Hello. Thank you for dropping in. I don't write that every entry, obviously, but I do mean it. I do not take your interest for granted...whoever you are. I appreciate it.
On a few personal notes, my wife's health is taking a turn for the better, which is good news, but also unusual. Her well-being has been heading downhill for the last eighteen months, so it's really good that it is heading slowly in the other direction. The doctors have finally managed to get a handle on effective treatments.
For myself, the weather is finally cooperating enough to allow me to get back to jogging after a two-year hiatus. I actually "ran" a mile and a half this morning with only a quick water break after the first mile, then walked a quarter mile warm down, stretch, and stagger back to the car. I run at the high school track. It's not very scenic, but it is practical. I tend to heat up quite a bit as I get going and this way I can shuck jacket, sweat pants, and even t-shirt as I go and leave on just gym shorts. It's not that warm yet (I kept the shirt on) but it will be.
I know that 1.5 miles isn't much to any of you dedicated runners, but I am old enough that I actually witnessed John Kennedy's inauguration (on television) and, as I noted, I'm two years away from this activity. So that distance for only my fourth time out...the first two times had a week between them...isn't too bad, even though I'm still slow. Not quite twenty minutes for that distance; I will get faster as the running season progresses.
I'm going to be changing my e-mail address next week, and our t.v. carrier. Mediacom made an offer I can't refuse—will save about $116/month for the first three months, $100/month for the rest of the year, and $75/month the year after. We've had CenturyLink since it was CenturyTel, and had DirecTV for as long. Most of the savings will come from the internet provider change.
Now, to writing:
I've read that most professional successful authors have at least one novel in their past that is/was a real stinkeroo. Over thirty years ago I wrote that kind of abomination.
I remember the plot, the characters, and some details. But to the best of my knowledge no physical evidence of its existence remains. This is a good thing.
I'm not proud to admit it, but it took me to get into my early forties to mature enough as a writer to deserve any kind of success.
Looking back now I can see some of the reasons that novel belonged in the recycle bin—if they'd had such things over thirty years ago.
I mentioned maturity. I had certain things I wanted to put into that novel. I think of them as "cleverosities." Observations, dialog, fight scenes, and other parts that I thought were just so damn clever they had to be gifted to the world in My Novel.
Wrong, typewriter ribbon breath. Although I do remember one fight scene that was pretty good, the rest of those things were really extremely clever...to me. Not necessarily to anyone else. Or maybe they really were brilliant. Since I never tried again to put them in anything I wrote, I've forgotten them and the world will be forever deprived of that small portion of my fantastic wit.
Here's the thing: The story was merely a vehicle to get those observations or scenes on paper. That makes for a bad story and a bad novel.
I've declared this before. It bears repeating. As Mary Rosenblum, my instructor in the LongRidge Writers Group class has written, "The story is everything." All contents must serve the story.
In my two-volume novel Just Lucky (Book 1, Friends and Enemies and Book 2, Love and Hate), I had about 100,000 words of pretty clever stuff that the publisher has not seen in those two books. These things ranged from erotically funny, to slightly obscenely clever, to desperately emotionally agonizing, and even nostalgic.
But none of them moved the story forward!
So, they got chopped.
I would really love to put some of those things (not all) into a future work because I am proud of the content. Maybe there will be a Just Lucky: Book 3, In-laws and Outlaws. The problem with that is...you guessed it...story. I currently do not have an actual story that might accommodate all those cleverosities.
Until I do, and can write a good story that is served by some of these baubles of literature instead of the other way around, they will remain as files in my document folder, unappreciated, unseen, but not necessarily unloved.
Thanks again and please continue to check in.
On a few personal notes, my wife's health is taking a turn for the better, which is good news, but also unusual. Her well-being has been heading downhill for the last eighteen months, so it's really good that it is heading slowly in the other direction. The doctors have finally managed to get a handle on effective treatments.
For myself, the weather is finally cooperating enough to allow me to get back to jogging after a two-year hiatus. I actually "ran" a mile and a half this morning with only a quick water break after the first mile, then walked a quarter mile warm down, stretch, and stagger back to the car. I run at the high school track. It's not very scenic, but it is practical. I tend to heat up quite a bit as I get going and this way I can shuck jacket, sweat pants, and even t-shirt as I go and leave on just gym shorts. It's not that warm yet (I kept the shirt on) but it will be.
I know that 1.5 miles isn't much to any of you dedicated runners, but I am old enough that I actually witnessed John Kennedy's inauguration (on television) and, as I noted, I'm two years away from this activity. So that distance for only my fourth time out...the first two times had a week between them...isn't too bad, even though I'm still slow. Not quite twenty minutes for that distance; I will get faster as the running season progresses.
I'm going to be changing my e-mail address next week, and our t.v. carrier. Mediacom made an offer I can't refuse—will save about $116/month for the first three months, $100/month for the rest of the year, and $75/month the year after. We've had CenturyLink since it was CenturyTel, and had DirecTV for as long. Most of the savings will come from the internet provider change.
Now, to writing:
I've read that most professional successful authors have at least one novel in their past that is/was a real stinkeroo. Over thirty years ago I wrote that kind of abomination.
I remember the plot, the characters, and some details. But to the best of my knowledge no physical evidence of its existence remains. This is a good thing.
I'm not proud to admit it, but it took me to get into my early forties to mature enough as a writer to deserve any kind of success.
Looking back now I can see some of the reasons that novel belonged in the recycle bin—if they'd had such things over thirty years ago.
I mentioned maturity. I had certain things I wanted to put into that novel. I think of them as "cleverosities." Observations, dialog, fight scenes, and other parts that I thought were just so damn clever they had to be gifted to the world in My Novel.
Wrong, typewriter ribbon breath. Although I do remember one fight scene that was pretty good, the rest of those things were really extremely clever...to me. Not necessarily to anyone else. Or maybe they really were brilliant. Since I never tried again to put them in anything I wrote, I've forgotten them and the world will be forever deprived of that small portion of my fantastic wit.
Here's the thing: The story was merely a vehicle to get those observations or scenes on paper. That makes for a bad story and a bad novel.
I've declared this before. It bears repeating. As Mary Rosenblum, my instructor in the LongRidge Writers Group class has written, "The story is everything." All contents must serve the story.
In my two-volume novel Just Lucky (Book 1, Friends and Enemies and Book 2, Love and Hate), I had about 100,000 words of pretty clever stuff that the publisher has not seen in those two books. These things ranged from erotically funny, to slightly obscenely clever, to desperately emotionally agonizing, and even nostalgic.
But none of them moved the story forward!
So, they got chopped.
I would really love to put some of those things (not all) into a future work because I am proud of the content. Maybe there will be a Just Lucky: Book 3, In-laws and Outlaws. The problem with that is...you guessed it...story. I currently do not have an actual story that might accommodate all those cleverosities.
Until I do, and can write a good story that is served by some of these baubles of literature instead of the other way around, they will remain as files in my document folder, unappreciated, unseen, but not necessarily unloved.
Thanks again and please continue to check in.
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