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Monday, February 24, 2014

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 2/24 - Gracias

How have the NY Knicks gone from a team that finished 25 games over .500 last year to one that is 14 games under at present? The roster isn’t much different. I thought there would be a turnaround when Tyson Chandler returned from injury, but the situation has gotten worse, and it doesn’t seem to a be a matter of age. Two years ago Jeremy Lin took the city by storm with his infectious play. I thought management made a big mistake when they did not outbid the Houston Rockets for his services. When Raymond Felton was signed the consensus among sportswriters was that Felton was better. He proved them right during the 2012-13 season, besting Lin in the major categories: scoring, assists, rebounding & steals. This year the numbers have reversed, although the margin in either case wasn't that significant. According to the stats, they are very comparable players. Pundits cite that Felton is overweight and having marital problems. These days my interest in sports is restricted largely to scanning the newspaper. When Lin was a Knick I looked forward to reading about how he’d performed. Now there’s no one of interest to me on the roster, not even the two Italians.

I try not to get discouraged when I hit a slump in sales of my own books. One of the ways I've tried to turn that negative into a positive is by refocusing on short story submission, which I‘d neglected for several years as I concentrated on promoting my books. The Poets & Writers website has an amazing list of literary magazines. I look for those which accept online submission. I will never again submit by snail mail unless someone specifically solicits one of my works. I’ve recently made nine submissions, and that has only taken me through C on the list. Two stories have already been rejected. I immediately sent them elsewhere. I inadvertently sent one to two different publications. I don’t like to do that, even though the odds of being accepted by both are astronomical. It actually happened to me once, and it was embarrassing, although I’m sure publishers know it is a common practice.

RIP Harold Ramis, 69, writer, actor, director, producer, who has had a hand in many iconic comedic works on film and TV. Play a round of golf, and someone in your group will likely mention Caddyshack (1980). His Groundhog Day (1993), co-written with Danny Rubin, is one of the all-time best comedies, rated 8.1 of ten at IMDb. Well done, sir. 

Except for the biting wind, it was a good day at the floating book shop. I sold all but three of the Russian books I found yesterday. Given the diminishing stock and the forecast for the rest of the week, I was a bit melancholy as I returned home. Fortunately, I met Pedro, one of our stellar porters, at the entrance to the building. He'd saved about 75 books in Russian for me. He had even more DVDs, but I passed on them, which was probably a mistake. Gracias, amigo. And thanks to the kind folks who made purchases. 
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx

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