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Spring Storms
It’s March, and we’re already getting Spring storms here in Switzerland. We recently had a storm which scared the crap out of me and the Wife one night. I have a large window in my bedroom that has an awning that I usually have closed because I like it dark in my room. During the summer, I open it up to accommodate my portable air conditioner. There’s a little hook that keeps it closed during storms, and apparently I didn’t hook it up correctly when I closed it up for the winter. The loose awning opened with a loud bang that woke me and The Wife up at 3 am. Eventually the adrenaline wore off and I was able to get back to sleep, but the storm was quite noisy and windy.
That’s how we know, here, that it’s closer to Spring and that Winter will soon be over. Soon, we’ll be getting more storms like that one, but with thunder and lightning! (It’s what we get for living near the Alps.)
The end of February and March have been kind of like that storm. While the book launch was really awesome, there’s been a lot of other stuff that hasn’t been awesome, that knocked us in the head. We’re getting through it, and we’re ok overall, but it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions.
What was really hard for me, personally, was finding out one of my best friends from seminary, Rev. Lee Whittaker, passed away suddenly a couple of weeks ago. Grieving is hard. I know this. I’ve told my wife and friends this on many occasions, but it’s hard to remember when you’re grieving someone who was close to you. I wished we’d had more contact in the last few years, but like with a lot of folks, when we moved to Switzerland, we fell out of regular contact. (I don’t blame anyone for this, really, since life is life and time zones and all that.)
But the one gift I have for myself and for others who loved Lee is this small YouTube series we did in 2015 called “Coffee With God.” While it was hard for both of us to continue with the series due to our schedules and other things, I think what we did together with this series was really good. We both learned a lot about filming, editing, and online ministry.
When I heard the news about Lee, I immediately began looking through the videos, and of course, there was this episode about grief:
Seminary was a complicated time for me. I have no regrets at all, but it was also a lot: a lot of emotional growth, spiritual growth, and figuring out a lot about who I was spiritually and what I wanted to do religiously and for my ministry. The first couple of years after seminary were even more complicated and not really something I’ll go into here, but I’ve found my own way now with my ministry, and I know Lee found his. I’m glad I got to be his friend in this life, and hopefully we’ll meet again in the next.
One thing that helps in processing my grief is my writing. Always has, to be honest. I have two more novels in the editing pipeline, and I’m now working on a 7th. It’s been hard to find my footing for the current novel, because of the grief, but I think I might have found my footing today during my Twitch stream. I’m really grateful for my Wife and my Twitch community.
It’s coming up on the Spring Equinox. Time to bring in the new and let go of the things that hold us back. Never forgetting the past, but moving forward. At least for my own life.
I think I’ll keep reminding myself of that, and I hope that your Spring is time of moving forward, too.
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We’re Making Bookplates Because Amazon Doesn’t Work in Switzerland. (aka The Amazon Paper Book Saga)
Most folks that talk to me on the regular have heard me rant about how Amazon doesn’t work in Switzerland. I don’t fully understand why, but from what I do understand it stems from the way Switzerland deals with VAT (shipping taxes) and other legislation that passed here that Amazon didn’t like. So Amazon noped out of shipping pretty much anything at all to Switzerland.
For reals. If you look up anything on the Amazon.de site with a Swiss address, 99% of the time it will say “This item does not ship to Switzerland.” Or, it might look like it does, then you go to check out, and find out they won’t when you try to pay for it. *sigh*
This leads me to why I won’t be doing any more signed paper copies for the foreseeable future.
I’ll preface this explanation by saying I absolutely DO NOT regret getting the paper copies to give away during my release party on Twitch. I’d been planning to do that for months. (Those copies are now on their way to the winners!)
Getting those copies was a pain in the ass, though.
The biggest problem is that Amazon does not allow me to buy author/proof copies here. Author/proof copies are usually printed for the author at cost and you can normally get them before you make the book go live. But because I live in Switzerland, if I want to buy author copies, I have to buy them through the Amazon.com site, ship them to my parents, then have my parents ship them here. For the giveaways, because we ran out of time, we ended having to publish the paper version, buy them at full cost from Amazon.de, send them to a 3rd party shipper in Germany who then sent the books to us (for a fee, of course).
If you’re thinking that’s a lot of money, you’re right. Shipping them out again is just as expensive, if not more. I managed to keep the cost of shipping down for the prize books because I went through the Swiss Post. However, there’s no tracking, and I had to bring all the books to the Post Office to drop off because Swiss Post doesn’t do home pickup for international packages. (You also can’t just put letters in your mailbox for the Postal Carrier to pick up, either, which is irritating. Thankfully the Post box for letters isn’t too far from my house and I don’t mind the walk.)
