As you know, I have made all the Stories free on Smashwords, as part of a COVID epidemic lockdown-related promotion.  SW hopes that people are quietly reading at home; perhaps they are, perhaps they aren't!!

I love to go on the Smashwords dashboard, as they call it, where a SW author goes to manage his or her book sales, and select 'Daily Sales', and then 'Books', which tells me which books are selling.  Actually, which books are being given away fastest!!  As you might know, I don't really care about making money from these books (though, honestly, some people do make an awful lot of money from their books, and I shouldn't sneer at the prospect of earning from the books).

The titles
Prisoner!
Helen at Ballet Camp,
Helen and the Flowershop Girl,
Jane on Holiday
are the most popular ones, because (I think) they have the most explicit, and implicit, sex in them.  Again, I should not disparage those who look for sexy stories to read, and pick my ones, because there are quite a number of sexy stories on Smashwords to buy (and get for free), and wanting to read something that is a bit titillating is nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, I wrote these very stories to keep myself from going crazy at a rather dry time.  (Gosh, I can't believe I wrote that.)

This is strange, but for a sort-of reclusive person, I do feel very much for those who are going stir crazy in the US, because of the lock-downs imposed by the more intelligent governors.  There are some governors who are trying to play a game, I suppose trying to make their states compete unfairly against the locked-down states and areas, and get ahead economically at this time when we should not be doing that.

Talking about being locked down: I thought about writing a story concerning Helen and her family during these times, and how they cope, but I write so slowly that by the time it gets written, it could be of no more interest to anyone!  As it is, while I labor over Helen at Westfield, I get the strong feeling that it could not possibly hold anyone's interest for very long.  In trying to telescope Helen's adventures over many many months into a single semester, Helen comes across sounding like a superhero.  Her 'special powers' all flow from her being, in addition to a great violinist, also an athlete, and actor, and a persuasive speaker.  I gave her a pretty face, but that was about all; she is strong, but lanky and stringy, and only her personality makes her attractive, really.  But I could not bear to create a heroine with a plain face.

On facebook, there are dozens of amateur musicians playing guitar and singing, on the Covid Concert page, and giving links, where people could leave tips!  Some of these are just hoping to make a dollar or two; others are probably desperate to make up the money they lose from staying home.  This has been a horrible two years; I gave lots of money for my favorite candidates last fall, and now I'm faced with having to give tips to singers whose songs I really don't like.  But at least they're trying!

I'm starved for the company of the pets of my friend!  If you have cats and dogs, count yourself lucky; just watching them is very entertaining, and if you have the imagination to tease them with something they would interact with, it is worth all the effort!  I could tell you so many stories about pets I have observed!  And, of course, there are pets on YouTube.  There is even a sequence of videos about someone who made an obstacle course for a squirrel in his yard, which was constantly raiding his bird-feeder.  So he made it difficult for the squirrel, and took videos of what the squirrel did.  It was amazing!

Out here, the spring flowers are slowly coming up.  I have not been a flower person so far, though I do appreciate the flowers other people plant and care for.  There are reports that rivers are running clearer, air is less polluted, though I understand many of you must long to go out there and pollute a litte air!  (It is a little quieter, too; the fellows who race around in little motobikes, just to make a racket, can't do it anymore.  I wish they would tape it, and listen to themselves over headphones; I suspect they're more excited about being a nuisance to us than anything else.)  The canals of Venice are smelling less!  Isn't that amazing?

I am so wanting to get up and sing into a camera, and put it up on facebook!!  I can play several instruments, and I can sing a little, but I can't put the whole thing together!  I wish there were an easy way to put my phone up on a tripod stand; I bet Helen and the kids would figure out a way pretty easily.  My characters, unfortunately, are a lot cleverer and more motivated than I am.

Anyway, I sincerely hope that all of you who read my blog posts have the resources to eat nutritious food, and keep yourselves from being bored; those are the main things to worry about.  If you focus on the others in the house with you, it helps to keep you occupied.  Always thinking about how bored you are just leads to boredom.  I, unfortunately, have nobody to entertain, but I have records, and books, and, of course, the Internet.  Even if the Internet dies, I think I could manage for about a month . . .

Love to all,

Kay