Random scribblings and thoughts about writing, publishing and the entire letters to dollars process. Includes copious notes about politics and everyday life.
Author J.L. Curtis, AKA the Old NFO, published The Grey Man: - Vignettes back in October of 2014. Thanks to the author (who has the tenacity of a bulldog) and the efforts of Scott Tackett at 3 Ravens, Tina Garceau (cover art), and Mark Bielecki (narration), this book is now available on Audible (Grey Man Vignettes)
If you're looking for something by way of entertainment, this is a solid choice. The stories are well thought out, the characters develop, and the writing is well above average.
It must be true! I read it on SlashDot
From the article:
Space traffic experts are tracking two pieces of orbital garbage that appear to be careening toward each other: A defunct Soviet [military - wle]satellite and a discarded Chinese rocket booster that are expected to nearly miss each other -- with a slight chance of colliding -- Thursday evening.
From CNN:
Scientists are at a loss to explain the atomic explosion Thursday evening. About 250 Miles above the earth, a discarded Chinese rocket stage and a defunct Russian Soviet military satellite collided with what observers are describing as a truly spectacular pyrotechnics display.
If we still had the USSR this would be a great time to start a police action.
A friend of mine, actually more of an acquaintance, publishes a monthly newsletter which I try and take the time to read. This month, in a self-described apolitical letter, he poses a few questions below the fold. I decided to post a few answers.
I can't take credit for assembling this list. In point of fact, a few of my own favorite sites aren't featured here. This list was assembled by Angela Ackerman, and I stumbled across it on Scrib-O-Phile, a site which I visit about once a year.
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| Angela Ackerman |
All that said, there are a few good links here. I'll post the link, a capture of the opening page, and a short review.
I stole this from a blogger I read on a regular basis. He's also a writer, and a good one at that. You can check out his blog here: Nobody Asked Me...
All of us have experienced these laws at one time or another. What we all really hope for is that we don't experience most of them in a single day.
The Laws of Ultimate Reality
Yesterday I made an entire rack of baby back ribs in my slow cooker - they are excellent! Today I made a large pot of soup using the liquor from the crock pot as a base for the stock. My thanks to LB Johnson for the soup recipe.
I'm drinking a banana daiquiri, sans crushed ice. I abhor the slush drinks labeled as daiquiris, hurricanes, or mai tais. As I was making my daiquiri, I realized two things:
I need a stick blender, AKA an immersion blender
My drinking is lacking variety, something that I'm going to correct
I also did some writing today, and nailed down two chapters on my next detective novel, tentatively entitled Murder Two. Having narrowly escaped certain death twice in Murder One, Our Hero has opened his own detective agency, purchased licenses of various sorts along with insurance and two offices of used office furniture.
Tomorrow I plan to renew my Ohio driver's license, exchange a book at Barnes and Nobles, and write some more. I may also clean and do some minor repairs to the pad.
Having been subjected to FaceBook's new look and feel, I can say without bias that I hate it. Absolutely hate it. FB has also published a new set of rules, guidelines, and suggestions about your FB page content, and none of these allow for freedom of speech.
Many socially and politically unawakened, non-progressive people are headed to WIMKIN, so if you decide to give WIMKIN a try, send me a friend request along with a message explaining who you are.
And now - Happy Hour!
I've submitted two short stories to Cirsova. Now I have to force myself to forget about the submission until I get the latest news.
Why am I obsessive? Why am I neurotic? I proof read both stories before formatting and sending them; I found two typographical errors and one sentence that was clumsy. I fixed the errors, yes, but what if there were others? What if I get rejected due to a poorly formed sentence?
What if I get published?
Gah! I'm going to work on my detective novel, or finish up a short science fiction story I wrote six months ago.
Tonight my cousin Amy and I went to see the Blue Cats play at Natalie's Grandview Outdoor Pavilion
(945 King Ave, Columbus, OH). The show was great - as usual. The thing about Natalie's Grandview is that it's outside, and the temperature dropped as soon as the Cats came on. It was headed for the middle 60s, and that's a bit brisk when you're dressed for 80° weather.
