Sunday 5/12: A joke

      One of my customers witnessed another one of my customers being unpleasant. So after the unpleasant customer left, he told me this joke.
      A man was selling vacuums door to door, and he had an unbeatable sales gimmick. He carried a bucket of mud and garbage with him. When a prospective customer was being difficult, he'd empty the box on their floor and declare, "What the vacuum doesn't clean up, I'll eat!" He sold a hundreds of vacuums that way.
      One day he came to a house and knocked on the door. A lady opened the door and said, "Not interested." She started to close the door, but he put his foot in.
      "No, wait," he said. "This vacuum is amazing."
      "Go away," she said. "I have no money."
      "It's very affordable," he said.
      "Not interested," she said. "I have no money. Go away."
      He put his shoulder to the door and opened it, and in the same motion, he emptied the bucket on her floor. "What my vacuum doesn't clean up, I'll eat!" he said.
      The woman turned and walked away.
      "Where are you going?" the salesman asked.
      "To get you a fork," she said. "My electricity was shut off three days ago!"

Sunday 4/12: Mikey & Jay photos

      Yesterday Mikey and his little brother Jay had a joint birthday party at the park. Here's a couple of photos from their party. They are wonderful boys! Jay thinks the world of Mikey, and he loves his little brother. That's the way it should be.


Mikey and one of his gifts.


Jay and one of his toys

      Aren't they handsome boys!
      By the way, if you joined us late, I'm posting twelve times today. Keep stopping by to see the latest update. Talk to you later.

Sunday 3/12: Surprise visit & WoW complaint

      I meant to have posted more before now, but around 1:00, I got a call from my roomie letting me know that Mikey and his family were in town at a local restaurant. So I hurried over to see them and then took Mikey out to see his papa at church. His family joined us there. We had a good visit. Mikey's little brother J. let me hold him a little. He's such a sweet boy. And Mikey was his usual wonderful self.
      Anyway, I just got home. Now I'm behind in my schedule, but we'll try to catch up over the next few hours.
      I wanted to talk about World of Warcraft a bit. It's a good game. I can see why people would get addicted to it. I just have one complaint. Too much running! The WoW world is huge, and you mostly run from one place to another. At least half of the game time is spent in running/traveling. And the journeys aren't that interesting. Oh, you'll get attacked a few times by mindless creatures, usually in some particularly stupid way, but that's more frustrating than interesting. Thistle bears (big hungry bears) and nightstalker runts (big hungry cats) seem to take particular delight in attacking me from behind. And while I can kill them easily now, I resent the time it takes to do so. You can't even run away without them chasing you and sometimes killing you if you take too much damage before you pull away from them.
      I've read that WoW struggles with keeping players active. They have to provide enough challenges to satisfy the experienced players, but keep the game accessible for the newbies. Here's a suggestion: Put in some/more teleport portals. Let players have access to horses or other mounts sooner. Give the WoW world some trains, carriages, taxis, any form of public transportation. In other words, cut down on the boring, mind-numbing running!
      Enough said about that. Talk to you in a bit.

Sunday 2/12: MBTA status

      I confess to being frustrated with Murder by the Acre. It was supposed to be finished by now and at the publisher. Instead, I'm slogging through another rewrite. I would be completely discouraged, but each rewrite is making MBTA into a better book. I can see progress as it becomes the book I originally imagined. Progress is good, but I'm ready to be finished with it. I want it done. I want to be able to stop worrying about it.
      Of course, once it's written and published, then I have to get busy with the publicity and sales. This writing business is never-ending apparently. Oh well, it's better than digging ditches.
      I think.
      No, no, it is.
      Here's a nice moment between the chief and his wife from Murder by the Acre.

Excerpt from Murder by the Acre. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

      After his talk with Regina, the chief had gone home for a late lunch with Maggie. He had intended to ask Sims to come along, but to his surprise, the lieutenant wasn't around the station for once. Of course, the lieutenant had enough comp time saved up to be gone for months. As the chief thought about it, he realized Sims hadn't been there a lot lately. In times past, the young man had lived down at that station. The chief was glad to see Sims had finally learned to take some time for himself.
      At the dinner table, he bought Maggie up to date on all he had learned. She listened intently, only asking a few questions to clarify things she didn't understand or that he hadn't explained clearly.
       “I keep feelin’ like all the pieces are there, but I can’t make them fit,” the chief said.
      Suddenly Maggie laughed.
      The chief looked at her.
      She colored. “I was just remembering something Drew did when he was little. What you said made me think of it.”
      “What?” the chief asked.
      “Remember when I got him one of those wooden Noah’s Ark puzzles?" Maggie asked. "He couldn't have been more than four or five."
      "I remember," the chief said, picturing his son with that little frown the boy always had when he was concentrating intently. He smiled at her. He knew what story she was going to tell.
      "Well, he was working it one morning, and I was helping him," Maggie said. "He was trying to put a piece into the wrong place, and I told him it wouldn’t fit. He looked at me, and then he went to his bedroom. Naturally I asked him what he was doing. He came back out with his red toy hammer and said, ‘I’ll make it fit.’”
      They both laughed even though he and Maggie had shared that story a hundred times before. It was how they kept Drew alive. The chief reached over and took her hand in his. She smiled at him, her eyes bright. He knew how she felt; the loss of Drew still could draw tears after all these years, but life went on anyway regardless of how anyone felt.
      "You know, Drew might have had the right idea," the chief said. "I think it’s time I started hammering on some pieces."
      Maggie smiled at him. “It’s about time.”

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

      See you later.

Sunday 1/12: Why I haven't been here

      I've been away from the blog if you've noticed and even if you haven't. I'd like to say I had been busy with Murder by the Acre or working on my family newsletter or any of the other projects I have in the planning stages. It would be nice if not industrious to tell you that I've been playing World of Warcraft. But, no, instead I've just been sick. My IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease) decided to punish me the past week. I've been sick, sick, sick. The IBD exacerbated the diabetes so it's been an exciting time here ... if you define exciting as gut-wrenching sick ... which I hope you don't. Basically when I wasn't throwing up or doing other revolting things, I was attempting to sleep.
      Anyway, that's what I've been doing. What have you been doing? You haven't been visiting my blog. The number of visitors have dropped of drastically, for which I blame no one. There hasn't been anything here to read and enjoy. I'm going to try to make up for that today. We're going to have 12 posts today. This is the first one.
      I can't promise they will be especially exciting, but I do promise they will each be different. Drop by throughout the day and see what happens.
      That's it for this post. I think we'll talk about Murder by the Acre in the next one and give you an update. See you then.

For Crystal

Something!

(Crystal called this evening and left a message on my answering machine saying, "Post something." So now I have. It seems a bit odd to me, but if it makes her happy, then okay. I did fancy up the 'something' a bit. It seemed bare with just the word. I'm hoping that doesn't diminish her enjoyment of the posting. Anyway, Crystal, this post is for you. Enjoy!)

( EDITED TO ADD: The release date of Murder by the Acre has been officially pushed back to July 30. Which is also my birthday. What a cool present to myself that will be!)

