A Pirate's Life for Me

  I spent the afternoon having some fun making this video. Disclaimer up front- I have no idea why the sound is bad. I recorded it twice. May be a function of my free video editing software. Not pro quality, but I think it's funny. Hope you do too. And of course, I hope it has a chance to win.

Anyway, I was one of the second tier winners in the month-long Indie Authors sailing-themed book festival I was involved in during June. First tier winners got free books, so obviously I won one (three actually) of those. In some of the books there were winning tickets for the second tier. That gets one even MORE free books. In order to compete for the third tier, one had to make a video performing this poem which is a take-off on a camp song, "Barges." This puts you in the running for well... more free books! Or an indie author game set developed by Diana Plopa, the captain of Pages Promotions. Then... the videos will be voted on by this month's participants, and the top winner will get a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, a gift card for dinner out, and (did you guess?) another book. Definitely worth being a little silly and taking a chance.



Pages Promotions is the name of Diana's effort to promote indie authors. This is the fourth (I think) festival, but only my second one. In February, we did Blind Date with a Book. June was the Summer Reading Regatta. There will be another in October. Can't wait to see what the fun theme will be!

If you are an indie author... the fee to be included and featured is very reasonable. If you are a reader, the events are FREE to attend, and you can win books. The events are divided by genre, so you can attend on nights where you know you will potentially like the books. If you are a writer at any level, there are workshops at extremely reasonable prices (just to cover technical expenses). You should seriously consider getting on board with Pages Promotions. Watch for more as October approaches.

And, there is other news: I did two loads of laundry and wrote a chapter in Dead Mule Swamp Singer. Very productive day.

Mickey Matson Comes Home

 
Three years ago, a children's adventure film was made locally, followed by a sequel. You may never have heard of Mickey Matson and the Copperhead Treasure (originally named Mickey Matson and the Copperhead Conspiracy) or Mickey Matson and the Pirate's Code. But, you might have heard of the blockbuster movie "God's Not Dead." Same writer/director, Harold Cronk. He's local too. Graduated from the same high school as my Steve, a year later.

Several local actors had supporting and minor roles in the Mickey Matson films, some of whom are friends of mine. And yet, I'd never seen either film.

This afternoon, both were shown at the beautifully renovated Vogue Theater in Manistee (that's a story in itself for another day)





Following the showings, all those present who were part of the cast or crew came up front and the audience got to ask them questions.



Both are fun movies, excellently done by Cronk's 10 West Studios.

Does it say something about me that the largest pool of my acquaintances who were in the movies played pirates?

The strangest part for me was that I'd never seen a large-screen movie made in places familiar to me. It was weird to see the local college become a secret training camp, the state park a desert in Sudan, a local closed bank the scene of a bank robbery, etc.

There's a possibility that a third movie in the series will be made. That would be fun.

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Gray and Wet

 

It certainly was an autumnal day, today! Still, I like the foggy trees beyond the backyard.



I did not get the part in the play.

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Craziness Under the Full Moon

 



Tonight I went and auditioned for the role of Halie in Buried Child, by Sam Shepherd. It's an American Tragedy of Greek proportions. Tomorrow is the second night of auditions. I must be crazy. It's been years since I was in a play. Decades.

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