Take it away, Darryl:

To Columbia Gorge hikers and wildflower lovers,

The wonderful Memaloose Hills Loop “trail” was first scouted by naturalist, Russ Jolley many years ago. It’s known as one of the best wildflower hikes in the Columbia Gorge. Paul Slichter listed 128 species on a late-April field trip in 2009.

The unmarked trail is unofficial and few people know the route beyond the western part. There seems to be no map of it online, so I’ve undertaken the task with this draft. Since I didn’t use a GPS device, the route sketched in red is approximate. The total distance is about 6.5 miles, and you’ll be on public land all the way.

Below the map are some photos that I’ve taken over the years. There’s still a large number of flower species in bloom, but balsamroot is waning over most of the area.

Darryl

The headline is, Nice New Brunch Downtown, No Lines.

Listened to shows 149-151 tonight, and wanted to say thanks. You got right into my head and shone a positive light in there.

What I really connected with was the idea of how a simple life is so much better than what I used to do, and how practicing self-love sometimes just means being comfortable with myself, and recognizing with gratitude the progress I’ve made.

Funny how a subtle shift of focus and emphasis turns “bad” into “good” or just “as is.”

“My meditations lately have been really scattered” turns into “Hey, I meditate every day, even when it doesn’t seem magical.”

“I can’t keep up with all this work” turns into, with a few breaths, “I have some amazing work I get to do, and I’m the one who chose it, which means I can change it.”

“I am not as good at shamanic journeying as the other people in my group” is just a negativized version of “I am new at this amazing practice and surrounded by skilled teachers.”

“I am having such a nice Saturday evening at home, relaxing, cooking and enjoying a nice meal” is so much better than “I am alone on Saturday night, and that makes me sad.”

“What the hell is gonna happen on this MA hike tomorrow? Will everybody have a good time? Am I going to screw something up?” How about “I’m going hiking tomorrow with 10 recovery friends! And yeah, I sent the email, but I’m not in charge!”

Thanks, Kurt, for reminding me of the progress I’ve made, and how much closer I am to myself than ever before. And now I, too, shall go for a walk and to bed early.

Paul

—–

Good to hear from you, and congrats on your upcoming book journey.

The numbers are somewhere between hard to figure and pretty standard, if that makes sense. In other words, there seems to be a typical range, and variations within that range are small to the world of publishing but seem big to writers and publishers.

In other words, between what I have gotten and heard about, advances on first editions may run from $3,000 to $6,000, if anything less, and royalties around 10-15% of the publisher’s net. And, if it’s not apparent, an advance is against those royalties. Also, if it’s not clear, the publisher’s net is roughly 50% of the cover price, so 10% of net is 5% of cover price. When they sell an $18 book, you make 90 cents.

So it kind of goes like this: you get $3,000 and feel rich. Then you work your ass off and create a book that means the world to you. It comes out, and you get to go over to Powells, buy a latte, and see your book on the shelf. This is really cool. Then, in the first year, your publisher sells maybe 2,000 copies at $15 per, “earning” you something like $1,500. You don’t see this, of course, because of the advance. The next year they sell another 1,000, and you’ve “made” $750. If you’re lucky, the book does well, you got a good rate and/or the advance was small, you might see another check two or three years after the book comes out, which is typically a year after you do all the work.

So, bottom line:

1. You get paid
2. You work like hell
3. A year later, you see your book in print and feel groovy
4. A few years later you (barely) get paid again

If you’re smart you will not treat this as a way to get wealthy, and you will never, ever consider what your hourly rate of pay is.

This is why am moving towards publishing my own books!

Elk Rock Island

It can be easy, when living in Portland, to forget that the Willamette is a river.