( ANOTHER EDIT TO ADD: On World of Warcraft, I now have a 21 level warrior, 10 level mage, and a 9th level shaman. I'm spending too much time on WoW so Thursday will be a "No WoW Day." I have a lot of things to get done. I hope I'm strong enough to resist the lure of killing things ... uh ... playing the game.)
 

Another tease -- uh, excerpt, I mean

(On any of these excerpts, if you see any mistakes, please let me know in comments, and I'll correct them both here and in the book itself.)

Excerpt from Murder by the Acre. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

      Not talking about Danny didn’t leave much for Lisa and Janice to talk about. After a few exchanges about their former schoolmates and who married whom and who divorced whom, the conversation faltered. Lisa looked around Pete’s Café, her gaze drawn to the hundreds of coffee labels that Pete used to wallpaper the walls. She wondered if Bernard would come by. He often got a coffee to go from Pete's in the afternoon if he could get away from the library.
      After a few moment of silence, Janice placed her coffee cup on the table and sighed. “I guess I’ve made a mess of things.”
      Since it didn’t seem polite or comforting to agree, Lisa took a different angle. “Well, no one can accuse you of having a dull life, that’s for sure.”
      Janice smiled briefly. “No, say what you will, it hasn’t been dull.” Her smile faded. “I don’t know how it turned out like this. My mother is being wonderful about all this, but I know this is hard on her. To have her daughter talked about all over town. I probably deserve it, but I wish she didn’t have to go through it.”
      “You’re the latest news,” Lisa said. “Give it another month or so, and someone else will be the target. That’s how gossip works.”
      “Oh, they may not talk about me as much,” Janice said. “They’ll remember, though. I’ve already had several appointments either cancel or simply not show up.”
      “I’m sorry,” Lisa said. “But it’ll be better after this all blows over.” Unless you’re in jail, of course, Lisa thought, and then your real estate business won’t matter anyway.
      Janice shook her head. “Ryton’s a tough town. People don’t forget. You have to be born here and stay here or they won’t let you be a success. You have to know your place. I didn’t know my place. I left town for the big city. If I had come back all broken up, then everyone would have pitied me, but I came back bold as a brass butt. They won’t forget it.”
      There didn’t seem much to add to that, so Lisa searched around for a subject change. “This coffee is good.”
      Janice didn’t reply.
      Okay, not a good subject change, but Lisa couldn’t think of much else to talk about. Except maybe one thing. She put her cup down. “Janice, is there any way that Oakleaf could be some sort of scam or fraud?”
      Janice’s eyebrows traveled up. “What are you talking about?”
      “It just seems everything revolves around Aventura,” Lisa said. “Danny was a member of the Aventura investor group. Mrs. DeMatt sold houses at Oakleaf, which is owned by Aventura. Gladys Nelson was also a member. Michael Hyatt, another investor, is saying Aventura is guilty of a sort of reverse discrimination.”
      “Oh, that,” Janice said. “Michael only cares about it because he hates the Nelsons.”
      “Why?”
      “Didn’t you know?” Janice asked. “Danny Nelson had an affair with Dolores, Michael’s wife.”
      “Good Lord,” Lisa said. "I had no idea."
      "I only found out last night," Janice said. "Dolores called to tell me that she knew how I felt and that she was thinking of me." Her face twisted. "I know she was trying to be kind, but all she did was make me feel worse."
      "Is there anyone Danny didn’t sleep with?” Lisa asked.
      “Interesting question, Ms. Trent,” Gill Armstrong said from behind Lisa.
      She turned in her chair. He stepped over to join them.
      “I hope Danny’s indiscretions won’t make the paper,” he said. “I think Melissa and Graham have suffered enough. Of course, you might feel differently. I’ve noticed that the media has an overwhelming appetite for dirt.” He looked at Janice. “I hope you’re being careful. I don’t think you need any more bad press, either.”
      "Eavesdrop much?" Lisa asked.
      "It's a public place, Ms. Trent," he said. "I was picking up a couple of coffees. I have a right to be here. At least when I overhear something, there's no chance that it will end up on the front page."
      “What is your problem, Mr. Armstrong?” Lisa snapped. “Do you hate all reporters or is it only me?”
      “I hate to see anyone exploited,” Gill said.
      “It didn’t seem to bother you when Danny was using me,” Janice said.
      “Janice, you’re not a child,” Gill said. “You knew what you were doing.”
      “I loved him!” Janice said.
      “Then that was your mistake,” Gill said. “I doubt Danny told you he loved you. And even if he did, how could you believe him? The only person he ever really loved was himself.”
      “Pretty harsh for someone who was supposedly his best friend,” Lisa said.
      Gill nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything. You know what they say about speaking ill of the dead.”
      “That it’s fun?” Janice said with a smirk.
      “No,” Armstrong said. “That it’s impolite at best and cowardly at worse. After all, Danny can’t defend himself.”
      Janice made a sound of disgust. “I’m going to the restroom.” She stalked away from the table. Gill Armstrong watched her go.
      “She’s a beautiful woman,” Gill said. “Too bad it’s only on the outside.”
      “I don’t think you know Janice well enough to say that,” Lisa said.
      Gill shrugged. “I know the type. In years past, they’d call her a gold-digger. What’s the current slang?”
      “I wouldn’t know,” Lisa said. “But don’t you think this is a case of the kettle calling the pot black?”
      “Oh, a cliché,” Gill said. “How novel. But I don’t understand how it applies.”
      “Aren’t you dating Melissa Nelson now?” Lisa asked.
      Gill’s face turned red. “How dare you!”
      “You know us media types,” Lisa said. “We’ll exploit any situation.”
      “That sounds dangerously like libel,” Gill said.
      “No, it’s slander right now,” Lisa said. “It’s libel if we print it.” Suddenly she felt tired. “Oh, grow up. No one cares if you date Melissa or if you don’t. The only thing that anyone cares about is who killed Danny and shot poor Mrs. Dematt.”
      Gill stood there silently for a moment. “How is Roberta?”
      “She’s still in a coma,” Lisa said. She looked at him. “I guess you know her from Aventura?”
      “No,” Gill said. “I used to do her taxes before I moved to the city.” He sighed. “She’s a good woman, and I always liked her husband. He was a good businessman.” He paused again. “I’m sorry if I’ve stepped out of line. I’m just trying to protect Melissa and Graham. I think Danny would want me to.”
       “I’m just trying to do my job,” Lisa said. “And help the chief as much as I can.”
      “Is he close to catching whoever it is?” Gill asked.
      “I don’t know,” Lisa said. “But he won’t stop until he does.”
      "Good," Gill said. "I don't think Melissa can move on until he does." He smiled suddenly, and Lisa realized Gill was actually quite attractive. "We gold-diggers don't need the past hanging over us."
      Lisa reluctantly smiled. Behind him, Lisa saw Otis Brunson rush into the café. He looked around, saw the two, and headed toward them, not quite running but close.
      "Gill, I need to speak to you," Brunson said. His face was flushed. "I just talked to Hyatt. How could you?"
      "I've not done anything, Otis," Gill said. "Michael made an offer, that's all." He glanced at Lisa. "This isn't the place to discuss it. Come on." He nodded at Lisa and led Brunson outside.
      What I wouldn't give to know what they talking about, Lisa thought.
      Janice rejoined her at the table. Her reddened eyes looked bleakly around.
      "I'm glad he's gone," Janice said. "He was always trying to get Danny to break up with me."
      "How did he even know about you two?" Lisa asked. "Wasn't it a secret?"
      "Danny liked to brag. Men are like that." Janice opened her purse and pulled out a compact. She looked at her face in its mirror and frowned. "But he's right about one thing. I'm not a child. I knew what I was doing."
      "I still don't understand why," Lisa said.
      Janice raised an eyebrow. Her mouth twisted in a half smile. "Because it was fun."
      Lisa looked at her and realized she didn't know this woman anymore. Janice had changed, and not for the better. Lisa wondered if Janice saw her the same way. Did she think Lisa had changed into a stranger?
      They finished their coffees and left Pete's. Both of them had parked in the public lot across the street.
      "Thank you for listening," Janice said as they reached Lisa's car. "I know it's --" Her eyes widened.
      Someone grabbed Lisa's shoulder hard and jerked her around.
      "What are you doing with her?" Ethan Hasting demanded.
      Lisa could smell the liquor on his breath. "Let go of me!"
      "Ethan, stop it!" Janice shouted, grabbing at his arm.
      Lisa pulled free and slapped Ethan. The young man staggered. Janice pulled on him. He pushed Janice away. She fell. He lunged at Lisa, his hands reaching for her throat.

