I realized this week that I'd been stalling on launching seriously into starting my hypnotherapy practice. Now that I have my diploma I can start, even without waiting for my Association membership, which should come through in a couple of weeks. (The exam went well, I can't see them turning me down; they're not grim-faced guardians of the portals, they were very friendly, though professional.)
So during the week I designed a little flyer, and today I got it printed out 20 times (6 flyers to a page) and got a paper trimmer, cut them up, and went for a walk around the block distributing them.
I carefully avoided the letterboxes with "No Circulars" signs; I have one myself, and it infuriates me when people ignore it; I would never give business to someone who did so. REAL ESTATE AGENTS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU.
Ahem.
Anyway, I'm out there now, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Helen reckons that for her massage therapy business that's the most effective thing to do, walk round and put some flyers in letterboxes.
Saturday, 28 April 2007
Saturday, 21 April 2007
More greening
While I wait for my hypnotherapy exam to print out (I have the final interview tomorrow), I thought I'd blog about my garden again.
This is now the fourth straight weekend that I've gone out and bought native plants. Besides the ones I got from the council, I went the following weekend to a closing down sale at Olsen's in Ranui and got some great deals, including several more pigeon-attracting plants. This is going to be Pigeon Paradise.
I went back there today and got 20 more rengarenga lilies (since they seem to thrive here) and a dozen more cabbage trees (ditto, and they fit in between other plants), plus a nice little rosemary and a groundcover. The lilies and the cabbage trees were half-price, a dollar each. I also went to the native plant place in West Coast Rd where I got the Council plants and picked up a couple of climbers and a pukanui, and lucked into a lovely little nikau palm for $1 at a church fair I happened to pass.
Last week I went to Gordon's on Scenic Drive for pratias to (hopefully) spread across the bank, and more ferns for the fernery. It's starting to look much more filled in. Mum has some little hen-and-chicken ferns for me as well, so I've left some room for them - they grow quite densely.
By the end of today I'll have planted well over 100 plants in the course of a month, or about one per square meter of garden.
Next week, I think, it's time to plant bulbs down near the road, where we and passers-by can both enjoy them in the spring.
This is now the fourth straight weekend that I've gone out and bought native plants. Besides the ones I got from the council, I went the following weekend to a closing down sale at Olsen's in Ranui and got some great deals, including several more pigeon-attracting plants. This is going to be Pigeon Paradise.
I went back there today and got 20 more rengarenga lilies (since they seem to thrive here) and a dozen more cabbage trees (ditto, and they fit in between other plants), plus a nice little rosemary and a groundcover. The lilies and the cabbage trees were half-price, a dollar each. I also went to the native plant place in West Coast Rd where I got the Council plants and picked up a couple of climbers and a pukanui, and lucked into a lovely little nikau palm for $1 at a church fair I happened to pass.
Last week I went to Gordon's on Scenic Drive for pratias to (hopefully) spread across the bank, and more ferns for the fernery. It's starting to look much more filled in. Mum has some little hen-and-chicken ferns for me as well, so I've left some room for them - they grow quite densely.
By the end of today I'll have planted well over 100 plants in the course of a month, or about one per square meter of garden.
Next week, I think, it's time to plant bulbs down near the road, where we and passers-by can both enjoy them in the spring.
Friday, 20 April 2007
Authors and Names
Last night I dreamed that I had a pleasant, positive conversation with my brother Roger.
Could this be at all related to the fact that I'm rereading Roger Zelazny's Amber books, and yesterday evening read the part in The Hand of Oberon where Corwin has a positive conversation with Julian, who he never previously got on with? Probably. But it's part of a trend of dreamed positive conversations with people from my past who I've had conflict with. (One of them was another Roger, Roger Osbaldiston; another was Rachael, just the other night.)
The name Roger has cropped up a bit lately. It's the name of the guy who trained me as a hypnotherapist. It's also the name of an undisciplined child who contributed to Cityside's Easter service being very difficult for me (I was struggling at the time, ironically, with being "devoiced" by my family, so the fact that the child's parents were doing nothing to quiet him while he was speaking loudly across the people leading the litugy...)
And speaking of authors and names: In Terry Pratchett's Maskerade, the publisher of the Diskworld Almanack (and Nanny Ogg's suggestive cookbook, The Joye of Snackes) is a Mr Goatberger. I realized, of course, that this grasping, profiteering publisher was a satire directed against publishers Pratchett has had to deal with, but I only just got the name. Mumble it a bit. Put an extra "r" on the end. If you still haven't got it, reflect: The goat probably wishes it was a hedgehog. (And if you don't get that, read Maskerade - it's hilarious.)
