Category: Blog

In the Star Wars franchise, I believe the Empire / First Order really doesn’t learn from their past mistakes. Using small, one-man fighters, the Rebels destroy the Death Star, not once but twice. They take out the Executor, Darth Vader’s super star destroyer. They tip over AT-ATs with a simple cable wrapped around the legs. The Rebels blow up the Starkiller Base by exploiting a design flaw. Two more massive First Order ships are destroyed in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The Empire / First Order continually make bigger and bigger weapons of mass destruction, only to have them destroyed by small, one-man fighter craft of the Rebels. Does anybody else see the comparison to David vs. Goliath? Bigger and more destructive doesn’t always win the day. More often than not, a farm boy from Tatooine in an X-wing fighter succeeds. Be the one to take down your enemies, even if they are bigger and better equipped than you.

History doesn’t write itself. If it did, the Empire / First Order would design better battle stations and ships. At the very least, it would give some recruits pause and say, “You know, the Rebels destroyed the Death Star twice, they know how to take down our AT-ATs, they blew up our Starkiller Base, maybe I’m signing up for the wrong team.” Hopefully, the Empire / First Order will learn smaller is better. Even that, is something all of us need to learn from time to time.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Minor characters can make or break your story. Remember Jar-Jar Binks from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace? Lots of fans didn’t like him. Compare him against Radagast from The Hobbit trilogy. Although he wasn’t in the book, his screen time enhanced the movie. I hope two of my minor characters fall into the latter category and not the previous. Alphonse and Dewey are two regular guys who spend some time at Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure, usually when he is listening to / watching the news on WFUX.

Alphonse is a pock-marked skin walnut farm worker. He didn’t finish high school. The simple man is your regular Louisianan, loves LSU football and is always ready to eat gumbo. Even though he doesn’t have a high school education, he has more common sense than his fellow coworker and pal Dewey.

Dewey has pale skin. He works indoors and sorts the walnuts that Alphonse picks while outside. He’s not too muscular. By sheer chance or mistake depending on your point of view, he christened the swing in Peggy’s room, much to her delight. Alphonse believed he would be the one, but Peggy grabbed Dewey instead.

Both men understand Bill’s demeanor and stay out of his way when he’s angry. His establishment is their favorite watering hole. The fact that it’s the only in town is not relevant. So here’s a toast to two minor characters who bring good laughs and a great time to my manuscript.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Lady Copy Makes Trouble. My review is on Goodreads. I’m currently reading the final book in the trilogy, Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

National Novel Writing Month is over. Although I did not participate, I did adjust my schedule so I could write more on my second novel during the past month. I’m sticking to the plan this month to continue writing at a good pace. Congratulations to all authors who participated in NaNoWriMo. Now that you’re done writing, hope your editing goes smoothly.

Production on my book cover and interior layout should start soon. I’m waiting on the email from my publisher saying, “Let’s go over ideas and get started.” Also, the second video on my book trailer should be coming my way this week. The trailer consists of two separate videos and then a CGI whirlwind of the book. I can’t wait to work on both projects and to see them to completion.

Finally, after reading George R.R. Martin’s Q and A page, I purchased a few medieval research books this week. These will help me on my current novel and the future ones I set in this new world. George said as an author, we can never do too much research. I agree. Even though my novel does not take place on Earth, the time period is the Middle Ages. There’s a lot of details to review and ensure they are historically accurate. History doesn’t write itself, but with enough research, you can get pretty close.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading Lady Copy Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

I’m back at it and I hope you’ll continue to follow and read my weekly blog posts. Thanksgiving and the upcoming Christmas holidays are meant to be shared with friends and family. Perhaps the closest person my main character Bill Valencourt would ever call a friend is Don Julio, aka Juan Carlos, aka “Top Shelf.” I mention his formal names once in my manuscript and call him “Top Shelf” the rest of the time. The migrant worker comes to Bayou Cove via bus to work at Boudreaux’s walnut farm on the other side of town from Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. Top Shelf enjoys life and is a fun character to be around.

My former girlfriend created Top Shelf back when we enjoyed visiting Bayou Cove. Not only does top shelf mean high quality, the British used it when referring to material with adult content. Placing such items on the top shelf make them less visible and harder to reach. Top Shelf is a loyal worker at Boudreaux’s and a faithful patron of Bill’s. For a small guy, he can drink for hours before feeling the affect of alcohol and liquor. Even in his acts of questionable morals, he still respects the person he takes advantage of.