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Murder by the Acre

Excerpt from the infamous Chapter Eight of Murder by the Acre. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

      "The thing about Aventura is that it's a mess," Lawrence Mattall told the chief. The two sat in Mattall's office in the Blake building off Broadway. "And it's strictly personalities."
      Mattall had been willing to meet with the chief early this morning. He seemed open and eager to talk about Aventura, a stark contrast to the other investors who either claimed to know little about the day-to-day dealings, referring to the chief to Hastings who had already made it clear the chief would need a court order to pry any more information loose, or they were openly evasive, once again reffering the chief to Hastings.
      "Lots of chiefs, no braves," Mattall continued. "Everyone wants to rule the world, so to speak. It's a nasty business. Lots of angry words and insults, imagined and real. Some of our investors don't speak to each other unless they're shouting."
       "Any particular fights recently?" the chief asked.
      "None that I would think would lead to murder," Mattall said. "If that was what you were driving to."
      "Still, I'd like hear what those fights were," the chief said.
      Mattall shrugged. "Mostly between Michael Hyatt and the Nelsons. Hyatt wants to take Henri's place. He has this whole idea about making Oakleaf into an exclusive gated community. He thinks Oakleaf can attract some of the movers and shakers of Oklahoma City who want to retire from the city life, but remain within easy driving distance. Gladys didn't want that to happen. She wanted Oakleaf to be for Ryton residents. Danny just wanted to make an easy buck and didn't want to take the time that a gated community development would need. The others lined up on one side or another." He frowned. "Hyatt wanted to use the money from Aventura's other investments to fund his dream. Since a lot of the investors count on those checks, it generated a lot of controversy."
      "I was told the corporation didn't do that much other than Oakleaf," the chief said.
      Mattall snorted. "And I can guess who told you that. They all act like we're involved in corporate espionage here, but they seem to forget we're filed with the Corporation Commission and pay taxes just like every other company. Anyone who really wants to know just has to dig a little."
      "So Aventura has other investments?" the chief asked.
      "Yes," Mattall said. "Besides Oakleaf, we hold several oil and gas leases. We're also invested in FNBLend. That's the loan company arm of First National Bank. Then, of course, Aventura owns several buildings downtown and some land scattered around Ryton."
      "I had no idea," the chief said, mentally making a list of everyone who had lied to him about Aventura or at least misled him.
      "Most people don't," Mattall said. "If Aventura had continued, it would have owned most of Ryton by now."
      "Why didn't it?" the chief asked.
      "Old man Nelson died," Mattall said. "It's as simple as that. Did you know him?"
      "No," the chief said. "I'd see him around town, but we didn't run in the same circles."
      "Henri was a circle unto himself," Mattall said. "He had an overwhelming personality. Aventura was his show from beginning to end. When he was alive, it was going and growing. Now ..." He shook his head. "I'm sure the other investors told you Oakleaf was our only project because it's the only one that's still active, and that's mostly because land prices have continued to rise around Ryton. It's certainly not because of good leadership."
      "How much money is actually tied up in Oakleaf?" the chief asked.
      "Well, originally it was going to be a fifty-six lot development," Mattall said. "About a couple of million in today's dollars, a good return on land Henri bought for pocket change. However, with Danny's land, Oakleaf is going to be worth a lot more. Probably ten or twenty million if things go smoothly and the economy doesn't go to pot."
      The chief whistled. Mattall smiled.
      "That's small money compared to the developments in Oklahoma City or Dallas," Mattall said.
      "Big enough for here," the chief said. "But what's this about Danny's land?"
      Mattall looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I guess it doesn't matter now that the deal is set. Danny inherited three hundred acres of land when Henri died that's adjacent to Oakleaf. He was going to sell it to some investors out of OKC, but now his wife is going to sell it to Aventura. Oakleaf is going to grow in a major way. It will be a money producer for many years to come if things go as planned."
      "And if people keep their mouths shut," Harold Hastings said from the doorway. "I thought you were aware, Lawrence, of the importance of keeping business dealings confidential."
      "Harold, come in, come in," Mattall said. "Don't wait to be invited. Just stick your nose in any private conversation you wish. My life is your life." He paused and stared at the attorney. "Apparently."
      Hastings flushed angrily. "Your wife said there would be no problem with me coming on back."
      "She probably figured you'd knock," Mattall said. "Deborah often thinks people have more manners than they do."
      Hastings's face tightened. "I have some papers for you to sign." He stepped into the office and handed an manila envelope to Mattall. He turned to leave, but stopped to look at the chief. "Aventura would appreciate your discretion about the Nelson land. Nothing has been approved by the zoning commission. We haven't even started on the necessary paperwork."
      "He's worried the people in that area won't like having a housing development in their backyards," Mattall said. "Not to mention that the city is going to have to annex portions of the land, and our local taxpayers might not want to pay for roads, water, and sewer out there when Ryton has so many crumbling streets in town."
      Hastings glared at Mattall. If looks could kill, Mattall would already be diced, sliced, and slabbed.
      "I'm only interested in solving the murders," the chief told Hastings. "Otherwise, y'all can just play Monopoly to your heart's content."
      "Thank you, Chief." Hastings stiffly nodded to Mattall. "Lawrence, we'll be speaking later."
      "I can't wait," Mattall said.
      After Hasting left, the chief said, "Hastings isn't known for being forgiving. As much as I enjoyed that, I'm afraid you may have made some trouble for yourself."
      "He don't worry me none. I know where all the bodies are buried." Mattall grinned. "Figuratively speaking, of course."

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Odysseus

      Found this test, and since we'd been talking about him, decided to post it. I don't know how accurate it is, but I do see some of my traits there.

Your Score: Odysseus

66% Extroversion, 13% Intuition, 100% Emotiveness, 23% Perceptiveness

You are a generous entertainer, an observer of tradition, and you are an enthusiastic leader. You are most like Odysseus. You meet transgressions with swift retribution but you are, in the end, just and fair. You're also pretty astute -- it's hard to pull one over on you.

