The Writer's Life 12/24 - Countdown

NYC is taking in a lot more tax revenue than had been expected, a huge surplus, and projections for the next two years have gone from in the red to the black. Tourists have bailed out the city and made up for the shrinkage of Wall Street. If the city doesn't devolve to the violence of pre-1990, expect de Blasio to be re-elected in a landslide. I'm sure the mayor & company will be playing Santa Claus, buying a lot of votes with that cash. Hopefully, there will be some left over to address infrastructure. As for the rest of the state, most of it will continue to struggle, as it does not have tourism and Broadway and the remnants of Wall Street to pay its bills. I'm sure the Governor will try to divert some of the city's surplus upstate. It will be interesting to see what occurs.

My Christmas gift to myself is on the way. My literary angel, Victoria Valentine of Water Forest Press, told me the Create Space file checker found issues with the manuscripts she submitted, but that in each instance she ordered a proof copy nonetheless, and all of them turned out fine. I just had email confirmation that mine is ready, and I ordered one. The strange thing is that I used the template CS provided, and still had issues. I don't understand why the template itself couldn't be uploaded. I created a word file from it. Despite the difficulties I encountered, I doubt there's a better option for a self-published book -- no fee except for the purchase of books! It offers professional help at a heavy price, but I don't see any advantage in it. Lately, I've been more accepting of my place at the bottom of the literary totem pole. I'd rather not throw a lot of money into trying to climb up a few rungs. If a rise is meant to be, word of mouth will be the deciding factor.

Dinner won't be before eight o'clock. Right now I'm not even remotely hungry, but I'm looking forward to those shrimp wrapped in bacon and seafood of various sorts.