Philadelphia Eagles Countdown to the Draft!!!

There's lots of speculation now about the Eagles moving up in the draft and going after one of the top two quarterbacks. The crazier part of me wants to believe this is a real possibility and prior to the Browns signing RGIII, there was a way that could happen.

The Browns had expressed a strong interest in Sam Bradford last year and reportedly offered their second first round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Bradford. Coming off a year where neither knee exploded and Bradford survived playing behind a bad offensive line, and with a new contract locking him in for two years at a moderate price, his value is arguably even higher than it had been last year. He's a lower risk option now than he was last year, so his value is arguably higher.

With the Browns valuing Bradford and the Eagles having what they believe to be a viable alternative in Chase Daniel, it wasn't too hard to see a scenario where the Browns, who have had miserable luck drafting a QB, would pass on drafting a kid high, take Bradford and the Eagles eighth overall pick, letting the Eagles move up to the second pick to take one of the two quarterbacks.

With Tennessee more or less locked into Tunsil, a team would have to really knock their socks off to get Tennessee to trade back. If the Eagles traded up to second and another team did trade up to get that first overall pick, then the Eagles could grab Tunsil who's the best offensive tackle in the draft. It would be a win-win for the Eagles. They could then grab one of the second/third tier QB's later in the draft and hope to get lucky.

With the Browns signing RGIII though, they're more likely to be creating an offense around a mobile quarterback and Bradford's not an especially mobile quarterback. With both of the young quarterbacks reportedly needing a year or two of seasoning before they'll be ready to start (one of the few things everyone seems to agree on) the Browns are counting on RGIII surviving this season while the kid learns the game. Counting on RGIII staying healthy and being a good teammate is a gamble, but it seems to be the one the Browns have settled on.

Unless another team up high in the draft really, really wants a Bradford (or maybe a Fletcher Cox whose contract negotiation is taking forever) the Eagles don't really have the ammunition needed to trade up very far. It's possible the Eagles know they can't resign Fletcher Cox at what they consider a fair value and would be willing to move him. I doubt it, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Any team trading for Fletcher Cox would have him locked up for this coming season under his existing contract and could tag him next year, so they'd get two years of play from him. I just don't see the Eagles trading away Cox though.

At this point it looks like Tunsil will go to Tennessee, the Browns will grab whichever of the two quarterbacks they think will succeed. The Chargers are a bit of a wild card. I'm not sure anyone knows what they'll do. Most seem to have them grabbing a defensive player. Then come the Cowboys.

Jerry Jones says the Cowboys will absolutely not take a QB in the first round. I'm not sure he isn't lying about that. Tony Romo first injured his shoulder last September. Then he re-injured it in November. He had surgery recently. It's likely to be a while before he's ready to do any serious upper body work and he's unlikely to have done much since the initial injury in September. It's almost April as I write this, so that doesn't give him a lot of time to get his upper body ready for the pounding a quarterback takes in the NFL.

The Cowboys have been very conspicuous in not signing one of the free agent quarterbacks who could have been a competent backup for them. Going into the off season, nearly everyone, including some Cowboy insiders, all agreed that the backup quarterback situation needed to be addressed. Despite multiple free agent options available, the Cowboys did nothing. Why? My best guess is because they're planning on getting one of the top two guys in the draft. (Most likely Wentz, who they coached in the Senior Bowl.) Moving up from four to one isn't quite as big a climb and the Titans could still likely get Tunsil, or Stanley to solidify their offensive line.

What would the Cowboys have to give up? I would figure the price to be one of their top young offensive linemen of the Titans choosing, this year's fourth overall pick, and likely next year's first round pick. The Titans would likely end up with Tunsil, who'd they'd draft anyway, or if the Chargers or Browns grab him then they could pick up Stanley and still upgrade their offensive line. It's a win-win for the Titans. They'd get a proven starter, a good young player in the draft and a first round pick in next year's draft. The Cowboys would get their quarterback of the future, and Jerry Jones would be convinced the Cowboys would rebound next year so the pick they gave up for next year's draft wouldn't likely be a higher pick.

Jacksonville, Baltimore and the Niners could all be potential trade partners for the Eagles to move up a bit if the guy they want falls. The cost of moving up a spot or two isn't quite as high, so we could see a move there. I'm not sure we will though.