You're a very detail oriented person, you take your responsibilities very seriously, and you're highly dependable. You aren't particularly idealistic, and are more apt to practice a kind of situational morality, albeit a pragmatic one that you ensure is amenable to the situation at hand. Your externally defined morality also means that you have a lot of regard for law, tradition, and social structure.

Because you're a sense-oriented person, you may lack the ability to weigh your externally defined morality on a theoretical basis. This can be harmful if you aren't versed enough in the ways of the world to compare the value-system you were raised in against some of the other social and ethical systems in practice around the world. On the other hand, if you were nurtured in a non-sociopathic setting, you will find that you can be a very fair and just leader. Because your ethical code is so contingent upon your upbringing, you may find yourself in staunch and violent opposition to other Odysseus types, as well as the more analytical personalities (such as Hermes, Prometheus and the Oracle).

Leadership and tact are your strongpoints. You are adept in exploiting these to such an extent that, when you make a strategic or ethical error (as the Odysseus type is prone to do from time to time), you can recover and regain your footing in short order. This makes you a natural head of state or military brass.

Famous people like you: Bill Clinton, George Washington
Similar Personality Types: Atlas, Apollo, Pan
Personalities to Avoid: Prometheus, The Oracle, Hermes

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Ulysses and other news

      You may be more familiar with the poem "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson than you might think. Ulysses or Odysseus is the Greek hero who, after the Trojan war, spends 20 years trying to get home, as detailed in The Odyssey. Tennyson picks up Ulysses's story many years later as the aged king begins to long for one more adventure, one more golden hurrah before death claims him. He gathers his old adventuring friends together and sets forth.
      Read this poem aloud. You'll be amazed at the power that Tennyson gives this poem. As I grow older and sometimes wonder if the best is already behind me, this poem gives me courage and strength.
      The reason you might be more familiar with this poem that you might think is that a popular long-running TV sit-com quoted the end of the poem in its series finale. Do you know which one?

Ulysses
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson


It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.


I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.


This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle–
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.


There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me–
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads–you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.


       Frasier used the last six lines in its series finale. Kelsey Grammer did a great reading.
       Changing the subject, you may notice the word count on Murder by the Acre didn't go up this morning. That's because I spent yesterday entering in corrections and working on the Ryton Atlas. To speak of the last first, the Atlas is a Who's Who and What's What for Ryton, Oklahoma, where the Measurements of Murder™ series is set. I had a very rough one that I used for Murder by Dewey Decimal, but it was totally inadequate for MBTA. Several errors in the book were caused by me losing track. So I'm doing in the last place what I should have been doing in the first place: compiling a Ryton Atlas. I will also need to do this for Darkness, Oklahoma and Dragons Gather. Sigh. Anyone want a very demanding, stressful, non-paying job as a compiler? Thought not.
      Crystal found a lot of corrections for me that I'm busy entering into the book. Some of which are simply my style, but most are errors. I type fast when the story wants to be told so I leave out words, misspell, etc. It's amazing to me sometimes how much I miss. I also received several corrections on a few chapters from Nancy C. I appreciate their help in getting MBTA ready to go.
      In other news: I continue to kill a few things in World of Warcraft. I have been assured that the game is better as soon as you hit level 20. I'm 18th rank now. Since I'm not devoting hours to the game -- I come in and play for a few minutes, usually until I'm killed -- it may take longer than my free trial to reach 20th.
       The gloom continues to lift. I think all the sunshine is helping. I love summer, despite its heat. Or maybe because of it.
       And now I need to get to work. More later. Have a great day.

Moving again

      If you've been talking attention to the word count on Murder by the Acre, you might have noticed that it hasn't gone up in a while. That's because of my funk. However, if you look it now, you will see that words have been added. We are moving forward again, my friends. A bit creaky and slow, but we are moving. Not enough that I'm willing to post a schedule, but enough that I think we will have words most every day now. Thank the good Lord. It's been a long, hard dry spell.
      I appreciate the people who purchased EndlesS, all of whom are my friends and family. I've had several people tell me how they didn't like poetry so they weren't going to buy EndlesS. I'm saddened that poetry is such a turnoff to so many people. There is wonderful poetry out there, poetry that can change a person's life. But in this era of reality TV, gory movies, and violent video games, can truth and beauty stand a chance? Poetry isn't always easily accessible, but if you make the effort to read Keats, cummings, MacLeish, Tennyson, Dickinson, Whitman, even Shakespeare, I promise you will discover a whole new wondrous country to explore and enjoy. In the spirit of bringing poetry to everyone, I'll be posting a few excerpts from poems I love over the next few days.
      And now I'm going to bed. Talk to you later.

Another poem not in Endless

Shipwreck

We slip beneath the waves
Black water closes over
cold comfort to life's pain
Numb can be a blessing

How deep can we sink
before light fades completely?
How soon will our vision
fail totally and give us peace?

Above a forever storm rages
Life's cruel fury without regard
to those below who grasp
grimly onto the remaining debris.

But here it is calm as the currents
take us into the dark depths
A struggle for breath mercifully brief
The waters flood in -- wait!

I think
I see
a
light

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved

Wow! (And I don't mean the game)

       Wow! Kirsten over at Now Or Never awarded me the Arte y pico award, for “those who are creative or have a penchant for art.” Very cool and the first award my blog has ever won. Thank you, Kirsten! You're awesome!
      Kirsten also received the award, and she certainly deserves it. Her interesting and frequently funny stories of libraries, yoga and life, and her awesome photography make Now Or Never a nice stop in my day.

      Now here are the bloggers I'm awarding:

      Michelle, Soul Patches. Her photography is simply totally amazing. I'm looking forward to the day when she can pursue it fulltime. She truly has the eyes of an artist.
      Adam Huckeby, Miscellaneous thoughts and other interesting particulars... Adam writes well and has also produced some interesting designs for his blog. He says he's finished with the design changes, but I hope that's not true as I've always enjoyed seeing what he comes up with next.
      Holly Lisle, Pocket Full of Words. If you read my blog much, you had to know this one was coming. Holly is one of the most creative writers out there. Her novels, writing courses, newsletters, blog, and website are testaments to her skill as well as her willingness to help other writers achieve their dreams. She will probably never know I gave this award to her, but by golly Miss Molly, she deserves it and more.
      Trixie, Trixie's Home. Trixie doesn't blog as much as I'd like -- hint, hint -- but when she does, she has produced some amazing posts. She has the ability to capture the essense of her subject. Her tributes to various family members (particularly those about her brother) and friends will bring tears to the eyes of the most jaded reader.
       Anny, NarcissusWorks. Stunning photography, painting and poetry on a blog truly devoted to creativity. A couple of times a month, I visit her blog and enjoy all the new poets she features. Well worth your time.
      
      And here are the official award acceptance rules:

      1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
      2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.
      3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
      4. Show the link of Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
      5. Show these rules.

      Thanks again to Kristen for the award. Y'all have a great day!

A poem not in EndlesS

High Maintenance

If I could somehow offer you
my heart on the proverbial silver tray
garnished with gold truffles
topped with a sprinkle of diamonds,
would it finally be enough?

Or perhaps I steal for you
the sweet hymn of heaven,
which only the archangels
have gloriously sung,
would you be satisfied?