Top Shelf has an amazing skill of dexterity and ingenuity. I currently don’t have a backstory of how he developed these skills. Maybe one day I can write a compilation of my character’s backstories. Gathered together in that tome would be the intriguing, and maybe sad, stories of how all my characters end up in Bayou Cove. I believe following Top Shelf from his home in Mexico to the swamps of Louisiana would be a great adventure. He’s bound to have some pearls of wisdom to pass along. Whether they will help you or not, remains to be seen. History doesn’t write itself in situations like this.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Forever Vacancy, an anthology. My review is on Goodreads and Amazon.com. I’m currently reading Lady Copy Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

“All the world’s a stage,” said Jaques in As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII. When you write historical fiction, you can stage any part of the world as the backstory for one of your characters. I did this with Peggy, one of the soiled swamp doves of my forthcoming book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. She dreams of being a trapeze artist and her name in lights. I had to give her a reason to leave the circus and come to Bill’s house of ill repute. I searched for circus disasters in Google and found the Hartford (Connecticut) Circus Fire of 1944. 167 people lost their lives in the fire. Nearly five hundred were injured. Officials estimate seven thousand were under the big top when the show started. This is the worst circus disaster on record.

Peggy arrives at Bill’s in 1951. I had seven years to build her backstory and bring her from her dream of performing with the Great Wallendas to entertaining men in a more intimate environment. The horrific fire didn’t dash her dreams in Hartford. They came crashing down later in St. Louis when the swing broke. The doctors removed her infectious right leg above the knee. Unable to use a one-legged trapeze artist, Ringling Brothers left her behind. Peggy worked in low-budget circus and sideshows throughout the rest of the forties. Her life spiraled into the gutter when the circus manager suggested she can stay on board if she offered herself to the men so he wouldn’t have to pay them as much.

Poor Peggy had a terrible life for a few years. She escaped the misogynistic circus bastards and made her way to Bill’s. It wasn’t much of an improvement in managerial style, but she made money and put a swing in her room. In her swing, she found everything else tolerable. History doesn’t write itself, but it’s a great asset to have when writing your character’s backstory.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m still reading Forever Vacancy, an anthology. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Sorry for being late, folks, but the time change this morning really threw me back more than a measly hour. Many Americans complain about switching clocks back, or forward when Daylight Saving Time begins and ends. I suspect this is a common protest in all places that use DST, and probably even those that don’t but need to know what time it is in the places that do. For instance, if you’re in Western Australia and follow the markets in New York City, your schedule just got shifted back an hour because of our time change. There is no time change in Western Australia. And heaven help everyone who now has to figure out what time it is in Arizona and parts of Indiana that do not participate in DST. In my opinion, it’d be great if we didn’t have to go off of DST.

DST is not a new or solely American problem. The ancient Roman’s used different scales in their water clocks for different months to reflect a flexible schedule. Germany and Austria-Hungary first used DST on April 30, 1916, to conserve coal during the Great War. America adopted the practice in 1918. Next year we can throw a centennial party for DST!

Whether it does what it was intended to do, save money by burning less fuel for electricity, we’re now in Standard Daylight Time until March 2018. Enjoy these shorter days.

Two historical anniversaries to note for this week. Neither of these is mentioned in my forthcoming book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. Maybe I can do a flash fiction piece for a contest and expand Bill’s world. On November 1, 1966, the New Orleans Saints became the sixteenth NFL team. Forty-nine years ago today, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States of America.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Mourner’s Bench by Sanderia Faye. My review is on Goodreads. I’m now reading Forever Vacancy, an anthology. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

As October draws to a close, let’s look back and see what happened in history. The Louisiana Rebellion of 1768, which I referenced earlier in Governor O’Reilly’s Twelve Taverns from October 8, was in full swing 249 years ago. Creole and German settlers rioted in New Orleans and forced the newly arrived Governor, Antonio de Ulloa, to leave. Spain’s response was sending in Governor Alejandro Count O’Reilly the next year and restoring order. In today’s terms, this wouldn’t fall under a quick response label, but perhaps two and a half centuries ago, it would. History doesn’t write itself, but I guess allowances have to be made when traveling by a wind-powered boat.

Also on this day, in 1929, the stock market crashed and brought the roaring twenties to a drastic halt. Although not specifically mentioned in my forthcoming book, the crash led to the Great Depression. My story of a young Bill Valencourt begins near the end of that financial crisis. His uncle’s house of ill repute, in a dilapidated shotgun house in the swamps of Louisiana, struggled just like any other business of the time. Washing sheets for his uncle didn’t make Bill a rich young man, but he learned how to make money from his uncle’s strong-arm tactics.

Lastly, Saturday, November 4, the Springdale Public Library is hosting an Indie Author Day. The events start at 2 p.m. I’ll be reading an excerpt from my book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. It’ll be available in May 2018. Come see me, and the other local authors. Get your first-hand experience of the romp in the swamp!

