I shouldn’t make fun of publishers
They might get pissy and not give me money. Can’t have that. But here I have a supa-secret anonymous blog, yay! I can make fun of them here all I like.
You might think the hard part is writing the book or maybe selling it. But it only begins there. You then get to enter marketing book hell. This is really how it’s like, courtesy the New Yorker, especially the frickin’ Frankfurt Book Fair.
Subject: Our Marketing Plan by Ellis Weiner
Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and have some excellent ideas for promotion.
To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.
If you already have a blog, make sure you spray-feed your URL in niblets open-face to the skein. We like Reddit bites (they’re better than Delicious), because they max out the wiki snarls of RSS feeds, which means less jamming at the Google scaffold. Then just Digg your uploads in a viral spiral to your social networks via an FB/MS interlink torrent. You may have gotten the blast e-mail from Jason Zepp, your acquiring editor, saying that people who do this sort of thing will go to Hell, but just ignore it.
The vi-spi is cross-platform, but don’t worry if you think you’re not on Facebook, because you actually are. Jason enrolled you when you signed the contract last year, or at least he was supposed to, and he told Sarah Williams he did before he had to retire and Sarah left for nursing school. You currently have 421 Friends, 17 Pending Requests, 8 Pokes, 5 Winks, and 3 Proposals of “Marriage.”
I’ve attached a list of celebrities we think would be great to blurb your book, so find out their numbers and call them up. Be sure to do all this by Monday, because Sales Conference starts Tuesday. We come back Friday and then immediately on Saturday (!) all of editorial (Janet, plus probably Michelle, her assistant) and I go to the Frankfurt Book Fair for a week. During that time the office will be closed, although to help cover the costs of the Germany trip it will actually be sublet to the John Lindsay Elementary School P.T.A. as a rehearsal space for this year’s fund-raiser production of “The Music Man.” I’m told that this was one of the things that Jason didn’t understand and which contributed to his “condition.”
Once we get back from Frankfurt, we’d like to see you on morning talk shows like the “Today” show and “The View,” so please get yourself booked on them and keep us “in the loop.” If I’m not here—which I won’t be, since after the book fair I go on vacation for two weeks—just tell Jenni, my assistant, when she gets back from jury duty.
Remember in your blog to tabskim your readers’ comments. You can use Twitter, Chitt-chaTT, or Nit-Pickr. When you reply to comments, try to post at least one photo per hour of you doing everyday tasks around the house, such as answering comments and posting photos. Please make sure they’re pre-scorched. Let me know, when I get back from Retreat a week after my vacation, if self-surging is a problem.
As re: personal appearances, to cut down on travel expenses we’re trying something new this season called RAP, or Readings by Author by Proxy. We’re asking authors in certain key areas of the country to stay “close to home” and give readings at local bookstores of both their own books and a few of our other new releases. We can send you a list of bookstores in your area once you fill out the My Local Bookstores list on your Author’s Questionnaire. You’ll be reading not only from your book but from “Code Blue Stat,” a new medical thriller we’re really excited about, and “Fifty Great Pan Sauces,” a cool new cookbook. Their authors, Dr. Steven Rosenthal and Gail Freenye, will stay in Chicago and Boston, respectively, and read from each other’s book and yours. This idea, apparently, is what made Jason take his clothes off and lock himself in a supply closet.
F.Y.I., we’ve migrated all the photos out of your book and onto the Web page. It makes the hard-copy version cheaper to produce (fewer pages; no photos) and the e-text more “Kindle-friendly.” Sometime next week, call Christopher over an ISDN line and say your name, as distinctly as possible, at least two hundred times, so we can dub it as an AudioAutograph onto the podcast edition. (You may already have done this for a previous book, but somehow Jason managed to delete all the audio files before Security escorted him from the building.)
Don’t hesitate to try to contact me if you have any questions. I sort of have my hands full, promoting twenty-three new releases this fall, but I’m really excited about working on your book, and I look forward to collaborating with you to make “A History of Moorish Architecture, 1200-1492” the biggest success it can be.