Maybe even wrestle time itself
and plunder from its secret vault
the elixir of eternal youth
so age never touches your lush body,
could you be content then?

But the more important question may be
if I could do these wondrous things
if such miracles I could bring forth
as easy as buttering your bread,
why oh why would I waste them on you?

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

My powers increase ... sort of

      You do remember that I've been playing World of Warcraft to escape life, right? Yes, instead of being a productive member of society, I've been wandering around an online game world and getting killed. Getting killed a lot. In fact, I might possibly be the worse WoW player in the history of the game. Let me tell you how bad I am.
      I'm a low rank character, which means I face off against low rack monsters. They kill me, I resurrect, they kill me again, I resurrect, they kill me again, and so on until I give up in frustration. I blamed my rapid death rate on my inexperience and incredible bad luck with anything involving chance. But no, I'm beginning to understand I actually project a powerful aura of ineptitude. Besides getting me killed frequently, this aura can actually kill other players who attempt to help me.
      Case in point: Last night, Roen's character RiceKrispy adventured with me for a while. RK is rank 65. She has tons of spells and thousands of life points. She is a one-person army, capable of killing scads of monsters at one time and frequently does so. She could beat up Xena, Hercules, and Superman without working up much of sweat. So understand this: she died three times while adventuring with me. The first time, I was shocked and puzzled. Had to be fluke. Likewise the second time. These things happen. But the third time, I realized something sinister was going on. Was it possible that she was dying just because she was near me?
      On reflection, this makes perfect sense. If you watch GhostHunters -- and we know you do, Crystal -- you know that living beings have an aura. Sometimes this aura lingers after we die, which gives rise to ghosts, ghouls, IRS employees, and other scary beings. Apparently my online character has an aura of defeat that directly affects other online characters. Even rank 65 characters are unable to resist it. (You might think this is fanciful, but look carefully at the presidential candidates fielded by the Democrats this year, and then ask yourself if they aren't evidence of an aura of defeat.)
      In fact, it's possible that, before I showed up, the World of Warcraft was a calm, peaceful place where people advanced in rank by learning how to fish or how to bake delicious pastries. What little killing took place was only to provide meat for the cooking pots and leather for clothes. Orcs, humans, trolls, and elves lived together in peace and harmony, occasionally getting together for barn raisings and square dances. But I show up, and immediately everything falls apart so fast that you'd think Congress was involved, but no, it's just little old me.
      Now, all I have to do is learn how to focus it so that it affects whom I wish. With my Power of Utter Defeat, Despair, and Lethal Entropy (AKA PUDDLE), I could conquer the online world! Only one thing stops me from pursuing this nefarious goal: What would I do with the online world after I conquered it? There doesn't seem to be much point to it all.

A spider ate my brain

      Been in a funk. Had the wind kicked out of me, both personally and writerly, and so I considered ending the blog and walking away from writing in general. Fortunately, a friend of mine gave me World of Warcraft, and I've been busy killing things ever since. And being killed by things, too. Particularly spiders.
      I am not a particularly good player. In fact, I am a spectacularly bad player. I've been killed by: young nightsabers, thistle boars, webspinner spiders, sprites, fell off the island -- twice, rabid thistle boars, sabers, giant spiders, harpies, owls, car salesmen, IRS agents, giant crabs, water lizards, a splendid variety of the undead, and so on and so on. In fact, the creatures of WoW consider me a delicacy. Nightstalkers and spiders will go out of their way to have a bite of delicious me. I am finger -- uh, claw, digit or tentacle lickin' good.
      I've spent a lot of my time as a spirit soaring around looking for my body. (WoWers understand this. If you're not one, just take it on faith.) In fact, after having died five times in a row, I soared around the island just looking at things because it was more fun than playing. (My friend Roen rescued me. She plays a terribly powerful character who is the equivalent of a nuke. But alas, she has a group of terribly powerful characters that she normally plays with -- they're on some quest involving a ring and some little folk -- and thus isn't often available to pull my tasty bacon out of the ever-hungry fire.)
      That's one of the not-much-talked-about-but-true advantages to not writing for a living. Unlike Holly Lisle, I can take a break and still have food on my table. Holly has to work hard -- and seriously, I know of no writer who works as hard, as creatively, and as productively as she does -- and she can't let up. She has a family to support. If she has a funk, she has to write her way through it.
      Always keep moving, I guess. That's the only way to deal with something. Go through it and out the other side. Got to remember -- however hard it is -- that every tunnel ends, that every cave (even those infested with vile sprites) can be mapped, and someday, eventually, if you keep moving, you'll make it back into the sunshine. Where a giant webwood spider will promptly eat you. Sigh.
      But after you get your spirit back into your body and turn that spider into goo -- not me; I resurrected and got out of there -- then you can keep moving forward. So that's what I'm doing. Moving forward again. Oh, I'm going to kill a few more creatures on WoW and vice versa, but it's time to pay bills, do laundry, clean house, write, and be me again.
      And if you're a member of WoW, stop by and say hi. My character is a night elf warrior known as Reevemer. He'll be the one with a spider eating his brain.

Q&A on EndlesS

What is EndlesS?
A softcover collection of 50 or so of my poems. Here's what Gloria Williams of Wry Words said about it: "… an unexpected little book of treasures … EndlesS is full of riches that even a person not fond of poetry will enjoy and a poetry lover will be thrilled by it. I highly recommend it."

Where can I buy it?
EndlesS is available exclusively on Lulu.com. Here's the link. It's $9.99 (plus shipping & handling).

Will it be available on Amazon.com?
No. I investigated placing it with the other online retailers, but with their markup, the book would be prohibitively priced. I don't think people should have to sell a kidney to buy one of my books -- although, of course, if they want to, that's okay.

Will it be available in hardcover?
Yes. In June, I'm going to publish a library edition. Unfortunately the cost of hardcovers makes it less attractive than I would hope. (It's going to cost around $20 just to produce it.) I'm going to publish that version so that I can donate hardcovers to the libraries that support me.

Will you have book signings for EndlesS?
No, not by itself. It will be available at the book signings for Murder by the Acre, which will be published later this summer.

Can I preview the book?
Yes. If you go to the purchase page, there is a small preview of the book. It includes the poems: "Creationsong," "Sky," and "Torrent" (on the back cover).

You've left out several poems you've featured on 51313 Harbor Street. Will they be collected in a book?
Maybe. I'd like to do two other poetry collections, Undying, a collection of fantasy and science fiction poems, and Quicksilver, a collection of spiritual poems. But both will depend on the response to EndlesS. Publishing a book is a labor-intensive, and while I certainly don't expect anywhere near the sales of Murder by Dewey Decimal, it would be nice if people bought a few copies to enjoy or give as gifts or use as coasters. I don't care as long as they buy them, but I do think that reading EndlesS is the best use for it.

I read a proof copy of EndlesS, but the published version lists poems that weren't in the proof. What gives?
Depending on which proof you read, anywhere from two to 10 poems were switched out for other poems. I tried to provide a variety of moods and subjects in EndlesS. Some poems made the cut, and others will have to wait for the appropriate collection.

May I review EndlesS?
Certainly. I welcome your input, whether it be good or bad. And if you say bad things about it, I promise to not hate you forever … only while you live, which regrettably will not be long.

