Category: Blog

Have you seen the new Star Trek series Discovery? The premiere aired on Sunday, September 24 on CBS. The rest of the episodes will air on CBS All Access. Did you see how sleek and upscale the USS Shenzhou looked? But Star Trek history, it shouldn’t have been. The series takes place a decade before Captain Kirk takes the USS Enterprise on its five-year mission, also known as The Original Series. Do you remember the Enterprise bridge? It had buttons and switches and a few, small round screens all over it. How come the Enterprise didn’t have a sleek and upscale bridge like the Shenzhou, with its touch screens and schematics always visible in a gentle blue light? In my opinion, the Shenzhou is too modern of a ship to be built before the Enterprise in the Star Trek timeline.

Even the Klingons received a makeover in Discovery. They have sharp teeth and larger craniums and darker skin. However, in The Original Series, the Klingons were fashionably dressed with mustaches. Even when the characters from Deep Space Nine went back in time to help Kirk and company with a Tribble trouble, they didn’t recognize the debonair Klingons. The difference in appearance is never fully addressed. But, in the Star Trek universe, the early Klingons are well established to look like humans. Now in Discovery, they look like Klingons from the movies on steroids. How is their appearance going to change in ten years to be what they were, and in such a way that nobody questions the fact? I don’t think it can.

History doesn’t write itself, even if it is a fictitious history, it still needs to be followed. I don’t believe Star Trek Discovery does that. It may end up being a good series, but since it is available only via online and my satellite Internet isn’t the best for streaming video, I won’t be able to make that determination. As Spoke said, “Live long and prosper.”

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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 If the Creek Don’t Rise by Nancy Hartney. I also read two hilarious short stories by Linda Sartin, Six Bulls, Seve Dogs and a Naked Man. Currently, I’m reading Clear the Decks, the quarterly newsletter from 52 Plus Joker playing card collectors club. I’ll get back to reading books next time. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Although I am working on my second manuscript, and it has nothing to do with my forthcoming book, several thoughts of a sequel came to mind yesterday. Bill, my main character, spends twelve to fifteen years in Japan running a soapland, a Japanese brothel, before returning to the states. I cover this time span in a page or two. When I wrote the book, I had no plans for a sequel. However, as I continue to prepare for the book launch, and return to Bayou Cove more and more, a part of me wants to expand Bill’s journey to the Far East.

I know I can come up with some funny characters for Bill’s soapland, but less confident about being able to represent Kobe, Japan of the 1970s like I do the Lousiana swamp. It would involve a lot of research, maybe even a scouting trip to Kobe. I’m not against that, but it’s out of my budget right now. If Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is a huge success, then just maybe a trip to Kobe will be in my future. Who knows, it could become a best seller in Japan.

I feel you should go where your characters take you. If Bill leads me to Japan, I’ll find a way to get there. Let your characters tell their story. You’re just the fingers on the keyboard typing out what they say and do. It’s their history, let them tell it. After all, history doesn’t write itself.

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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 Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody by Allen R. Hunt. My review is on Goodreads. I’m currently reading If the Creek Don’t Rise by Nancy Hartney. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

I went to the Local Author Showcase at the Bella Vista (Arkansas) Public Library yesterday. It was great to meet other local authors including Jenny Ann, Talya Tate Boerner, Tamara Hart Heiner, Nancy Hartney, BJ Tassan, and Barbara Youree. Many more authors were in attendance, and I’m sorry for excluding them, but I didn’t pick up their business card. I bought a couple of books, had them signed and to buy e-books from these authors. I’m looking forward to the day when I can sit at the table and sign my book for you.

I also attend a critique group in the afternoon in Fayetteville. It’s a great group, and the feedback is wonderful. I believe aspiring authors should surround themselves with author signing events and conferences. See what other authors do, learn from them, and promote yourself to them. They’ll be as excited for you as anybody else. Maybe even more so as they know what it takes to be an author. Embrace the author life; you won’t regret it.

