Chapter 11
I did something I never did, not since Amy had become our cook at least. I set an alarm, I wanted to chat with Bianca about a couple of things. She was always the first to breakfast. You could have knocked over Amy with a feather when I appeared in the kitchen ready for a short hike. Hiking boots, pants and shirt. An old compass on a lanyard hung around my neck.
“Good morning. Laura you completed your part of the barter when you straightened the tent when we got home last night, besides just about everything is already cooked.”
I flipped on the electric kettle for tea.
“Hi, Amy thanks for the beer last night and I’m not here as part of the barter, I need a quick chat with Bianca.”
“You, got it, Laura, what’s up,” said Bianca as she breezed into the kitchen tea cup in hand.
“Bianca, this workshop has been great, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
“Laura, I sense a but coming.”
“Yes, you are correct, but did you know that we have a neo-nazi ghost gun owning writer in our midst? That one of our other writers stole a laptop from his motel room, which I then hacked because Jade’s brother went missing. When Sven posted on his neo-nazi blog that he was coming here for the weekend, Jade decided that she had to follow. She thought he was leading her to her brother. Instead he led her here. Oh and last night when we were walking down to the Brew House, someone took a shot at Sven. I already checked to see if Jade had done it. She didn’t have a gun and while I haven’t checked her alibi yet, I tend to believe it. She claimed to have been walking with Flynn.”
“Laura, are you sure?”
“Well, I already had Anais and Eve negotiate Jade and I an immunity deal about the stolen laptop. As far as the gunshot goes, I have no proof. But I heard a loud boom, from a parking lot on the right, in the same instance I heard breaking glass, to my left. After I lead the writer's hike this morning, I plan on walking down to the bank where the glass was broken and search for the bullet.”
“My god, I feel awful Laura, well we have to ban him immediately.”
“We can’t the cops are surveilling him, they are hoping he leads them to the neo-nazi militia in the woods. You wouldn’t believe the firepower they have. Sven just has pictures of them, pictures of himself with ghost guns and pictures of Jade’s brother looking cozy with the skinheads. So we can’t tip him off that we know about his fascist tendencies. I honestly don’t know why he is here, unless he thought that he might find an agent for his alt history where Hilter won World War II and has ruled the world with an iron fist ever since, it's called ‘A Brighter Germany’.”
“I’m sorry Laura, this is my fault.”
“No it’s not Bianca, you have saved this place. None of this is criticism of you or the workshop. We believe people are basically good and I really believe that ninety percent are. Even republican conservatives. Those guys I think have been fed a line of BS and no one ever taught them to think critically. But I do believe that most don’t want to see people hurt. That’s why after watching what’s been happening dumpy trumpy is losing support. So I don’t want us to lose trust in our fellow writers and I don’t want you guys to ban conservative writers. I’d much rather that we engage them, if they aren’t just writing for cash, clickbait headlines then we have a chance to change hearts and minds. I’m just suggesting that with the application to attend, you ask for a list of books they’ve published and their website or blog. Then we check them out. I’ll be happy to do and report back to you what I find out, then the writers who are working at the workshop can decide if they want the applicant approved or not. At the same time, I think we should do the same thing and perhaps be even a little more thorough on collective applicants. Again, I love puzzles and research so if you like I’d be happy to do the background and give you a report so that you guys can decide.”
“Yes, especially the writers that are moving in. We don’t want people bringing trouble to our door. It seems that we cause enough on our own even if it is unintentional.”
“If we are going to eat before the hike, we better get started, Bianca. Would you mind if I talked about a business plan I’ve been thinking about a publishing company.”
Amy, Bianca and I brought out the Sunday breakfast feast that Amy cooked for everyone and put all the food on the warming trays running down the center of the table. After everyone said hello to each other and loaded up a plate the serious eating commenced. After my second waffle with berries and homemade whipped cream, I was stuffed and ready for a hike to walk off at least some of the calories.
“So what’s the business plan, Laura?”
“Well Bianca, I want to use the protest eBook as a proof of concept. We are giving it away for free, but I want to add a page at the end pointing to a website to make a donation to either United Way International or Save the Children. I want the contributors to vote and decide which charity to support. I want to do this for two reasons. First being that lots of people equate free with worthless. I’ve asked a lot of people to work hard on something that I believe in and I hope they believe in as well. I don’t want them or anyone else thinking that it is worthless. The second reason is because I want to use it as an experiment. If I do decide to start a publishing company, I want to release all of its works for free.”