Best regards,
Gineen Klein ♦
Originally posted 2009-10-16 10:54:00.
Understand credit before you burn yours
Most people understand that bad credit means you can’t charge more crap. Being unable to charge crap is not a bad thing, it’s good.
But credit affects more. Most importantly, if you are in a white collar field, employers may pull a credit report before they hire you. Bad credit may mean no job offer.
Insurers, even car insurers, pull a credit report and often base the premiums on it. Bad credit means higher insurance premiums.
You might find it more difficult to rent the place you want.
So credit is a whole lot more than simply buying stuff.
Is it worth it to run through a lot of cash preserving your credit because of poor previous financial decisions? That’s a call only you can make.
But the status quo will change. And this one is ripe for change, especially as far as jobs continuing indefinitely. You need to be prepared for a job loss and income cessation. Things will change for the worse, maybe not immediately, but I think you can count on it over the next few years. Being financially fit (and by financially fit, I mean having adequate emergency funds and no debt) is going to be more important than any crap you have in your possession to ensure security for your family. They (the powers that be) are positioning to change things to make bankruptcy even harder. they want you in what amounts to financial slavery. With our bills, debt and crap addiction, that’s exactly what the bulk of American people are in. The new form of slavery might entail actual work camps or farms.
Now is the time for the big changes. How big the changes you make depends on how paranoid you are. The faster you save your cash instead of spending it, the more security you’ll have.
What do the immigrants, who have gone through financial collapse, war, genocide, earthquakes, etc., do? They live simply, make money, save their money and don’t spend it. They KNOW cash is what saved their asses the first time around. They had the cash to make it here and reestablish their lives. Not good credit, cash.
There’s a huge amount of info on credit, how to burn yours with as little hassle as possible, how to get it back, how to diss collection agencies, how to declare bankrupcy, how to deal with student loans, etcetera, etcetera, on this forum. Yep, you have to dig, but it’s worth it.
Originally posted 2009-10-29 09:56:07.
Another reason to stay out of jail
But Cynthia McKinney is smart and aware. She says that she was told of 5000 prisoners executed with a bullet in the head because of the Katrina hurricane. Louisiana has some of the toughest prisons out there and I can see it happening. They had to get the prisoners out somehow and relocate them securely or let them go–otherwise they could have escaped in the damage of the hurricane. A bullet in the head might have been considered labor and cost effective. Those Southern types tend to the fascist anyway. McKinney said the bodies were buried in a Louisiana swamp and the names were recorded on a Pentagon computer. She also said she had verification from Red Cross sources who had to stay anonymous. I tend to believe her because she has no reason to lie. What this portends is what will happen to jailed people when the collapse comes. Execution might be swift and rather impartial. It would be smart to do one’s damnedest to stay out of jail for any reason. 
Anything Cynthia McKinney says isn’t going to get much play–definitely not in the mainstream media, nor in survivalist and libertarian alarmist circles because she’s a black woman and not particularly attractive (more than enough to discredit anything she says for a certain type).
Originally posted 2009-06-16 09:32:00.
How to kill all the Fat People
A restaurant is working on it by offering free, fat-laden food to anybody who weighs over 350 pounds.
Check out The Heart Attack Grill. Everything is coated with lard or full of sugar.
Skinny waitresses in skimpy nurse’s uniforms serve the food.
Frankly, I can’t find anything wrong with a restaurant novel enough to offer fools a free way to hasten their demise.
I think all drugs should be legalized (and taxed) too, for much the same reason.
It’s called natural selection.
(More about our big business food supply system and natural selection will follow).
Originally posted 2009-07-30 06:20:00.
Study reveals male sexual preferences when TSHTF
There’s a study! What will people think up to waste time/money on next? I think men generally prefer women who look at least halfway decent and will have sex with them, especially when times are tough, but I could be wrong.
