Two Things

Thinking of my youth, my younger days and the education I received, there are two things that I believe would have helped me in my writing.

You know… when I was really young I used to watch “The Monkeys” never being able to imagine being as old as those crazy group of friends.  I was watching  an episode of “The Monkeys” some time back on retro television. I smiled as I watched those kids and their crazy antics, and thought to myself, “Oh crap.”

But that is besides the point. Music is not the topic even though “The Rolling Stones” is Satan’s music, “The Who” makes the “Beatles” look like just another boy band and “AC%DC” was the best thing ever to come out of Australia.

Not sure what that is saying in terms of things coming out of Australia.

But then again I do have two things in regards to music.

After our favorite band finished, the reason we attended Summerfest last year, we caught  “Styx”, or rather Dennis De Young, afterwards which made me wonder, “What would make the best theme song for me?” “Renegade” came to mind “Never more to go astray”. It is good to be a wanted man. Still, I am neither a fearful nor an angry man, nor wanted apparently.

“Too much Time on my Hands” may be more appropriate considering the last several years of under employment. “Is it any wonder I’m not the President?”

Great music. Makes me want to break out my old albums. “Styx” came out of the Midwest by the way. Just sayin.

But, back to the topic,  as I try to write, find the proper word and construct proper sentences, there are two things I wish I would have learned, or learned more better, when I was young.

First, in regards to finding the proper word, or understand more clearly the words I use, I wish I had taken Greek and/or Latin when I was younger. At the prestigious high school of my youth they were far from unpopular subjects. Most students of such classics were more interested in pursuing law or the sciences rather than in any artistic pursuit.

Second, I wish I had paid more better attention to my English teachers. But in my defense, they were not very approachable people. Hardly perceived as kind, they ruled by fear. That may be a slight exaggeration, but everyone over 40 knows what I am talking about.

I had a great English teacher in high school. If he were alive today he would be the oldest man in the world. He was harsh, and critical. I failed his first test. Afterwards he went over the test with the class pointing out all the correct answers. On the next test, including all future tests… half the questions were the same as the previous test, and when I got a 70% he praised me to all heck for my improvement. Not to familiar or comfortable with praise, yet I soon was achieving 90-100% on my tests. Everyone from my high school remembers him.

The grammar has come back to me the more I write. It is all in there somewhere. Finding new words, the best most precise words, is a bigger challenge for me right now.

Actually, with Spring and the garden I have not written too much but the work plods forward. Still visiting my dad every day.

I will soon be firing up the old YouTube channel again, home & garden and mountain biking being the main topics.

Thank you for reading.

Tom Petty was just plain cool.

Seracs

The word I was looking for is seracs. I will not go back and edit my second book simply to be more accurate. I have to keep on with my current writing. I have been able to write more, but more on my blogs than my upcoming works.

I heard a report on BBC Radio about a dictionary of land features. I forget the exact title, but I searched for it on the Internet at the time but found no trace. So many interesting words, precise in distinguishing features no matter how indistinct from each other they may be. When is the last time you used the word defile, to describe that space between two mountains?

Words such as knoll, hillock, hummock, rise, hill or in the contrary a hollow, valley or depression represent a slice of the scope of words available. The small distinctions in a local landscape described in words most of us have long forgotten or have never heard can create an element of fantasy as the reader is educated. Types of rock and strata are other foundational words can add depth, or play as a representation of settlement or the passage of time.

Describing a Lunar landscape requires a very distinct vocabulary, otherwise you sound completely uninformed and your science fiction visions will not play.

My father has wit and is sharp as a tack as far as knowing who is with him and following conversations. He doesn’t know where he is half the time however. He is passing away and the family is praying for him.

The last six months or so have been dominated, more than I likely realize, by the passing of my parents. Still I should be much further along in my writing goals.

I truly did start this post mid-month, I just failed to finish it until now.

Thank you for reading.

Terms for desert features.

Space terms.

Still Not On Time

Here it is. My mid-month post, and it is not even a leap year.

My father is dying; on his way to the eternal. My mother recently passed away. The dynamics of my life and family are changing drastically.

