Most of you know I love to hike, especially in the mountainous pine forests here in the mountains where I live. There’s one trail that is a favorite of mine and eventually takes me to a rocky grotto with a waterfall, but on the way I have to pass the most unusual tree I’ve ever seen. As you can see, it stands tall with only one remaining branch. It’s root system is gnarled and washed out as it tries to cling to the hillside where the roadcut has damaged the base and killed off several other trees. This one refuses to give up. It made me think about writing. So many people I talk to say they have a book idea or that they’d like to write a book. Some even say they are writing a book, and ten years later they tell me they are still writing that book. Unfortunately, they have little to show for it. To complete a book, you have to have the tenacity of the tree that survives with only one branch to do photosynthesis and only a few roots to draw water and other nutrients from often poor rocky soil. Writing can be hard. Good writing can be very hard. They say Margaret Mitchell spent her whole life writing Gone with the Wind…but she was tenacious enough to finish a great story. So if you want to write, be like the tree and Ms. Mitchell. Hang in there. Develop a place, time, and habit pattern for writing. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in the end…and maybe you’ll find a grotto with a waterfall along the way, too!
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I actually had a bookstore refuse to carry one of my books because it was a satirical farce that had angels in it. Now I know that book store owners are generally very liberal left in their thinking and may be anti-religion, but I found it surprising that they wouldn’t carry a book that buyers might want. I have no problem with the concept that it’s a free society and that they can refuse to sell whatever they want to, but in a way, it is a subtle form of censorship. It would be a shame if other institutions did the same thing with their biases like in libraries or internet providers of reading material. I wonder how many do already?
Writing a blog is an interesting part of communication. What to write about is always the issue. Do those who follow blogs want to know about what the writer does in their personal life? Or do they want to know more so the things that relate to what the writer does in writing. We tend to write a lot about writing on ours, so I guess we are biased toward that type of blog. I could tell you what I had for breakfast or where I went for a hike, and sometimes I do include those kinds of thoughts, but mostly I lean toward writing issues. So, today won’t be any different... I recently spent the day at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park where I served and where a couple of our mystery novels are set. It was nice to be back and retrace old ground I hadn’t seen in many years. All the people I knew there had moved on and the damage of the Cedar Fire in 2003 had pretty much changed the landscape. It’s coming back slowly, and there was much more growth, especially of pines, than I ever expected.
Wendy and I have never had our books done as audio renditions, but we’ve talked about it and thought how a good reader might make the experience worthwhile for those who prefer audio books. We’ve even thought about reading it ourselves, but never gotten around to it. So imagine my surprise when I discovered Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited.
Kindle Unlimited allows you to have Alexa read any book to you! As we all know, Alexa sounds very realistic on her pre-recorded responses, and I wondered how a digital voice would do reading an actual story. I expected something rather stiff and stodgy and was astounded at how genuine and lifelike her reading of our books turned out to be. I would recommend it to anyone who reads a lot and wants to join the Kindle Unlimited program! At ten bucks a month it’s really worthwhile if you like to read a lot (or be read to…LOL) Now not every book is part of the program, but it’s pretty rare that you’ll find that one you want is not part of Kindle Unlimited. So, until Wendy and I get around to doing an audio book, this is available to you at home or possibly even in your car on a trip if you have the right equipment. He was tall with dark hair and slim. He reminded me of me a lifetime ago. Just like me back then, he was in blue jeans and a white T-shirt every day I saw him at the coffee shop. His nose was buried in his computer, and I figured he was studying at the local community college like so many who came in there regularly. I wish I’d gotten to know him, but you know how that goes...strangers in a room with no reason to interact and all. But one day I happened to be at the cash register early when he came in to order his coffee. The attractive female barista smiled and said hello to him and for some reason made mention of the fact that he was wearing his white T-shirt and jeans, and that she knew him because that’s what he always wore. I thought it was a bit off to bring