From The Environmental Security Hypothesis: In hard times men will prefer women who are good at production, that is working and doing stuff. Generally, they want older, taller, heavier, less curvaceous women with less body fat. In good times, they will prefer women who are good at reproduction, that is making babies. Generally, they want younger, shorter, lighter, more curvaceous women. Pettijohn and and Jungeberg look at the characteristics of playboy playmates from 1960 to 2000 and find:
Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, heavier, taller Playboy Playmates of the Year with larger waists, smaller eyes, larger waist-to-hip ratios, smaller bust-to-waist ratios, and smaller body mass index values were selected. These results suggest that environmental security may influence perceptions and preferences for women with certain body and facial features. LINK
As I said before I don’t think men are that mysterious as far as their sexuality. Everything about them is sort of obvious and easy to get to.
Women are considerably harder, but since I am one, I have us figured out pretty well. We want men with half an ounce of good sense who are calm and stable along with being good providers.
Originally posted 2009-06-30 12:15:00.
When law breaks down
Law has already broken down in the inner cities and what goes on, goes on. There will be little change other than the influx of gangs of armed men looking to torture, kill, and burn, especially defenseless children and small women. History shows us THIS is what happens. But many armed people fear black attacking them. It won’t happen. Blacks have NEVER left their areas to prey on whites in any numbers. Even in Katrina, it wasn’t any black men who were preying on whites, it was gangs of white men who shot and killed blacks for fun and got away with it.
In Katrina’s wake, white neighborhood militias murdered blacks
They were never punished. They got away with it. The news only came out in scattered outlets and was never widely known. If blacks ever killed whites based on race alone, it would be in every news outlet available and those blacks would be dead. Americans hate seeing themselves for what they are and must deny their racism, so must suppress the facts.
What got me started thinking about this was bigunsfan, a racist asshole from Germany whose IP shows that he’s the one who leaves the n*gger jokes in the comments of various survivalist blogs, including mine. Ornery Bastard dedicated a post to cussing his ass out once.
Racists are upset that a black woman dare shares their electronic space at Dakin’s, one of the few survivalist blogs that I can tolerate. Dakin is bright and an interesting writer–don’t know if he’s racist or not and don’t care. Some visitors at survivalist type blogs can’t tolerate anybody different. Racists are extremely privileged in this country and rarely have to put up with differing viewpoints or disagreement. They only hang out with other racists and since they are the majority, there are plenty of them. Irritation is extremely common toward anybody black who’s not a dittohead and shows up on survivalist and gun nut blogs. Rudeness, dissing, etc. toward the lone black is well tolerated by other visitors who invariably just stand by. Tacit approval. They’ll occasionally add comments based on race alone–such as assuming anybody black will be looking for handouts or is complaining about their omnipresent and overwhelming racism (we aren’t allowed to notice it).
That’s how it will be when the manure flies and the racist gun nuts are out looking to torture and kill for fun. This is how it was during Katrina when the whites went out specifically to kill blacks. There are many monsters in America, just waiting to come out of the closet.
As it was for the Jews in Germany, there will be few safe havens and probably no defenders,. Racists are cowardly (they would never have the courage to go to a place such as a racist survivalist blog if they were a lone minority woman). They will happily shoot people in the back, only attack when they are in a far larger group, and will go for the weak and helpless, even babies, and especially women and children.
Be ready. I think every black person in America, even children, should be trained in self defense and armed. We need to learn the lessons of history and not go quietly as the Jews did. Obama is merely a puppet of the Powers That Be. I fear there will be rivers of our children’s blood flowing in the streets once Americans get through with us come the world changing suddenly for the worse.
“…it’s time for Negroes to defend themselves. Article number two of the Constitutional amendments provides you and me the right to own a rifle or a shotgun. It is constitutionally legal to own a shotgun or a rifle…” — Malcolm X
Originally posted 2009-10-18 09:47:00.
The manure flies in China
Check out these pictures of what is happening there now. it’s horrifying.
This is what their Powers That Be are willing to sacrifice for economic progress. They’re willing to sacrifice their people.