“Laura, you’ll never get an author to agree to that.”
“If I have data that shows that they will make more money that way, then they might. Right below The End, we guilt the reader with something like this.
The author spent hundreds of hours crafting this book for you and then let you read it to see if it is worth the twelve dollars and fifty cents that they trust you will pay for it after spending four or five hours reading it. If you want to see more books released this way please prove to this author that their faith in you was well placed. No DRM no AI, just professional editors, Digital Production Designers.
Ninety percent of the money donated will go directly to the author and cover artist. All of our works are crafted by hand, by real live authors and artists. The other ten percent pays for hosting fees, and publishing costs.
That’s just a rough marketing blurb. I’ve always hated marketing so I’m sure that can be greatly improved upon. Oh and to make those hosting costs almost nonexistent we release the book on every pirate site we can find. Why should we pay to host a book when we can get the pirate site to host it for us. We’ll be the first publishing company to make a deal with Anna’s Archive, Z-Library, the Internet Archive, The Pirate Bay. The Internet Archive isn’t a pirate site, far from it, it’s a library but we can get free hosting there. After their lawsuit with the major publishing houses, I think they might even feature us on their blog. Then we push the idea out to the open source community. The first book will have to be something really special because we want to create an image of quality for the publishing house. The people who work for the publishing house will share the ten percent freely after costs, which should be minimal. If the publishing house has ten people from the mailroom to the publisher, each would get one percent, if the firm doubled each would get a half percent. Every employee would be invested in getting the best possible book out to the reader because that is how they get paid. No one is going to pay for a crap book, we’ll let Amazon publish those.”
“That’s pretty radical, most authors hate the pirate sites.”
“I don’t understand why, the people who use the pirate sites love to read. Do authors hate public libraries? In studies it’s shown that pirates in their preferred media spend more on the average than other consumers of that media. So if book pirates spend more money on books then other people in society isn’t it in the authors best interest to court those pirates. Pirates who feel no guilt or shame taking from a corporate giant, if they actually read the whole book and then get to the blurb asking for money, money where it is clearly spelled out who gets what. I think they will pay. I also think that the authors who jump in early are taking the biggest risk for potentially the greatest reward. Greatest reward because by giving away their book the chance of going viral goes up by orders of magnitude, people will be talking about the book because of the radical way that the author released it. Plus marketing will be easy, a book so good you don’t pay for it until you agree it’s as good as we say.”
“Why do you say if they actually read the book? Why would they download it if they didn’t plan on reading it?”
“Remember Napster when people could download music for free? Well lots of people spent more time downloading then listening. When video tapes were all the rage, I often used to record tv shows and movies and never got around to watching them. There were scientific studies done about it. Someone might tape a show, a popular show, say about the Vietnam War, because everyone at work is talking about it. Then if asked by a coworker have you watched it, you can say, no not yet, but I taped it. So it appears that you have every intention, you even think that you have every intention to watch it. But it just sits on a shelf for a long time, before you tape over it with the latest water cooler show that everyone says you have to watch but you aren’t motivated to watch yet. Books I think are even more susceptible to this because they take so much longer to consume and are so niche. Just look at the romance sub reddit, people are very very specific about what they are looking for in a novel. So someone recommends a book to you. Later they ask, "Have you read X yet?” you can say in all honesty, I downloaded it but haven’t had time to read it yet. Also you get the superfans. They read their first Disc World novel, and they love it so they download every other book in the series, meaning to read them someday. But then the Martian movie comes out and they want to read the book, then it’s on to the next popular book. It’s like going into a used bookstore, all the books are only ten cents. Are you only going to buy that one book you want to start reading tonight or are you going to buy ten, twenty thirty books, to have something to read in the future. So if you give away a book for free you can’t expect every person who downloads it will actually read it. Actually that goes for people who buy a hardcover too, just because it was purchased, doesn’t mean it was read. I have to run down and talk to Lucy before the hike, I’ll see you downstairs, please tell me later what you think about the whole free model. Andy Weir published The Martian for free and got a movie and book deal out of it.”