Could this be at all related to the fact that I'm rereading Roger Zelazny's Amber books, and yesterday evening read the part in The Hand of Oberon where Corwin has a positive conversation with Julian, who he never previously got on with? Probably. But it's part of a trend of dreamed positive conversations with people from my past who I've had conflict with. (One of them was another Roger, Roger Osbaldiston; another was Rachael, just the other night.)
The name Roger has cropped up a bit lately. It's the name of the guy who trained me as a hypnotherapist. It's also the name of an undisciplined child who contributed to Cityside's Easter service being very difficult for me (I was struggling at the time, ironically, with being "devoiced" by my family, so the fact that the child's parents were doing nothing to quiet him while he was speaking loudly across the people leading the litugy...)
And speaking of authors and names: In Terry Pratchett's Maskerade, the publisher of the Diskworld Almanack (and Nanny Ogg's suggestive cookbook, The Joye of Snackes) is a Mr Goatberger. I realized, of course, that this grasping, profiteering publisher was a satire directed against publishers Pratchett has had to deal with, but I only just got the name. Mumble it a bit. Put an extra "r" on the end. If you still haven't got it, reflect: The goat probably wishes it was a hedgehog. (And if you don't get that, read Maskerade - it's hilarious.)
Monday, 16 April 2007
Self-government
Through a series of links from Story-Games, I came across this article on redrawing the map of the Middle East to better reflect the ethno-religious realities of the region, which is largely stuck with borders drawn by European imperialists in the days when geography was about maps and biography was about chaps. It reminded me that I've been meaning to blog about an idea I had.
Disclaimer in advance: I know that this idea is very much not likely to be implemented, both because of human nature and also because I have no way of bringing it to the attention of anyone who could even start to get it discussed more widely. Also, the whole idea of nationalism is a bad one anyway. But even so, from an Innocent Man perspective:
One of the sentences in the article begins "Accepting that international statecraft has never developed effective tools — short of war — for readjusting faulty borders...". What if we didn't accept that and tried to think of some? Perhaps a UN convention which governments could sign up to, kind of a protocol that they promised to implement?
Something like this. If a certain percentage of the population of a defined region signs a petition, a binding referendum must be held on the issue of how that region is governed and from where. If, say, 50% of those qualified to vote do so, and 67% of those voting approve a change, that change will be implemented. The same protocol is binding on any new entities that result.
The options for a region would be:
And in that world - this world - tens of thousands of people die as guerillas fight government forces for the right to be a nation (or, at a pinch, a state) rather than a territory. As an Innocent Man I can't figure out how this is worth the death of anyone, but then, I don't live in a country where I'm oppressed.
In the rare cases where such a territory does eventually become independent or self-governing, years of attempting to gain one's ends and decide by whom one is governed by means of shooting people who disagree are usually not shaken off overnight. Having won their independence, the inhabitants of the region generally begin fighting among themselves. In fact, the Palestinians have started doing it already, and they don't even have a state yet.
To adapt G.K. Chesterton's remark about Christianity, the problem with this approach is not that it's been tried and found wanting, but that it hasn't been tried. But the real problem with it is that national governments (for a reason I also don't understand) are extremely reluctant to lose territory. I mean, why do you want to govern people who hate you and kill your citizens and who are costing you more to fight than they will ever produce in tax revenues? It's a hell of a way to run a railroad.
OK, there's my ignorance of the real workings of global geopolitics out in the open. I'll shut up now.
Disclaimer in advance: I know that this idea is very much not likely to be implemented, both because of human nature and also because I have no way of bringing it to the attention of anyone who could even start to get it discussed more widely. Also, the whole idea of nationalism is a bad one anyway. But even so, from an Innocent Man perspective:
One of the sentences in the article begins "Accepting that international statecraft has never developed effective tools — short of war — for readjusting faulty borders...". What if we didn't accept that and tried to think of some? Perhaps a UN convention which governments could sign up to, kind of a protocol that they promised to implement?
Something like this. If a certain percentage of the population of a defined region signs a petition, a binding referendum must be held on the issue of how that region is governed and from where. If, say, 50% of those qualified to vote do so, and 67% of those voting approve a change, that change will be implemented. The same protocol is binding on any new entities that result.
The options for a region would be:
- Territory (governed centrally as part of a larger country, with limited local autonomy and no legislative body of its own). Example: The Northern Territory in Australia, which has repeatedly rejected statehood (basically, from what I understand, because it doesn't want to pay for more politicians), or Puerto Rico, which has repeatedly rejected becoming a US state for, as far as I know, much the same reasons.
