I’m taking an online course on book marketing sponsored by one of my publishers. I figured it would be an easy thing to do. Guess again.

My first few lessons required one of the hardest things for a novel writer—at least this novel writer—to do. I had to condense a 368 page manuscript into a multitude of interpretations utilizing sometimes as few as one or two words. Keywords to be exact. Turns out these pesky and elusive critters hold a lot of sway over how and when your book shows up on purchase sites.

It was frustrating, informative, and mind weary to labor through these things. Not to mention it required me to divert precious time from my writing.

Was it worth it? Damn straight. Like most authors, I’m most comfortable writing. This forced me out of my comfort zone and into the deep end of the pool. And just like the deep end, once you get used to it, it opens up a whole new world. After all, these days writing requires more than just writing.

Still, I’m holding my breath as I wait to see what’s in store, next.

Not sure if I'm feeling guilty or not. I should be writing today, but it's also Thanksgiving day weekend and I feel I should enjoy it. My daughter's in town, which is another reason to forgo today's writing, and spend time with her. Still--I could work in both if I really try. Anyone else go through this kind of delimma or is it just me?

The Haunted Cave writer (me!) has re-emerged from his cave. In the year and a half between my last post and this one, I'm happy to report that my time in the cavern hasn't been wasted. I finished the book that I had mentioned - a women's lit novel called Pedal - which I'm excited about. I also finished two others: a sci-fi novel and a fantasy novel. I'm currently working on a late victorian era horror novel.

Last weekend I attended Miami Book Fair International. It's an amazing experience not only for book lovers but for anyone interested in a diverse group of amazingly friendly creators. Highlights for me included a panel centered around the amazing work of silver age comic artist Jack Kirby. For those of you who don't know him, he was responsible for the creation--along with Stan Lee-- of Spider-man, Fantastic Four, The Hulk and Thor to name a few. Kirby, along with Joe Simon, created Captain America. To put it in perspective, Jack Kirby is the Lennon or McCartney of comic book artist/creators.

Another great panel was headed by Denis Kitchen, one of the architechs of the underground comic book movement of the late sixties/early seventies. He did an amazing job of setting the zeitgeist of the era with the significance of the underground comics.

Lest you think all of my attention was around comics (yeah, it has to do with my love of writing sci-fi, fantasy) I also attended a wonderful panel with Seinfeld writer Peter Mehlman, crime author Larry Bud Meyer, and noir crime author Joe Clifford. What seemed like a disparate group actually had great chemistry. They were funny, thoughtful, and informative.

Another highlight was 'An Evening With Norman Lear'. The 92 (yes, 92!) creator of All In The Family, Maude, and the Jeffersons was not only cogent, but would put me to shame discussing current issues and recalling incidents from his past. He was humorous, insightful, and touching.

Finally, I made a great purchase. Because the cover reminded me of the 50s vibe I instilled in my first novel, Die Laughing, I had to have the pulp magazine "Planet Stories" from winter 1945. It's even got a story by Gardner F. Fox, creator of the iconic comic book characters, The Flash, Hawkman, and The Justice Society (later League) of America. Check out the cover above.