Lastly, pick up the author’s business card. Collect them like Beanie Babies. Then spread them out your table and see which one(s) grabs your attention. Design your business card in such a way that other authors will do this same thing and pick yours out of the group. Even if you don’t purchase a book from an author at a signing event, you’ll have their business card. And if the business card grabs your attention, you’ll be more likely to purchase their books online at a later date. This is my approach; I hope you find it helpful.

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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 the Paladin Caper by Patrick Weeks. My review is on Goodreads. I’m currently reading Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody by Allen R. Hunt. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

Wow! A lot has happened since my last post. The eclipse, Hurricane Harvey, the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, the anniversary of the beginning of the Jack the Ripper murders, the return of college football, and probably many more things. There was even news that more evidence has recently been found to indicate James Maybrick was Jack the Ripper. Although I’m not a die hard Ripperologist, I still find the case fascinating.

My second round of editing wraps up tomorrow. I made all the edits my editor requested, save one, and that deals with a foreign language word. I verified I’m using the correct word. I also added chapter titles to the manuscript. Those were fun to do, and I hope you enjoy them when you read my book next spring. I pray other aspiring writers embrace the joy of editing like I have. Listen to your critique group and editor, they are trying to help you to make the best book possible.

Tomorrow is Labor Day in the United States and Canada. It may be celebrated elsewhere tomorrow as well, but my calendar only indicates the US and our northern neighbor. In America, it indicates the end of summer, cooler weather and fall festivals. However, we celebrate Labor Day by retailers having huge sales forcing their employees to work. It seems someone is missing the point. Sure, office and factory workers get the day off, but if you work in retail or the restaurant business, it’s a no go. Don’t quite understand this one. Shouldn’t everyone who labors get Labor Day off?

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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 The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weeks. My review is on Good Reads. I’m now reading the final book in the series, The Paladin Caper.  I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

Round two of editing on my manuscript starts this week. I planned on working on the edits on Friday using the electronic file and the built in features of Microsoft Word, but soon realized it’s easier for me to print it, make the changes on a clean file and check off each needed change on the printout. I continue to get one step closer to being a published author.

I’ve been in contact with a videographer in Morgan City, Louisiana, these past few weeks. He’s working diligently to find a house to be Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure and a swamp canal. The book trailer I have in my mind is wonderful. I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s just a teaser right now, as it probably won’t be done until early next year.

History happens tomorrow with the solar eclipse across the United States. I hope you will find a way to experience this phenomenon. Remember to have your eclipse glasses, not sunglasses, with you tomorrow afternoon. When it’s over, please share your experience with me on my Facebook page. After all, history doesn’t write itself.

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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 The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weeks but will finish it this week.  I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

Critique groups can be amazingly fun. You have to be in the right mindset and not take the feedback personally. The members are there to help you improve your craft. Saturday afternoon I had a very good session, including conversing with a new member. She offered to let peruse some books she has on medieval history. Not only do you receive good feedback from a critique group, you might also get the one bit of information you need to make your writing soar.

I’m a member of two groups, and I enjoy them both. But there is more to writing than just critique groups. There are workshops, conventions, seminars, and retreats. I believe the more you surround yourself with writing events, the better writer you’ll be. It also gives you a leg up on marketing. If you can get your critique group, your workshop peers, and convention goers interested in your book, there’s a better chance they will buy it. Networking is very important to an author. I hope you strive for that in your journey to be a writer.

Finally, a few historical anniversaries to mention for today. Hernando Cortez captures Aztec Emperor Cuauhtemoc Tenochtitlan in 1521, ending the Aztec empire. 90-year-old Florence Nightingale died 107 years ago. In 1941 Ford unveiled a plastic automobile. Twenty years later, the Russians put up a fence around East Berlin. The wall eventually replaced the fence. All these things and more happened today in history. Somebody wrote them down. After all, history doesn’t write itself.

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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 reading The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weeks.  I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

Well, another week has gone by according to my calendar. School starts soon and hopefully the students will be interested in history. Two historical events happened this week: Thursday was the 525 anniversary of Christopher Columbus setting sail from Spain and today is the 72 anniversary of dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb drop is this week and end of World War II comes next week. I believe all would agree these are big events in history. However, history doesn’t write itself.

