April is a tough month for me. This past week was the worst week. It’s the week of my parent’s birthdays. Daddy on the 21st, Mama on the 27th. Daddy would have been 88 and Mama would have been 81. As much as I try each April to not let this week get to me, it does. I keep wondering when it will stop. This feeling of loss and grief for people now long gone. People who weren’t the best parents. Who didn’t try to be parents. But they were my parents and as bad as it was, I still loved them. But yeah, April is not my favorite time of year. This year, tho, it seemed to hit harder.
But anyway, enough of that, let’s talk about less depressing things.
Been offline a bit while we changed internet providers. It’s been a long time coming. We were with the local cable company, just internet. We had the basic least expensive internet they had. The price had gone up four times in the last year, and by looks of the online bill due tomorrow it had gone up again. Basic least expensive internet that now costs $114.99 a month… yeah, and, as the price went up, the service seemed to go down more, slow down more, or just plain stop working altogether. So we switched back to AT&T. Mostly because it’s the only other option here. No, the phone company internets aren’t available here. And seriously, as much internet as we use, I doubt their service would have covered it without additional plans.
But that’s done. So far this new service is faster, but it doesn’t reach to Aubrey’s room all that well. Other than that, I’m happy with it… SO FAR!. The sales rep said the monthly costs would never go up, so, we’ll see. We’ll also see if they give us the discount he mentioned for having an AT&T based phone provider and the other reward for switching when we did.
Now, if I could just get the power bill to go back down. Yeah, that’s not happening. It’s now nearly $400 a month on the budget billing plan. It was less than $300 last September.
Yeah, I know, the economy is great… for corporations.
Okay, since we’re discussing finances, let’s discuss this website/blog. Seems I had signed up for a super duper website package and didn’t know it. I’d opted for the plus package, which has unlimited websites. I have only ever had this one. If I’d known I could have opened websites for my other interests and just paid the domain fee for each one these past four years… maybe I did know. Maybe I’d planned to do so. I don’t remember. I know I didn’t have that plan when I first opened this website. I had the basic. I think it was a case of they offered me a deal on the upgrade and I took it and didn’t read what I was upgrading to. Or, more likely, they sent me an upgrade when I renewed and I didn’t notice it was not the same service… and I say this because, the option for a basic site is not there in the renewal link. If I want the basic website, it seems I have to start over again. And yeah, I can afford the basic package, for one year. I remember renewing four years ago with an offer for three years and that’s what I thought I was doing, renewing the site I had for three years, which was a money saver back then. now, one year of the upgraded… SIGHS… well, user error… Now the question is, do I want to renew with the basic package? If I don’t have to start from scratch, yeah, okay. Because I sure as hell don’t want to go through the time and effort of setting up new book pages on another site.
But the problem is, four hundred dollar electric bills and that I spent four hundred dollars at the grocery store each week and never seem to get enough food to last two weeks… and yes I shop around for the best prices, and we’ve cut out all unnecessary buying.
Money, money, money… ain’t got none, so… yeah. I still have a little while to figure it out.
I started updating the Apple and Kobo links on the individual book pages today, because that’s easier than setting up a whole new page. Maybe I’ll hang on for another year. I should do an Amazon affiliate post, since that’s why I got this website in the first place. I’ve bought a lot off the Zon. And I need two bucks to hit the payout threshold. Which is ten dollars if you didn’t know. I finally hit 8 bucks since last Christmas. Woot, I might be rich in three months if I can just get that last two buck push… (sarcasm).
And I’ve relisted everything on Apple, Kobo, and Payhip, if I haven’t mentioned that. I’m working on getting books up on Draft 2 Digital for Smashwords and other small sites. And I’m going to try again to get my books on Google Play. So, I may as well go ahead and relist on B&N.
I have no plans to return to Kindle Unlimited this year. Not even at Christmas. I have dropped prices on a few books and tidied up the international prices.
Right now River’s Edge is on sale for $1.99 or as close to the equivalent in other countries. I’m honestly thinking about a new, darker, cover, and possibly a name change. Maybe I might hit the two hundred units sold mark before the two year anniversary if I do.
And that my followers is why I’ve called it done. The last three books/novellas I’ve published have done so badly that I see no reason to try any more. And I don’t know how to fix it.
Anyway… I’m that’s me signing off for April… Will try to get on here to kick off May tomorrow.
Happy Beltane
Peace
Mercy