- State (part of a larger federal entity, with its own legislative body for internal affairs, but with foreign affairs, many laws, and some aspects of law enforcement residing with the federal body).
- Nation (an independent entity, wholly self-governing in all internal and external matters).
And in that world - this world - tens of thousands of people die as guerillas fight government forces for the right to be a nation (or, at a pinch, a state) rather than a territory. As an Innocent Man I can't figure out how this is worth the death of anyone, but then, I don't live in a country where I'm oppressed.
In the rare cases where such a territory does eventually become independent or self-governing, years of attempting to gain one's ends and decide by whom one is governed by means of shooting people who disagree are usually not shaken off overnight. Having won their independence, the inhabitants of the region generally begin fighting among themselves. In fact, the Palestinians have started doing it already, and they don't even have a state yet.
To adapt G.K. Chesterton's remark about Christianity, the problem with this approach is not that it's been tried and found wanting, but that it hasn't been tried. But the real problem with it is that national governments (for a reason I also don't understand) are extremely reluctant to lose territory. I mean, why do you want to govern people who hate you and kill your citizens and who are costing you more to fight than they will ever produce in tax revenues? It's a hell of a way to run a railroad.
OK, there's my ignorance of the real workings of global geopolitics out in the open. I'll shut up now.
Playing the role you don't want to live
My father was, in many ways, the inspiration for the character of the Innocent Man. Yet he loved to play villains on the operatic stage. As a bass-baritone, he often got the opportunity, though sadly he never fulfilled his ambition to play Mephistopheles in Faust, the ultimate villain.
Neighbours of ours once took their young sons to a production of The Mikado in which Dad was playing the title role, and Dad was highly amused by the question one of the boys (about 8 or 9 at the time, I think) asked his parents afterwards: "Now the play is over, can Mr McMillan go back to being a nice man?"
All of which as introduction to why I'm really enjoying playing Garan in Vaxalon's Amber wiki game.
Garan, I've come to realize, is like a stereotypical D&D character, only HARDCORE! (to use Jess Hammer's technical terminology). Not only does he want to kill Corwin and take his stuff, he wants to chop the corpse into small pieces and create a zombie Corwin army (which I suppose would make him Chaotic Evil, in D&D terms). He's also suggested killing Brand: "If the blood of Amber is so great, I'd like to see some."
The format of the game helps with being able to do stuff like this. Because it's a wiki, we can retcon and revise, and I can indicate either in the wiki or on the out-of-character email list we are using to coordinate in the background that I'm not seriously suggesting this (besides which, the scene is set within the existing Amber canon, so I know going in that the suggestion isn't going to be taken up). We're creating a shared fiction in which Garan is a particular kind of extreme character, who pushes things in a particular direction but isn't going to get his way most of the time. I'm loving that; I get to propose mayhem, with the knowledge that it won't get acted on.
In other words, it's a safe way to indulge my desire to be a complete loose cannon and sow mayhem and destruction - not something I actually want to do in real life, because unlike Garan I'm aware of consequences.
I remember years ago reading a Philip K. Dick story (the one with Lincoln in it, I think) and being struck by the term Maschenfreiheit, which means "maskfreedom". This is the freedom you have to act in what would normally be unacceptable ways, by virtue of wearing a mask. Garan is an instance of maskfreedom for me, just as the Mikado or Dick Deadeye were for my father.
EDIT: See my follow-up post.
Neighbours of ours once took their young sons to a production of The Mikado in which Dad was playing the title role, and Dad was highly amused by the question one of the boys (about 8 or 9 at the time, I think) asked his parents afterwards: "Now the play is over, can Mr McMillan go back to being a nice man?"
All of which as introduction to why I'm really enjoying playing Garan in Vaxalon's Amber wiki game.
Garan, I've come to realize, is like a stereotypical D&D character, only HARDCORE! (to use Jess Hammer's technical terminology). Not only does he want to kill Corwin and take his stuff, he wants to chop the corpse into small pieces and create a zombie Corwin army (which I suppose would make him Chaotic Evil, in D&D terms). He's also suggested killing Brand: "If the blood of Amber is so great, I'd like to see some."
The format of the game helps with being able to do stuff like this. Because it's a wiki, we can retcon and revise, and I can indicate either in the wiki or on the out-of-character email list we are using to coordinate in the background that I'm not seriously suggesting this (besides which, the scene is set within the existing Amber canon, so I know going in that the suggestion isn't going to be taken up). We're creating a shared fiction in which Garan is a particular kind of extreme character, who pushes things in a particular direction but isn't going to get his way most of the time. I'm loving that; I get to propose mayhem, with the knowledge that it won't get acted on.