Do you think America is different? We are all joined together in a world system of making stuff and consuming stuff. Our job is not to die of pollutants, but to spend all our wages on stuff. When that stops working, and it has…the question is what comes next? If you think it’s gonna be something good, look at those pics about what is happening in China again.
Ideologies no longer make much sense. Whatever the so-called ideology, even communism, now in the modern world it’s all about those with power, a very few, concentrated at the top, and those without power, the masses.
If you haven’t watched The Story of Stuff in its entirety, you should. It’s the first step to understanding the world and recovery. It’s about what we’re raised and programmed to do what we do and how it connects to what is happening now in China.
The Story of Stuff
Originally posted 2009-10-23 13:37:16.
Money: The Big Picture
To become financially fit, you’ve got to look at your money two ways, the big picture and the small lens.
Let’s start with the big picture. How much money, max, can your family bring home and put on the kitchen table, net?
What percentage could you manage to save?
Look at your expenses and seeing where and how you can cut them in a fairly big way. The more modest your lifestyle, the more cash in your stash.
Remember, happiness is not possessions, a big or fancy house, multiple late model vehicles, or buying stuff. As a people, we’ve bought a lot more stuff than our grandparents, but we aren’t happier. Happiness is the fun you have and the people who share your world.
So think big about downsizing.
Can you live on 50% of your net income? 66%? 80%?
How much cash would you have in a year? In five? In ten?
These big dreams make up security, retirement and freedom.
Originally posted 2009-10-25 21:57:41.
Hoohah Mints
I’m offended by this product. Not as bad as Lysol douche, but close. LINK
Linger Internal Feminine Flavoring
Linger Internal Feminine Flavoring, was created to flavor the woman in such a manner that is safe and effective, decreases self consciousness, and increases excitement. It improves the length and quality of oral sex between a woman and her intimate partner.
Linger: Internal Feminine Flavoring
A small, naturally sweetened flavoring, free of artificial dyes, which was created to flavor the secretions of a woman when she is sexually aroused. Linger is shaped for comfort during insertion and use, and is formulated to dissolve slowly, so the effects last and last…
Lingers are regular sugar-based breath mints that one is supposed to insert in one’s hoohah. Then, not only will the mint oil possibly burn, but the sugar will probably cause a yeast infection.
What is the point of minty snatch? Clean female shouldn’t taste of mint. It’s unnatural! If the taste of clean female isn’t good enough for him and for some odd reason, your man desires minty snatch…well. Snap your legs shut and give him a frickin’ piece of Doublemint gum. ‘Nuff said.
Whatever will they think up next?
Originally posted 2009-10-17 15:44:00.
Africans Under Seige in Moscow
File this under places not to go…from BBC
Many African students in Moscow are afraid to go outside
Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia’s capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.
Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.
A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.
But the number of assaults was down from the MPC’s last survey in 2002.
The report’s clear conclusion was that Africans living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege, says the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Moscow.
Extreme violence
Many of the African respondents said they:
* Avoided using the Moscow metro
* Were also careful to avoid crowded public places
* Did not go out on Russian national holidays or on days when there were football matchesMany of the attacks on Africans were pre-meditated and extremely violent, the report found.
One Nigerian migrant interviewed by the BBC had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and then shot.
Another man said his attacker had attempted to remove his scalp.
It is best for blacks to relocate somewhere where there are other blacks in numbers…at least enough so to deter random violence such as this. I’m hearing children are attacked and hurt for their skin color as well. Can you imagine having your child in such a place as a mother?
Mixed race blacks (which includes most African Americans) might do well in somewhere such as Brazil or South America where Germans didn’t settle–a cultural heritage of the Germans is meanness, racism and intolerance in places such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay–I have been in most of those places and they really aren’t good for us.
Originally posted 2009-08-30 15:43:00.
Money wasted in black and white
Makes you kind of nauseous, no? I can’t get over them charging $12 for a large water. 7K+ tip!