I don't know where I got the idea for this story, but it's been knocking around in my head for three or four days now, driving me nuts and pissing off the other stories. So here it is, and I don't know if it's finished or just begun.
Comments are welcome.
Last Christmas a kind and generous person gave me a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. I put it in a safe place, then forgot I had it - until today.
When I worked out in Pierre, South Dakota, we had one man in the office from Tennessee, Grover Hickman. This man had a southern accent you could bounce a hatchet off of, and he was always up for one thing or another. Well, just put a dozen men in cube hell and see what you get. Someone's always pulling something on somebody, just to get everything spun up a little. We got Grover spun up one day by having Fred telling him there were no mountains in Tennessee.
I wrote about living alone earlier, but the decision to remain unmarried began fairly early in my life. Naturally, it started with someone I admire.
I live alone. I've never been married, and at my age I don't see myself ever getting married. I suppose one never knows, but I can't imagine the woman who would share 1,500 of living space with me and not end up on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper.
Last night (Saturday, 8/29/20) I went to see The Blue Cats (FB Page) at Natalie's Coal-Fired Pizza and Live Music with No Facebook Ever Mike. I was lucky to get tickets, as the show sold out five minutes after it was announced.
What a show!
I was attending a workshop some years back given by Michael Stackpole at the Origins Gaming Convention. On the subject of ebooks, Kindle, and piracy (and not on the high seas) Stackpole displayed little knowledge or insight, but he did prompt me to think for myself.
We, the majority of writers on Amazon, don't fight piracy. We're fighting obscurity.
I write fantasy, science fantasy, general fiction, and hard boiled detective stories. Popularity on the level of, say, J.K. Rowling has eluded me - so far.
I was considerably cheered up when Lin Hilgendorf of Whole Grain Milling wrote and told me how much she enjoyed Magic for Hire. That really makes my day!
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| Fan Mail |
Now I'm off to finish a short story and add another chapter to my novel.
Let me make this perfectly clear right from the start: I don't like Monday. In particular, I never, ever enjoyed Monday morning. But we've got to feed the bulldog, right? So here's how to make a typical Monday morning do a U-Turn in heavy traffic.
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| Not Your Mother's Oatmeal |
Some years back I was on vacation and enjoying my brother Bob's hospitality in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We'd had a late night and I was feeling my age that morning when Bob announced that he was cooking breakfast. Bob is actually a good cook, so I had no trepidation until he announced that we'd be having cooked cereal. Oatmeal never did appeal to me, and cream of wheat is even worse. I maintain that it tastes like glue, and oatmeal reminds me of being trapped in a hospital and forced to eat hospital food.
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| Danté in Jacksonville, FL |
My cat, Danté, was euthanized on my order yesterday (Tuesday, 8/18/20) and passed away peacefully at 4:00 PM EST. He had contracted a serious disease, likely cancer, and his quality of life was declining. He spent his last night watching television with me in his usual place - on the footrest of my recliner between my feet - until 1:30 AM. When I turned the TV off, he hopped off and led the way up to bed, where he assumed his customary position on the bed next to me.
Like any good writer - scratch that. Like any idiot you'll find in heavy traffic, I've been ignoring things. Namely, my blog. I got a ton of spam when I put it online, and so set the comments to be moderated. Which, as far as it goes, is not a bad idea.
Unless, of course, the web master forgets to check for messages and as a result nothing ever shows up when it should. I just now, today, discovered what's been going on - people have been posting, but their efforts don't appear on my blog. Now, for messages written in Arabic (and there have been a few) that's okay. But that leaves everyone else.
My deepest apologies to those of you who have thoughtfully left missives and feedback, and never had their message appear. I'm fixing that situation as of today.
Yours in Embarrassment,
WL Emery
