Free Download of My New Book

[Free To Canoe]

Al,

I know and love your writing and feel like I know you your crazy because of it.
I downloaded the book and I am sure I will enjoy it.

Thanks,

Mark

[RetiringAt55]

I read your book yesterday. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. I thought the pictures were a great part of the book and contrary to your previous post about the pictures, I would have enjoyed even more!

I do have one comment. I think you should rethink the comments about the campground host's "unfaithful" wife. I think you should reword this part of that chapter because as it stands, some would consider it libelous and you could be subject to a lawsuit. I understand it is a joke, but this woman is not a public figure and the bar is higher for what can be said about her.

Overall, I really enjoyed your book. We did the Grand Canyon loop from Chicago last summer and had a wonderful time camping in our trailer. I am such an engineer that I had everything planned out ahead of time including all reservations and a detailed meal plan. Maybe next time when it is just DH and me and we are retired, we can be spontaneous about it as you were.

[sengsational]

Spoiler alert! If you haven't read chapter 49, please stop reading now!!

Ok, now that it's just us, did you type "drive ride repeat" into amazon? I did and didn't find the book, but found "Real-Life Writing Activities for Grades 4-9". There was also an English language book "Four Corners...", but since the 2009 adventure avoided that area (the campgrounds would have been full), I went with the "Real-Life Writing..." in the headline.

All that was my attempt at humor. I presume this whole amazon thing will happen at some later point. But I've got to wonder where this book as been since 2009! I'll admit to not having put the figures into a inflation calculator. I got the message...it was a pretty cheap way to travel (expense usually has an inverse relationship to how adventuresome a trip is, the book had plenty of adventures, even though many of them involved fighting the elements).

This book temporarily caused a change to the second derivative of my circumstances (in the 'good' direction), so thanks, Al, for that! The trip doc segments had the feel of 'happening now' blog entries or a weekly column, presumably because they were (re:references to finding wi-fi and uploading). Besides the missing title of the inventions chapter (PDF) and the wording of the blond joke, I didn't see anything, but I'm about as far away from an editor as could be imagined (could my amazon results be customized for me?)

I loved the writing style. I'm reminded of another New York guy: Dave Barry. Plenty of LOL's, especially Lena's swearing. Interstitially switching between the trip to autobiographical segments I think was effective. And of course the big autobiographical graduation (or would that be daughtergraphical?) Its going to be car-buying time this summer for my daughter (graduating in May).

When's "Dr. Al's Stretch for Life" going to be published?

[Rosie]

I'm on chapter 21.

Love the photo of all the bags. Reminds me of my camping trips, just about.

And ITA with the previous chapter "Camping is Dead"; I cannot understand why people head out to campsites so that they (and all their neighbors) can be serenaded by their freakin' stereo systems.

[Rosie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiringAt55 I read your book yesterday. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. I thought the pictures were a great part of the book and contrary to your previous post about the pictures, I would have enjoyed even more!

If you go to the main page of Al's website (the URL that Al provided, but without /preview.htm ) you'll see a link to more photos relating to his book, organized by chapter.

[kcowan]

Just starting. Sampled the writing and the photos. Looks interesting.

Will I discover why Trombone Al is the nickname in this book?

I would describe your writing style as breezy.

Have you done a book report to get this published?

I have a couple of friends who have published books. That is how it is done. It will improve circulation/exposure and you might even be invited to go on a book tour.

[Koogie]

Couple of typos in the last full paragraph on page 26 (pdf version) Really enjoying it so far ( as a fellow camper, touring cyclist and nickel squeezer)
FWIW, couldn't get either Kindle or epub version to download to my tablet from your site but the pdf works fine.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

[LOL!]

I read the book and enjoyed it. However, I also just read a book by Bill Bryson. I'll stop there.

[TromboneAl]

Wow, great feedback, thanks.

Quote:

I think you should rethink the comments about the campground host's "unfaithful" wife.

Wow, good point. I will take out the unfaithful part.

Quote:

I presume this whole amazon thing will happen at some later point. But I've got to wonder where this book as been since 2009!