This is an example of what the rich do with their fair share of taxes they haven’t had to pay since GW Bush.
Originally posted 2009-11-03 12:25:02.
How to get your mate on board
I’d say don’t push it.
Do your own thing, be happy, be valuable, be lovable and he/she will go along to get along.
You do have a right to do your own thing and self-dignity allows you to be firm on this. Your mate will respect you if you’re not a wuss.
Women are ideally positioned for being frugal and obtaining needed emergency preps because traditionally we take care of the house anyway.
As far as men, well…
You gotta pay the cost to be the boss.
This means earning the bulk of the cash. Yes, it does. We have periods and bear children, your job is to earn cash. Get on it.
Don’t be a wuss. If you earn it you have a right to take over the finances. Get basic preps and announce that your new goal is to save cash. Put the money (you earn) in your name and pay her a household allowance. Are you afraid she’s gonna kick your butt? Wuss.
If she insists on spending money on crap, she’ll have to be the one to earn it from now on, right?
That’s about all I have to say to men. All I know is how to manage them, the other way around is not my area of expertise.
Women, do you support a useless, non-money-earning man (unless you have a commitment and he has sickened or been injured by forces out of his control)? For chrissakes, why?
Show him the door and invite him to use it. Invest in a vibrator.
I have heard across the board that they are more reliable than their human counterparts as far as orgasms are concerned anyway. Now, you are satisfied, happy and with no cash drain or male irritant.
Find yourself another man, one who earns (good) money. Know your value. If you’re preparation-minded, smart, willing to keep the house clean and good, home meals on the table, have cash income and the necessary clean, feminine equipment, you’re worth your weight in frickin’ gold. Don’t forget that.
And make sure the cash and deeds are in your name.
Originally posted 2009-10-29 10:22:54.
The Invisible Woman or Hiding from Hate
Black man ready to defend his family and home against the coming mob
White mob destroying prosperous black area of Detroit
Scientifically, there is no such thing as race. It’s a cultural construct. Who is this construct most important to? Who dwells on race and hates with constant virulence? Who utters near-constant lies that slip off tongues without a second thought–blacks do this, blacks do that, blacks are like this. Check out a place such as stormfrontDOTorg and it’s a wonder that they don’t have sidebars full of how to worship their father, Satan, the originator of their lies, their pride and their hate.
It’s a given that black Americans have been decimated in the past decades, mostly with our participation. They shipped in drugs, we took them. They made welfare available, we signed up.
After slavery, we thrived as a people. By the first decade of the twentieth century, and particularly by the twenties, many black areas were prosperous. What was done in response? The whites rioted and destroyed those areas, killing thousands. We didn’t recover fully from the destruction and the slaughter. Information about the war against blacks in the early twentieth century has been suppressed and isn’t taught in schools. There was no more black wall street after it was destroyed in Tulsa, no more economically prosperous all black towns such as Rosewood.
After the forties, we started rising economically again with the surge of industry and jobs. By the late fifties, we started demanding equal rights. This was alarming to them. In the late sixties, they responded with another war, the war on poverty, along with shipped in drugs and disparate imprisonment of black males along with an all out attack on our culture and families. It’s been effective. Blacks will never be allowed to prosper as a people in this country.
And folks wonder why most blacks aren’t particularly proud of their country. It’s a place to live and we deal with it. We defend it if necessary. But pride? Nah. That’s one of Satan’s favs too. Who rules the world? The Bible says who and it’s not Jesus yet.
Those who worship this world of Satan’s, including the nations he controls, those who easily forget Jesus’s words about who will survive and inherit the earth–the poor and the meek, not the rich and prideful ruler–are the ones going down.
But there is another thing for us to do–keep a low profile. This is as essential survival prep as any other for anybody black–no matter where we live. We need to get off the radar.
Is your home address known? It’s time to think about changing that. Your correct name and home address should never be coupled in any database, particularly with anything that indicates your race. When they come to get us…and that’s a far greater danger and probability than any of their fears of us, given their hatred…they will use lists from those databases.