that up. Too personal and could be interpreted as a slam. He was quiet, but he seemed to take it without obvious offense and trotted off to work on his computer and drink his coffee. Yesterday was unique. A very sweet older black woman came up to me in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. Most of the time, waiting rooms like that are pretty isolating. Folks don’t talk to strangers. They’ve usually got enough on their minds being at the doctor’s to begin with, and this was a pain management specialist to boot. But this lady was compelled to tell me something. She walked over, smiled, and asked me if I was a firefighter here in town. You see, all my shirts were dirty (that’s another story about me being too lazy to do my laundry…) and so I grabbed one of my uniform pullover shirts from my years with Durango Fire and Rescue to wear. Then she did something no one has ever done in my 44 years in law enforcement, firefighting, and medical work. She thanked me for my service. All those years doing things on scene to save lives, protect property, and help those in need at all hours of the day and night, and often with no pay…with only one other thank you from a woman whose lost child I returned to her. Yeah, really. I hadn’t even done anything for this woman. I can’t accurately put into words how much her kind words affected me. We need to remember we owe a lot of thank you’s to a lot of folks in this world for so many things they do. Gratitude is contagious. Tell someone today that what they did meant something to you. I suspect you might react to the picture above as I did when I saw them flying down the highway next to me. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a dog on a motorcycle, but it is the first time I’ve seen then on a high-speed run and googles on the dog. I was impressed how calm the dog was and how it never lost balance on turns and curves. It was helped by a secure blanket tie in system, but 90 percent of the dog was up and free. Pretty happy looking pup, too! I desperately want to know what the rest of the story is in this picture. I know there is a good one, and it begs to be told. I think it needs to be written! How many times have you seen something like this or heard a small piece of conversation or even a quick evening news clip and said to yourself, what’s the rest of the story? This is all a great springboard for writing that can often lead to a great story or even a great scene within a larger story. I like to take pictures, and often when I go someplace interesting, I will snap off dozens of photos that later give me ideas on writing about things, people and places. I wish I could have had a chance to talk to this guy and his dog! I bet even you do too. I have a hummingbird feeder.* I haven’t had one in years, and even back then I didn’t pay much attention to it before the snow and ice of a Durango winter destroyed it. Now I have a new one in my kitchen bay window. It started out with only one lonely bird about the size of the bishop on my chessboard. It’s bill was almost as long as it was tall. Delicate and thirsty, it came a dozen times a day. They say their wings beat at close to 200 times a minute to keep them afloat. I got tired just thinking about that. Only that one came for over a week. It was like he wore repulsion spray. I was really surprised we didn’t’ have more? Could it be that they were endangered in my neighborhood? Was the “hooch” not up to par? Did I need to provide bar stool seating for them? I used to think a garage was for parking your car inside. Silly me! Now I know it is to hold all the ever-increasing amount of stuff we accumulate in America. It’s the stuff that won’t fit in the 12’ x 20’ Storage locker space we rent each month to hold the stuff that we feel guilty about tossing because grandma loved it so much and it reminds us of her, or it cost so much, or we might use some day in the next century perhaps. Then there are people like me who have a model train set in their garage. Most people who have this disease manage to control it (with serious medication I believe) and so the train set only comes out at Christmas to run around the bottom of the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, I am not one of those types, and my train is a chronic disease unresponsive to either medication or psychotherapy. I’ve had it since I was age ten. It’s not contagious, and it’s a mystery how it is transmitted. Inoculations to immunize don’t seem to work, though high exposure to video games seems to blunt its ability to infect the modern generation... Soon, if you buy one of our print book versions from Amazon, you may find it delivered by ‘air mail’ so to speak. Amazon has announced that it is working diligently on having drones deliver packages of less than five pounds directly to your door. Apparently, they think they will even be able to have the drone put it in your garage. Do I have to give them my garage door opener, or are they gonna be so smart they can pick the electric lock circuitry? |
Greg
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