Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!
Time for an update.
I got Ch4 back from my editor a couple of days ago, but I just survived the busiest weekend I’ve had in a long time.
On Friday, we had the first half of a two-day yard sale (lots of quality junk for someone else to clutter their house with). When we weren’t setting up, we were selling things to really cheap people. Personally, I just wanted to get rid of the stuff, but I wasn’t going to give it away. So I bargain hard, and I’m perfectly happy to smile and tell people to have a nice day (which is a passive-aggressive way of saying “you’re fucking insane if you think I’m going to sell it for that price, now get out of my yard, you cheap biddy!”). If you’ve ever had a yard sale, you know the kind of people I’m talking about.
Anyway, Saturday morning was the second half of the yard sale. As always, the people show up an hour early, no matter what you put in the newspaper ad. That really bugs the hell outta me. We set a time for a reason, you cheap bastards. I thought about charging a $20 “early shopper” deposit. Anything they purchased would go toward the $20, but I got to keep the $20 no matter what. Like I said, a non-refundable deposit for the nitwits, ahem, “bargain hunters” who show up early and expect something for nothing. Once again, you know the kind of people I’m talking about. I didn’t charge the deposit, but it was fun to imagine.
Also on Saturday morning, I wanted to go down to the local marina. The University of Tennessee was hosting the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships. You don’t get to see something like that everyday, and I wanted to take my camera and shoot the action. So I left the yard sale to my wife, stepson, and daughter-in-law, and headed out. I got some good shots, but I still haven’t had the time to import them into Lightroom and sort through them. More on that later.
After the regatta, I returned to the yard sale and took pictures of my grandkids as my stepdaughters stopped by to see how the sale was going. After the official end of the sale, we packed things up and donated them to a woman who makes a living by having yard sales. Not surprisingly, the woman is an 18-year resident of public housing. She’s a nice woman, but 18 years?!? Jesus, lady, get a frickin’ job and get off the public tit! Once again, I digress.
Sunday was a usual Sunday, with extra stuff thrown in. The rowing championship races were Sunday morning, so I headed back to the marina with my camera and trusty 18-200 lens. I had a nice spot at the 1000m mark, where the lanes were 8-10m from shore. So I shot the petite and grand finals, as well as everything leading up to them. (Here are the race results if you’re interested.)
After the marina, I headed to my in-laws’ house to grill teriyaki steak for my stepson’s birthday. It’s not really teriyaki, but it’s close enough. It’s a sirloin tip, sliced thin and marinated in teriyaki marinade. Not my recipe, but the kids like it. My father-in-law is getting a little old to do all the grilling, so I’m more than happy to do the honors.
So, the usual Sunday “festivities” at my in-laws’ house, complete with the usual “computer guru in the family” things, like installing a USB hub for my father-in-law’s eMac, as well as fixing their “newfangled” answering machine (it simply needed to be reset). I got home at three o’clock and did a little writing until it was time to head out to my usual Sunday night role-playing game (Savage Worlds system in the Deadlands Reloaded setting, in case you’re interested). The game ran late, so I didn’t get home till after midnight.
Today was a writing and relaxing day, the first I’ve had in more than a week. Consequently, I cranked out an astounding 5,010 words. Yes, Virginia, that’s a lot. I just “saw” things today, and all of my mental writing for the past two weeks paid off.
Anyway, I still haven’t had time to go over the edits on Ch4. I’ll do it tomorrow, and send it to my proofreading team.
Long story short (too late?), look for Ch4 about the first of June. That’s not a specific date, but it’s coming soon.
Not really a quickie update, but there you have it.
- Nick
Comments
30 Responses to “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!”
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Thanks for the update Nick, I was laughing my ass off considering we tried to do the whole ‘garage sale’ thing a few weeks ago. I think my wife and I both decided we’d rather take the stuff to a resale shop or just take the tax break and donate our crap…er…fine collectibles to a good cause.
Anyway, take your time. We always appreciate those thing we have to wait for, especially your creative masterpieces we’ve come to call ‘Summer Camp’.
Thanks as always
What a hassle. Everytime I think about a yard sale I end up giving in to the “just get rid of it” urge. Good Will loves me
I do have a little anecdote you might be able to empathise with
I remember helping my Dad set up a yard sale when I was about ten. The merchandise consisted of your typical under $5 fair, but my Dad had decided to sell his workout system. Even at 10, I could tell this was heavy duty. My Dad was itching to sell it because he knew he could catch around a hundred and change from the right guy. He would hover around the yard sale, but always keep an eye on the bench and assorted weights, as if someone was going to discreetly run up and steal over 500 pounds of equipment. The day was coming to a close when he finally found someone who was genuinely interested and recognized a deal. While haggling, my step-mother walked up with her daughter and her son-in-law, who, upon seeing the bench, expressed his interest in it. Lo and behold, my step-mom offers it to him for $15. I seriously thought I was witnessing the first steps in a divorce. To this day, my Dad refuses to hold yard sales 
Good to hear you had a relaxing, and productive, day. Whenever I get into that state of mind, it serves as a healthy reminder of how much I enjoy to write. Hopefully it does the same for you
Thom
HI!
