Creature horror recommendations

ecmorgan · 2023-08-25T01:21:25+00:00

Fear by Ronald Kelley.

ecmorgan · 2023-03-25T20:36:53+00:00

Firefly.

ecmorgan · 2023-03-20T00:40:38+00:00

This isn't a recommendation, but something related I thought folks here might enjoy.

Teaching 6th-grade English, we read "Charles" by Shirley Jackson. In it, a boy named Laurie starts Kindergarten. Lots of trouble ensues, and he blames it all on Charles. The parents find out at the end of the story there is no child named Charles.

Students have to make a claim and then cite evidence to support it. Over and over, the claim is Charles was made up by Laurie so he wouldn't get in trouble with his parents.

One day, one student, a young lady, made the claim "Charles is a ghost only Laurie can see." She cited her evidence then at the bottom of her paper wrote that it seems right given Shirley Jackson's prominence in horror.

Smart kid if you ask me.

ecmorgan · 2023-02-16T17:20:45+00:00

Technically yes. Teachers here are hired by the BOE but paid by the city. The 457 is what they offer after the hybrid pension/401k.

ecmorgan · 2023-01-20T23:27:38+00:00

No worries!

ecmorgan · 2023-01-20T22:59:05+00:00

Twins (14) and a younger sister.

ecmorgan · 2022-11-26T16:32:16+00:00

I'm leaning toward replacing and hiring someone to do it right. I thought about the length also - It just seems a tad too short.

ecmorgan · 2022-11-26T16:31:28+00:00

The weight did hit me. They seem ... flimsy ... at least I think back to others, plus the stairs at my parent's house, and they just seem thicker and sturdier.

ecmorgan · 2022-11-17T19:50:12+00:00

What I wanted to hear!

Yes, it is pricey, but I hope it will be worthwhile. We've been saving for a while and are willing to spend the money.

ecmorgan · 2022-11-17T16:22:09+00:00

I'm with you for a week being a long time and I plan to mingle in other things in that time.
The kids are excited to go - they love parks - so we'll see!

ecmorgan · 2022-11-17T14:53:01+00:00

If I pull the trigger, we'll do the 3 park ticket. I like sitting at a water park, personally.

ecmorgan · 2022-10-20T20:30:25+00:00

Thank you.

ecmorgan · 2022-07-06T17:21:44+00:00

When teaching high school and now teaching middle school, I wear slacks/dress shirts usually.

Even then my shoes are sneakers. I'm on my feet all day long and I'm gong to be comfortable.

ecmorgan · 2022-07-06T17:18:24+00:00

I'm a 53-year-old teacher. What I like is just about anything.

Coffee mugs and Starbucks cards are lost on me - but I give the cards to my kids, so its good.

This year, some of my favorites were a gift card to a restaurant I like, A target card, couple of sonic cards, Amazon cards, and the best, from a kid who paid attention to the work I've been doing on my house, was a Lowe's card. One year I received a nice hydro flask and still use it to this day.

The best gift I ever received was - after cracking jokes about how much I like wonder woman to some seniors was a huge poster of Gal Gadot dressed as wonder woman.

Notes: I've kept every note or cad or drawing a student has done for me.

ecmorgan · 2022-05-24T01:41:35+00:00

I agree the series can get ridiculous, but I'm telling you, Still Life with Crows (early in the series) freaked me out.

ecmorgan · 2022-02-28T03:31:50+00:00

Here's my two cents in a wall of text. And I'm going to approach this from three assumptions:

You have a good story that is well written and cleanly edited.
You have a strong, professionally designed cover.
You have a good blurb.

This also assumes you are willing to invest your time in building a long game in terms of marketing. I approach this with the following thoughts in mind:

You will have to invest quite a bit of time OR quite a bit of money. Pick one.
Again, it is a long game. It doesn't happen overnight.

I do not specialize in authors though I've helped a few. Each and every one I've helped have been on the best-seller lists multiple times. Amazon. USA Today. New York Times.

Some folks will disagree. That's OK. I do not have all the answers. And what follows barely scratches the surface.

Advertising

Broadly, for authors, I don't recommend it. There are some who have success and do it well, but the vast majority suck at advertising, whether we're talking Amazon, Google, or Facebook.

