I don’t have to rehash what happens tomorrow. I’m sure many of us are going to be on pins and needles waiting for news about our fearless friend, Ionia Martin. Not really sure what else to say that hasn’t already been said in public and what I’ve told her when we talk outside of WordPress. There are serious conversations between the squirrel threats and her telling me to stop being a bloody stuuuuupid American. This poem is for my best friend who I love dearly and would do anything to help her through this.
You are not alone
As you face your dragon
Everyone is with you
Though you cannot see them
Our strength is yours to take
If it will carry you
From beginning to the end
Every friend will think of you
From when they wake
Into their nightly dreams
Prayers and positive thoughts
Are in the air for you
Never fear that you are alone
Because all of us are with you
In spirit and in heart
Ionia and I keep batting this one back and forth when the other needs a pick me up:
Legends of Windemere 
You are absolutely right, Ionia is in all our thoughts and prayers. Warm embrace for you and our friend to share.
LikeLike
Thanks. 🙂
LikeLike
Always here 🙂
LikeLike
A Queen song for the Queen of the Internet. Most excellent effort, Mr. Yallowitz.
LikeLike
It was suggested by Youtube. First on the list, which was too much to ignore.
LikeLike
On a totally different subject… I’m offering Weed Therapy for free for two days starting tomorrow and then Bridgeport for free for two days next week. I dropped Bridgeport to 1.99 and have sold two or three a day since then. So, that’s doing a little better. Weed Therapy, however, has reached a stalemate at 2.99. I’m torn between keeping it there after the two free days or dropping the price to 1.99 or .99 to see if that will get more sales once the free period ends.
Based on your sales rankings, you’re doing pretty damn good still. Care to share how many downloads you’ve got since you released #2? You can let me know by email if you don’t want it public.
LikeLike
401 for Prodigy of Rainbow Tower and 120 this month for Beginning of a Hero. I’m wondering about my plan to do a 2.99 jump for Prodigy. Want to try it, but it keeps sounding like people are having trouble. Weird because I don’t see many 99 centers doing well in my genre. I promote like a fiend though.
What about a gradual rise plan for your pricing? Go 99 cents and claim it’s for a month when you promote. Then try a boost. I heard 1.99 was a kiss of death price, but if it works then use it.
LikeLike
I’m going to see what happens with the two free days. What sales come after. I’d really like to get to 10 reviews as quickly as possible so I can try ereadernewstoday again. With 400 sales in less than a month you should be feeling very good. As long as the level stays where it’s at for you I’d struggle with the risks associated with raising the price.
LikeLike
I’m doing good, but I wish I knew exactly what I did. It’s kind of baffling. I think it’s a combination and all the help I’ve gotten. I saw a lot of retweets and shares. There are a few advertising sites that are going to kick in over the next 3 weeks too and I put the 99 cent pricing into those. If it does keep up then I’ll definitely switch the price the day after Labor Day. Give it a week or two to see what happens. I’d be excited if I can have a higher priced book. Though, the current childish goal is to see if I can get Beginning of a Hero on the Top 100 Bestseller lists too.
I really wish I knew what happened with me and ereadernewstoday. I wonder if I dipped under 4.0 stars at some point and they saw it before I did.
LikeLike
Did you ever send them a follow-up email?
LikeLike
I was going to, but kept getting distracted by everything else. Think it reached the point where I chalked it up to a loss.
LikeLike
Wonderful tribute Charles, so perfectly well put. And if it’s a dragon she’s fighting, so won’t do so alone, we’ll all be with her in spirit and I’m sending my dragon virtually to support her too!!! 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
I’ll send her Fizzle too. He speaks dragon.
LikeLike
Cool!!! 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
I love the how we see us…lol! Thank you, for always being the best friend I have ever and will ever have. I love you much. I promise I will be throwing rodents in no time.
LikeLike
I’ll keep them well fed and aerodynamic for your return.
LikeLike
Noodle
LikeLike
Spelunking
LikeLike
Sprinkler
LikeLike
Bullet train
LikeLike
Antlers
LikeLike
Moose
LikeLike
And squirrel
LikeLike
Oh, man! You just reminded me about how bad Catherine Zeta Jones’s ‘Russian’ accent was in Red 2. I can’t really say it was bad. It simply wasn’t there. I think they had someone mention she was Russian every few minutes because we wouldn’t remember any other way.
LikeLike
Lol I don’t get accents.
LikeLike
I hear they can get one into trouble.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on readful things blog and commented:
Comfort, appreciated.
LikeLike
Even though I have been out of sight, MIA, and thoroughly ashamed, I have been watching and praying for you. I know that all will go well because you are not done yet. You have proved over and over again, that you still have too many things to do, too many lives to touch and too many things to accomplish. God is not done with you yet, so know in your heart and be comforted and have peace tomorrow. We love you dear lady! I love you! Hugs and Love! xoxoxoxo
LikeLike
Nice Job Charles.
LikeLike
Thanks. 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Dear Ionia | Green Embers
Pingback: To Ionia: A Collection of Positive Energy | The Community Storyboard
Thanks for this Charles, I am so behind. Finally am able to catch up and comment on these. 🙂
LikeLike
A few of us are scrambling to catch up on these.
LikeLike
Great poem Charles and so meaningful! We are all wishing happy thoughts for her now. She is the dearest friend ever for sure.
LikeLike
She truly is. Too bad we don’t have enough time to make a road trip and bring everyone to her. Might be a mess though.