Laughing my ass off, husband & I tried the yard sale a few years ago … never again!
Must be a first but one guy asked if he could have a refund if his wife didn’t like it (can’t remember what it was).
Glad to hear you enjoyed your family outing!
Karen
My wife fixed those early birds - she did not put our address in the ad. She just put the street name and block number. example - 3400 block of main st. Worked well until we opened the garage door.
As a kid, I once went “garage saleing” with an uncle in New England, who was one of those early birds. I watched him ignore the irritation of the people holding the sales again and again, and it wasn’t until the end of the day that I understood.
He wasn’t a junk hunter, but an antique hunter. The $30 he spent that day yielded merchandise worth $300, once he cleaned it and labeled it. He was more than willing to take the pointed comments from people for that type of profit.
Wait a minute! Nick, you held a yard sale and didn’t tell us until it was over? Man, do you realize how many thousands of your fans would have loved to take home something that was owned and actually used by Nick Scipio? Like maybe an old ice cream bowl that was used to hold refreshment while you were writing Book 1? Or perhaps a towel that you used to wipe your eyes while writing the Night At The Hilton scene?
Next time, all you have to do is put an announcement in your forum with the time, date and address and your fans will come running.
Strickland83
I love your idea of the $20 non-refundable early shopper deposit! I love to “shop” at garage sales, but DETEST the people that show up early, pressuring the seller to either open early or “Just tell me if you have…” My husband refuses to hold any more sales…it goes to a charitable organization so we can take the deduction - which is usually much more than we would get selling it like that!
Thanks for the release update!
Another fan of the “early shopper deposit” idea. If I ever finally have a yard sale to unload my unwanted crap, I may use that.
Haha, you should have done that with the early birds. I haven’t held a yard sale here at the house. With a few larger things we just set them out at the curb on a weekend, give it away, and because it’s a through road it usually goes. (If it doesn’t, the trash collectors take it early Monday morning.) Smaller stuff we donate if it’s any good or just pitch if it isn’t.
But if I had a sale I would definitely fix the early birds somehow. How about advertising a start time of 8am but not setting up until 10am? How about screw the morning and have hours of 2pm-6pm? I like the early shopper fee too. Or “Well, I was going to charge $5, but for you it’s $10.” Maybe too insulting? Nah, they deserve it. Idiots. How about a sign? “9am means 9am. This means you. Violators will be shot.” I dunno. They must be stopped, even if you lose out on some sales.
Hehe. That was fun. Look forward to the new chapters!
Garage sales. One word. e-bay. Is that two words? Off to check my Chicago Manual of Style…
YAY! Ch4 is coming soon!!!
Yard sale? Never Again. nevernevernever. Had one about 5 years ago unloading crud for pennies. Told one old biddy to leave after she told my wife that “We were ripping her off for a $10 electric Typewriter with no ribbon” I told her the local WalFart sells them for about $125.00 and if she leaves now she just might find them on sale of about $124.00. She left with a huff after a couple broke out in laughter. It takes all types eh?
Great to hear that the creative juices were flowing again. 5000 words. Whoa!! This is why the truly gifted people write.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your life with us.
I also hate yard sales. They suck, and the kind of people they draw to your house also suck.
I’ll bet you’re glad it’s behind you now.
Thank you for the update!
Dennis
Well…it’s june 2nd right now and we have no Ch4…it’s been a month now, let’s get moving…
Thanks Anon, you probably just caused about 500 of us to hit our head against the wall reading your comment.
Nick S, you just take your time and release Ch4 whenever, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, I’ll come back checking your blog and what’s new pages and the POD in the mean time, and patiently wait as long as it takes and be grateful when it comes, but no rush from me.
You are a truly gifted writer as I’m sure you know by now, and the only reasons people like Anon there get so impatient is because they want to read what you are going to put out next, as we all are, but unlike Anon, and the guy who wrote the email of a few posts ago, most of us are glad to see you not go crazy trying to meet any kind of deadlines.
