New book trailer

A friend of mine made a really cool book trailer for Journey Into Renewal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpEDk4y_0Aw

Changing computers

Some experiences I’ve had during the switching everything over to the Acer has been better than others have been. One of the better things has been for my writing to be more portable than it’s been before. If I want to write on the porch, the backyard or the bedroom it’s easily available now. Going to the park and writing is also a viable option now. This net book only weighs I think two pounds and lasts a very long time on a battery charge. When it is plugged in it uses a total of 40 watts, less than most incandescent light bulbs.

I liked the idea so much that Brandy is getting a new laptop and we will no longer use the tower system as of a little later this month. We won’t get rid of it completely as it will work well for a backup when necessary. Both laptops will use about 80 watts running at the same time. I believe the tower system used about 500 watts. Our electric bill should drop soon. Considering the HP was running about 14 hours per day before that makes a savings of about 5 ½ kw per day. If the calculator is right it’s about 150 kw per month. It figures to about $18 per month or $216 per year. Basically in four years they’ve paid for themselves just in electric savings alone.

Make sure you back your files. Thankfully I had most of them backed up but not all of them. I used to try to make sure every document was backed up on DVD which worked well. That however is not an option any more since I got the Acer that I’m writing this on as it doesn’t have a DVD drive. At least there’s a way to do it on a thumb drive. Preferably it’s on a micro SD card in a card convertor since they hook up to so many different things so easily. I think the one I have now is an 8GB. That’s actually large enough for

Probably the biggest pain of all has been with moving Microsoft Office to this machine. They have not made it very easy at least for the activation to take place. It’s a cake run the first time but not when you change machines. It just won’t activate even after removing Office off of the first machine. What you usually end up having to do is open the activation window and call the number. I think in the little window there are 9 blocks of 6 numbers each. These you will need to give the computer you’re talking to when it finally comes on. After it validates the numbers it then gives you another 9 blocks of 6 numbers which you will type in the little boxes.

I’m probably going to have one last thing that will be a pain as of yet. The anti-virus software will still need to be moved from the tower to Brandy’s new laptop. While it’s probably not a major hassle I’m still expecting some waiting time on the phone. Now for my computer I noticed that little link on the Microsoft Office page for free anti-virus software. They have one called Microsoft Security Essentials that I guess is designed for businesses. It seems to work pretty well but time will tell.

Possible story line for someone?

I get a lot of emails everyday. Sometimes there are scams that I also find, this one has the makings of a thriller story line. There is a lot here actually and could easily be the basis of three chapters I think.


Dear friend, My name is Staff David Lee. I am an American soldier that served in the US military in Iraq with the army's 31st infantry division and I have some amount of funds that I want to move out of the country. I appreciate the fact that we are strangers for now but knowing that all relationship starts from strangers to friendship and family in a moment of trust and sincerity so please note that trust is very essential in all dealings. I got your contact from an email address journal. What I am about to share with you is a top secret which you are not expected to tell anyone for my own sake. Please note that I am in an Iraq country side cave and I have limited time to be on the internet due to my present location. I am presently hiding in a remote village which makes it difficult to have access to the internet but I will always try my best to come on from time to time to communicate with you. You must be quite aware that the entire soldiers that was sent to Iraq have been ordered to leave by President Barrack Obama last year December but I had to stay back due to some unfinished business I had over here which I would suggest that you please keep as strictly confidential. 

 During our service in Iraq, while fighting for the great people of America so many lives were lost, friends e.t.c. May their perfect soul continue to rest in peace. During the period, we managed to move funds found in Saddam Hussein’s farm. Several Millions of Dollars was also discovered about $760 million of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's cash hidden in several cottages. You can visit these sites to have a pure idea of what am talking about: 

 You can go to this web link to read about events that took place there: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-13237.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm 

Six of us managed to take some and hid for ourselves. I was able to take US$25 Million dollars in cash for myself, mostly 100 dollar bills. I want to move this money to you so that you may invest it for me and keep my share for banking. I will take 70%, You take the other 30%. No strings attached, just help me move it out of Iraq as Iraq is a war zone. I do not intend to come back to America for now for security reasons. I am aware that some of my colleagues already surrendered to the authorities and this is the more reason I do not plan to come back home neither do I intend to contact my family until everything is resolved. Presently, no one knows my location. I plan on using diplomatic courier and shipping the money out using diplomatic immunity. All I need from you is your trust to work as partners as that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone/fax numbers for quick communication also your contact details. This business is risk free. The box can be shipped out in 48hrs. 

I’m not greedy. I have package the boxes believing that I will leave Iraq with the Red Cross officials before I changed my mind to remain here for now. I need you to get the consignment and keep in your custody pending my return to America. 

