A Boring Little Blog With Great Pictures

    Hey, friends, fans, family, and lurkers. I haven’t been updating this blog as much as I should, and while not a great deal of exciting stuff has been happening, I will try to make the boring stuff as interesting as possible.

Still reading? Wow, you people are dedicated.

    I had to make another visa run to Georgia. I hope this is the last one! Not because I don’t like Georgia but doing the 3 x 3 bounce is so old. What is a three by three bounce? This is when I have to fly three hours in one direction to fly back, albeit at a slightly different angle, three hours to Tbilisi. In reality, it is two hours and twenty minutes in one direction and two hours and thirty in the other direction, but that sounds overtly precise and hence boring.

    Georgia was as welcoming as it always is for tourists. I think I am getting used to this sincere and generous welcome past the point of surprise. Not that I am taking it for granted. I would never do that but, I was less surprised when my friend/brother (from another Mother) picked me up at the airport and joined me for a great lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We spent the afternoon catching up and enjoying each other's company as if it hadn’t been a week. It had been almost three months.
I returned to the Mais Guest House and settled in for the potential two or three-week process to begin on Monday. While I have found a professional person to do all the filing and paperwork it is always a gamble when it comes to time. I had the weekend to kick back and enjoy some cigars with friends at the Davidoff Cigar Lounge. It was a great reunion, and we all fell back into the comfortable routine cigar smokers have and understand. If you’re not a cigar smoker well, I can’t explain it. We all caught up on current events, and I spent lots of time and effort explaining exactly what is a Donald Trump and how this could have happened in the self-proclaimed greatest democracy in the world. It was very much like watching your high school tough guy get his ass handed to him by a Catholic School Cheerleader Squad for the Georgians. They were kilometers past 'couldn’t believe it' status. I got the impression it shook their faith in the democratic process. To put this into perspective, you have to remember how hard and how many people sacrificed everything to achieve the government they now enjoy. We are not talking distance past events or obscure events referenced in speeches by people they don’t know. No, we are talking individuals who held the very hands of the dying. The ones who lived for months without power, water, and getting bread required a ticket and a trip across town. A city plunged into chaos and lawlessness while staring down the twin barrels of external influencing super powers.
I did as much as I could to explain the electoral college and how that system worked and how the courts would act as a buffer to the more crazy ideas that the Office of POTUS might try to run with. It didn’t go a very long way to reassure, but it did add up to some very good topics to discuss and so the room was lively with the discussion.

   I arrived Monday at the office of my professional paperwork person. I had brought a package of Russian special cigarettes to him as a gift. This is a good thing for foreigners to remember. The act of tipping in North America is standard. But this is not the case in other countries and if you just do the same thing you would do at home you reaffirm the RICH American/Canadian tourist idea. The act of bringing him something from Russia meant I thought of him before I left Russia and carried significantly more impact than just saying “keep the change.” This was my third time filling, or rather watching someone else, complete the paperwork.
    The Russian Consulate is in the Swiss Embassy compound and the line up to get in is a chaotic affair. Line and turns are never as simple as saying they are in London England. When I finally got to the window the lady behind the glass recognized me and smiled and seemed impressed that my Russian had improved as much as it has. She commented my accent is getting better. She then also handed back my paperwork and said I needed to complete it in Russian. I was surprised as the last time she wouldn’t take it completed in Russian.
I returned to my professional, and she was as surprised as I was. So surprised that she pulled out Google Translate to make sure what I was saying was what she understood I was saying. Translation complete we did the paperwork again in Russian and added a photocopy of my last visa to the one containing my identification page of my passport. A new addition to the requirement from last time.
I returned with two sets of applications, one in Russian and one in English. The Russian one was kept, and I was handed back the English one with a sticky note that I could pick up my visa on Friday after six in the evening. I walked out of the office surprised that my visa would be ready in only five days.