I’ve been following your site since it was a tilde on asstr and you were posting book 1 (at the mad pace you were posting back then, I remember the bi-weekly chapter releases), I remember having the first thing I did on your release days was read the next chapter, before getting on with the rest of my day, honestly I’m a little happier now, I see you relaxing a bit more over time, and I get to see a bigger glimpse of you as a writer and site developer with your site and info pages, and now your blog which I read whenever I see a new post.
I look forward to Chapter 4, whenever it comes, and thank you for being a source of regular entertainment for me over the past few years.
Sincerely,
Another Nick
Can we make Anon the asshole of the day???? Takes a lot of nerve to send a stupid comment like that witha fake name.
This story is just too good. I would gladly pay to subscribe to your writings. It amazes me that people like Anon complain about something that is free. Guess it takes all kinds.
boys and girls, just move on…
anon who?
Jim, Shh, not that you are wrong and that most of you arn’t right there with you, its just that I’m cheep and broke and don’t relish the idea of finding the money to continue reading his wonderful writing
Anon and all the anons like him who can’t see beyond their own noses can just go off a cliff. They probably wouldn’t realize it anyway.
Our street is a main route in and out of our neighborhood as well. At a yard sale we had last summer, I had an old TV, a couple of old i386 computer cases (sans hard drives) and a printer that I couldn’t get 5 bucks for the whole lot. I ended up putting them out by the curb. Even after it rained over night, someone still grabbed them up the next day. At least I don’t have to trip over the stuff any more.
Chapter 4 is, as usual, GREAT>
Nick, THANKS for al the work
After forty years in the same house, we retired and moved to Florida. The new owner wanted anempty house. Too much, tooheavy to dump. Enter profesional yard sale person. We took the weekend off, she held the sale and then arranged for someone to remove the remainder. He took away two box trucks of dreck but left a spotless house. We cleared a few thousand dollars and said good riddance to it all. It was not worth the aggravation or hernias that we could have had.
Just finished Chap 4 Great!!!!! Really enjoy all you do for us with the great Summer Camp Series. Thanks Nick
Now things are twisting in a new direction again! Although everyone saw this threesome coming, nobody knew when. Wonder what will happen to their relationship though. Seems like things are getting rockier (we all know what will happen, hence the title of the book, but i’m still excited about “not knowing” yet :p). Another great chapter.
And about yardsales: If it is a lot of trouble, why not help “the community”. Give everything to charity and the things that might be worth to much to give away: ebay (and that rhymes).
anyway, thx for the chapter.
You think yours was bad? Growing up, we lived a few miles outside of the town, and had two-square acres, that included a barn.
When my dad decided to hold a Garage Sale one year, people would actually start wandering out to the barn, thinking there was more to be had out there, “‘Scuse me, the sale in in the GARAGE, not the BARN, if we were having a BARN SALE, we would have advertised it, get back to the front of the house, or get off my property!”. We even had one guy go around the house to the sliding glass door that was my parent’s bedroom!
I will NEVER be dumb enough to do that kind of thing. The stuff I don’t want anymore, either goes into the trash, or to Goodwill, THEY can deal with it.
That asside, great chapter, though I can’t wait for the parts about Wren. I am actually missing her character. And Christy as well.
Well, back to Diablo II as I await the next chapter.
Thanks for all the work it takes to write Summer Camp. Many thanks also to the editorial staff.
It’s hard to belive that I’ve been reading since early 2003 but your committments are far greater than mine. Although it was fun to see the frequent updates of the SCB2 days the story is much better now that you’ve slowed the publication schedule. The POD and BOD sites are nice diversions but without the main SC story they wouldn’t be on my “frequent visitation” list. Thanks also for the blog. I used to visit the Forum but the chitchat was tedious and I ended up searching for your posts; the blog suits my interests much better.
All the best.
Hey Nick,
I really appreciate all of the work you have done and continue to do in regards to this novel. The only problem is that I have been unsuccessfull in loading chapter 4. I keep getting a 404 file not found error. If theres any sort of reccomendation or help that you can give it would be great.
Thanks
I figured it out. I figured out the ending of Summer Camp. Paul, Trip and Wren are eating dinner at a diner and as Paul picks up an onion ring, the door opens and bell rings. Paul looks up and the screen goes black.
Can we switch it to a french fry … onion rings leave you with bad breath.
Still laughing
I read chapter 1 so long ago. I think I was on my first computer, with a 40 megabyte hard drive. Then I lost the site for a couple of years. When I found you again you had finished chapter 1. You have been at this for years.
How much does Paul’s life parallel your own? Not the details, but the locations. Some of the details about school, flying, University of Tennessee & architecture suggest more than a casual research.
Does he teach Wren how to fly? Does he go on to get another ticket ie Instrument, multiengine, instructor? Oh yeah does the story end at the phone call?