Month: July 2017

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.

I’ve been gone way too long from you good folks. As you can see, I did not post while I was on my trip. I had a wonderful time in New Jersey, Manhattan, Asbury Park and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with my girlfriend. The East Coast is full of history, in fact, nearly all the towns we visited were established a hundred to two hundred years before my hometown. How I long to delve into that history. Of all the many photos I took, I’m going to share two with you.

The house below is along the coast in Perth Amboy. There’s the road, the concrete walk (as opposed to a boardwalk), the marina, the Arthur Kill River and a great view of Staten Island. Given its location, I suspect it was a brothel at point in time. That’s the feeling I got from it. A little further along the concrete walk is the Perth Amboy Veteran’s Memorial. A beautiful tribute to the men and women from Perth Amboy who have served our great country. Between the memorial and the house, you could develop a fun story. As you know, history doesn’t write itself.

This building, I don’t think it is a house, screams Maine. How could it not? If you do a Google search for a building in Maine, this should be the first one in the search. It is actually for sale. However, you have to buy the sinking boat in the river and remove it if you buy the property. Once again, it’s another great place to learn the local history and develop a story.

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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 Washed in the Water by Nancy Hartney and Beautiful Mercy by Matthew Kelly. My reviews are on Goodreads.com.  I’m currently reading The Palace Job by Patrick Weeks. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.