I want you to understand that, this transaction is a gilt-edge transaction so you don’t have anything to be scared of. I have made all the necessary arrangement on how the boxes will be delivered to you at provided delivery address since I am not coming with diplomatic flight again. All I want from you is the maximum cooperation and prayers for me out here. 

I will be redirecting the diplomat to deliver the boxes to you as he will be leaving Iraq very soon and since he has diplomatic Immunity, the consignment will not be subject to rigorous screening. I will provide you with the name of the diplomat in charge of delivery and I will also give to him your contact information that you shall be providing me to enable him contact you immediately on his arrival. 

I will like you to confirm to me your full contact details like your full names, contact address, contact telephone as well as your present occupation. 

This will enable me know how to position myself to make sure this deal is brought to a logical conclusion without any hitch. 

CONFIDENTIALITY. 

Note that the diplomat is not aware of the content of the boxes so please do not tell him that they contain money. The boxes are package in a consignment as mere goods. Just let him know they are personal effects that belongs to a dead soldier is directed to you. I shall send you the pictures of myself and the consignments as soon you get back to me to assist me. 

My confidence and trust in you should not be betrayed because I have put a lot on the line here and God shall see us through. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance. Please e-mail me at sgt.davidlee@rogers.com for more details as this mail was sent to you from a colleague of mine's (DiComo, Anna) email box. My most secured email address is sgt.davidlee@rogers.com for security reasons. I await your response ASAP. 

God bless you and and God bless America. Have a wonderful day. 

Thanks SSG David Lee

Piracy

There's a subject that's talked about by a lot of authors everywhere. It keeps coming up in just about every author's group I'm a member of. We talk about it with each other and some of the discussion gets quite heated. That subject is piracy. Making unapproved copies of what we've written and giving it out, selling it, etc.

I decided to do a little experiment to find out how its done because of course I have a number of books out. One of the things you need to do is remove the digital rights management or DRM for short. It's actually not all that difficult to do. There are plug-ins that are readily available for popular e-reader software that will strip it out easily. Not a lot of thought is needed for the process and it doesn't take long.

Since I found out how easy it is to get rid of it why would I bother with even enabling it? It doesn't make much sense to me so I won't be including it on any future releases. Also if you legally got a copy having the DRM keeps you from putting the book on multiple devices. What I'm referring to is a book on your Kindle and you want to convert it for your Sony reader.

Now why wouldn't you want to pirate my books since I won't be adding any DRM to future releases? Well, for one, why would I continue to write and put out books if I'm not making anything off of them? It would seem to me that a lot of other authors will feel the same way as I do. Over time you'll actually decrease what you have available to you to read. I don't know about you but that idea doesn't sound good to me at all. So you're not just hurting an author you're hurting yourself. This does apply to music also.

Giving away a copy or two of one of my books isn't a major issue for me as long as its limited. I just don't want you making a million copies and giving them out or selling them. That is something that really would bother me. It would also cause me to never write another word.

Do you really want a free copy of an authors work? Get in touch with the author and offer to review it. Just about any author wants their book reviewed, myself included. I'll be happy to send you a copy of any of mine that you want. Just make sure when you read the book you actually write the review that you agreed to do. Make sure you also find out what goes into a decent review.

Right now, I have a shelf full of books from large publishers. In fact a picture of them is at the top of this post. I reviewed all of them except for one. I also have many books on my Kindle that are review copies. While I've reviewed many of them there are quite a few to review still. Slowly but surely I'm reducing the list over time. Since becoming an author I've had less actual time to review books. Sometimes I actually have to focus on the next book or story that I'm in the process of writing that hopefully you'll enjoy.

Creepy story

I've been working on Liturgy recently as some of you may know and its a really creepy story in places. I actually had to stop writing for a bit last night because it creeped me out. The particular scene had a lot of blood in it and I had a big cringe. This story is one where I'm pulling out all of the stops and I hope it scares the hell out of a lot of people.

Writing a horror story like this in not quite like watching a horror movie like "1408" or "Freddie's Back". You're now inside of it and you can almost touch everything you're writing about.

Now it may be changed a little bit but this is the tentative cover for "Liturgy". Might be doing something with the black space around the crystal more than anything. The crystal is one that I actually own, I get the weirdest vibrations from it at times.

This is the description of the story I worked out already, might be changed a little but it gives some insight in what I'm writing.

This story is centered around what can best be described as a demon possessed crystal (basically one from hell). It makes people do very strange things and causes certain paranormal things to happen. Yes, there will be blood dripping down the walls at times, things will levitate without warning and it's a lot of fun to write ;-)