In other words, it's a safe way to indulge my desire to be a complete loose cannon and sow mayhem and destruction - not something I actually want to do in real life, because unlike Garan I'm aware of consequences.
I remember years ago reading a Philip K. Dick story (the one with Lincoln in it, I think) and being struck by the term Maschenfreiheit, which means "maskfreedom". This is the freedom you have to act in what would normally be unacceptable ways, by virtue of wearing a mask. Garan is an instance of maskfreedom for me, just as the Mikado or Dick Deadeye were for my father.
EDIT: See my follow-up post.
Friday, 13 April 2007
Self-publishing
So I've been doing some comparisons between Lulu and Lightning Source in terms of POD publishing. Figures in USD:
Lulu:
• Setup fee: 0.00
• Per book: purchased via Lulu 4.53, via distribution channels 1.50.
• Per page: 0.02
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 99.95, one off (gets you to Amazon, B&N etc.)
• Proof copy: whatever the normal price + shipping turns out to be; required
• ISBN barcode must be manually included
• Publisher must be Lulu (unless you are US-based) in order to have distribution outside the Lulu site.
• US only
Lightning Source:
• Setup fee: 50.00 for cover, 0.15 per page (electronic)
• Per book: 0.90
• Per page: 0.013 (0.015 for publisher direct orders, i.e. sold off my website, plus $1.50 per order handling, plus shipping)
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 12.00 per year
• Proof copy: 30.00 per copy; required
• ISBN barcode automatically included
• Publisher can be me.
• Also UK - separate setup, similar terms.
So being the nerd I am, I did a spreadsheet, and it looks like this:
I'm assuming a 5-year period, so the catalogue fee for LSI is $60.
Assuming I've got the calculations right, that makes a pretty convincing case for Lightning Source if I expect to sell more than 30 copies of my 100-page book, and as the page count rises that difference between 0.02 and 0.013 per page just has a stronger and stronger impact.
Not a really big surprise, since if I understand correctly Lulu prints through Lightning Source themselves. But interesting.
Lulu:
• Setup fee: 0.00
• Per book: purchased via Lulu 4.53, via distribution channels 1.50.
• Per page: 0.02
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 99.95, one off (gets you to Amazon, B&N etc.)
• Proof copy: whatever the normal price + shipping turns out to be; required
• ISBN barcode must be manually included
• Publisher must be Lulu (unless you are US-based) in order to have distribution outside the Lulu site.
• US only
Lightning Source:
• Setup fee: 50.00 for cover, 0.15 per page (electronic)
• Per book: 0.90
• Per page: 0.013 (0.015 for publisher direct orders, i.e. sold off my website, plus $1.50 per order handling, plus shipping)
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 12.00 per year
• Proof copy: 30.00 per copy; required
• ISBN barcode automatically included
• Publisher can be me.
• Also UK - separate setup, similar terms.
So being the nerd I am, I did a spreadsheet, and it looks like this:
| Num pages | Num books | Per book (Lulu) | Per book (LSI) | Better deal |
| 100 | 1 | 113.45 | 157.20 | Lulu |
| 100 | 10 | 14.50 | 17.70 | Lulu |
| 100 | 20 | 9.00 | 9.95 | Lulu |
| 100 | 25 | 7.90 | 8.40 | Lulu |
| 100 | 30 | 7.17 | 7.37 | Lulu |
| 100 | 40 | 6.25 | 6.08 | LSI |
| 100 | 50 | 5.70 | 5.30 | LSI |
| 100 | 100 | 4.60 | 3.75 | LSI |
| 100 | 200 | 4.05 | 2.98 | LSI |
| 100 | 500 | 3.72 | 2.51 | LSI |
| 100 | 1000 | 3.61 | 2.36 | LSI |
| 100 | 2000 | 3.55 | 2.28 | LSI |
| 100 | 3000 | 3.54 | 2.25 | LSI |
| 100 | 5000 | 3.52 | 2.23 | LSI |
| 150 | 1 | 114.45 | 165.35 | Lulu |
| 150 | 10 | 15.50 | 19.10 | Lulu |
| 150 | 20 | 10.00 | 10.98 | Lulu |
| 150 | 25 | 8.90 | 9.35 | Lulu |
| 150 | 30 | 8.17 | 8.27 | Lulu |
| 150 | 40 | 7.25 | 6.91 | LSI |
| 150 | 50 | 6.70 | 6.10 | LSI |
| 150 | 100 | 5.60 | 4.48 | LSI |