DHL, FedEx or other carriers aren’t an option, because they want a little over 200 CHF (about the same in dollars) to ship just 1 book. And that was the cheapest shipping option. *sighs again*
I know there’s a number of you who would like signed paper copies, and I really wish I could, but it’s just not going to be a feasible thing. (Although, if you ever see me in person and happen to have your book or books with you, I will be more than happy to sign them!)
BUT! My lovely friend Denise suggested that we do bookplates, and the Wife and I thought that was an excellent idea (Thank you, Denise!). The Wife is also getting into lino/block printing, and offered to make handmade bookplates for the launch.
Here’s how it will work:
- If you bought, or will buy, a paper copy of my book between February 1 through February 28, email me through the Email page and let me know how many bookplates you want and if you want something special written on them.
- Limit is 4 per person.
- Include your snail mail address in the email.
- The Wife will create the bookplates in March and I will sign them all.
- The bookplates will be mailed out around the end of March or beginning of April.
These will only be available for this launch, so they are limited edition and will be numbered. We’ll have pictures of the design around mid-March.
We hope you’ll like them, and trust me, from the design that The Wife showed me today, they are going to be really cool!
Thank you everyone for your most awesome support and understanding! You are the best! 🙂
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Holy Moly! What a ride!
Y’all!
Y’ALL!
The books released on February 1, and the response has been so awesome! The February 5 release party was so much fun. If you missed it, or want to watch it again, you can go to my YouTube channel and watch it.
That’s not all that’s launched in the last couple of weeks! I also launched my podcast “Tales from Flat Space” which you can check out through the book page, or look for it on your favorite podcatcher (Apple and Google are taking a while, but it is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, and Amazon Music). The first three episodes cover The Four Keys and 5 short stories that I read live on Twitch.
The subsequent episodes will be my reading of Survey. I read the episodes live during my Sunday Twitch stream at 11 pm Central European Time (5 pm Eastern/ 2 pm Pacific US time) and they will be posted via podcast about 1-2 weeks later.
I also finished the first draft of the next two novels! One is a sequel novel to the first 4 books, and the second is set between Survey and Unity. I’ve just started the editing process for these two, and, depending on how things go, at least one of them should be out by the end of the year.
I hope that people are enjoying the books and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think! (Also, if you’re so inclined, feel free to leave a review on Amazon!)
Thank you all so much for the support! It means a lot to me!
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Don’t forget! Books go live on Wednesday, February 1, and Live Release Party on Twitch, Sunday February 5!
OMG! IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS MY BOOKS WILL GO LIVE ON AMAZON!!! LINKS WILL BE HERE
AND in just 6 days, at 10 pm Central European time (4 pm Eastern US/ 1 pm Pacfic US) will be my online release party on Twitch! I will be giving away a signed FULL 4 BOOK SET and 3 signed copies of the first book, Survey!
You’ll need to sign up on Twitch to be able to chat and win prizes, but sign up is free!
I will also be starting my live Sunday podcast recordings of Survey, so you’ll be able to listen to me read the first three chapters during this stream!
Hope to see folks there! Woot!!
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Pssst…
If you’re a Patron you can pre-order the ebooks!
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16 Days!
OMG FOLKS!!
In a little over two weeks, on February 1st, my books come out! I am so incredibly excited! AND! We’ll be having a live release party on February 5th on Twitch! There will be giveaways of ebooks and papers books, with the grand prize being signed paper copies of all 4 books!
You can follow me over on Twitch at http://twitch.tv/worthyadvisor where I’m now doing writing streams. I use the Pomodoro method (aka Sprints): 20 minutes writing, 5 minutes break in between each sprint, with a longer break after 4 sprints. It’s not just for writing, either, you can use this method for other work as well. Or, you can just have me on in the background while you do other stuff and listen to my Awesome Wife’s incredible music!
The covers are all done! The Awesome Wife did an incredible job on them!! Check them out:
Head on over to the Books page where you can click on each cover to find out more about the book.
I also have a Patreon now, so if you’d like to support me that way, you can do so! Minimum is $3, which includes a Discord where you can chat with me and about the books once you get to read them!
And last, but by no means least, I’ll be doing a podcast called “Tales From Flat Space” where I’ll have serial reading of all my novels. I’ll be reading them live on Twitch every Sunday during my stream, but afterwards, they’ll be on the podcast. You can listen directly from the Libsyn page, or, eventually, it’ll be in all the usual podcast outlets.