It took Columbus over two months to reach the Bahamas. Can you imagine a two-month cruise in a small wooden boat? Granted the carrack (Santa Maria) and the caravels (Nina and Pinta) were large boats, but compared to today’s cruise lines, they look like a dingy. I saw a replica of one of them in Fort Smith, Arkansas a few years ago and was surprised at how small the ships were. The Santa Maria had a crew of forty. These three ships made an incredible journey that changed the world.

The Enola Gay, a B-29, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Taking off from North Field, Tinian, the crew flew six hours before reaching Hiroshima. The bomb dropped at 8:15 in the morning. After dropping the weapon, the Enola Gay stayed in the area but still felt the shockwave from the blast at eleven and a half miles away. Up to 80,000 people died when the explosion occurred. A blast that changed the world.

Many more historical events happened in early August, but I chose these two for you to ponder this week. What will you discover about history this week? It doesn’t write itself, you know.

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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 reading The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weeks.  I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

This week I continued to reflect fondly on my trip to the northeast I recently took with my girlfriend. I’m going through all the photos we took and merging them together with comments in a text file. It’s a good way to preserve the memories of the trip. After all, history doesn’t write itself. Ten years from now I’ll still have a bunch of photos named DSCN0240 and the like, but I can open up the text file and see the details about each photo.

I’ve also been excited about attending my first retreat with my publisher, Oghma Creative Media. This is the second retreat the publisher has held. It’s in Winslow, Arkansas at the tranquil Sky Vue lodge. I’ve had an amazing time here talking with my fellow authors, my editor, and publisher. It’s a great family-orientated company that strives to do everything possible to make the author a success. I was able to write several pages of my second novel and create a schedule so I can write more. I’m still looking for someone who wants to pay my bills so I can have all day to write, instead of a few hours in the evening.

Becoming an author is a long term endeavor. I wrote the first few pages of Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure in 2011. It’ll be seven years before the book is published next summer. During this time, I’ve attended workshops, critique groups, and conferences. I’ve paid for my domain name, website and hosting services. I’ve printed business cards and one poster. And I still haven’t made any money for all my work. That comes next summer. I can’t think of any other profession that works like this. I believe many aspiring authors need to understand that becoming an author is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to do a lot of work, and spend money long before your book ever comes out. I hope this helps one of my readers.

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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 The Palace Job by Patrick Weeks. My review is on Goodreads. Next up is the second book in the trilogy, The Prophecy Con.  I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

 

I spent the past week adding notes to the photos my girlfriend and I took while in the northeast. I used Wikipedia, Google Maps, and the pamphlets from various locations to make the notes into more of a story. By doing this, I realized we experienced “the biggest traffic jam in Maine” without really knowing it. Granted, we were in a traffic jam, and we knew we were, but we didn’t know the reason for the traffic jam. I found the answer on Wikipedia and Google Maps.

In Wiscasset, Maine, at the corner of US1 (Main Street) and Water Street is a former lobster shack that is now the home to Red’s Eats. The walk-up take-out restaurant serves lobster rolls, fried clams, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and French fries. It’s been there since 1954. Because it is so close to the road, and the line snakes along US1 before turning down Railroad Avenue, cars slow down as visitors cross the street and mingle just feet from the busy highway. This causes the traffic jam.

Wiscasset, on the Sheepscot River, was settled in 1663. The citizens abandoned the town during the French and Indian Wars and the King Phillip’s War. Settlers returned in 1730. Wiscasset is an Abenaki word meaning “coming out of the harbor but you don’t see where.” In 1820, when Maine became a state, it was in the running to be the capital city. However, its proximity to the ocean was one of the deciding factors to set the capital city further inland. Isn’t history great, even when it doesn’t write itself?

Lastly, you can learn more about Wiscasset in books. No, not rote history books (although I’m sure you can), but in novels. Lea Wait set a series of books in the seventeenth century. You can also check out Van Reid’s Moosepath saga, set in the late 1890s.

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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 The Palace Job by Patrick Weeks. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.