Greetings, Crickets.

These past few months started with such fictional promise but turned into a slog at work. On a good note, I get to write at work, which means I am not lacking for time with a keyboard.

So I decided to give in to advice from others and make “An Unusual Haunting” free on Smashwords for the months of October, November and December. Supposedly, this encourages people to purchase, read, and potentially review it, letting me know, once and for all, whether or not I did a decent job of getting the story across.

And people have bought it, along with Maker (which is also free for the same amount of time). Still, I can’t help but remember some advice my high school art teacher gave me many years ago. She said that you should get in the habit of receiving something for your creativity. “Even if it’s just a dollar, that dollar gets people used to the fact that it takes effort to produce art, and you should be compensated because you worked at it. Don’t give away your talent for free.”

Thinking it over, she was right. The “Stories from the Hut” anthology has always been free. Hundreds of people have read it. And not one of them has ever let me know what they thought about it. I’m just as guilty, as I rarely reach out to authors to let them know what I think of their work either. I guess the lack of feedback is just something to live with, and I shouldn’t give the books away just because I want a pat on the head or a bit of welcomed guidance.

The books will remain free through December – my Christmas present to any crickets out there reading this (LOL, which there aren’t) – but I will not do this experiment again. I owe it to my art teacher to at least charge a dollar for things that took me years to produce.

Until next time, Crickets, be well. And happy holidays!