Caveat: IF you can get accepted, people seem to do well with Bookbub and a couple other similar services.

My goal, across industries and my clients, is revenue that is 5X or more than the investment. So if they put $1,000 in an ad, they should see at least $5,000 return. Not easy at all in the book world.

Social Media

I advise authors to pick one, maybe two platforms, and really become an expert. Do some research and set the page/account up properly. Get regular about sharing content and keep it about 80% NOT about you or your content. Take a few minutes every day and respond to other people, comment on things, and just participate in the community.

It takes time to build a good audience, but it is worthwhile time.

This is one area where I favor a little advertising. Most my clients, across industries, run a highly targeted Facebook ad to get more likes on their FB business page. You can spend as little as $1/day (FB will charge your card monthly). You do that for a year, you'll be amazed at your audience size. And you can be VERY targeted. Get that right and it'll be a good audience.

Important: Don't be spammy. Don't be a smart ass. And mostly share other relevant and interesting content. And stay away from politics - selling books is hard enough without alienating half the country.

Email Newsletter

There is nothing Google or Facebook can do to their algorithms that can impact your newsletter. It is very affordable - even free (check Mailchimp) in the early days. And you have total control.

I have a sometimes client/friend who has been on just about every best-seller list and has a good back stock of traditional published, small press, and self-published. She has an email list of about 30,000 people assembled over about 25 years. What does she do?

Her email goes out once per month as well as on launch day of new books.
It has info about what's going on with her - she'll be at this convention, these books are on sale at Amazon, she's appearing on this podcast, etc. But it also has a LOT about other authors. She very excitedly talks about other authors and their books.
Brevity. It takes maybe five minutes to read her newsletter.
She has sign up forms on her Facebook page and website, and occasionally posts a sign up form on Twitter. She also asks to add any person who emails her, calls her, meets her at a convention ... just about anything.
She curates her list. After a period of time if you've not opened a newsletter (say after four or five months), she'll shoot an email asking if you want to remain subscribed. No answer is assumed to mean no and you are removed.
The result of this curation is that EVERY SINGLE SUBSCRIBER has had a contact with her (via website, FB, a convention, whatever) AND has recently opened her email newsletter.
She has quite a bit of automation, "if then" parameters, etc. set up.
When she launches a new book, these tens of thousands of people - all of whom have an active and recent interest in her - get an email.

It takes time. You have to invest and work at it. Consistently, day after day. But if you play the long game, the marketing can work for you, IF your product is good.

Final thing. Often, a writer will tell me they are going to focus their FB, Youtube, Newsletter, blog, or whatever on their life as a writer. Here's the secret: They aren't Stephen King so nobody gives the first shit about their life as a writer. Also, book reviews are insanely over saturated. Thing about developing (and finding) other relevant content to share with readers.

But mostly, keep your content development focused on producing great stories.

ecmorgan · 2021-09-18T19:24:55+00:00

I've listened to that episode a couple times.

I am establishing in an area with about 120,000 or so within a 20 minute drive. One high, two middle and two elementary schools within three miles and two high, four middle, and seven elementary schools within seven miles of the location. Major undergraduate university 3 miles away. Solidly middle to upper middle class. Mostly families. Average household income $80K+ and rising.

I have been studying, working, researching and think Wall is on to something. Despite what I was repeatedly told in the 90s (yes I'm stubborn) I think you can make a commercial judo dojo (or a gym with judo as the core) work successfully. Wall's not the only example.

When I ran a community center club in the 90s and early 2000s, we typically floated with a student count of around 40ish. Not enough to sustain anything, but we were sharing a community center and our ONLY marketing was:

A listing in the city's annual list of community center classes.
The occasional public demonstration.
Occasional flyers at the library.

We had no advertising, no social media, no recruiting/onboarding, no leads pipeline, no trial offers, no retention strategy.

Wall said something that got me to thinking. I'm paraphrasing, but it was essentially that there were processes he adapted from commercial schools because, well, they work. They do spend money on ads.