I've got a suspicion the top two quarterbacks will go one and two. I think the Cowboys will move up to one to grab their quarterback of the future, likely Wentz. I think it's a doable move for them. The Browns will take whoever is left, likely Goff, and pray he doesn't implode on them. With the top two quarterbacks gone one and two, the Chargers will then have their pick of the top defensive players or Tunsil, then the Titans will grab another top offensive lineman. The consensus seems to be that the Jags would take Myles Jack. Baltimore would likely go with a lineman, either offensive or defensive depending on how they have guys rated. With both quarterbacks off the board the Niner's might opt to trade down or possibly take a wide receiver.

The Eagles could find themselves with only the third best offensive lineman, or third best quarterback on the boards, neither of whom might be worth the pick. Ezekiel Elliot might start looking pretty good to them about then. They could also try trading back to pick up some extra picks. If I had to say right now, I'd say they'd take Ezekiel Elliot.

Expect lots of craziness to take place in the draft this year. I think the top two quarterbacks will go one and two. That means the Titans will trade down and a quarterback needy team will trade up. I'm leaning towards it being the Cowboys, but it could also be the Niners, Eagles, or someone else. Even the Browns could move up a spot to be sure they get their guy. I think this will be a fun draft to watch.

An update on my Kindle Scout campaign!

My Kindle Scout campaign for "Sara X" ended at midnight last night and I ended up with 177 page views and 46 hours of being hot and trending. The numbers aren't great and probably inadequate, but I gave it a shot. I'll find out in the "next few business days" if Amazon picks it up or not. If they don't, then it's off to self publishing for "Sara X."

If Amazon does pick it up, then they'll reportedly send it to Kirkus for an editing review. I'll then have the option to make, or disregard the suggested edits, and Amazon will then get around to publishing the e-book version of "Sara X". I'll get a $1500 advance for the novel and then a 50% royalty on sales. I believe most Scout books are priced at $4.99 which means the royalty would be about $2.49 per book sold. It'll take about 600 sales to earn out the advance before any additional cash will be flowing.

On to other news. The seedlings are doing great! The purple wave petunias and calibrachoas are growing like weeds. I've got 144 impatiens seeds started now also along with 15 red salvia seedlings. The petunias and calibrachoas will soon be spending days outside. We're in a bit of a warm streak right now with days in the seventies, but that won't last. However, I can take advantage of those days and move the more cold tolerant seedlings outside on warmer days to get some sun and to start adjusting to the outside life.

My self-cleaning aquarium filter is now partially functional. I haven't fully automated it yet, but the system is working well. The moving roll of floss is doing its job and now I simply have to figure out how to wire in the stepper motor and program the controller for it. It looks like this will work pretty well though. If things keep progressing like this I'll build a third prototype out of acrylic in the near future that will be more of a finished product.

The silly season of the NFL season is now underway (or will be by noon when the legal tampering period of free agency starts up for real.) Expect to see lots of signings announced on Wednesday shortly after the new season officially starts at four PM. I don't expect to see the Eagles making any bold moves this free agency period. The Eagles may resign a guy or two of their own who's now a free agent if they don't find a contract to their liking and want to come back, but I don't see the Eagles being overly aggressive.

In the next few days I should hear back from Amazon on whether or not they'll pick up "Sara X". As the next group of impatiens seedlings emerge, they'll get moved to the better plant lights. It won't be long before plants are going outside for real. We're maybe six weeks away from the hardiest plants being reasonably safe going out. This is a busy time of year for me.

Just an overall update!

Things in my world are slowly progressing. My Kindle Scout campaign is chugging along for a while longer. If you haven't nominated it, here's another chance to nominate "Sara X". The free giveaway for "The Campaign" ended with two hundred additional copies going out for free. I sold fifty copies at full price also. So far out of the 250 copies I've gotten ten Amazon reviews, eight five star and two four star, two Good Reads reviews, and multiple positive comments on forums I frequent. On Sunday 2/21/2016 a Kindle Countdown deal will start for "To Rise or Fall" where the price of the Kindle version will be reduced to $.99 for a week. We'll have to see what kind of an impact that has on sales.

The seedlings (purple wave petunia, calibrachoa, dahlberg daisy) I started a few weeks ago are doing very well and it's almost time to start the second batch of seeds. The impatiens and salvias will be the next to get started. The last of the seeds to get started will be the marigolds, thunbergias, and zinnias. They tend to grow so well they don't need much advance planting.