Two books are necessary to obtain, one is the Bible, and the other will explain in details way to lower your personal profile. This is especially important if you live in the city. I clearly see who they think are undesirables being rounded up in the too-near future. You know who they think are most undesirable. Us, our men and our children.
Do you live in an all black area? This is dangerous, not because of your black neighbors, but because of the majority’s hatred, fear and pride. There is a possibility these neighborhoods will be razed, bombed, targeted for race-engineered diseases, or otherwise decimated. They’ve done it before, they can do it again. The newly gentrified areas of the city will be far safer.
Personally, keeping a low profile in this day and age is so important, I’d go through the hassle of moving to establish it. Get the book and read it carefully. JJ Luna’s other publications are also valuable and relevant. His site is http://www.howtobeinvisible.com/index.cfm/page/home
Stay clear of the world and Satan’s people…exercise love not hate or fear, humility, not pride, frugality not greed, and get and keep a low profile if you want to survive.
Originally posted 2008-08-12 09:39:00.
Will rape be commonplace when the SHTF?
To prevent rape, be wise, be wary, be streetwise, and don’t be passive unless, say, there’s a gun in your face. But keep in mind, if rape is his goal, he will lay that gun down eventually, giving you an opportunity to fight.
But the question is, when conditions deteriorate and it comes down to war and survival, will all women be at risk from most, if not all men?
Greg Laden thinks so
Men, by and large, have a rape switch. All men are capable of rape. Most men are enculturated in a way that reduces rape, and in some societies it is probably true that most violent rape is carried out by individuals who are reasonably labeled as pathological. In other societies, this is not so true. In post war societies such as those described in some of these links, or any society in a state of war, rape becomes routine. The rape switch is flipped to the on position as a matter of course. Most men who were in combat in Viet Nam raped. Similar circumstances have been documented for other wars.
But nice white boys don’t rape, they still think.
Not true. it depends on the circumstances. In war, they rape. Check out the Iraq veteran in the pic above. He raped a 14 year old then killed her, her parents and her five year old sister to cover it up. His aunt had this to say…
“I don’t know. We did not send a rapist and murderer to Iraq,” Ruth said. “I don’t know how he got there, but that’s not what we sent.”
Read this quote from Sharon Tiffany’s and Kathleen Adams’ article Anthropology’s “Fierce” Yanomami: Narratives of Sexual Politics in the Amazon:
Imagine a society in which one woman in every three is raped, usually by a man she knows, consider the consequences of living in a society where one third of all women are beaten during pregnancy and 35 percent of women using emergency medical facilities are battered . Since we are anthropologists, readers may mistakenly think that these appalling data were collected in an exotic society, an distant world where it is presumed that unpredictable and threatening behavior is commonplaces. Indeed, our friends and colleagues inevitably ask if it is safe for us to travel alone to remote and problematic places which presumably do not enjoy the law and order of civilization.
They are talking about the United States where the vast majority of men are so-called nice white men. I have worked in an ER and they are also sending lots of women there, battered and beaten.
Maybe it won’t be the far-off gangbangers these scared survivalist’s wives need to watch out for…it might just be their NRA card-carrying neighbors.
Originally posted 2009-06-16 14:40:00.
The Virtue of Cowardice
BREATHING.
Somebody asked me why I advocate running and hiding over the so-called more honorable staying and fighting. I don’t think staying and fighting is more honorable, I think breathing is. To continue breathing should be everybody’s primary goal. Remember, folks usually get honor after they’re dead.
Raising your odds of continuing to breathe under duress
1) Run (as fast as far as you can) then 2) Hide (don’t resurface too soon)
Macho manly man stays with his Big Phallic Gun with visions of Bruce Willis dancing in his head to fight the oncoming hordes. Boom. Boom. Dead. Him, that is. Somehow it didn’t quite turn out the way the Die Hards always do. The hero ain’t the one who’s supposed to Die Hard. Reality Bites, no?
