Is this even possible?

Last night another nor'easter blizzard hit the coast of New England, and I'm feeling pretty bad about what's becoming of this winter. And sort of responsible, even though there's no possible way that I could be.

I probably should try and explain, but it's not going to be easy.

In the winter of 2010, I finished a manuscript (a novel that I titled The Nor'Easter Murders) and was sorta shopping it to a pretty big NYC literary agency that was also looking at a memoir manuscript of mine at that moment. What I mean by saying that I was "sorta shopping" it, is that while the memoir was officially being reviewed, The Nor'Easter Murders was being read by the agent who was managing the memoir's journey through process, with an eye on packaging the two of them at some point within the agency's process if he felt that the novel was going to work to amplify the memoir's chances of getting acquired.

While he was reading the manuscript, NYC got nailed again and again with big snow storms, and the snow removal nightmare made the national news again and again. This spooked the agent and he walked on the project. Of course, it didn't help that I kinda suggested that the weather was being caused by the manuscript's drive to be acquired and turned into a book - a marketing campaign, of sorts, since the story is about a Boston winter packed with one nor'easter storm after another, with each storm featuring the work of a serial killer who's using the city's DPW plows to mangle and dismember the victim's bodies after he's killed them and laid them out in the streets for the snow to cover. Hence the title, The Nor'Easter Murders.

Well, cut to this winter, and just after New Years Day, I went ahead and decided to self-publish the book as a Kindle, and play around with some sales and marketing strategies and tactics that I learned from a book on the subject of how to jazz up Kindle ebook sales on Amazon.com. Methods that work only on Amazon. As soon as I did, the storms started back up again, only this time, it's gotten out of control. Let's just say that I don't need to provide links to prove that this winter is being pretty crazy for the entire East Coast, and last night the New England coastline got slammed with the 2nd nor'easter blizzard in 48 hours. I've never seen two nor'easter storms hit in 48 hours.

So, while I'm having some fun with it all on my Facebook page, deep down inside I'm a little messed up over what's going on with the winter storms. Not that I actually believe that my little book here is making nasty snow and ice storms tear the East Coast to shreds this winter in its effort to ... I don't know what it would be trying to do, perhaps market itself? Still, the fact that this sort of thing happened to NYC in 2010 (to a much less degree, though) and actually frightened a literary agent into wanting no part of the book in spite of the fact that he really liked the damn thing, makes me a little uneasy as each week features yet another weather emergency of one form of unprecedented magnitude or another.

This is the forum for crazy people who think they've contacted a space alien...right? Well, I don't know what's going on here, but whatever it is, it's happening to millions of people, and the timing of it all is kind of unnerving me a little. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

reply to post by NorEaster

I don't mean to be flip, but could you maybe write a sequel set during a pleasantly mild summer? Thanks in advance.

I don't think your book has anything to do with causing any weather effects. So...just sit back, keep writing your books and relax.

Night Star
I don't think your book has anything to do with causing any weather effects. So...just sit back, keep writing your books and relax.

Okay then. Mind if I show this post to my wife. She's terrified of me at the moment. I try to tell her that it's impossible, but then the storms keep coming. It doesn't help that my brother keeps calling from Nashua NH and blaming me for all of it.

This winter can't end too soon.

reply to post by NorEaster


Sure, show the wife or anyone you want.

Well that explains it all. You think maybe you could write one with a beautiful damsel in distress that comes into my life? Maybe make her an heiress to a fortune or a princess of a small warm country?

reply to post by NorEaster


Quite a coincidents you have there... but im sure you are not the one to be accused of. According to NOAA its long wave patterns which is causing it CNN

I doubt you been in UK lately to cause their bizarre weather.. and don´t spook your wife

Was this transparent attempt at self promoting your novel thought of by you or suggested in the book you read on promoting your book?

reply to post by NorEaster


You should look up John Byrne, he has a section on his web site where he talks about all his "prophecies" he made in the stories he wrote.
He was wondering if his death while Pittsburgh was obliterated would be real or not...

Show that too to your wife now... lol

double post.

reply to post by NorEaster


I've had similar creepy perceptions about things I've written/said. I guess its always good to remember correlation is not causation, as well as how your focus defines your reality... If you write something, you're going to notice it more in your environment.

But there could be a deep level to it all, in terms of how our subconscious are tuned into things, like weather systems, that our conscious minds are not. Many things are possible.

Let's turn it around..

Maybe you had the urge of writing and publishing it because you felt it was coming

reply to post by NorEaster


Big storms aren't all that rare in winter really, if you'd published in July and there were massive snow storms coinciding then you might be on to something!..... I doubt very much that you are responsible..........nice way to get a free plug for your self publicised kindle book though!

Night Star
I don't think your book has anything to do with causing any weather effects. So...just sit back, keep writing your books and relax.

Agreed, but to be on the safe side, I agree with Magicrat. Try writing a book titled "The Warm Pleasant Spring", followed by "The Summer of My Dreams" and last but not least, "The Fall of My Fondest Memories". Though, depending on how the cosmic forces interpret that last one, it could have unforeseen consequences.

grubblesnert
Was this transparent attempt at self promoting your novel thought of by you or suggested in the book you read on promoting your book?

edit on 16-2-2014 by grubblesnert because: sp.

I am very aware of the fact that promoting anything on this site is against the rules, but I'm also very aware of the fact that it's a complete waste of time. This is a great site for checking out the latest in wacky political theories and for venting on very specific stuff, but the traffic here isn't sufficient to make it attractive for general promotional purposes. This site is a niche offering. Facebook is a much better vehicle for promoting stuff that's broadly defined, like a novel. This thread has probably attracted 20 readers so far, so if promotion was my motive, then I failed miserably. I would imagine that the sheer lunacy of trying to promote a Noir crime novel on this site would be its own punishment.

ITT: Everything that happens in the world revolves around the OP...

Argyll
reply to post by NorEaster

 

Big storms aren't all that rare in winter really, if you'd published in July and there were massive snow storms coinciding then you might be on to something!..... I doubt very much that you are responsible.....

I have been shutting down the straight line winds that precede intense wall-type thunderstorm fronts as those fronts hit our area since Memorial Day 2004. Nothing to really say about it or any way to work it into a story though.

.....nice way to get a free plug for your self publicised kindle book though!

Yeah, for what that's worth here, I guess.

Ramcheck
ITT: Everything that happens in the world revolves around the OP...

From my perspective....yes, it does.

Einstein included this basic notion within his Theory of Special Relativity.

Dumbass
Let's turn it around..

Maybe you had the urge of writing and publishing it because you felt it was coming

I started it in 2007 and completed it unexpectedly in 2009 after finishing two other book projects. It was always a side project, and even now, publishing it is just an experiment in seeing how the Amazon Kindle sales system operates.

tinner07
Well that explains it all. You think maybe you could write one with a beautiful damsel in distress that comes into my life? Maybe make her an heiress to a fortune or a princess of a small warm country?

Please add in a chapter about an old broad that sent you post on ATS, that asked you to write about her post, and she won several million dollars in the state lottery and lived to be150 years old and she lived happily ever after.