We're starting to get the first hints of Spring now. Daffodils are breaking the ground and starting to emerge. The grass is greening up a bit. March is just around the corner and March is the month where I often start out the month shoveling snow and end the month mowing the grass. It is the ultimate transitional month around here. By the end of March all risk of serious snowfall is gone and Spring is in sight. It may not always feel especially Spring-like, but on good days, you can just feel it.

And that's about it for now.

How descriptive is too descriptive?

It's very easy as a writer to go overboard in describing a scene. I've read novels where you get the impression the writer is giving a report to a police sketch artist, they're so thorough in their description. It's not hard to find character descriptions where you know the age, height, weight, skin color, hair color, eye color, hair style, makeup details, nail polish color, length of nails, every detail of every layer of clothing and more. I tend to lean more towards vagueness when describing characters/scenes. I try to tell what's important and leave the rest up to the reader's imagination.

I think this makes it easier for the reader to plug themselves into a character and assume that role while keeping the story moving. If your lead character is a four foot, two inch, heavily tattooed South Korean woman with a British accent, and you repeat that description endlessly, it's hard for anyone who isn't that person to slide themselves into that role. If you keep the description more vague, then it's easier for someone to plug themselves into that role.

In the first novel I wrote (currently unpublished) I knew Frederick Madden's kitchen so well, I could have easily used five hundred pages to describe it in detail. Would that have helped the reader understand the character more? Not really, so I kept the description short. I told the reader what they needed to know and nothing more.

J.K. Rowling recently found herself dealing with this issue when Noma Dumezweni (a black actress) was cast to play Hermione in the new Harry Potter play being staged in London. As J.K. Rowling pointed out, at no time in describing Hermione had she described her skin color, so there was no reason Hermione couldn't be black. There was the slight issue of having cast a white actress to play her in the movies which helped to set the image of a white Hermione in the eyes of the fans, but in the books, Hermione was described vaguely enough that she could have been of any nationality.

It's very easy to go overboard in a description. I remember reading a first paragraph of another writer's book that used thirteen colors describing surf crashing into a shoreline. It read like a Technicolor mess. None of the colors were different from what one would expect. Nearly everyone reading the book should know what waves crashing into a shoreline would look like and already have a mental image of that scene, so going overboard in describing the scene merely served to take the reader out of the story.

Over my writing lifetime I've had a lot of feedback and the feedback I get most often involves descriptions and oddly enough I tend to get split feedback on this issue. About half of those commenting say, "Thank God you didn't bury the story in descriptions." And then the opposite, "Where are the descriptions? How did the lead feel when he lost his job? What does Sara look like in detail?"

I tend to find lengthy descriptions take me, as a reader, out of the story. I'm more of a storyteller than an eyewitness, so I try to keep descriptions vague enough to keep the reader in the story, but still give the reader a good feel who the character is and the scene. Finding that middle ground is a challenge and you're going to alienate some readers who want more description, or less description.

As a writer you live the story you're writing. You inhabit the world you've created. You know how everything looks, how everyone looks, you know the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations. You're living in this world and there's a natural temptation to try and convey everything you see and feel to the reader. The problem is that it's easy to lose the story when you go into detail on the descriptions.

Look around the room you're in as you read this and imagine how many words it would take to fully describe that room in detail. The wall color, the ceiling color, the floor, the furniture, the trim, the fixtures, how the light hits the room at various times of the day, etc. Would anyone reading a story taking place in that room need to know every detail? Which details are important to the story? If you try to tell too much, you can take the reader out of the story and the story is why the reader is there.

One of the big challenges of writing is learning how much to tell and how to do so in a manner that keeps the reader in the story. It's a lesson that I'm not sure is ever fully learned as different readers want/expect different levels of description.

Finally, just a quick reminded that my novel "Sara X" is still up for nomination in the Kindle Scout program. You can head over, give the excerpt a quick read, and if you like what you read, give me a nomination. I appreciate it! Here's a link to my Scout page. "Sara X"

Kindle Scout, here I come!

When last I blogged, "The Campaign" was available for free. That free giveaway ended on 2/5/2016 was quite successful and I've now decided to hold off on self-publishing my third novel, "Sara X" and toss it into the Kindle Scout program instead.

