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Thursday, January 10, 2019

The Writer's Life 1/10 - Open for Business

Looking for a a job that's different? Here are excerpts from an article by Jane Wells at cnbc.com, edited by yours truly: Samantha Hess, 34, spent $500 on a business license, built a website, and formed Cuddle Up to Me. Her friends thought she was nuts. Some people suspected it was a cover for prostitution. She started by doing house calls, and even gave hugs in movie theaters. Eventually, she rented a place - and business is good. What are the boundaries? All touch must be non-sexual and consensual. There’s no massage, everyone must be clothed and there can be no touching in areas which would be covered by a swimsuit. Lips must not touch, but noses can. Good hygiene is a requisite. Every session is videotaped to help keep participants in line. Occasionally, customers become aroused. Both parties may take a break or reposition themselves. Sessions cost as much as $80 an hour and last 90 minutes to three hours. Clients choose between 70 different positions. Hess has a team of cuddlers. She has created a code of conduct to train would-be cuddlers in other states. Classes cost $299 online and as much as $3200 in person. She's not rich yet. She has yet to exceed $100,000 in annual revenues, but the business has survived five years.


It's unusual that the Jets and Cardinals selected coaches with losing records to lead the teams. Adam Gase was 23-25 with the Dolphins, Kliff Kingsbury 35-40 at Texas Tech. Both are regarded as offensive geniuses, QB gurus. I've always wondered if a team that had made such a move and got off to a slow would have the players thinking, at least subconsciously: He's not a winner.

I use Facebook and Twitter for free publicity for my work. I use TinyURL to shorten the lengthy Amazon url's for each book. Today I clicked on one to make sure it was still live. None of the nine worked. I have no idea what happened. It was a neat time-saver. Now the daily posts will take a few seconds longer to complete. Not a big deal. 

I just ordered the third proof of Inside Out. After going through the second, I made 26 changes to the 265 page file, half of them the breaking up of paragraphs.

The floating book shop was open for business on this cold day. I set up in front of the Chase bank on Bay Parkway and 85th, which allowed me to put the display right beside the car. I sat in the old Hyundai, door open, blanket covering my lap, just about the entire session. Alas, no one bought, but one gentleman offered to sell me Russian books at a steep discount. I thanked him and said people donate them for free.
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