***
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I bus my dirty dishes and thanked Amy for the wonderful waffles and whipped cream. Before I rush down stairs to find Lucy chatting with Willow over Google Meet. Willow saw me in the background.
“Laura, if it’s alright with you, I’ll pick up Lis at your store between nine thirty and ten and then meet Zoe at her store and so we can start loading Urge.” She walked onto the bus where six men were building a second bookcase that ran the length of the bus. “We think that we can make three doublesided bookcases, so again if it is alright with you I thought I’d put the fiction in by genre, Lucy says, Romance, Mystery, Fantasy, and Science Fiction in that order and each genre then sorted alphabetical by author last name.”
I smiled as this was actually happening.
“It sounds like you two have things well in hand, my only suggestion is if you have three shelves for fiction, put romance, mystery and fantasy at the start of each section, those are the big three then Science fiction in the next most accessible spot. After you have everything set up to your satisfaction and in a few weeks maybe we can have a physical traveling e-Book store as well. I keep throwing jobs at Lucy, so she hasn’t had time to finish our stationary version of a physical eBook store. But after Zoe becomes comfortable working around the store and maybe we can get Lis to work fulltime for a week. How are the resident yippies doing with their essays, Willow? Tell me they have started them.”
“Yes, they both have begun, Pappy on a yellow legal pad and Phoebe on Lucy’s old laptop and Carla has promised that she will email her own essay to me by the end of the week.”
“That’s great Willow, I’ll start pushing the writers here as well. I even wrote a fictional short story set fifty years in the future, to include if we need material, during writing sprints using some writing prompts.”
“I didn’t think you wrote, Laura.”
“I don’t really, Willow. Just these writing prompts made me think of immigration and how Americans would feel if the role was reversed. That Americans were the ones who needed to sneak into a foreign country for a job, then send money back home to our families. Because after Trump, making deals, breaking deals the rest of the world doesn’t want anything to do with us. It’s really bleak, but I assume that’s how undocumented immigrants must feel that are in the United States. Especially now with the way things are in the country. I have to go out, I am leading the first Workshop event of the day. I’ll see you tomorrow, Willow. Before I go, Eve said you might want a contract. If you do, just write it up and I’ll sign it.”
***
Everyone but Audrey was in the tent and seemed as if they were ready to go.
“I’ll just say a couple of quick things and then we can pile in the car and head to the trailhead. I usually walk to the trailhead but it’s a few miles away so would take too long, after all you came here to write not walk right?”
A few people nodded as if wondering why we were going for a walk.
“The trail we are going to is quite flat and well maintained, for those used to walking in the city this will seem almost like a soft sidewalk. Thoreau wrote in his journal “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” I’m sure he would not consider a ten am start time, early morning. But I do. Aside from a slew of authors who walked daily to help their writing I have some scientific evidence to back up my ascertain that all writers should not only write daily, but they should be walking before they begin writing for the day. According to a Stanford study titled “Give Your Ideas Some Legs” they found that creative output increased sixty percent on average, specifically divergent thinking. So when it’s time to brainstorm it’s time to get walking. Last little set of facts before we leave for the walk. This sixty percent boost, you get the same boost whether you are outside hiking a mountain or walking a treadmill staring at a wall. So it’s just moving your legs that gives you the boost. Okay, I’ll take half of you in my car and the other half can ride with Bianca.”
Ezra drove a third car with half of the collective writers. It took longer to get in the car almost, than it took to drive to the Cobble Hill Trailhead. I took the lead and yelled. “In about half a mile we’ll arrive at some very large rocks, and rock stairway it is almost completely flat till there, then we begin to climb the hill which isn’t very tall but has a beautiful view so it’s well worth the walk but if you don’t wish to walk up the hill, just relax on the rocks and we’ll pick you up on the way back.”
I continued, “This isn’t just about walking or getting creative ideas, although I hope you enjoy both. No, it's also a writing exercise to help you to notice details. Like the smell of a pine tree or the spring in trail or the little red eft a tiny little North American newt. When we get back, we’ll have a half hour sprint, just writing detailed descriptions of what you took note of. Alright lets go.”