For those who don't know, Kindle Scout is a program where Amazon lets authors with an unpublished novel throw the first 5,000 words and the cover up on their Kindle Scout site to be viewed by interested readers. Readers can then choose to nominate the book for publication if they like what they see. If a book nominated by a reader gets picked up, every reader who nominated the book gets a free copy of it. It's a win-win for everyone. 

I'd been a bit reluctant to jump into Kindle Scout as the terms aren't ideal for an author, but then having read posts from many authors who were picked up, and were thrilled by what they got, I decided to give it a shot on this novel. Here's a link to my Kindle Scout page if you're interested in taking a look at my political thriller "Sara X." https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/376CW6LHKEVGU 

In other news, my seeds are sprouting! I started my Purple Wave Petunia, Calibrachoa, and Dahlberg Daisy seeds this week and I've got seedlings! Yea! It's always impressive how small a Wave petunia is at this point and how massive it'll be by the end of summer. The growth rate on those little guys is pretty incredible. This is my first year growing calibrachoa from seed. The seed packet lists the germination rate for the seeds at 80%, so I likely won't get the full 25 seeds I planted as plants, but if I get even two plants, it'll cover the cost of the seeds compared to buying the plants in the spring. The Purple Wave seeds have a germination rate of over 95% so I'll get a good supply of them. In a few more weeks I'll start the impatiens, salvias, and marigolds. There's nothing like having seedlings growing under your lights to make you forget the cold and snow outside.

The new plant lights I installed last winter surprised me with their growth rate, so I've pushed back the starting time for my seeds this year. Last year it became a jungle under the lights as the plants really, really loved the new lighting setup. Assuming I'll get the same rate of growth this year, I can hold off on starting the plants for a bit longer than in the past.

I've still got to find a local source for thunbergia seeds. My plan this year is to do away with the hanging baskets and instead have pots on the porch railing with red salvia growing up, Purple Wave petunias and calibrachoa growing down and thunbergia climbing twine up the porch posts. Thunbergia are perfect for that in that they only grow four to six feet and stay covered in flowers much of the summer. If it works the way I hope it'll work, it should be a good look. The planter boxes lining the porch will be filled with impatiens, marigolds, salvias, and dahlberg daisies. I'm off to a good start with everything and we'll see how it goes.

The Super Bowl is coming up tomorrow!!!! Tomorrow will be a fun day for me. My traditional Super Bowl feast consists of a Belly Buster hamburger (11 ounces of ground sirloin grilled to perfection) inside a homemade 9 inch diameter bun (made using Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix.) followed up by assorted odds and ends. It's not something I eat a lot, but every now and then it's a good treat. I'm thinking Carolina will win the game but I'm hoping for a good game.

For the next few weeks I'll be working on my two nearly ready YA (young adult) novels to get them ready for whatever fate awaits them. (Kindle Scout? Self-publishing?) And I'll also be refining my nonfiction book on secrets builders and architects know that drive up your costs but do little to benefit the homeowner. I'm not sure which of those three will be ready first, but expect one of them to hit the market in the next month or so. 

Thanks for reading this and if you get a chance I'd appreciate your nominating "Sara X" in the Kindle Scout program. 

Time for my first free giveaway!!!

Given that Super Bowl Sunday is coming up, I'm now making the Kindle version of my first novel "The Campaign" free through February the fifth, 2016. There will be lots of chatter about Super Bowl ads this week, so this is a good time to give away a book featuring what happened when a fictional ad agency was nearly destroyed trying to create a Super Bowl ad.

Why give away a book for free? That's a very good question. Sales of "The Campaign" started out pretty strong and it got good early reviews, but then pretty much everyone in my circles who wanted to read it had, so the sales slumped a bit. Oddly, the Kindle Lending Library Views then took off and went strong for a while before they too tapered off. It's time to get some energy moving in the old book again, so a free giveaway, timed with the media hoopla over the Super Bowl and Super Bowl ads is a good way to get a few copies moving again. The hope is that people who like "The Campaign" will then decide to buy one of my other books to help compensate for the money I lose by giving this book away.

The goal of every writer is to have a book take off and sell like mad. To do that it has to spread out in ever widening circles and get good word of mouth along the way. As of now, "The Campaign" has largely stayed in the circles of people who know me. When you give a book away people outside your circle will grab it and give it a look. If you can get enough people taking a look at it and liking it, and if they mention it to others who also like it, things can take off and before you know it, you're selling a lot of books.