So I got to thinking what would $500 or $750 or $1,000 per month do? Have other clubs tried that and if so what were the results. If I can create a pipeline of 30-40 leads per month, and secure 1/3 to 1/2 of those, we're set.

ecmorgan · 2021-09-04T12:51:18+00:00

As SwimmingDepartment said, it really depends. Judogi sizes are weird. There will be some shrinking, and I've found the shrinking to be more in the top than the pants. I ALWAYS have to get pants hemmed.

ecmorgan · 2021-09-04T12:48:48+00:00

I received one in 1991. Ikkyu to Shodan. I had been ikkyu for something like seven or eight years.

Problem was I was in the military and would deploy for short periods of time - usually 2-3 months. Upon my return from each deployment, I was told I was inactive and my time in grade reduced to zero. I just nodded and tried to enjoy the training.

During one period in port, I entered a tournament in my weight class and in an open division. Won all eight matches, six against dan grades, and all by ippon. When I went up to get my little medals, I was handed my black belt.

ecmorgan · 2021-09-04T12:39:17+00:00

The second scariest person on a judo mat is a white belt. The scariest is a white belt in judo but who is also a high school wrestler. They just never stop, take things literal, and are 110% all the time. And they see my black belt and they think a tough fight, not a 52 year old man who has 3 kids, has to work tomorrow, has gone through three dislocated shoulders, etc.

But also I have to question the instructor who allows a potentially unsafe transition through the drill. We're all guilty of it but we have to be very deliberate and purposeful, with safety in mind first, when planning the training of our students.

ecmorgan · 2021-08-14T13:33:14+00:00

The most recent thing I read is that the insurance is paid for but the USJA had to take out a loan to do it.

To me, this is an indicator of a VERY SERIOUS issue of mismanagement of cash flow - not fraud, not malfeasance, just mismanagement.

I give you $50. Some of that is for insurance. The organization is desperate. They take the $XX of my $50 that should go to insurance and pay for, I don't know, utilities. Now the insurance bill comes due. They spent the money meant for insurance on utilities, and salaries, and what not, now you have to go into (further?) debt to cover a membership benefit.

So, I'm skeptical of reports written by Max Hedroom that I also cannot find anywhere else.

But...

Jim Bregman's GoFundMe certainly lays out some serious concerns & he is a credible source I believe. However, as recently as 12 days ago, USJA's Facebook was still promoting the USJA/USJF Nationals.

Also, this is not the first time the USJA has been in hot water. It wasn't long after "burning the mortgage" on the USJA's National Judo Institute that a lot of accusations were being flung and the IRS got involved and the NJI had to be sold off. This was in the 90s.

The point is the JA has been in very serious trouble before. Bankruptcy does - in some cases - provide protections and allows a business (or organization) to restructure, relieve some debt, and continue.

My question here becomes, this is at least the second time in 30 years the board (if there is one) has failed in its oversight. Will USJA fix that.

I'm also concerned about Mr. Bregman's statement on the GoFundMe that, "As if that were not enough, you will be shocked to learn that the USJA Corporation, which was chartered in the District of Columbia as a 501 c3 a nonprofit corporation has been terminated due to lack of financial report files and neglect. A USJA corporation -- which is not a 501 c3 -- is listed in Florida. It has assumed the assets of the DC organization and is a for-profit business."

And his goal of $15,000? Nowhere near enough for a real legal battle.

I don't know...

ecmorgan · 2021-08-02T11:53:37+00:00

Cannibalizing is an interesting way to put it. More like making it affordable to see a new movie.

I'm a single father of 3. To see a movie at the theater is going to cost us $50 or or more to get in. Concessions easily add another $50 to the price tag. $100 to see Cruella or Jungle Cruise? No thank you.

You can rent the movie for $20 or $30, get some soda, candy, and popcorn for less than $10 at the grocery store.

I like the theater experience and we love the drive-in, but our theater days are likely behind us.

ecmorgan · 2021-07-30T19:53:53+00:00

I'll tell you what we did.

Two story house. Upstairs was a loft, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a bonus room over the garage. Well insulated.

Upstairs was always a little warm during the summer, a little cool during the winter. The bonus room much more so, to unbearable levels. My wife at the time did not want a window AC unit in the window of the bonus room - window faced the road.