LikeLike
I love the road trip idea, but it probably would be a comedy of errors or wrong turns 😉 Love your poem, Charles, and I’m hoping and praying that Ionia will be back in full rodent-tossing strength soon.
LikeLike
Me too. It’s going to be so quiet and boring around here without her. How are we going to get anything done?
LikeLike
I think we will all be holding our breath and not doing much less until we know she’s in the clear. Then when we collectively exhale, we’ll probably knock the earth out of its orbit. Do you know the time of her surgery? I’m hoping it’s in the AM.
LikeLike
Don’t know. I hope it’s in the morning too.
LikeLike
Definitely thinking of and praying for Ionia.
LikeLike
Good idea.
LikeLike
Nice job on the poem. Loved the pictures.
LikeLike
That was a fun little meme I found.
LikeLike
Seems custom made for the two of you 🙂
LikeLike
Surprisingly yes.
LikeLike
I was tasked by Ionia with looking out for you today via blog comment. Considering that the good ole’ WordPress is the only means of communication I have with you, a comment will have to suffice (I would’ve preferred an email, but it is what it is). Be prepared, I can already tell you this is going to be a long one.
I’ve been trying to think of what to say/do for the past . . . hour or so? I’ve thought of about . . . two(?) things. Fruitless thinking.
My first idea was to write you a song. Now, given that I am not as eloquent as one should be when writing songs/poetry, I thought – MAYBE – the best bet would be to make it silly. Call me crazy, but I didn’t think you’d be impressed with me ending up rhyming the words badger and madger, which is PRETTY much the limits of my rhyming skills (nonexistent, if you’re catching my drift here).
So that was a no-go.
I’ve talked to my husband about it. He said, “Google: How to cheer up Yallowitz.” Now, granted I may be wrong, but . . . DON’T really think that would yield satisfactory results. Given that I don’t know you super well, I’ve got to work with what I’ve got because Google is clearly out of the question. Again, I may be wrong.
Now, I know you would appreciate some super-awesome reference that ties in completely relevant things while simultaneously managing to cheer you up. Unfortunately, I am not intelligent enough to think of anything. I can’t even START to think of anything like that past thinking, “Appreciated still isn’t better.”
This seems an impossible task.
So.
The thing I kept coming back to is telling a story. I’ve got one.
*clears throat*
Once upon a time, there was a little fox and a little puppy – a little hound dog puppy. They were the best friends in the entire world, and totally couldn’t understa-
Oh yeah. That’s been told, hasn’t it? By those Disney people.
The reason I kept coming back to it is the dag on song. My best friend and I have been singing that song to each other since like . . . I don’t know. Forever. And it’s carried over into a big joke that – whenever anybody gets along with anybody (in TV shows or like . . . in real life, you know) – “When you’re the BEST of friends,” gets sang. My husband gets in on the action as well. More often than me, to be honest.
My conclusion is that I really couldn’t do anything to cheer you up because I know how I would be feeling in the same situation. So I just wanted to (in an EXTREMELY long way) say, “Hey. Thinking of you.”
I had been, but . . . if you can’t tell . . . I’m not really so awesome at saying things well when communicating with people.
My heart is going out to her, and to you while yours is with her. That’s the most I can say.
LikeLike
Thanks. Although, poetry doesn’t have to rhyme. 🙂
LikeLike
I know, I know. But a horribly stupid poem would be the only hope I had for poetry-writing as a whole.
Possibly Madger the Badger would work.
Eep.
LikeLike
Why a badger if I can ask?
LikeLike
It was the first thing that popped into my head, to be honest. I wish I had a better answer for you than that (or some excuse to make me not sound like such a flippin’ weirdo), buuuuut . . . I don’t. >.>
And doesn’t it figure that badger is one of the most impossible words to rhyme to (minus the actual IMPOSSIBLE ones). I mean, unless you want to get really out there with it and say something like, “Catcher,” which probably would make just about as much sense as Madger.
At least this imaginary badger gets a name.
LikeLike
Yeah. You have to stretch some words, so the trick is to avoid putting that at the end of a line. Orange is infamous.
LikeLike
There are songs about it.
But if you’re word-stretching, I guess orange would rhyme with, say, porridge about as well as badger would rhyme with catcher.
LikeLike
Could just make up a word too.
LikeLike
I’m such a big fan of making up words. It’s my favorite part of writing fantasy – totally pulling stuff out of . . . well, you know.
LikeLike
Yeah. Though one has to be careful not to go too far because a reader still has to be able to read them.
That badger video is kind of creepy.
LikeLike
That’s very true. I like making up weird names. That’s the funnest thing for me. I guess all of it is making up names – of things, or places, or people. Soooo that was a bit redundant, I reckon.
Isn’t it?! It kept me quite occupied about . . . 8 or so years ago. I’m easily amused.
LikeLike
Never got into those types of videos. I’m always feeling like I’m busy, which might be the problem. Also kind of distracted today for obvious reasons.
I find in fantasy that using real names can help and there are a ton of real, odd names. No reason to go too far.
LikeLike
Great. Now I want to watch that gosh dang badger video on YouTube. I went so long after typing the word badger without even thinking about it.
Now all I’m hearing in my head is badgerbadgerbadgerbadger (on and on it goes).
LikeLike
Badger video?
LikeLike
I’m so sorry for that if you actually watch it.
LikeLike