    The next week included numerous invitations for supper. Supper in Georgian means a feast. So for tourists, it is important you know that giving time between these invitations is wise. The liver will need at least forty-eight hours of healing. My liver is an Olympic superstar, so I did three of these in a row. Max made a great traditional dinner at his home and brought me home safe and sound. Nodar took me out to a great traditional restaurant and then escorted me back to Mais Guest house. Shalva, Bekka, David, and Zura organized a couple of dinner deliveries to the club, and thankfully the club is a close stumble home. Public Service Notice for Canadians. Georgians may think you can keep up with them when it comes to consumption of Wine and Brandy as a result of my poor judgments. To paraphrase Riddick; “Do not step up if you can’t keep up because you’ll just die.”

I went back to the Embassy on Friday only to find out it was closed.

    I picked up my visa on Monday and booked my return trip to Anapa Russia. Short notice bookings are never cheap, but I was glad I had not booked it ahead of time. The return trip saw Max and his Wife stepping up again and taking me to the airport at one in the morning. Flights from Tbilisi are less than great for connecting to anyplace other than Turkey. So Anapa saw me arrive with zero sleep in twenty-six hours. Home in my bed saw me doing a “just to be safe” two-week detox program. Not that I needed to, or have a problem, but kind of like doing your oil change early because you’ve been doing some hard driving.

    Ever notice how cats are usually sitting alone? They never look lonely. I have this local cat that recognizes me and yet never approaches. In fact, if I talk to him he gives me a look like I just disturbed him from solving Einstein’s issue of gravitational waves. Cats can be like that sometimes, but I do envy their ability just to sit and seemingly enjoy the moment. I love walking in Anapa and routinely walk several kilometers a day. If I try to sit and enjoy a view for longer than nine minutes, I get restless. I need something distracting, like cigar ash falling into my lap or a conversation. This conversation doesn’t have to include anyone else. I am a writer I can talk to myself; it’s on my Writers Guild card. These conversations usually focus on things I need to do, should do, and want to do but can’t. I hate the first and last ones the most. I need to write a blog! Well, we see how effective that one has been.

Today I got to it. The need to do box is at this moment ticked with the proper Government issued pen. The want to do but can’t is still on hold. The center does, after all, hold what the rest can’t.

     I also managed to get my train ticket today to celebrate my Russian Mom’s Birthday. My Anapa friend Lasha was lots of help in this endeavor. If only to confirm it was done right. Luckily he was as the girl messed up my last name. In fairness it is hard. My last name in Russian is spelled KOBE, and so she had dropped the Y and added an E, COVEE. So if you remember your grammar lessons “Drop the Y and add a…” Hardly could blame the girl as in the head it does sound right. Probably would have worked but correctly is better. The trick now will be seeing if the conductor of the train will let me jump ship at the village before Beslan. It isn’t a proper stop, and the train only stops for five minutes for a “mechanical check.” Wish me luck and thanks for reading the boring and mundane.

You want excitement order or download my newest book  Redemption’s Bullet from Amazon!

Launches, failures to launch, and success.

   When you start to write a book, you usually approach the project with vim and vigor. Technically speaking you have already made your first mistake. It isn't a book till it receives an ISBN number. It is called a Manuscript or MSS. That day was a long time ago for Redemption's Bullet. It started with a vote on Facebook, asking fans and friends if they wanted a sequel or prequel. During the MSS process, I left my full-time job and joined the ranks of the retired. I had to let my old friend and dialog critic go to cat heaven. The furry fury aptly named The Piker was 18 and in considerable pain daily. This rationale did not make that act easy. Perhaps the hardest decision of my life. Then I packed everything I owned into a single suitcase and moved halfway around the world to Russia. Yes, this all done while devoting 4 hours a day to write Redemption's Bullet and a few more hours to make sure I kept my blog and FB pages current.

My father liked to say; "If it were easy, they wouldn't call you a professional." Life gets in the way of our writing this is certain. But we are professionals, and as such we make the time to apply our energy to the goal of creating an incredible and entertaining story. It took me a long while to finally complete this task started so many years ago. I learned a great deal about grammar and the technology needed to push the books envelope and stay inside the lines of believable. I know this is a much stronger story because of these things than my first. We all make mistakes with our first attempts. We, professionals, get better, because of those mistakes.

