And It's On. I do mean on.

Let me get the links to stuff out of the way.
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com This is a site maintained by Randy Ingermanson. He's smart. He's a rocket scientist, or something, but he also writes fiction. Popular commercial fiction. His Snowflake Method is gold, and used by quite a few writers. He seems like a likable and helpful fellow. Hit his page up.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com He's grumpy? Maybe. But I'll tell you what, he knows what he's talking about. You won't find any techniques here, unless you are into marketing, but you will find analysis and trends. That's worth a look. He also makes money self publishing, and says you can too. If you write a good story.

http://www.lindsayburoker.com She gives some of the ins and outs of self publishing. I found her today while researching this (just for you). While not a household name, guess what? She makes money self publishing. Read the Wattpad articles.

David Mamet NYT article. Why he self published.

Leigh Ann Kopans Found this today. Genre specific (YA), but still applies.

Now down to the dirt. Rubber meeting road. Blah blah blah.

Using the information from the fine people above I am convinced it is possible to crank out a book, and self publish it in electronic format. Further, it is possible to make a chunk of change doing it. You have to be diligent, and you have to market yourself. I'm no expert (not at this anyway), but I do have training in how to use the English language in order to stream a story together (thanks Mercer University). I also have a heap of stories locked in my head, and some of them are even scribbled in the ubiquitous notebook. I, yes me, have seen my work in print. I get it. It was back in the early '90s, and in a defunct literary magazine, and only one short story. But I still received a check, which I cashed and bought beer with. Not only is publication possible, it's probable. A problem looms on the horizon.

How to make the money.

I'm not doing this for cash. I'm doing this because I want to. Any writer that strives for a collection of coins is in a sad state. They should be doing it for other reasons. But I am a realist, and I would like to see a demonstration of success. So here goes the plan.

1. Get something together. Write as much as possible. Hell, you should probably finish it or at least have the bones down.

2. Take some of what you have and go set up a Wattpad account (link: Wattpad)

3. Post a chapter a week. Do it! I know, you're giving your stuff away for free. Just do it. It's only a few chapters. Put the whole thing up if it's the first in a series. If it is a stand alone book you could probably get away with a few chapters. Set up an author page so you can link to your blog or finished work later (you'll put that on Amazon, or one of the other ebook distributors).

4. Keep writing. Do it again. When you have three or four finished you should have made some cash. You might have developed a following. Which is good. Not because it puts money in your pocket (that's a side benefit), but because people are interested in your stories.

This is a very abbreviated version of what I am going to do. The big thing right now is getting this story written, and then figuring out what genre it is. I am putting my marketing director and tech guy on this as I write/type. That's right! I have a marketing and tech team. It's not a team really, it's more in the vein of child labor. The boy is in charge of some of this. We'll call it an internship, but if DFACS asks he will be doing it because he wanted to help me out. In no way have I threatened him or held his Playstation controls hostage. Maybe his cell phone.

I'll post some links when he gets it done.

What else is on? Oh yes, the thru-hike.
We have been doing quite a bit of rambling. We started short and sweet. Through the neighborhood, and Sweetwater Creek State Park. I decided to bump up the miles Tuesday. Timed walking. Two hours out and then come back. If you are in the Cobb/Paulding area of Georgia you should give the Silver Comet Trail a look. For those interested it is an old rail line that ran through Georgia and into Alabama. The train, the Silver Comet, carried passengers from 1947 all the way until 1969. I'm not a train aficionado but that might be a long time, considering cars were pretty common by then. The trail is paved, and its main use seemed to be people on bicycles. I took a picture of this creepy house, which the boy denies seeing. Creepy. A house that isn't there. Ooooh.

The plan is to keep up the two hours out and two hours back through July, and then... another bump. Three hours out. Do that until September, and then what? Four hours. I think I'll leave it at four hours out. We plan on doing these little jaunts once a week. His feet should be like forged iron by February. Pain? What pain?

I am taking this a bit more serious than he seems to be, and it was his idea. I've been hitting the weights in Crossfit fashion, sprinting, and doing old school PT (no kipping pull-ups, that's for people that need help doing pull-ups). My strength is coming back (sick time, see previous post about how I fared on the no tech experiment). No abs, yet, but I'm not worried about that. I heard you come back from an AT thru-hike with abs like an underwear model. Can't wait.