You cover a vast range of subjects and situations in EndlesS. Are these all from your life?
Well, yes and no. Many of the poems in EndlesS are what I call "poetic fiction," which means I attempt to adopt the persona of someone experiencing what I'm writing about. The emotion is real even if the situation is not. However, many of the situations are from my life. After all, I'm in my forties now. I've lived a bit of life and picked a few scars, emotional and otherwise.

What's your favorite poem in EndlesS?
I'm glad you asked that. All my poems are my "children," and it's hard to pick a favorite, but I do have one. In the comments, you pick what you think my favorite poem is. If more than one person picks correctly, I will draw one winner from the correct entries. The winner will receive: a Murder by the Acre t-shirt (available in small to extra-large), a signed hardcover of Murder by Dewey Decimal, a Murder by the Acre kitchen magnet, and a set of EndlesS note cards (10 cards and envelopes). This contest will end June 30th. If no one has picked the correct poem by that time, I will draw from one winner from all the entries. By the way, the poem "EndlesS" is not my favorite, although it is one of my favorites.

That's all the time we have. Anything else you'd like to add?
Just that EndlesS is on sale now at Lulu.com for $9.99 (plus shipping and handling). You can find it here.

EndlesS on sale today!

      Yes, that's right. EndlesS is on sale now! Everything came together over the weekend, and this afternoon the link to purchase EndlesS went live.
      I'm excited about this first collection of poetry, so much so that I've planned two others, Undying, which will be poems of fantasy and science fiction; and Quicksilver, which will be spiritual poems. One of those will be out in 2009.
      But it's May 2008 right now, and you can be one of the first to own Endless. I am offering signature labels that I will be signing to everyone who purchases a copy online. Just email me your name and address after you've received your copy, and I'll send a signature label right out.
      And the first five people who purchase EndlesS will receive a Murder by the Acre kitchen magnet! As soon as you've purchased the book and received your "thank you note" from Lulu, email me with your name and address. I'll send you a MBTA kitchen magnet, but remember, it's only the first five people so don't delay. (My email address is issacskye at gmail dot com.)
      I'm excited that EndlesS is available now. I hope you enjoy it. Here's the link to it again.

Review of EndlesS

(My good friend Gloria Williams wrote the following review of EndlesS, my first collection of poetry. My thanks to her for allowing me to post it here. It is also posted on her blog Wry Words.)

By Gloria Williams

I received an advance copy of EndlesS, a collection of poems by Stephen B. Bagley. While I’m a fan of Stephen’s writings – particularly his humor and his mysteries – I’m not a fan of poetry. Still, I had enjoyed the poems on his blog so when he asked if I wanted to read an advance copy and review it, I decided to take the chance.

What an unexpected little book of treasures! The poems cover emotions from joy to sorrow to passion to bitterness to grief to rebirth. I particularly liked “Creationsong” and “Quicksilver,” two decidedly religious poems that surprised me with their joy and power, respectively. “Last Poem For Jenny” has to be one of the most touching poems I’ve ever read, and “Endless,” the title poem, is simply stunning, particularly its last line. “Passion” is certainly passionate as the writer reveals a love in his life and has to be one of the sexiest poems ever.

Not that the poems shy away from the dark events of life. “Non-Communion” is a strong, unflinching look at divorce, and “Hush” gives us the multiple stories of people that society would like to ignore. I wouldn’t have liked to have been the subject of “Dismissal” or the recipient of “You & Me.”

EndlesS also takes a look at the end of the world (“No One Expected It to Happen”), the lure of a mermaid (“Undertow”), paganism (appropriately titled “Pagan”), the marriage problems of a Native American couple (“Wounded Needs”), and many other subjects.

The poems are clear and understandable even on first reading, but as I re-read the poems to write this review, I was impressed and intrigued by the hidden meanings that occurred to me. All in all, EndlesS is full of riches that even a person not fond of poetry will enjoy and a poetry lover will be thrilled by it. I highly recommend it.

(EndlesS will go on sale June 1st exclusively at Lulu.com)

EndlesS goes on sale June 1st

       EndlesS, my first collection of poetry, goes on sale June 1st at Lulu.com. From the back cover:

Enjoy over 50 sensual and moving poems from the prize-winning Oklahoma poet Stephen B. Bagley, including "Passion," "Non-Communion," "Creationsong," and many other reader favorites.

      Also from the back cover, one of the poems from the book:

Torrent

Your love on me lies
sunbright glistening
on the waters of
my cascading soul
as it tumbles through
the lichen-covered
rocks of pain and hope.

And sometimes you ask
why I love only
you as if rivers
could somehow choose the
paths of their journeys
to the sun-touched sea.

Copyright 2008 by Stephen B. Bagley. All rights reserved.

      I hope you enjoy the collection, which will be available exclusively at Lulu.com.

Things to chat about

      Crystal's on her way back from Florida now. I don't know why. Florida sounds wonderful. I think she should stay there and buy a huge house where we could all go and live. Doesn't that sound nice?
      Last night, I'd like to say that I worked on MBTA, but I didn't. I took the night off. Sue me. I did have a nice meal with TL and Kyra at a local Italian restaurant. TL moves to Texas this weekend. His lovely and talented wife Mel couldn't join us because she was sick. I suspect she's ill because she's leaving me -- my town, I mean. I'll miss both of them and wish them well.
      Kent is in Atlanta today. He was in Cleveland a couple of days back. About once a year, his job takes him to various cities. These are business trips so he doesn't get to sight see. Most he's stuck in the hotel or conference room. Not much fun.
      I've been trying to develop a friends list on my MySpace page. Slow going. I find MySpace confusing. It seems to take a lot of work to change layouts and produce good copy. I'll keep working on it. The potential audience is huge, but reaching them is the problem. You can visit my page by clicking here.
      Kristen received her Murder by the Acre t-shirt. She says she will produce a photo of her wearing it some time soon. I'm looking forward to seeing what she will do. I looked at her photos on her Flickr account and discovered she's an excellent photographer. She and Michelle have real talent with a camera. Wish I was so gifted.
      Trixie gave us two posts Tuesday. A long one and a short one, but both were interesting. I mention this because A) we've all been a bit slack in posting and B) I've always admired her ability to keep moving forward despite what life throws at her. If I'm the original bounce-n-go boy, she's the original get-back-up-n-go girl.
      I'm placing the following here because I found it interesting and helpful. These "laws" won't be in MBTA, but they'll make an appearance in MBTM, I bet. Thanks to Kristen for featuring them on her other blog.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

S. R. Ranganathan, known as the "the father of library science in India," and respected by librarians all over the world, proposed five laws of library science. Most librarians worldwide accept them as the foundations of their philosophy.

These laws are:

Books are for use.
Every reader his [or her] book.
Every book its reader.
Save the time of the User.
The library is a growing organism.

       And now I have to get ready for work. Talk to y'all later.

