Disaster

I plug in my external hard drive and nothing happens. I see the drive start up and spin, but no window opens, no PIN prompt comes up. I cannot find the device on my computer.  I try several times over; same result.

Most of my writing is consolidated on the drive, though there are other scattered digital sources and hard copy… for most of my writing.

My mind flashes to when I grabbed up an extendible flashlight. You know those with a magnet on one end. I discovered my external hard drive clinging to said magnet and I yanked it free.

Had I wiped the entire drive. And I’m not talking about ‘with a cloth.’

Then my wife and I watched the movie, an Amazon original, “Paterson” and life suddenly comes into alignment. A movie about a man with a boring life and a crazy wife who writes poetry. The life most all married men have. Watch the movie if you want to catch the connection.

Then when everything finally makes sense, I set to one of my tasks, added to the list in response to my apparent loss of files, on that weekly list of things to do: review all digital backups.

A few weeks after I have logged my external hard drive as a digital waste land, I plug in my external hard drive once again, just for giggles and laughs. The prompt for my PIN comes up. I stare in wonderment, contemplating whether this is really happening or not and enter my PIN.

Walla!

It appears all my files are there, and undamaged. The One Cloud feature had come up on my computer, a feature I have noticed since Windows10 came out. Not exactly sure what One Cloud is (possibly a cloud backup), but I considered the possibility it may have had something to do with my uncharacteristically good fortune. Yet I have no recollections of saving anything to that mythical cloud that holds all secrets.

Disaster averted.

Then I think, “Wait a minute.”

Back over a year ago I wrote how this particular device had disappeared for some three months. And when It suddenly appeared in a place I had searched five times over, having completely emptied my computer bag each time, I found myself in dismay. It is not a small device. When I connected it up after its three month absence, I was prompted through my Windows file folder to open the device then enter my PIN.

This is not how I had accessed the device originally, when I first purchased it.

Originally I received a direct prompt for my PIN from the device…as I do now.

There is a story in there somewhere. Truth or fiction, it is hard to say which would be more interesting.

Multi-tasking is out. It is like when they said butter is bad for us but then we all realized we were lied to. Garden, home renovations have held the spotlight for a while. After receiving quotes for various projects, I realized that I can earn nearly a years salary in savings if I could do all that work myself this year.

Still, I am scheduling in the writing, providing some extended focus time.

Almost losing all my easily accessible work I feel prodded to get the stories/books done.

Thanks for reading.

Parents

Both my parents are gone now; within a period of five months. Family dynamics are changing. A deeper understanding of who my parents were here on this earth progresses in their absence. Their powerful influence deeply acknowledged as it wanes. Responsibilities related to what their family of six sons will or will not become fall upon a younger set.

An insight into the human dynamic captivates. Honest observations of such events, a sense of understanding, can only make one a better author.

My dad sold me my mother’s Buick Regal after she passed. It needs new tires.

I was driving the Regal shortly after purchase and punched one of my mother’s Catholic stations on the radio. Religious music is uplifting, consoling, but as the interior of the car began to smell more and more like the inside of a Catholic church I had the sense that I was not alone.

Yes, for a month or so I had to readjust the driver’s car seat every time I got into the Regal. My mother did, or rather does have a sense of humor.

We were visiting my dad everyday these last several months. He hung in there so well, we almost forgot he was dying. Reflections on the family take me away at times. Demands of Spring, namely the garden, and work on my garages that I cannot put off any longer have kept me from writing, even posting on my blogs.

Getting back into a schedule will get me back on track. I must prioritize, delegate my time and be rigid with myself.

My cousin recommended a publisher to me at my dad’s funeral. He is an author himself. I was genuinely moved that he came so far to share with us.

So it is either crank out all my work into the proper format this summer and send it all to a publisher, or hit a writer’s conference and plod ever onward into the world of self publishing.

I have a lot of work, not to mention writing to do, to get in order. Pushing ahead quickly on the keyboard you naturally expect there to be some errors and typos as a result. In my case, if you see any errors or typos in my posts or in any other creative endeavors of mine…

It is my mother’s fault.

Thanks for reading.

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.