This month is so exciting, and not just because the 16th is my birthday, but also because, in such a short time, you’ll all be able to read these books that I’ve been working on for so long. I really hope you’ll enjoy them!
(And yes, I like exclaimation points. I’m excited, ok?)
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Live Reading of “The Four Keys”– Part 4: The Eastern City
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Yule Dinner Recipe: Mashed Roasted Cauliflower
Every year I make a big Yule dinner for us. I’m kind of a foodie-ish person, so I do things a little fancy. This year we had roast beef, which I put in the sous vide for 24 hours, then roasted in the oven for about 15 minutes to get the proper crust (makes the beef suuuuuper tender). I also made brussels sprouts fried with bacon, gravy, and Yorkshire puddings.*
However, we don’t do potatoes anymore because The Wife is diabetic, and combining puds and potatoes isn’t a Good Idea. So instead, I usually make mashed cauliflower. I used to steam them in the Instant Pot**, mash them with butter and cheese and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but it was still a bit on the watery side. Passable and tasted good, but not Perfect.
But this year, friends, I tried a thing and I will be making mashed cauliflower this way forever!
I roasted the cauliflower first, and my gods! So amazing. So much so that The Awesome Wife told, nay demanded, that I must share this recipe far and wide for all and yon to enjoy!
So, here ya go:
Ingredients:
- 500 g of frozen cauliflower (or fresh, if you want)
- about 40 g of butter
- milk
- shredded cheese to taste (I recommend something on the mild side, but definitly NOT mozzarella! You want something like gruyere or a mild chedder.)
Instructions:
- Turn on the oven to 230 C (about 450 F)
- Put your cauliflower on a cookie sheet or whatever roasting thingo you have. Make sure it’s one layer.
- Put in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until there’s browning on the cauliflower and the cauliflower’s shrunk by half. (This is the important bit, really.)
- In a bowl, put the pat of butter, and when the cauliflower is done, add the cauliflower to the bowl and let the butter melt. (Make sure it’s a decent sized bowl.)
- Using an immersion (aka stick) blender, blend the cauliflower and butter until it’s smooth. This doesn’t take long.
- Add shredded cheese to the mix. Mix with a fork until it comes together. The mix will be a little stiff. Add milk a tiny bit at a time until the mix is more proper “mashed potato” consistancy. Feel free to add salt and pepper here if you want.
That’s it! This makes enough for 2 people, but if you want more, just double or triple the recipe.
Now, because I’m a dang adult, and have fulfilled my Wife’s request, I’m going to go and watch Discovery with my Awesome Wife while enjoying a tasty non-alcoholic adult beverage. There may even be leftover puds with cream and sugar free maple syrup later. Because, again, I’m an adult and I do what I want. 🙂
Blessed Yule to all those who celebrate it! Hope your day has been merry, and your night too!
*aka Puds. I always have the Awesome Wife check them and declare them proper Puds, because She is British and I wouldn’t want to offend her on Yule.
** aka The Best Kitchen Appliance Ever Made. I will die on this hill.
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Live Reading of “The Four Keys”– Part 3: The Southern City
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Twitch Streaming! Survey Intragalactic Release Date! Woo hoo!
Can you believe it’s December already? It’s been snowing here in Switzerland and it’s been holiday-card beautiful!
But enough about the weather! The first big announcement, if you haven’t heard about it yet, is that I am now streaming 3 days a week on Twitch doing co-working streams. Co-working (or body doubling) is something that I’ve done for a long time, as I like just having other people around while I’m working. The side effect of having other folks around is accountability. I can actually get work done. Streaming is nice because there are folks who come and hang out and chat with me during breaks, and I seem to get a lot of writing done, even while chatting with folks. It also lets you see my process and get a sneak peak of new books! You can find my stream at http://twitch.tv/worthyadvisor. I usually stream on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. (The schedule is on my Twitch page.) Although, I won’t be streaming on December 25 and January 1 (obviously!).
The second, and most exciting announcement this month, is that the Survey Intragalactic series will be coming out on February 1, 2023! I’ll have more detailed information in January, but there will be an online release party on Twitch with a bunch of giveaways of paper books, ebooks, and maybe even some other merch!
My Awesome Wife is working on the covers, and here’s the cover for “Survey” the first book of the series:
How awesome is this? I am super stoked, and I really can’t wait for you all to be able to read these books that have been three years in the making!
I hope you all have excellent Holidays, no matter what you do or celebrate, and a great New Year! Or as is said in Switzerland: einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! I’ll see you again in January!
