Time is Like My Daughter; Short

 

This busy lifestyle never seems to end.  I had to find a new mode of transportation, since the Memory Machine choked on me Christmas Eve.  The time for looking had to come from somewhere, so the writing suffered a bit.  In the process of all that, I needed to file taxes to get money for the truck.  Of course, that resulted in more time away from the writing desk.

The good news:  I have a new-to-me truck.  That should get me another ten years.

With a fresher mode of transportation, I have been busy planning the next Gunter Family vacation.  It looks like we may have another trip with the full brood.  My brain is in serious need of this trip.

Spring Cleanup is here.  Yeh, it was thirty something when I woke up this morning.  We spent the weekend piling junk on the curb for pickup.  In the process of cleaning, I stumbled on a Nintendo 64 box with all the instructions and paperwork, as well as a Mario Kart game package.  It’s hard to believe I had time for something like that.

Now, I can almost park the motorcycle in the garage and not have to walk sideways when I jump off.

At some point, over the last couple of years, I gained a new friend just above my waisteline.  I guess between my day job and writing, I spend the bulk of my waking hours in a desk chair.  In light of this new guest, I’ve set aside an hour or so every day to see if I can “run” him off.  I hate to steal more time from the fantasy world, but I’m sure the truck’s gas mileage will increase if it doesn’t have to haul so much…

With all that is going on in my life, I am still plugging away at the final book in the Drums of Rallinwar series. I look forward to finishing this project off and moving on to the next. I’ll slip in a complete update on the next visit to The Stray Scribe.

 

In other, more important, news; Requiter is available.

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes
Diesel ebooks

I’m still waiting for Barnes and Noble to put it out, but I strongly encourage you to purchase a copy for your Nook from Smashwords.  Mark Coker continues to be an awesome advocate for the Indie world, and has earned every penny he makes from book sales.

A Moment of Relaxation

I have to laugh at myself.  For most of my adult life I have had different business ideas, which usually corresponded to my hobby at the time.  The problem is, I am lazy and starting a business is work.  You have to maintain your "day job", while you attempt to make your new job successful.  Even after you get that business going well enough to quit your job, the work with keeping it lucrative is still more than if you just worked your day job.  So for years, those grand schemes fell to the wayside and I remained fat dumb and happy.

Then I decided to pursue my writing passion.  Don't let anybody fool you, writing is a business.  As much as I love to write, it still boils down to the fact that I am doing what I avoided for years; I am starting a business.  I work all day, then come home and write (work) all night.  Don't take this wrong.  I am not complaining, just stating a fact that some people with dreams of writing are ignorant of.

So, it was time for a moment of relaxation.

For the past 23 years we have taken a family vacation.  I am not sure I can ever express the importance of these trips.  They were essential for us as a family, and for each of us individually.  I strongly believe those vacations have lengthened, and enriched, our lives.

This was the first year my kids weren't able to go on vacation with us.  I hated the thought, and I missed them, but my wife and I had a blast.

We grabbed a tent, straddled the motorcycle and had ourselves a 2800 mile adventure.  We froze our tails off at a few campsites, rode a ferry across Mobile Bay, explored an old military fort, dipped our toes in the beautiful waters of the Emerald Coast, absorbed natural beauty that you could never experience from a car, and visited Mickey Mouse.

My wife and I have never lost that connection that some empty-nester's discover they lost, but this adventure strengthened it without a doubt.  And we both relaxed.  We needed it.  For the last two years we have worked ourselves into a stupor.  Now we are recharged, and maybe not quite ready to return to the real world, but more prepared to do battle with it.

Don't rob yourself of these moments of relaxation.  Step away, enjoy your life, and you may be surprised how clear things become when that cloud of exhaustion drifts away.

Life is Good

In a matter of hours, my wife and I will be breaking away on a motorcycle adventure.

The house will be left in the care of our adult children, work will be left behind, cell phones will be playing our favorite music, and we won't have a care.

This is our first vacation without children.  As much as I would like to have them all along (work got in their way), I am looking forward to spending a couple of weeks with the woman I am still in love with.

We have seven days to make a 22 hour drive to Walt Disney World.  If something catches our eyes on the way down, we have plenty of time to stop and gawk.  We'll be exploring a couple of National Forest's, combing a few beaches, and finding every opportunity to enjoy the moment.

At Disney, we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary.  Twenty-Five years and that woman still gives me that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.  There is no other person in this world that I would rather spend my life with and this adventure, in many ways, reflects our life-long relationship.

Life is Good.

I'll be back later this month.

BTW.  I am just a few chapters shy of completing the rough draft for book two.  After that, the extensive editing process begins.  I really feel that my writing has improved since Blood of Two.  So much so, that I feel the need to go back and edit that book again.  If time allows, I may just do it.  One of the beauties of the e-book.

Life is good.

The Genesis of a Story

Have you ever watched the news and thought; wow, there's a story?

Did you write it down before you forgot it?

I bought a blue, hard-bound journal just for this purpose. When a story idea comes to mind, I write it down in that journal. Sometimes a passage comes to mind; I write it down. The world is filled with characters. I write those down also.

So what good is this blue journal?

When I sit down to work on my novel, or one of my short stories, sometimes I just hit a point where the characters in my head refuse to guide my fingers. Instead of arguing with them, I open up my blue book and look for another story. Sometimes that news story inspires the imagination, other times it is that grimy little girl from the convenience store that causes the words to fall upon the page. Either way, more often than not, a story is revealed and a new cast of characters raise their voices and demand to be heard.

Eventually, the characters from my novel become jealous and the brawl ensues. That little blue book helped fend off a morning of staring at the dreaded blank page.

I'm not crazy, but the voices in my head may be.