“What the Heck???” by Richard F. Yates

Today is Monday. It snowed quite a bit yesterday (Sunday, for those who don’t know the order in which days fall,) but most of the white stuff melted off the roads by the time we woke up. (This means, sadly, that Mariah had to go to work, even with a bit of snow on the roads. Ellie has to work in about an hour, and I’m sure she’s disappointed...) It is currently rain+snowing… Do any of you folks care? Did you come to this post HOPING it would be a weather report for the Pacific Northwest? Maybe!

Anyway, I’ve decided to write another progress report, partially to help me get stuff clear in my head and to let the few humans who are interested (and the other creatures, too, I suppose) know what I’ve been up to. (It may seem like my uploads have slowed, lately, but that’s only because I’ve been doing stuff in the “REAL” world…)

First, I’ve been compiling a BOOK of my STEEM experiences, so far. I made my first post on Steemit.com on 3 November 2018---just a bit over three months ago---and I struggled from the beginning to learn what I was supposed to do, what I WASN’T supposed to do, and how to make a NAME for myself in a big and indifferent world… At this point, I still haven’t figured out how to do that last bit. (I only have 60 followers right now---I lost one, somehow…) I’m also still weirded out when I see what people like versus what they don’t find interesting. (Why didn’t anybody like my “Eyeball Lollipops” post? It had an interesting digital drawing, AND the story was actually pretty good. It’s WEIRD, which is what I like, but for some reason NOBODY CARED FOR THAT ONE??? The semi-abstract drawing that I did in about two seconds is going to pay-out, but the story that I actually wrote out, revised, and spent TIME on won’t get enough interest to make even 2 cents!?!?! (Please, folks, in the name of all that is DECENT and FUNNY and a little bit creepy, go check out “Eyeball Lollipops!” You don’t have to VOTE for it if you don’t want to, but it’s one of the stories that I’m happiest with lately, but it got NOTHING!? It’s breaking my brain…)

WHAT THE HECK???

So there you go. In case you forgot (because I shifted gears partway through that last paragraph,) I’m putting together a STEEM book. It’s going to have a long introduction talking about what crypto is, what blockchain is (in my opinion---I don’t know anything about technology or programming or computer science---I’m a lit guy…so this introduction is probably just going to be funny,) and I’m going to talk about what my STEEM experience has been like, so far. Then I’m compiling a bunch of posts for the MEAT of the book. I spend a lot of time on my writing and my art, and it seems like the posts only have about a THREE HOUR window for them to get any notice. After that, they slide off the “NEW” list and disappear beneath hundred of other posts… This book will give the work (see how I used the word “work” to give my stories and art more respectability?) another chance to find an audience. Maybe?

I’m not sure how big the book is going to be, yet. I usually try to keep my books (I have eleven of them available on Amazon…If you are interested, check out my BOOKS YOU CAN BUY page) to about 100 or 150 pages in order to keep the prices down---but I also want there to be a decent stopping point for the text… We’ll see. Anyway, that’s one of the things I’ve been working on IN THE REAL WORLD lately. (Well, technically, it’s still on the computer, but it’s not being POSTED on a daily basis, and it’s going to end up as a paperback---and a digital download, too, I suppose---so…. Yeah…)

Moving on…

Another thing I’ve been working on over the last few weeks is a board game. I’m working on concepts for gameplay mechanics, trying to figure out how to integrate an R.P.G. element into the board game, and I’ve even drawn my first game board!

It’s just a concept board at the moment, helping me to visualize what the playfield might look like. I’m using found cardboard (cut up cereal boxes) for the board designs, and I’m planning on making a dozen or so game boards, in different configurations, to see what kind of mechanics (movement and item distribution and such) can be accomplished. (And, if you can’t tell, I’m using pennies as game pieces. I have a LOT of pennies sitting around in this can where I empty my change at the end of the day, and I’m just going to paint a bunch of pennies different colors with acrylic paints, and those will be my “player pieces.”) I’m having a pretty good time with this, although it’s not as easy as I thought it was going to be to come up a new game---even after a lifetime of playing games!!! (46 years of board games, video games, R.P.G.s, and storytelling---shouldn’t this have been easy?!?!?!)

Next, I’m still pissed off at the cheetah bot and the Steemcleaners. I haven’t posted an archival book review post since my last two were “voted” by the bot with links to my old blog, from which the bot thinks I’ve stolen the materials. I went to the Steemcleaners’ Dischord thing and asked them to help me ensure that I don’t get put on the Black List again (for posting MY OWN materials,) but they said “nobody has reported your posts,” and that it wasn’t a big deal---but it IS a big deal. Being called a plagiarist IS a big deal---and now I’m afraid to post my own materials for fear of being flagged, and I’m losing money (ten cents or so isn’t much, but it adds up,) AND the folks on Steemit.com who might WANT to read my reviews and might enjoy them won’t get a chance to do that because I’m afraid of being defamed by a robot. This is seriously shitty, folks, and there has to be something that we can do about it. (And, before you get all angry with me for being negative, I TRIED to follow their rules and “verify” my account, but the Steemcleaners’ site only lets you verify ONE blog, and I have used about a dozen since I got my first blog account in 2003. I’ve asked for help, and I’ve been “Lol”ed at by a moderator and told that my concerns at being labeled a plagiarist are uninteresting to the folks who run the cheetah bot. I have no power to post my own content that I created and that I own because I don’t have the skill to write my own code to counter their program. I’m losing revenue, losing readers, and feeling powerless and distressed by the whole situation, but as far as I know, there’s nothing I can do about it…)

As far as NEW reviews are concerned, I’m reading a couple of things that I’m finding extremely interesting right now, and as soon as I finish them, I’ll get to writing my thoughts on the texts, but it’s going to be a bit for I finish reading them. (Maybe I’ll sneak a manga book in there in the meantime...) I’m also thinking about writing some more movie / DVD reviews. I wrote several around Halloween last year for some scary / monster movies, and I had a lot of fun with those---but I usually like to promote READING more than WATCHING, so I’ll have to think about it. I have more stuff going on in my life, too---bad weather, laundry, pizza delivery work, my older daughter getting closer and closer to making me a grandpa, etc---but we can deal with those topics in more detail at a later date. OH!!! (One more thing…this one is mostly to help remind ME…) I also need to get more Redbubble materials and crypto-art created and up for you folks to enjoy---maybe I’ll have some time Wednesday and Thursday to work on that stuff….

Yeah, that’s enough typing for now. Later!!!

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)

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