Because I made the choice to keep this sequel inside a price point easily enjoyed by everyone I've had to apply this shoestring model to the marketing and advertising. This is something new I had to learn as well. I think the ad campaign has been successful, and I hope entertained you as well. I say I think it has been successful because it is too early to tell how many books have been sold. It will also be impossible to determine which ad was successful in making people aware of the new book. The numbers look large and those engaged past the like or act of watching the videos were good. But when you get to wise age numbers you know what you know, and you're even more aware of what you don't. I don't know marketing and advertising, and so I guess I will have to wait to see if I am provided more lessons to learn from. Youtube Channel

Book promotion seems to be a new cottage industry on Twitter. So much so that I have had to delete a few groups I follow as I was getting too many "This the GREATEST book I've read this month." When you get three such tweets from the same person, you have to wonder.

Redemption's Bullet got it's first review and while I know we typing monkeys are told not to read reviews who actually doesn't? Perhaps Stephen King. But, I doubt many others don't. I saw four stars and thought why not five? I thought why not five not because I have a huge ego and think it deserves five. I thought what could I have done better? I thought how did I not live up to the readers expectations. The comments did not shed any light on the why. Perhaps it was the change from the first person to global? I arrived at this because I am not Stephen King and can easily go back through my reviews and read his last one in the first book.

The early release of the book also served to put a fire under my ass to get a new website created. I hate website creation and all that goes with it. Tactical mind talking to the practical designer on a virtual shared persona. It was hard, frustrating, and not without drama. But I learned a little more of life's little lessons and got past it all. Scott D. Covey is live.Scott D Covey

I wanted to make the site more like a lounge or place people could go to see more about me and the books but be light on selling. I find in today's marketing and Ad adventures sites are asking me to buy, or place a deposit, before I've even had a chance to come to a decision if I want to. Now I know this isn't the newest technology smart car and at 2.99 and 9.99 respectively we aren't talking big money. But, still I don't like the trend, so I made the choice not to follow it.

I might have been successful in this regard as I can see the pre-order sales numbers for the Ebook. It releases on the 29th of this month, and I am happy about the number. Ok, OK I will tell you. 96!

Thanks for having faith in me. For waiting as I traveled all over the world to make sure I captured the feel of the place to better bring you along as Rhys hunted and avoided capture. For spending your hard earned cash on a story. For your comments, reviews, and all the learning experiences you my readers, and friends, provided.

My time in the Republic of Georgia is coming to an end. I will miss the great people that call this place home. I've shared some great times here, with truly unique and hospitable people. Georgia is in Redemption's Bullet, and I know because of my experience here it will feature in my writing again.

That is if I ever write another paragraph of publishable prose.

Don't worry. Every writer feels the same way after completing twenty edits and various revisions and rewrites. If they say, they don't. THEY ARE LYING BASTARDS.

Please enjoy Redemption's Bullet responsibly. In no case should you ever try to follow Rhys Munroe as a role model. He is the man that stares down leopards after all.

Websites and custom painted jets.

    In my last blog, I talked about writing and doing many things yourself. Making a story a great story is a challenge to both imagination and perseverance. Sometimes it is a struggle between the two to see the winner. Stress is proven to reduce productivity, but I don’t know if anyone has studied how stress reduces creativity. Perhaps this is one such test. I got a little creative with the rollout of the newest website.

If you have been reading, you know my website woes. ScottDcovey dot com got hijacked by a donkey/midget porn site in Belgium. My attempt at resurrecting that site got sidelined and held hostage by an asshole. I refused to pay the ransom. I will run into him one day. So the newest attempt is scheduled to launch later this month. I have high hopes. Dreams even, of this site being everything I need it to be. I am even considering an APP! Free of course to all.

The book is scheduled to launch before Summer. Sorry, this is as close as I can guess. Just when it seems I have all my ducks in the row, someone tells me I am supposed to be herding cats! But I do have some goodies for you. The cover photos are ready in 3D and so is the Logo painted plane’s website launch video.

Short and sweet today as the stress of the previous week is affecting my creativity.

Much Love,
Scott D Covey.

