Facebook Promotion Payoff and a #ROW80 Update!

Adopting a Napoleonesque pose
at the Marine Corps Ball

A busy week gone by, and the little checklists have so far paid dubious dividends… Even the simple things, like “Drink 2 liters of water” are going undone, often as not. Of course, it was an odd week, what with an impromptu send-off party for a fellow officer headed to Afghanistan and my squadron’s Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Thursday night, but even so!

That said, I did get a good bit of writing done, so salvaged that end of things… I also did a little experiment, putting $5.00 of promotional money toward the Facebook post on Chapter 34 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham… The result? So far, with only about $2.50 spent, over 1000 people have seen the Facebook post, and over 100 have visited the book page – an all-time high!

With the book running an estimated 45-50 chapters, about $50 should theoretically bring in quite a lot of potential readers and future customers. Worth the price of admission? I think so, but does anyone else have experience with this feature on Facebook?

WRITING

- Posted Chapter 34 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Posted this ROW80 Update!

- Put up a new post on my GypsyDangerously blog…

- Wrote most of Chapter 35 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham.

- Wrote about a third of a non-fiction piece for Foreign Affairs.

FITNESS

- Attended yoga class on Saturday

- Tracked down a local rugby club to play for.

NEW ECONOMIC

- Well, old economic – put in an offer on a pair of little rental condos in Hilton Head!

- Reduce my personal carbon footprint – I got the electric motor and battery for my little dinghy, and took her out for a spin – read the wholestory here!

So, another somewhat useful week, but lots to do still – will put the little checklists to the test this coming week, where my big goal is to get Ho B-52 published and promoted!

Wish me luck!

Edward

Helicopter Flights & a #ROW80 Update!

Flying the unfriendly skies...

A super-busy week- I've been doing lots of writing - mainly recommendations for Navy Commendation Medals (but I did ghost-write a Bronze Star on behalf of the Commanding General - good times!) Also, editing and writing a variety of letters in an attempt to get my Marines Combat Meritorious Promotions, etc...

It hasn't left a lot of time for other things, but I did go for a ride on a CH-53 helicopter out over the Helmand River Valley to watch one of my Marines re-enlist at 3000 feet - what a great way to end the day!

Of course, the day won't really be over until I post this note, after which time I can grab my gear and go catch a few hours of sleep, but here goes:

WRITING
- Wrote a smidgen of the Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Posted Chapter 30 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Wrote a few more pages of Stephen Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique and Counterpoint… Did some editing and created the cover art... Slowly getting there!

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 17th issue of the Squadron newsletter – 9 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 10 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat still at 13% - gotta work on diet, abs and cardio to get down to 12%...

LANGUAGE
- Completed my requisite 5 hours of language study, now looking for a C-130 ride to Bagram to test out next month...

NETWORKING
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

A la prochaine!

Edward

#ROW80 Update from a #Warzone!

Everyone smile for the camera! 
Oh, wait, Marines don't smile...

A quiet week in some ways here, a very busy one in others!

Writing awards and orders, finishing up one International Relations class, and preparing to teach another, and taking a 3-day-a-week French class via online video-linked classroom (thanks, Special Operations Command!) so as is often the case, I’m struggling to make time to write, let alone publish or promote!

That said, I have gotten a little bit more done on Steven Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique & Counterpoint. Shooting for publication before the end of the month, so lots to do with that! And I have to finish the final proofs for my interview in Laurence Raw and Robert G. Dryden’s upcoming book Global Jane Austen: Pleasure, Passion, and Possessiveness in the Jane Austen Community.

So, I trust you’ll pardon the very brief goals update:

WRITING

- Posted Chapter 29 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Wrote 1500 words on my critique of Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos.

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 16th issue of the Squadron newsletter – Mother’s Day edition!

FITNESS
- Added 10 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat down to 13.4% - next stop, 12%

- Scored 284 (out of 300) on my latest Physical Fitness Test!

LANGUAGE
- Got in 5 solid hours of French study this week, 4 of those in a class taught all in French… Je suis un bien eleve!

NETWORKING
- Found a couple of people interested in my Core Group! Still looking for more, though – anyone joins will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

A la prochaine! 
Edward

Windy Sunday #ROW80 Update from Afghanistan!