Right. I hope to publish it in a week or so. Then I'll create a paper version (Print on Demand). I never thought of writing a book until it suddenly came to me that I could convert my blogs to books.

Quote:

Couple of typos in the last full paragraph on page 26 (pdf version)

Good, thanks, Koogie. It's amazing how many typos have survived through at least 20 or more readings.

[Rosie]

OMG, you lost your home in the Oakland fire?!? How awful for you. I sat on a hill near the Berkeley Marina that afternoon watching the flames, it was horrifying. I heard about that traffic jam but I didn't know the story behind it. Crazy stuff.

[smileydog]

Al,

Just finished the book last night. Enjoyed the humor and adventure. I share your warped refreshing sense of humor! So... what's next?

[Free To Canoe]

I enjoyed reading your book. I definitely see a Pat McManus influence in your writing.

I plan on stealing some of your camping ideas. PVC glue and tuck tape for the air mattress sounds like a good one. Does this work on bicycle tires, too? PVC glue like you use for PVC pipes?

I am planning on building a pepsi can stove, too.

Mark

[DougViages]

Big trip coming up in late March to mid-April. Thanks for loading my Kindle up!

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smileydog So... what's next?

I'm looking for a youtube video of "Dr. Al's Quick Stretch for Good Living", or at least a book or video recommendation

[TromboneAl]

Thanks to all for the feedback. I'll probably publish it in a week or two.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free To Canoe I enjoyed reading your book. I definitely see a Pat McManus influence in your writing. I plan on stealing some of your camping ideas. PVC glue and duck tape for the air mattress sounds like a good one. Does this work on bicycle tires, too? PVC glue like you use for PVC pipes? I am planning on building a pepsi can stove, too. Mark

Yes, regular PVC glue. Probably wouldn't work on bike tires.

Quote:

I'm looking for a youtube video of "Dr. Al's Quick Stretch for Good Living", or at least a book or video recommendation

Well, actually ...

Shoulder Blade Squeeze Exercise to Help With Neck/Shoulder Pain - YouTube

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smileydog So... what's next?

As soon as I publish the Kindle version, I'll work on the paperback version. It's very cool to publish via Print on Demand (via CreateSpace), because it's almost free to create a read dead-tree book. The only cost is $5-10 for a proof copy. From then on, you only pay when copies are sold.

You can see the two versions of my first book here. I predict that almost no one ...

I started writing that no one would purchase the paperback, but then I checked and saw that I've sold two.

And after that, I'm going to write a real book.

[kcowan]

I think you need to make the pictures on your blog match the chapter headings in the book. Then after reading a chapter I can head to the blog for visual reinforcement.

On page 1173 of the Kindle version, the last line should read OR not OF. One of my more common typos too.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I think you need to make the pictures on your blog match the chapter headings in the book. Then after reading a chapter I can head to the blog for visual reinforcement.

Good. Agreed. I've put that on my post-publish to-do list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan On page 1173 of the Kindle version, the last line should read OR not OF. One of my more common typos too.

Got it, thanks.

[TromboneAl]

Thanks to all of you for the proofreading help! I published it today:

http://amzn.com/B00J6HJIGU

It will be FREE on April 1 and 2, so you can get it then and save the big bucks.

I apologize if I left any of you out of the acknowledgments:

Thanks also to Janine, my sisters (Carol, Linda, and Gail), KCowan, Lara, Marie, Bob, Andy, Rosie, REWahoo, Dudelsak, Sengsational, Coogie, and all the others I roped into providing free editing.

Let me tell you how difficult it is to root all of the typos in a 160 page book. Even after all of the above people read it, and Lena and I read it many times, there was still a "the the" and some other major errors in there.

Add to that the hassles of getting it to format properly on different Kindles and readers, despite Amazon's bugs, and finishing up a book is tough stuff.

If you feel you could leave an honest review that is independent of your great devotion to me--one that would be the same even if you didn't know the author--feel free. But I'm not sure that's possible, and I don't want any biased reviews.

Thanks,

Al

[nomadj]

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