I am revamping my numerous blogs one by one. I receive no compensation from placing any links in my blog posts or the sidebars. All links will be reviewed.

Words. Wordsmith. I will by looking for links that will expand one’s vocabulary. We listen to “A way with Words” on our way to church Sunday mornings. I love old radio shows and how they can turn a phrase.

Developing characters requires each to have a unique way of speaking. Whether it is by nationality, accents and sentence structure, or the personality of a character. A character that loves metaphors has to be speaking in metaphors the whole read through.

It is like not forgetting the color of their hair or eyes.

I have met and worked with people from all around the world. I have traveled and lived all over the country not to mention the world. Family who served in the military have that generic military accent that has barely a hint of a drawl. Still, I have a very limited library of the ways people speak.

Particularly in my Lunar colony in the next Chuck Hammer, with a very international cast, I need to carefully research and seek advice.

I will search for sites that can help in just this fashion and add them to the sidebar. I hope to be useful to those of you following.

Thank you for reading.

Slush On

I bought no Christmas gifts for those everyone insists do not exist. There were no cookies and milk for Santa, though we all know that he truly exists. My mother passed on to a place in which all understand that Jesus exists. I have had the flue twice this season and a bit of the latest still persists.

And nothing ruins a perfectly good Winter like slush, right when snow of light white fluff should exist. At the time of year when the greatest of cold hold the records of which books consist.

It leaves me miserable and dumbfounded.

We bought a small, very safe and not too powerful, space heater. We have no ambitions of interstellar travel, but merely needed something to take the chill off; in the bath for my wife and at the writing desk for me (and maybe the bath too).

It makes a difference, both the heater and support from some of my cousins, in my drive to complete my works of fiction.

The slush, this time of year, it goes nowhere and you know it will refreeze into an ugly dangerous mess that will last the rest of the Winter. And Spring is still quite a ways off here.

We removed clutter in a New Year cleaning and have our goals and schedule set for 2018. No excerpts from my writing is planned until I succeed in publishing my next book. I hope to have news on that next month.

I have to remind myself that I have some notebooks in which I had written some poetry.

I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Thank you for reading.

Bah Humbug

I understand Ebenezer’s perspective on the holidays. How can anything productive, namely the advancement of my written works, be achieved with all the time spent shopping and merry making, the eating and drinking and giving, that surrounds the Christmas season?

Determined still to my adopted craft, I am then struck down with illness.

The passing of my mother two days before the New Year consumes my remaining strength. Even now the cold pierces home and flesh, stealing any healing energies the grace of God may provide.

Though the bank fold may thicken, a moments disaster could leave us in ruin.

In other words, my life goes on as usual.

Happy New Year. Sorry for my tardiness in posting.

I plan to work through a contract on one self published author’s platform I have investigated, finish out a hardcopy version of one of my works with my original self publishing platform, then decide how to advance from there. Shall I look for a full service publisher?

Publisher’s radio advertisements and associated websites are alluring.

When I first looked into publishing companies, nearly ten years ago, I read statements that ran something along these lines: “We throw away all unsolicited manuscripts and are not responsible if any of our books resemble in any way a manuscript you may have improperly submitted to decorate our trash bins.”

Now, companies are advertising that they will truly read your manuscript, …promise. Just give yourself a chance and sign up, call, for a free submittal package.

How does one break out of the self published pool of millions? How can one stand out?

Though people claim everything is different in this age of digital world wide access media, maybe it is not.

I would love some real honest face to face feedback on my work. If I can keep the nose to the grind stone I can produce five books this year.

Is Barnes and Noble the only book store left? You know where we found gifts appropriate for newborns, after long tedious searches through your traditional toy stores? That’s right; at Barnes and Noble.

Self publish success stories are simply the piecemeal assembly of a team, that traditionally a publishing company provided as a package. Though some authors may maintain a social media following, to promote their work, that does not replace book signings and getting into the book store.

I believe social media to be limiting. People are rebelling against the mindless screen stare culture. They seek to return to real human ties and face to face breathing the same air experiences, more and more.

And you wonder why the rich get richer and no one else? Because everyone throws up all their ideas on the Internet for the rich to steal and market. Because they can. They have all the money.

Bah Humbug!