Glad to see it's going well, still thinking finger lakes area? Avi getting big? You guys popped in my head recently as I was up near Seneca, and wondered how it was going.
Glad to see it's going well, still thinking finger lakes area? Avi getting big? You guys popped in my head recently as I was up near Seneca, and wondered how it was going.
infinitenexus said:I swore off this site due to people being raging know-it-all jerks but I decided to log back on to sell my old project car and figured I'd update this thread after, uhh, two years or so. Can't remember if I mentioned it in this thread or not but I quit my IT job about a year and a half ago. I made $123K from my books last year. Just released another book about two weeks ago and it's a hit. That 944 I mentioned above, it was cool but not for me. I put in a ton of work restoring it and last week traded it for a 1981 Porsche 928 with a 5 speed. It needs some work but I enjoy working on Porsches. BMWs, on the other hand, are constructed of pure frustration it seems.
928 with a stick is a super awesome Porsche to trade for! Glad you are still doing well. It's gotten a little better/kinder here, hopefully you stick around. Either way, it's good to hear from you again. It's been fun getting all the emails about the books from following your pen name.
So, I have to wonder. What's the sci-fi pen name?
I read a LOT of science fiction, and wouldn't mind trying his.
It's great to see you back and to hear about your success! Congratulations on both being a successful author and your new-to-you 928! I've always loved those. :)
Dusterbd13 said:So, I have to wonder. What's the sci-fi pen name?
I read a LOT of science fiction, and wouldn't mind trying his.
Same pen name. My latest book is post-apocalyptic, heavily influenced by my love of the Fallout franchise. It's set in Baltimore, since I lived there for a decade. I made the top 10 in Men's Adventure Fiction, which is great, the book has been a hit. Here is a link to it. Midly spicy, two explicit scenes. It's a very fun world to write in.
Steve_Jones said:Glad to see it's going well, still thinking finger lakes area? Avi getting big? You guys popped in my head recently as I was up near Seneca, and wondered how it was going.
I almost forget that I wasn't here for two years. We changed his name. My father chose the name Avi. We lived in the middle of an orthodox Jewish community so people knew the name, but every time we left that neighborhood people were like "Avi? That's a strange name." And it sat very unwell with us that my father chose the name. Oh, since I know you followed my situation several years ago, my stepmom is divorcing my father as well. No one can deal with him. He never takes responsibility for anything he does, and people are tired of his bs.
So we sat down and thought for a while, what is a name we truly like? We wanted to give him a good name, a strong name with meaning, things that were important to us. And, kids will mock you for anything, so we wanted it to be an awesome-sounding name as well. So we changed his name to Magnus Apollo. Magnus, after the strongman Magnus ver Magnusson, and Apollo after the space program (and Greek god of healing and music). Unintentionally, his initials are M.A.N. And to say he's getting big is an understatement—I'm only 5'7", his mom is 5'2", so we're not very big. Magnus is at the very top of the top 1% in height and weight. He's 3.5 years old and the size of a 5-6 year old. Very smart, loves music, and very kind-hearted. And I'm raising him right, so he loves Porsches. He wants a light blue Porsche 911.
And while we're on it, since some of you have followed me for a long time, about 14 months ago his mom had a hormonal shift (she was a surrogate and a few months after giving birth she changed) and one day she just kinda said "you've been really great to me and did nothing wrong but I don't want this anymore." And she left. Just kinda abandoned me. It took a while to get over, but we're still good friends, which is important for Magnus. I met someone new, who honestly treats me better and is incredibly kind and compassionate and most importantly, loves cars. She wants to get an MGB and build it up. She also loves the 928. So Magnus is with his mother during the week, and my fiance and I pick him up after school on Friday and get french fries together and we have him all weekend, then drop him off at school on Monday.
Life is never what we expect, but fortunately things have worked out well for me. I just try hard to be a good person and a good father, better than my father was to me. In fact, my fiance says me being a good father is the reason she was initially attracted to me. Oh, and she has a fiat 500 and we're going to build it up as a fun little autocross car as a fun couple's project. Super excited about that. Thanks for asking, hope you are well.
Javelin said:infinitenexus said:I swore off this site due to people being raging know-it-all jerks but I decided to log back on to sell my old project car and figured I'd update this thread after, uhh, two years or so. Can't remember if I mentioned it in this thread or not but I quit my IT job about a year and a half ago. I made $123K from my books last year. Just released another book about two weeks ago and it's a hit. That 944 I mentioned above, it was cool but not for me. I put in a ton of work restoring it and last week traded it for a 1981 Porsche 928 with a 5 speed. It needs some work but I enjoy working on Porsches. BMWs, on the other hand, are constructed of pure frustration it seems.
928 with a stick is a super awesome Porsche to trade for! Glad you are still doing well. It's gotten a little better/kinder here, hopefully you stick around. Either way, it's good to hear from you again. It's been fun getting all the emails about the books from following your pen name.
Yeah the 944 I traded for it was honestly in much better shape, but it just wasn't the car for me. A manual 928 is perfect, but I'll definitely have to spend some time going through the car. Second gear grinds, it's got electrical ninnies, a lot of typical 928 issues. I should post a picture. Also good to hear about the forum. I do miss this place at times, I just couldn't deal with the rude know-it-alls anymore.
Just added to my kindle!