Loons & other things

      I've been thinking recently about my failures with relationships with women, and I think it boils down to this: Women are universally insane. Bonkers. Loony tunes. Nuts. Several bricks shy of a load. A bunch of bananas from the crazy tree. Mad as hatters. Batty as bats. Steeples without bells. Bells without clappers. Clappers without hands. Hands without fingers. Fingers without prints. Prints without ink. Ink without cartridges. Cartridges without guns. Guns without triggers. Trigger without Roy. Roy without Dale. Dale without a valley. Valleys without a river. Rivers without water. Water without wet. Wet without a suit. Suits without a tie. Ties without a knot. Knots without a rope. You get the point, right?
      Now here's the craziest, looniest, maddest, most insane thing of all: I like 'em. I want 'em. I gotta have 'em. It's obvious that I'm perfect for them because I'm as bonkers -- or even more bonkers -- than they are. So what I'm really looking for, what I need, is a woman to be crazy along with me. We could wear our clown suits as we skip happily through life, throwing pies, spraying seltzer water, tripping people with our huge shoes. We could have lots of kids and get one of those tiny cars and travel around the country spreading happy insanity as we go. There are worse lives, you know.

*

      I've been working on the back cover copy for Murder by the Acre. What do you think of the following?

The librarian and the reporter are back! This time Bernard and Lisa stumble on a body in an underground house. As they and Police Chief Donaldson investigate, they're drawn into a confusing mystery of lies and alibis that involve the upper crust of Ryton, Oklahoma. Questions abound: Why doesn't the wife of the dead man seem to care that he's dead? Why doesn't his mistress? How was he killed and why? What does the Aventura Corporation have to do with the murder? Soon the mystery spirals out-of-control as the murderer strikes again and again. As the three dig deeper, they upset powerful people. The chief might lose his job, but Bernard and Lisa may lose their lives in Murder by the Acre.

*

       Crystal and her son are enjoying the beaches of Florida this week. She's been calling and torturing -- uh -- giving me updates on their vacation. They're visiting family and generally having a great vacation. Someday I'll have a vacation again. Someday.

*

       I will be traveling this Friday up to see my second oldest niece graduate from high school. I'm very proud of her. My whole family will be up there to see this milestone in her life. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

*

      I've been attempting to use my recumbent bike again. My legs hate me. They're quite bitter about it. I keep telling them that it's good for us. They are not convinced. My arms make fun of them. My arms don't know that we're about to start using hand weights. Poor, silly arms.

*

       I have a MySpace page now. It's www.myspace.com/harborstreet. Drop by and give it a look. I intend to keep blogging here, though. I'm going to use it for publicity for MBTA. We'll see how it goes.

*

      And now it's time to get ready for work. Have a great day!

Vision

      I got asked if I was serious about only writing for cash as I said in a couple of posts back. That column was humor, so it was exaggerated for effect. Obviously, I have other reasons to write. (I write poetry, for instance, which has to be lowest paying writing out there other than fanfic.) But yes, cash is nice. Someday I hope to get a chance to really sell out, to throw aside all my artistic aspirations for tons of lovely cash.
      As I've said before, I've always had a pen in my hand as soon as I could make words. I remember spending a lot of my teenage years attempting to get some fairly dreadful short stories published by Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. I actually got a couple of handwritten rejection notes from George Scithers, ASFM's editor at the time. He was famous for encouraging young writers, and I appreciated his kind words even though he never published any of the thirty or so stories I sent him.
      I still have all of those odd stories in my files. Almost all of them are science fiction; I hadn't discovered my love of fantasy yet. I wouldn't read Tolkien until my first year in college; that was life-changing event. Of course, I had read Andre Norton's fantasies for years, but she had never had approached the sweep of Tolkien. This is not to disparage Norton. She wrote some fantastically entertaining books and was the master of space opera, long before anyone thought to give it that term. But it was Tolkien who would send me into fantasy, and Tolkien who would also stop me from writing fiction for years.
      The Lord of Rings trilogy simply overwhelmed me. I was stunned by his vision and the scope of his world. The books were loaded with fictional riches. And I realized that I could never match his skill or talent. I wasn't around other writers so I had no one to tell me that I wasn't supposed to match his skill, that writing isn't a competition, that my vision might not be as clear as his but that didn't mean I couldn't pursue it. Instead, I wrote non-fiction.
      I was a journalism major and had worked for various newspapers and magazines since I was 15. These included: Big Basin Herald, Muldrow Times-Record, The Bulldog (high school paper), Lion's Pride (community college newspaper), The Daily O'Collegian (Oklahoma State University's newspaper), The Weatherford Daily News, Your Country Music Magazine, OKmagazine, Nautilus Magazine, Wildlife Magazine, Pontotoc Country Chronicles, etc. I spent a lot of words on those articles. I even attempted to seize the golden ring of journalism: National Geographic Magazine. (They sent me a very nice rejection slip.)
      During all that non-fiction, I had continued to write poetry and to play with the idea of series of mystery novels. Eventually that idea would lead to Murder by Dewey Decimal. I've already told its story before so we won't repeat that here. The Measurements of Murder Mystery™ series is set in a small town because that's what I know best. I had also learned that the huge sweeping novel should have characters at its heart, and I know the people in Ryton. They're all part of me -- Bernard's love of books and his desire to not be a spectator on life, Lisa's love of words and her fears that her talent isn't enough to lead to success, the chief's love of justice and his desire to protect the people he loves -- I understand them and can clearly see where their motivations will lead them.
      Not that I gave up the hope of writing a fantasy. Dragons Gather is loaded with magic and even a dragon, but once again, its characters are people I know, aspects of me and my fears, hopes, and desires. Darkness, Oklahoma is a small town, just like Ryton or what Ryton would be if witches, beasts, and monsters roamed its streets along with the folks I know and grew up with.
      In other words, I'm not JRR Tolkien, Holly Lisle, Stephen R. Donaldson, Andre Norton, Jim Butcher, Glen Cook, Wilbur Smith, Stephen King, or any of other many authors whose work I admire and collect. (By the way, have you purchased Holly Lisle's The Ruby Key yet? Go buy it now. You absolutely won't be sorry.) Of course, I'd like to have the success of those authors, but I can't be them. I can only pursue my visions, such as they might be.
      Visions need to be fed, though. And when people buy my books and share my visions, it encourages me to keep writing and attempting to share the worlds I can see. So when someone buys one of my books, I feel like they've joined me. It validates my vision, and that's a good feeling, one that cash doesn't ever give me.

4th Harbor Street Podcast

       Click the below link to listen to the fourth Harbor Street podcast. (I finally got WildVoice to work again.)

Harbor Street Podcast 4

      I hope you enjoy the show.