| 150 | 200 | 5.05 | 3.66 | LSI |
| 150 | 500 | 4.72 | 3.18 | LSI |
| 150 | 1000 | 4.61 | 3.01 | LSI |
| 150 | 2000 | 4.55 | 2.93 | LSI |
| 150 | 3000 | 4.54 | 2.90 | LSI |
| 150 | 5000 | 4.52 | 2.88 | LSI |
| 200 | 1 | 115.45 | 173.50 | Lulu |
| 200 | 10 | 16.50 | 20.50 | Lulu |
| 200 | 20 | 11.00 | 12.00 | Lulu |
| 200 | 25 | 9.90 | 10.30 | Lulu |
| 200 | 30 | 9.17 | 9.17 | Lulu |
| 200 | 40 | 8.25 | 7.75 | LSI |
| 200 | 50 | 7.70 | 6.90 | LSI |
| 200 | 100 | 6.60 | 5.20 | LSI |
| 200 | 200 | 6.05 | 4.35 | LSI |
| 200 | 500 | 5.72 | 3.84 | LSI |
| 200 | 1000 | 5.61 | 3.67 | LSI |
| 200 | 2000 | 5.55 | 3.59 | LSI |
| 200 | 3000 | 5.54 | 3.56 | LSI |
| 200 | 5000 | 5.52 | 3.53 | LSI |
| 300 | 1 | 117.45 | 189.80 | Lulu |
| 300 | 10 | 18.50 | 23.30 | Lulu |
| 300 | 20 | 13.00 | 14.05 | Lulu |
| 300 | 25 | 11.90 | 12.20 | Lulu |
| 300 | 30 | 11.17 | 10.97 | LSI |
| 300 | 40 | 10.25 | 9.43 | LSI |
| 300 | 50 | 9.70 | 8.50 | LSI |
| 300 | 100 | 8.60 | 6.65 | LSI |
| 300 | 200 | 8.05 | 5.73 | LSI |
| 300 | 500 | 7.72 | 5.17 | LSI |
| 300 | 1000 | 7.61 | 4.99 | LSI |
| 300 | 2000 | 7.55 | 4.89 | LSI |
| 300 | 3000 | 7.54 | 4.86 | LSI |
| 300 | 5000 | 7.52 | 4.84 | LSI |
| 400 | 1 | 119.45 | 206.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 10 | 20.50 | 26.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 20 | 15.00 | 16.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 25 | 13.90 | 14.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 30 | 13.17 | 12.77 | LSI |
| 400 | 40 | 12.25 | 11.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 50 | 11.70 | 10.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 100 | 10.60 | 8.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 200 | 10.05 | 7.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 500 | 9.72 | 6.50 | LSI |
| 400 | 1000 | 9.61 | 6.30 | LSI |
| 400 | 2000 | 9.55 | 6.20 | LSI |
| 400 | 3000 | 9.54 | 6.17 | LSI |
| 400 | 5000 | 9.52 | 6.14 | LSI |
I'm assuming a 5-year period, so the catalogue fee for LSI is $60.
Assuming I've got the calculations right, that makes a pretty convincing case for Lightning Source if I expect to sell more than 30 copies of my 100-page book, and as the page count rises that difference between 0.02 and 0.013 per page just has a stronger and stronger impact.
Not a really big surprise, since if I understand correctly Lulu prints through Lightning Source themselves. But interesting.
City of Masks disappointment
I just got the rejection email from Macmillan New Writing for City of Masks.
So I guess it's off to get myself an ISBN so I can self-publish.
I am comforted by the thought of the many good books that had trouble finding publishers, and annoyed by the thought of all the crappy books that have been published.
Would have been nice to have Macmillans' distribution working for me, though.
EDIT: Not only do the National Library of New Zealand not charge you for supplying an ISBN, they emailed one to me with stunning rapidity. And a moment's Googling found me a site where you can get an ISBN made into a barcode, online, for free.
I love the Internet.
Of course, now I have to lay my book out and create, or have created, a cover on which to put the barcode.
So I guess it's off to get myself an ISBN so I can self-publish.
I am comforted by the thought of the many good books that had trouble finding publishers, and annoyed by the thought of all the crappy books that have been published.
Would have been nice to have Macmillans' distribution working for me, though.
EDIT: Not only do the National Library of New Zealand not charge you for supplying an ISBN, they emailed one to me with stunning rapidity. And a moment's Googling found me a site where you can get an ISBN made into a barcode, online, for free.
I love the Internet.
Of course, now I have to lay my book out and create, or have created, a cover on which to put the barcode.
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