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m still reading Mourner’s Bench by Sanderia Faye and should wrap it up this week. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Whoever wrote history didn’t write much for this past week. Sure, things happened as Governor O’Reilly restored order to the Louisiana territory, recent deaths of political figures and unnamed storms battered the low coastline. However, I couldn’t find something historically unique to write about for today’s blog. Maybe it is a good thing history doesn’t write itself. It gives me something else to talk about.

November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. You are challenged to write fifty thousand words in 30 days. That averages to a little over 1,666 words a day. Although I am not participating in NaNoWriMo, my goal for November is to add another night of writing. This will help me finish my second manuscript by the end of the year. Even if you don’t participate in NaNoWriMo, strive to write more in November. Get in the habit of writing instead of binge-watching Netflix. Your imaginary friends will open up to you the more time you spend with them.

If you can’t find more time to write in November, attend writing workshops and events. Tuesday, October 24, 2017, I’ll be at True Lit at the Fayetteville Public Library for Anthony Wappel and J. B. Hogan’s talk about their book The Square Book. There’s a good chance I’ll be there Wednesday night as well. Saturday, October 28 I’ll be back at True Lit in the morning. In the afternoon I head north to the Village Writing School in Rogers for the “Improving Your Author Website and Media Kit” workshop by Jamie Smith. The first Saturday in November I’ll be back at the Village Writing School for Nancy Hartney’s “Writing the Short Story.” Later in November, I’m planning on heading north to Branson, Missouri for the Ozark Writer’s League Conference. I hope to see you a few, or all, of these events. If you want to be a successful writer, immerse yourself in the writing world, you’ll be glad you did.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. Currently, I’m reading Mourner’s Bench by Sanderia Faye. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

If you are not a historian of the Great War, then you may be unaware today is the one-hundredth anniversary of the execution of Mata Hari. She was born August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Her father, mother, step-mother, and son all died before her execution. Her daughter Louise Jeanne outlived her by two years. After separating from her husband, she moved to Paris in 1903. Her early jobs in the City of Lights included a circus horse rider and artist model. Two years later, she was a well-known exotic dancer.

By Unknown – http://bp3.blogger.com/_mgyYTW2w19c/Rv0AhyRdE8I/AAAAAAAAA_Q/D0S94e8k8lI/s1600-h/mata11zi.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3379372

Although she maintained her innocence, she stood before a French firing squad with her eyes unobstructed by a blindfold. She was 41 at the time of her death. Her story is told from many perspectives, but history doesn’t write itself.

Ariel, one of the main characters in my forthcoming book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure, dresses as Mata Hari for a Halloween party in 1940. She even lets herself get captured by a troop of walnut farm workers dressed as French soldiers. In the dark of night, she returns as Lady Godiva. Originally, this Halloween treat was not part of my manuscript. I only mentioned “Ariel’s incredible trick” at first. My critique group wanted to know what this trick was. So I add a fun Halloween scene where all the women at the pleasure house dress up for the holiday and pass out candy to the local kids. It was a fun chapter to write, and I hope you enjoy it.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. Currently, I’m reading Mourner’s Bench by Sanderia Faye. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Spanish Governor Alejandro Count de O’Reilly was Captain-General of Louisiana after France ceded the territory to Spain. His reign started in April 1769 to December 1769. Actually, it was a bit shorter as he didn’t arrive in New Orleans until August 1769. He held several trials to punish French Creoles who expelled Governor Antonio de Ulloa from the colony. Two months later he executed six prominent French colonists, earning him the name “Bloody O’Reilly.” He restored order and stabilized the new Spanish colony. But it’s the other thing he did, that Wikipedia doesn’t cover, that is the topic of this blog post.

O’Reilly restricted New Orleans to only twelve taverns. I’m unable to find how long this law lasted, but if it would have held until the time of my forthcoming book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure which takes place from 1939 to 1969, think of how different the Big Easy would have been during that time. Twelve taverns in the city of Mardi Gras. As Bill might say, “That’s about as useful as a dirty empty glass in a man’s hands.”

Governor Alejandro O’Reilly

By Francisco José de Goya – MyArtPrints.co.uk, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7280134

History doesn’t write itself, but it is very interesting to research and find what was recorded by those who were there. Governor O’Reilly used a heavy hand to restore order after the Louisiana Rebellion of 1868. How does limiting the Crescent City to twelve taverns factor into his time in office? We may never know. I won’t until I can find some time, and monetary funds, to hit the library’s in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Does anybody want to donate to this cause?

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. Currently, I’m reading Mourner’s Bench by Sanderia Faye. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.