I didn’t see a single red eft until we had almost reached the rocks where those that were tired would wait a half hour for the rest of us to climb the hill and take a selfie. I mean you never made it to the summit if you didn’t have the selfie. A few months ago I read a news story where a man was standing too close to the edge of a cliff while taking a selfie and fell off. Some trees cushioned the blow so he didn’t die, luckily but he came close. I’ll bet he never takes another selfie on a cliff edge, or maybe ever again.
I took the lead on the hike to the hilltop but when the writers who decided to come all the way up to the top of the hill were ready to go back. Bianca led the way back to the cars. I took up the tail end of the group to make sure that none of the writers wandered off the trail and got lost. Talk about bad Google Reviews for a Writing Workshop if we managed to lose a writer on a one mile round trip walk. Hazel and Jade had been the only two writers who opted to wait at the rocks. Well it was their loss. But I wanted to talk to Jade about her brother and as she was the slowest of our group it worked out just fine.
I slowed my pace to reach Jades. Before beginning in a soft voice I didn’t want Sven, who was near the front of the pack to overhear. He’d need to have the hearing of a bat to hear us but it was better to be cautious.
“Jade, you said that your brother worked for a software company but you never mentioned what kind of software they produce.”
“I’m not sure, Laura, something to do with maps or maybe GPS. Is it important?”
“No, I’m sure that it isn’t. I was just wondering. How a nice apolitical person gets sucked into a group like he has. I speculated that he worked for some Alt right social media network and the constant barrage of misinformation just overwhelmed him at some point. I saw a study that if you hear a lie told enough times you begin to believe it to be true. It’s called the Illusory truth effect.”
“You are pretty big on science aren’t you, for a creative type.”
“I guess, I mean I’m not religious so I believe that reason and science are the highest form of truth, including mathematics under the umbrella term science.”
“Aren’t you afraid of dying, I’d be afraid of going to hell if I didn’t believe in God.”
“Jade, I don’t believe in anything supernatural, no heaven, no hell. No gods, no demons, ghosts, werewolves or vampires. All stories, because people love a story and it goes back to the Illusory truth effect, you hear a story about the gods enough times around the campfire you start to believe it. That is exactly how I think all this religious dogma got started. Then because it gave some people power over other people it spread, like a bad meme.”
“So what do you think happens when you die?”
“Nothing happens, you are dead, stopped. You are no longer a dreamless sleep forever more. Nothing lasts forever, not even the universe. It doesn’t mean we don’t want it to. One of the first stories, Gilgamesh, is about a man seeking immortality. As Disney would say, a tale as old as time.”
“Aren’t you afraid of that?”
“Epicurus has a thought experiment, try it for me, alright?”
“Sure.”
“Think back to a time before you were born, think back to the original Woodstock concert in nineteen sixty nine. Are you scared?”
“No, of course not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t exist yet.”
“Exactly, and that is exactly what death is like. All your problems just poof disappear when you cease to exist. I find it quite comforting, that at some point I can just rest. Until that point I’ll try and give them hell but do what I can to live as long and healthily as I possibly can. If I’m I’m wrong and there really is a benevolent old man in the sky and he truly is benevolent he look at me and say she was far from perfect but she tried really hard and if god isn’t that benevolent then he was always going to cast me into hell for being me, right. Just because someone doesn’t believe in the supernatural is no reason to punish someone. In fact when you think about it, no matter how bad a person is, it doesn't mean that they should be punished forever. One hundred years of bad deeds versus an eternity of punishment doesn't make sense. Even Hitler, hell even Trump at some point they have to be forgiven. Lets say after one thousand years of punishment Hitler and Trump will be forgiven. Alright, maybe two thousand years for Trump. The only religion that I know of that follows that logic is Buddhism so if I had to have a religion I’d be a buddhist.”
“You're crazy.”
“Possibly, but I love to think about this stuff.”
We caught up to the others, so I still had no idea what had made Ethan into a neo-nazi. He worked in maps, he’s now a neo-nazi so he’s pro Gulf of America. But that is about the only thing that I can think of changed on maps recently.
When we got back to the bookstore and the Workshop tent, I sat down to begin the writing exercise. I wrote about the cute orange newt, enjoying sunning themself on a rock in the woods. Very cute but also very poisonous, not as in a venomous bite. The poison is released through the skin, and the bright color is a warning. I’m poisonous if you eat me you will get very very sick or die, you have been warned.