My Weekly Squadron Publishing Project

Still waiting for the kick-off of the Spring Fighting Season, but am making the most of the relative quiet time.

My days still start with a long run at 5:30 am, do not end until 11:00 pm, and are filled with a variety of work-related activities, in amongst which I squeeze in some writing, studying, and extra physical training. 

I have finished my critique of The Warrior Ethos and am now engaged in writing the second half of this book – a counterpoint suggesting a more suitable philosophy for the modern warrior. I look forward to being done with the writing in a few more days, and then being able to turn to editing and publishing around the second week of May.

Until that’s done, I don’t expect to do any of my planned work on Learning Indonesian or the Parasol Books imprint to get done, but will be getting back to work on those as soon as my critique & counterpoint of Pressfield’s book is published. Looking back at my original goals post, I notice that I’m a bit behind on the short-story writing and publishing that I’m supposed to be doing – but there are only so many hours in the day!

So, here’s a brief goals update:

WRITING
- Wrote 3 chapters of the Perfidious Mister Wickham…

- Posted Chapter 27 of The Perfidious Mister Wickham… Darcy arrives!

- Wrote 8 more pages of Stephen Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique and Counterpoint…

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 14th issue of the Squadron newsletter – 9 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 15 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat back to 15% - the rollercoaster is headed down again! Hopefully it stays pointed in that direction and I can report 14% next week!

- Did 19 pull-ups (one away from the max score) in a contest, and ran a 23 minute 3-mile race. Getting stronger & faster every day!

LANGUAGE
- Completed my requisite 5 hours of language study, donc,  je deviens plus mieux tout jour! (Ou si j’espere!)

NETWORKING
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

A la prochaine!

Edward

Rainy Sunday #ROW80 Update from Afghanistan

The weather forecast here calls for “lightning, hail, torrential rain, and localized flooding. Severe downbursts and sudden wind shifts with heavy dust fronts may exist in the vicinity of thunderstorms.”

Ahh, the joys of life in the Afghan desert. But as long as rain and hail are the only things falling from the sky, I’m quite content here! Another busy week, and again, I’ve missed the Wednesday update, but shall endeavor to make up for it here.

The Wi-Fi provided by the base has been almost non-functioning this week, but my Marines are working to put up a satellite connection that will be under our control, and not only much more reliable, but also located closer to where we spend most of our time. Once that’s up and running, I should be able to do a better job of social networking – in the meantime, what little free time I have is devoted to writing.

My military duties keep me quite busy, but I’ve been managing to eat healthy, drink my 3 liters of water per day, and logged 9 miles of running this week. I also read a few rather interesting books – Steven Pressfield’s The Warrior Ethos and Joshua Ramos’ The Age of the Unthinkable. In fact, my reading led directly to another writing project – I was so annoyed by the questionable logic and conclusions found in Pressfield’s book that I felt obliged to write a book-length critique and counterpoint – so the majority of my non-fiction writing this week has gone into that endeavour, which has yielded 16,000 words so far, and encouraged literary expeditions into the works of Herodotus and the epic Indian saga the Bhagavad-Gita.

For that reason, no progress to report on Learning Indonesian or the Parasol Books imprint, but I did manage to get a little networking done! Final edits on the book review for the Air Force Research Institute got moved to the back burner as well, but hopefully I’ll knock those out next week.

WRITING
- Posted a new chapter of The Perfidious Mister Wickham…
- Wrote 16,000 words of Stephen Pressfield’s “The Warrior Ethos”: One Marine Officer’s Critique and Counterpoint…

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 13th issue of the Squadron newsletter – 9 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 5 lbs to my Bench Press… - Bodyfat back to 16% - this is a bit annoying, but I’ll continue once-a-week measurements and see what happens…

LANGUAGE
- Completed my requisite 5 hours of language study, mais, je suis encore un idiote!

NETWORKING
- Visited my friend Nicole Basaraba’s new webpage – it’s lovely, do check it out!
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals! How did you do with yours? I hope everyone has had a great weekend, and is all set for another productive week!

Bonne chance!
Edward