My other book that's already out, "To Rise or Fall" may get a few sales if people like "The Campaign." My third novel, a political thriller titled "Sara X" should be out within hours/days (depending on the absolute final proofing) and with any luck it'll get off to a good start.

This is my first experience with giving away a novel, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results. From what I've heard from other authors, there should be pretty good movement of the free book and that sales will likely tick upwards even after the free giveaway ends. Sales of my other books should also tick upwards. I'll be monitoring the results and we'll see what happens.

Now I've got to get back to that final, final proofing of "Sara X." Thanks for reading and see, I am posting blogs more frequently.

Yikes! I haven't been blogging enough!

Sorry for the delay in blog posts. From here on I promise to post more frequently. There's been a significant amount of chaos going on in my life though. I survived the latest "Storm of the Century" that hit last week. I'm guessing I must be about three thousand years old now as this is easily the thirtieth "Storm of the Century" I've survived. Either I'm a lot older than I think I am, or these "Storms of the Century" roll around a lot more frequently than once a century.

As some of you know, my mother died on January fifth of this year. I've been working to get the estate settled and I've discovered that nothing is ever as easy as you'd like it to be. It sounds easy until you get involved in it then you discover that it's a maze of odd twists and turns all designed to bankrupt you, or drive you crazy. (In my case possibly both. Actually, forget the possibly, it'll definitely bankrupt me and drive me crazy! I'm not a big fan of lawyers and bureaucrats right now.)

The sales of my first book, "The Campaign" have been about as expected. Sales within the circles of people who know me have been good, but the book hasn't broken out of those circles just yet. The reviews, both those posted on Amazon and those posted on other sites, have been very positive. Starting Monday (February 1, 2016) the Kindle version will be available for free for five days in advance of the Super Bowl. Since the book is a comedic novel on the making of a Super Bowl commercial, I'm hoping that will get it moving a bit. We'll see what happens.

The sales of my second book, "To Rise or Fall" are about as anticipated also. "To Rise or Fall" looks at what might happen if a drug came along that allowed one to visit their afterlife while under the effects of the drug. I have a delightfully sleazy televangelist in the novel whose plans to exploit the drug backfires rather dramatically when he's given a dose of the real drug and discovers he falls. So, if there was a safe drug that would let you explore your afterlife, would you take it? I think I would. It would be great to be reunited with those who've passed. Granted, at this stage of my life nearly everyone I truly know and love are already on the other side, so it would be more like a family reunion than a trip into the unknown.

My third novel "Sara X" is nearly ready for publishing. "Sara X" tells the story of a woman who earlier in life had been an assassin, killing people in such a manner so that their deaths appeared natural. Her services are used by those with the wealth to afford her and who don't want the expense or uncertainty of a divorce, or more conventional solution. One of her earlier clients is now in line to become President and fear that word of his hiring Sara X to eliminate his first wife might leak out, he recruits his current father-in-law, Roger Bentley, the founder of Bentley Security, to help him solve the problem.  Their initial attempt to silence her fails to kill Sara, but kills her husband and young son instead and now Sara X is out for vengeance. A game of cat and mouse then takes place between Sara X and the forces of Bentley Security. A beta reader commented that: "Making the reader root for a contract killer is a great accomplishment." Mind you, when the other guys are politicians, it's easy to root for a contract killer.

On to some gardening news! My seeds for the spring have now arrived and the first ones will be getting started this weekend . There's no guarantee I'll still have the house by the time the seeds are ready to go (stupid bureaucrats!) but I'm hoping for the best and blindly going forward. The first seeds to get started this week will be my Calibrachoa seeds, my Purple Wave Petunia seeds, and some some odds and ends. I've never grown Calibrachoa from seed before, so this will be a new experience.

I'm afraid work on my self-cleaning filter has gone no where since the last post. I've been dealing with all kinds of chaos though and when/if things calm down a bit I should be able to get back to work on that.

In Big Brother news we now know that the new season will kick off on June 22, 2016. We're getting close to time for CBS to announce the dates/places for the casting calls. They usually start in February/March. Once those start the season seems to roll around pretty quickly.

That's about it for today. Expect more frequent posts coming soon. I'm going to try and post a new blog every couple of days as events warrant. Thanks for reading this!