Currently sitting on a set of Etoile wheels that originally came from a 930. I bought them for my 944 and they looked cool, but 16X9 and 16X10 wheels are just too big and heavy for a NA 944. 928s have kinda weird offsets, so the wheels fit nicely and look great in the back with a 5mm spacer, but they stick out some in the front. I've seen these wheels in 928 backspacings every once in a while, but they're as rare as hen's teeth. Man, I love 'em though. They just look perfect on this car. They're usually in a 17" size, the ones I've found on google for a 928. That would be better than a set of 16s, as performance tires for 16" wheels are limited and the 928 needs some wide tires in the back to fill out those big wheel wheels.
Also seen in the picture is my Cayenne GTS. Other than the gas mileage, I love that thing. I have some secondary cat delete pipes I need to put on it, just gotta crawl underneath and it's been cold lately. And that blue house is my new house, I used my smut nickles to buy a nice old house in a nice, progressive, safe city with excellent schools. The plan is to grow the author brand and eventually buy another house to live in, then rent this one at a discount to my son's mom so my little guy can grow up here, because this neighborhood is simply awesome. Safe, friendly, walkable, it's exactly the kind of place I want him to grow up.
Dusterbd13 said:Just added to my kindle!
Thank you! I think I can say it's some of my best work yet, so I hope you enjoy it.
Awesome to hear from you again! And I get it, I took about a year and a half off and am better able to handle this place now.
I'd love to see more pictures of the GTS. That generation GTS is probably my favorite Cayenne to date!
Dude that's awesome! I might need to pick your brain for writing tips.
infinitenexus said:Dusterbd13 said:Just added to my kindle!
Thank you! I think I can say it's some of my best work yet, so I hope you enjoy it.
Most of the way through it. Fun read!
Jacob needs his own backstory book.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
That would be fun to write, and he'd definitely have a wild story. Also, thanks for the compliment! I really appreciate it.
Halfway through book 2. I'm taking twice as long to write the follow-up as usual, since I've been dealing with some low-key depression and have been overwhelmed with house and car projects. I feel like I'm drowning. Still writing about 2000 words/day most days, but that's less than half of my goal. Hoping to have a good day today.
The book is still doing well. I just checked and its ranking is 6400, which is acceptable. That's out of around 20 million books in the kindle store. For me, anything below 5000 is good. Below 3000 and it's a mild to moderate hit. Book 1 got down to about 1900, which was great. It stayed sub-3000 for a month solid, which is also great. For those interested, around 5-6K ranking the book makes roughly $100/day. Once I release book 2, book 1 should get another bump.
Also since this is GRM, my main character found a mint 1981 porsche 911 in someone's garage. He's yanking all the mechanicals, leaving only enough for it to turn and brake, and turning it into a simple EV using some batteries and electric motors from forklifts. It'll be a fun bit to write about. I think the first test drive will be in book 2, but the first real drive will be in book 3. I have enough covers for 4 books but I'm really enjoying this series and thinking I might try to lengthen it some, as I enjoy writing in this world.
It's interesting to think back on this thread. It started with me writing some sci-fi books under my real name and making $50 per book. Then I switched to erotica shorts. Now I write men's romance and I have one book that has made $50K by itself. I thought of that thread title as a joke, but I'm now a best-selling author and I wouldn't call myself world famous, but I do have readers all over the world.
Time to do some writing sprints. I have German cars that need parts.
It's really amazing to see your progress over the course of this thread. I understand the drowning feeling with how busy modern life is!! Sometimes I have minor-to-medium freakouts and feel like just throwing every project into a dumpster. I know you'll be able to work through it and write, this thread is proof that you're up to it.
Part of it is that I need to be stricter with myself. I usually feel that I can just sit down and write, and the truth is I enjoy that. But if I do that, my writing is often slow and I think not quite as high quality as it can be. If I have some discipline and sit down and force myself to do 15-minute writing sprints, my output goes up in quality and massively in quantity. I made that last post and then did four writing sprints, so only an hour, and wrote 2300 words. And good words! Wound up creating a dramatic scene with some tragedy that helps propel the overall plot forward and introduces some new characters. Dealing with German cars now, but this evening I'll go back and do some more writing sprints until I hit my 5K for the day.
Book 2 in my current series just released today!
Hope is attainable, especially when it's the name of your town.
With the help of a team from a nearby settlement, the rebuilding begins with a focus on safety. Their healer, Jessica, is as beautiful as she is tough. If we could convince her to stay in Hope that would be a huge advantage.
More hands means less work, and soon we had a thriving garden and four livable homes. With some help, I began work on a waterwheel that could power our new settlement. Next step: getting the plumbing working again. Things were going well, and life was simple and satisfying when we focused on the basics.
But our recent scuffle with a violent gang attracted some attention, and the wrong kind. They're coming back, and they want revenge. Looks like our peaceful life will have to wait until we deal with them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1GF1L3C
I got a total of 220 preorders, which is awesome. I'm excited for book 3 for several reasons, one of the big ones being the cover and the third love interest. She has three boobs, Total Recall-style. I just couldn't resist.
Here is the book currently on preorder on Amazon in case anyone wants to see it. It's amazing
Of special note regarding this series, it's post-apocalyptic and inspired by Fallout. The main character, Mark, finds a 1981 Porsche 911 in a garage in good shape and brings it back by life by doing a simple EV conversion (remember, there's no gas anymore). He uses the electric motor from a forklift to get it moving. I also had to think about what cars would still be moving 80 years from now, so when people from a larger settlement (that have limited gas) show up to help, they're driving a toyota tacoma and a prius, both Mad Max-ified. Yes, I put a turret on top of a prius. I got to nerd out on car stuff a little bit with this series, which is rare since I usually write fantasy books.
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