talking about seven mile long equations with parenthesis and even negative numbers. Other than algebra teachers and very specific brands of scientists, does anyone else ever need to go this mathematically in depth? I mean, we were dividing postive numbers by negative numbers today. In real life, is it even possible to divide a quantity by a negative number? If it is, I don’t wanna know about it.

My brain is officially oatmeal right now. Fortunately, I don’t have to do anything this afternoon and evening that requires brain power. I just have to go to work.

**************

Quick housekeeping note: I added a couple of new questions to the Waiting For Spring FAQ page. Don’t hesitate to email me with any questions or comments, or to plop ’em right into the FAQ comments section.

Nearly three years ago, I expressed my resolve to never try filet mignon. My reasoning was as follows:

I know it’s expensive and that I’ll rarely be able to eat it and I’m so afraid that I’ll really like it and then come to the sad realization that I’ll rarely be able to eat it. “What if I get addicted to it?” I ask myself. “Would I then be forced into a life of crime in order to support my filet mignon habit?”

Well, I succombed to temptation on New Year’s Eve. My hubby and I went out to supper, and I ordered filet mignon. Sadly, I enjoyed it very much. It was seriously the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. Nothing else quite compares to it. I want some more. I want it right now, but can’t afford to get any. So far, I’ve resisted turning to crime to get a fix, but it’s only been a few days. How much longer will I be able to resist its siren song?

I’m truly afraid for my future.

Kids, let this be a lesson to you. Stick with meatloaf.

You may remember my story about Franny and Jack, the squirrels who took up residence in my backyard a couple of years ago and became dependent on our handouts. They have, unfortunately, since passed on (damned logging trucks), but their spirit lives on in their progeny who, as predicted, live on subsidized food as well. 

Today, I was able to take this picture of Jacqueline Squirrel as she braved the minus-20 degree wind chill to eat her lunch.

Every year, I make about half a dozen New Year’s Resolutions. By February, I’ve managed to break all of them. So this New Year’s Eve, I’m making half a dozen resolutions I know I can keep.

1. Eat more chocolate.

2. Drink too much coffee.

3. Tell my kids “I love you” every day.

4. Ditto my hubby.

5. Gain ten pounds every odd month. Lose them on the even months.

6. Write and/or edit every day.

Speaking of writing, today’s my day for posting at Publishing Renaissance. Check it out.

aka: This post is brought to you by the letter H

Today was going to be the day I announced that Waiting For Spring is available to purchase at amazon.com. I was going to be pretty excited about it. Then I took another, closer, look at my latest proof copy at work last night (while filling in – yet again – for the pinhead who took my place on third shift, after already having worked a nine hour shift yesterday morning) and discovered that there’s a typo. That’s right. A typo. To be more specific, the “H” is missing from the word “He” at the beginning of a sentence. Not just any sentence…it’s one that begins a paragraph.

I don’t know how it happened (although I’m guessing it was when I was fixing the indents). I suppose it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I need to fix the error, upload the corrected copy to CreateSpace, buy another proof copy, then approve it once it arrives. All this will take about another week. And almost $13.

I realize that every book, regardless of how it’s published,  has at least one mistake in it. And I’ll be honest, if the missing “H” was just in some random place in the book, I’d grit my teeth and flinch every time I thought about it, but I’d probably let it go. I mean, I know I wrote a blog post at Publishing Renaissance last week about indie authors making sure our work is as perfect as we can make it, but really…$13 for the letter “H”?

However, this error is smack dab in the middle of an important, rather emotional, part of the book, and would – I know – rip the reader right out of the story. And preventing that really is worth the thirteen bucks. To be honest, it would be worth twice that much. Probably more. Even to someone as cheap frugal as me.

Check out two scenes from my latest work in progress, very tentatively titled “Rick and Wendy.” (WARNING: There be Waiting for Spring spoilers there.)

https://rjkeller.wordpress.com/waiting-for-spring/sneak-peek/