While street smart dude’s feet didn’t fail him and now he’s in Costa Rica sipping a drink in a coconut topped by an umbrella by now. Who do you want to be with? Give me street smart dude anytime.
If I went into battle, I’d prefer a shovel over a rifle. It’s easier to dig a hole to hide in with a shovel.
Women should rule the world. Truly.
Originally posted 2009-06-30 12:18:00.
Moving
One of the best things you can ever do for your family’s security is to ensure you have a decent emergency fund–enough cash to get you by if something unexpected happens. There’s the occasional, rather extreme scenario where cash won’t work–say all the banks collapse suddenly. It might happen, but many, many people are invested that it doesn’t. Rich Americans don’t want to lose their money either.
Always keep the principle of Occam’s razor in mind: When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.
In almost every other scenario you can think up, cash will be useful, at least for a while. If you have enough you can get away, get what you need and buy yourself time.
Most Americans think they can never save $10,000, much less $50,000, but they make tens of thousands of dollars a year? Why can’t they save a healthy percentage? If a family brings in $60K, a fairly modest amount for a middle-class or working-class lifestyle–why don’t they save $20K a year? If they’re in their thirties, why don’t they have a hundred grand or so socked away? Many folks in other countries would take this for granted. I know the Chinese would. When I married my first hubby, he had a half a million, cash, and just by saving. The only reason other professional men (or women) in their late twenties have no money is that they spend it as fast as they earn it.
Americans don’t save money because they spend it. We spend most money on housing and cars. Debt follows that closely.
If you’re serious about amassing cash, you need to look at how much you’re spending on housing and transportation. The fastest and most efficient way to gut these expenses?
Move.
One thing about moving is you can break down your lifestyle and start over. It is near impossible to do this staying in place–people are resistant to change and a big change takes, well, it takes a move.
Move to a smaller, cheaper home. A small place is less money to heat or cool, less maintenance, and easier to keep clean. Value your time and spend it doing what you love instead of making money to spend on stuff.
Move to an area of the country where the cost of living is lower or where you can make more money. Move to where you don’t have to commute to get to work, where there is public transportation. Move somewhere you can do without at least one of your cars and still get around to do what you need–can you walk or bike to work, to the grocery store, to the library, to the bank, to the post office from where you live? Think of how much cash you could save if you could.
Survivalists who worry about the sky falling and marauding blacks are mired in BS that reflects their limits and prejudice instead of reality. If you have money, when you can see pieces of the sky starting to break away, you can get out of the way. If you have money, you can move out to a sustainable, self-sufficient, goat-laden place in Hooterville and retire without worrying about income so much. Otherwise, all you’re doing is buying crap that may or may not help you and worrying. Oh, and paying bills–you’re doing that, aren’t you?
I can darn near guarantee being able to put your hands on a hundred grand is going to help you survive damn near anything. Guns? Not so much.
I do think living in New York, D.C., Philly, Chicago, LA, San Francisco or the like might not be wise although there is good transportation and good job opps in those cities. Although fun to visit, the cost of living is simply too high and those cities are too big. They’d be be very dangerous and difficult to get out if the sky does fall. In addition, they are targets. Look for a walkable smaller city or larger town with decent transportation, low cost of living, lower crime and good job opportunities.
Think about it.
Salary growth across the country
Originally posted 2009-10-27 10:13:51.
Flax Muffins for Fatter Folks and Diabetics
Low carb is the way to go for those with thrifty genes before the manure flies. Those who’re diabetes prone won’t do well with a high carb diet even afterwards. Forage for edible weeds (a coming post), eat from your garden along with any game you can get. Flax is a great grain to go along with this if you’re diabetic. Also store fats.
For both the thrifty-gened and diabetes prone, carbs will decrease energy and slow you down, along with increasing food cravings and raising blood sugars.
My fav savior instant microwave flax muffins (prep and cooking time is two minutes!) It has saved me from grubbing down on cookies, muffins and homemade bread many a time.