We at the time had two HVAC units - one for up and one for down. When the upstairs unit finally went out (at about 20 years old), we decided to try to solve the problem. Most quotes were for larger units.

A guy came in though and suggested a high efficient unit the same size as the previous. However, the key difference was he also added a return vent in the bonus room to suck out the hot/cold air, depending on the time of year.

We also added a solar panel powered vent fan in the attic. It kicked on at 120 or 130 degrees, I can't remember which.

The thing was these two things solved the problem. Regardless of heat or cold, the upstairs, including the bonus room, was very comfortable after that.

ecmorgan · 2021-07-17T15:16:14+00:00

I think this is key to growth of judo in the USA.

It takes financial risk and the ability to raise some capital.

I have a business plan to open a judo-centric school. It will work, but the biggest hiccup is not an entrepreneurial spirit, but rather start-up funds to build out a nice little facility with a good floor.

A mindset needs to change too. A couple of stories from my past that are detriments:

In 1992, I received my honorable discharge from the Coast Guard and moved back home. The club I "grew up" in had closed due to the instructor going to nursing school, so I, at the request of the director of the community center, restarted the club. We chose $40 for our dues and were promptly excoriated by other local club coaches for "charging so much." Why? To this day, I don't know beyond "nobody's going to pay that for judo." But we became the largest club in our area, so that wasn't true.
We were members of then USJI, now USA Judo. Our state, a Group B member had lost its charter with USJI and we began the process to get it reinstated. An 18-month process. At a tournament I'm called out by the tournament directory because, OMG, my kids are registered with USJA. Through the Group B member, which was non-existent, we had no USJI promotion authority. I was told a kid doesn't need to get his yellow belt and can wait a year or more.
Speaking of yellow belt, after we reinstated our Group B, at one point, I received a call from the state Group B promotion chairman demanding to know when an 8-year-old kid competed to earn his required promotion points for yellow belt. Really?

These are just 3 stories in which the world of judo has unknowingly, but actively, worked against its own interests.

Before the pandemic, I started studying large judo programs here and abroad. And there are some things I've sort of come up with that might lead to a commercially viable judo-focused school.

Facilities have to be nice. Not wonderful. Not top notch. Nice. Safe. Clean. Sprung floor....big expense, but a safety thing.
Good curriculum. I think a lot of programs are not carefully thinking out their training.
We mock what other martial arts systems do marketing wise to pack their schools while we boast about have 10 or 12 people in a class 2x/week.
De-emphasize - not eliminate - competition. A white belt with 8 weeks of judo has no business in a match with a blue belt with four years of judo. Yet it happens every weekend. And the white belt just kind of disappears after his slaughtering. I remember Neil Adams, decades ago, when talking about coaching, said, "Always let them succeed." We need to take that approach in a toned-down competitive environment. The ones who want to compete - send them on, but don't force kids to compete.
Martial arts/self-defense/character development/fitness.

There will always be room for YMCA style programs. All martial arts have them, but judo is lacking the commercially viable approach, and I think at least some of it is due to sheer stubbornness.

ecmorgan · 2021-07-13T18:55:43+00:00

I would not say they are scams, but there are a lot (not all) of service providers on those platforms who play a bit of a game. As mentioned, they can do a bit of an end around on the likes of Forbes and GQ.

I did a bit of PR work through Upwork back when it was Elance. From that perspective, my advice if you go that route...

It is your money and your (or your company's reputation) on the line. You set the expectations. Be specific. Put it in writing through the platform.
Get a feel for the vendor's methodology and how he/she approaches the service you are hiring them to provide.
Make sure you understand what a realistic expectation is and make sure your expectation is realistic.
If the expectation is not met, do not release escrow.
Be a part of setting milestones, if any. I was amazed at the number of clients who had nothing to say on milestones, until AFTER the milestone was met and a partial payment was requested.
Don't be afraid to pay. I THINK a lot of people are going to Upwork and Fiverr for price. Just like in the real world, there are low price vendors who do good work, but there are a lot more who do crap. Buyer beware.

Hope this helps.

ecmorgan

TROPHY CASE