Book. THE END

    It has been a while since I posted anything to my blog as I have been busy getting the book ready. Yes, it officially has an ISBN 9781633237865, for those that like to keep track of such things. So it is officially done and Bob Mayer I can finally type ‘The End’. But, Like he pointed out in his blog a few months ago, rarely is it the end. Now, I have to get an official website back up. I got scammed on my previous site and learned a few lessons. Again, this would be something helpful to new writers to understand and get some insight from professional conferences. A simple understanding of the difference between marketing and advertising is not enough. You have to know your readers and know what they want to see in a graphic representation of your work. Sure it has to be easy for them to order and buy the book but it also has to give them something to do past the obvious. I have been using my blog as such, and it is a poor replacement for a well-designed site. So I have been working to get this accomplished. I have also been working closely with the layout and design of the interior of the book. Past edits, and formatting it has to be easy to read and intelligently laid out with enough gaps in the transitions. Thanks again Jay M. Then the cover and back block has to be done. So you see as wise Mr. Mayer points out ‘The End’ is just the beginning.

    My supportive wife, Inga, has left me with this task and is taking the time to spend time with her parents. This may seem odd to anyone who hasn’t lived with a writer. Too often we creative typing monkeys get frustrated and can unintentionally level this frustration at those closest to us. I like to be as honest as possible here. Perhaps too much so. Three days in my underwear, only remembering to eat when you get dizzy going to the washroom and trying to find a few answers in Vodka, or just

recently, Absinth! While the answers are rarely in a bottle, it does slow the brain or provide it a distraction to move out of the mud it finds miring the process. Absinth is perhaps different. They import the real wormwood stuff here. The magical formula used by many creative types in the past and outlawed in most countries. Yes, I know you can buy Absinth in Canada, and they say it is ‘real.' That real definition is a little interpretive. Real ingredients but… when you live in a country that worries about the rat poo level in your Snickers bar, do you think for a second they would let you drink something previous artists have cut body parts off while under the green fairies influence? No! But, this is Georgia, and here you are free to be you. You also are expected to take responsibility for your actions. Local Cha Cha is available everywhere, and its purity is questionable when you buy it out of repurposed Pepsi bottles. The stuff runs about 60 percent pure alcohol so its clean of anything alive but, chemically it is a little risky. Something few locals care about, past doing a spoon burn check. So the imported Absinth is the real deal. I missed leaving my real Absinth spoon back in Canada. A gift from Mr. Antell it was from Finland and very old and I left it in the care of Dimitri with my watches. I made it work, and the hot clouded liquid bit my tongue with a sharp licorice embrace. It took four such potions till the green fairy revealed herself. Less of a fairy really and more like a cloud specter just on the edge of your vision.  I didn’t understand what it was at first until Commander Scotty’s words echoed in my head. “But, It is green.”

    The inspiration arrived, and I scribbled and sketched the book cover. I took pictures wisely thinking I may not be able to interpret this genius while not gripped by this specter’s tutelage. The room got remarkable hot, and I was glad that my tutor had no problem with my near nudity. I forgot to eat. But in a way, I was feeding on my creativity. It was like tossing a brick on the accelerator of a BMW M5 and trying to steer it through the mountains. The wheels eventually always come off. Knowing this I had locked my door and hid the keys when my conscious self-wasn't really paying attention. The morning light did not come easily. I crawled from it like a newly born vampire. I slowly gained the ability to stand and went back to my desk. The notes had survived. The pictures provided illumination and worked as a sort of a self-discovery I didn’t need. However, the cover was done. I was alive.

    So today as a bit of a treat I went to an outside cafe and told you all about it. I am not airing my liver. Who are we kidding the purity of the air would surely kill it. This is what it is to be a writer. So when you are looking at that book on the shelf, and the price know the author bled to create it. Most certainly differently than me. But we bleed the stories we share with you. To imagine the worlds and characters, we become them. We hurt ourselves and often those that love us. It is this to be a writer of fiction.

    The new book will be released shortly. Redemption’s Bullet is ten times the story Grey Redemption is. It is darker, much darker, and tighter because of those that helped/made me edit it over and over again. I am very proud of this book. It is written in blood only for you as you deserve it. A public thanks to testing readers, coerced editors, friends, fans, and family. This would have never been possible without you! A special thanks to Inga the strongest and most loving person I have been gifted with!