1/4 cup flax meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
Splenda to taste (I like mine sweet, so I use four packets)
1 tsp cinnamon
Tiny dash of salt
Mix together in a large coffee mug, then stir in
1 large egg
1 tsp to 1 T fat
Nuke a minute and a half to two minutes.
Dump out of the coffee cup and chow down with a lovely cuppa tea.
Basic flax muffin recipe Have some of these on hand
2 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 T fat
1/4 cup sugar free syrup (Davinci is best)
1 T vanilla
1 cup flax meal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 T cinnamon (can substitute any spice or cocoa along with chocolate Davinci syrup for yummy chocolate ones)
Tiny dash of salt
Beat eggs and mix in wet ingredients, including fat. Mix dry ingredients separately and then stir into the wet ones. Let stand five minutes. Then spoon into well-greased muffin cups. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 to thirty minutes.
For your extra personal food stores
Flax seeds or meal (canned is good because the high fat content can cause this grain to go rancid rapidly, especially if ground)
Dried eggs
Splenda and Davinci syrups
Cinnamon, cocoa and sweet spices
Should be in your basic stores
Baking powder and soda
Vanilla
Plenty of salt
Originally posted 2008-08-19 12:32:00.
Getting Published
I’ll answer an e-mail about sending in a novel to get it published.
Is your novel ready?
Writing a novel is hard. Writing a decent novel is even harder. A common pitfall is to become too close to it and not recognize crap for what it is. Everybody writes crap…often the difference between the professional and the amateur is the ability to be ruthless with the words and recognize crap for what it is. Harsh, but true. Novel writing is a craft. You should take the time to learn it. Let your novel cool and reread it with an ice cold heart. Then revise it. And revise it again.
What is the format that an unknown author uses in sending in novel?
It is unwise to send an entire submission unrequested. Write a query letter, one page, with two to three short paragraphs. The query letter counts. It should be as brilliant as you can make it. If you’re serious about getting published, you need to be going to writing conferences and meeting agents and editors. Nope, you never give them anything to read at said conferences. You only want to introduce yourself and hopefully make a good impression. This gives your query a hook.
How to write a query letter
Bookends Literary Agency, and a sample query.
SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) on Query Letters
Keep in mind a lot of editors don’t read unagented submissions. Query a specific editor you want to buy your work and reads unagented submissions, or an agent you want to represent you. Keep in mind whomever reads your query has one question, will this book sell and make them money? Let them know the accurate marketing niche. If you have a blog with a built in readership, let them know. They’ll google you anyway if even slightly interested.
You find out who’s who in publishing by doing research. Writer’s Digest puts out the skivvy and the genre trade magazines, romance, SFF, mystery, etc., has who is looking for what. Going to writing conferences and hanging out at Publisher’s Marketplace etc., will help. Publisher’s Marketplace tells you who’s selling what, and who was the agent. Invaluable stuff.
Do you mail the entire copy or a few chapters on a Microsoft Word document on a CD, or mail in the pages like pre-computer days?
Hard copy unless it has been requested specifically otherwise.
Once you’ve queried, the editor will either pass or request your novel. This request is golden. It gets your manuscript out of the slush pile and into a real editor’s hand. They will make a specific request for chapters or the entire manuscipt. Follow their directions well. Pages should be loose, in a box or envelope, and formatted correctly in a standard font. Once they buy the book, they might want a CD or an electronic copy, but they’ll let you know then.
Do publishers even read unsolicited novels by unknowns?
They usually have readers and interns go through the slush pile. It gets a cursory glance at most. Your chances of getting published if you simply send in an entire manuscript to the publishing house instead of it being requested by a specific person is frankly slim. Query first.
Note: I never read other folk’s work unless they are a close (traditionally published) friend and critique partner. Otherwise legal pitfalls abound. I only blurb friend’s work or authors who are recommended by friends…and only then if I actually like it. Oh, and my agent has more than enough clients too.
Originally posted 2009-10-17 19:12:00.
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