Why I write

       “I’m sure that seeing your book in print is enough,” the sweet, elderly lady said. “If you don’t sell another single copy in your entire life, you will have a book to cherish.”
       We were at my first book signing, and I looked up at her, having just signed her book, and then I leaped the table and wrapped my hands around her throat and choked her until she turned purple. No, that’s not what I did. I simply smiled at her and took her money. Later I pushed her down some stairs. She broke a hip and was there three days fighting off rats and insurance salesmen before they found her.
       No, I didn’t do that, either. For one thing, I’m not that kind of person, and for another, she was a jogger and outran me.
       But she was wrong. I wrote my book to sell it. Yes, it’s incredibly cool to have a book in print, one of the best experiences of my life, but if no one bought it, I wouldn’t keep writing. I’m not bright, but even I realize when it’s time to stop hitting your head against a brick wall. If only Hillary understood that.
       Fortunately, Murder by Dewey Decimal has sold. To friends, family, and — importantly — people who don’t even know me and thus aren’t afraid that I’ll ruthlessly hunt them down. Which is funny, really, because I’d be more inclined to hunt strangers because I know where my friends and family are every single minute of the day.
       And now in June I’ll have two books out that you’ll be forced — uh — will be able to buy. We’ll have EndlesS, a collection of my favorite poetry, and Murder by the Acre, the sequel to Murder by Dewey Decimal in which Bernard, Lisa, and the chief once again show us why Ryton is one of the most dangerous small towns in Oklahoma. And yes, EndlesS has that capital ‘S’ at the end of it. Don’t ask. It’s a deep poetic reason that I can’t really explain, but might be the result of childhood brain trauma.
       Ryton is, of course, the fictional town that the Measurements of Murder Mystery™ series is set in. And it is a dangerous place, particularly if you know Lisa and Bernard who seem to have the knack of finding dead bodies. At least, they say they “find” them. Frankly, I’d be suspicious of them. They’re a lot like Jessica Fletcher of ‘Murder She Wrote’ fame. Everywhere she goes, people die. I wouldn’t invite that psycho broad anywhere near my house.
       EndlesS isn’t that dangerous, although to see people’s faces when I tell them that it’s poetry, you’d think it was a box of snakes. I end up saying things like, ‘It won’t hurt you,’ and ‘Don’t be afraid.’ Several people have timidly told me that they will buy EndlesS to support me, but they probably won’t read it. They always apologize, not realizing that I’m happy as long as I get their cash so they’re safe.
       Anyway, two books in one month. I won’t do that again. Until next year, of course, when I’ll put out Murder by the Mile and Floozy. Just think of all that good money — uh — reading. Sigh.

Energy crisis

      Stressful days at work the past few days. Taking a lot out of me. I come home and grimly attempt to get some words. Writing takes energy; as much as I love it, I don’t have enough for it, too.
      Fulltime writers have problems. I can see that easily. No steady paychecks, constant worry about the next book, fretting over sales numbers, isolation from other people -- I can see all those drawbacks. Nothing is easy. I know that. But still … to stop having each book feel like a marathon. To be able to devote energy easily instead of stealing it from tomorrow. I now have a sleep debt that stretches into the next century.
      No complaints. After all, no one is making me do this. There is no gun to my head. I could stop. I could walk away. I have a job. I have a life, neglected as it may be lately. But I don’t. I don’t stop. It makes me crazy, this refusal to give up, this need to keep trying, this drive that brooks no refusal, that doesn’t care how sick I am or how tired or lonely or sad. Driven.
      So here I am. Thought I’d blog while I attempt to work out a scene. I have a character who is not behaving as he should. This is the last chapter. We don’t need any more false clues. It’s time for the end game. The payoff.
      Anyway, that’s what I’m doing. Murder by the Acre is coming along. I don’t think it will be finished this weekend, but maybe. Crystal has finished proofing everything except this last chapter. I’m still aiming for a publication date of June 30. And I’m waiting for another proof of EndlesS. It will be on sale June 1. I mailed the first proof copy to Trixie Tuesday. She should be receiving it soon.
      So I’ll close and go wrestle with the words. Hope things are going well in your world. Talk to you later.

Latest news

      No podcast this last weekend if you didn't notice. WildVoice, the free podcast program I was using, stopped working. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it several times, but no go. I'm looking for another solution and hope to podcast again this weekend.
      However, I did have the drawing for the proof copy of EndlesS, the collection of some of my poems. And the winner is (imagine DRUMROLL here) Trixie! (Imagine CROWD APPLAUSE here) That's right, Trixie, you won the proof copy of EndlesS! Just email me your mailing address, and I'll get it sent right out to you!
      The writing is going slowly on Murder by the Acre. This is the nitty-gritty time where I work to make to everything fit and settle all the questions raised by the book -- or at least enough to them to satisfy most of the readers. (After all, it is a series. I need to leave a couple of things unsettled so that I can build on them next time.) Between writing spells, I'm entering in the many corrections that Crystal found for me. She'd done a great job, and only lacks the last chapter, the one I'm working on now. Sometime next week, the book will go to the second proofreader, the lovely and lively Frenzied Feline.
      Speaking of next week, my second oldest niece J-May will graduate from high school next weekend. I'll be traveling up there to witness her walking across the stage. She has won a lot of scholarships with her high grades and vocal talent, and is excited about attending college. My sibs and their families will be at the graduation, too. I'm looking forward to it.
      I'm still fighting a spring cold. Or maybe it's allergies. Hard to tell since the meds are the same either way, for the most part.
      I slept badly last night. Or maybe just not enough. I seem to have a sleep deficit most days. I once actually fell asleep at my desk. Slow, boring day, and I closed my eyes and was out. Woke up a few minutes later disoriented. Very weird. It all has to do with giving up caffeine for the most part.
      I'll close now and get ready for work. I hope you have a great day and week. Talk to you later.

Inevitable

      A certain amount of inevitability travels with you when you're writing the end of a book. The story comes to a destination, and all the side trips are over. I find myself writing slowly and more carefully, trying to make sure that all the questions are answered, that the story is going to end as it should with only the planned plot surprises.
      Murder by the Acre is at over 64,000 now. I think it will come in around 75,000 or so. It can't go any longer than that or the price would increase substantially. So the story has to end at 75,000 words, even if that means I have to back up and cut scenes out of earlier chapters. I'm going to try to avoid that. Did I mention that May 18 is the deadline? On that date -- or sooner depending on what the story needs -- MBTA will be finished.
      Crystal has the corrections about finished on Chapters 1-6. She should be sending them to me Thursday. I'll enter them into the manuscript, and then send the whole thing back to her, including the infamous Chapter 7. Chapter 8 will complete the book. These are longer chapters than in the first book. Don't know why, other than that's what seemed to work.
      Not much else to tell you. The second proof copy of EndlesS is on its way. I'm really curious to see how the new cover looks when published. EndlesS will be available from Lulu.com in both softcover and hardcover. The softcover may be available on the on-line retailers, but I'm going to have to see how much that costs. Both versions will available at my book signings.
      Murder by the Acre will available in softcover at Lulu.com at first, but I intend to submit it also to the online retailers, once again depending on what it costs. By that, I mean what the online retailers will charge for it. I want the book there, but if it's at some ridiculous price like $30 or so, I don't think many people will buy it. $30 is lot of money for a book from a relative unknown, and when you consider it will be a softcover version, well, I think that would be the end of that. So this may mean that MBTA will only available on Lulu and at my book signings. I thought I might do some mail order myself, but I can't supply books any cheaper than Lulu does so folks might as well order it from them. I might offer some signed copies by mail. I'll have to wait to see.
      What other news do I have? Well, I might be getting myself a Wii. No, I've not got the video game bug. I'm not a video game fan, but apparently the Wii has some games that have exercise components to them. No, I don't know what they are yet. I'll know more this weekend when I and my roomie go to look at one. Should be interesting.
      Yeah, I'm still trying to lose weight. Not trying very hard, but trying nonetheless. When the book is over, I'm going to devote some time to it. That's the rub right now. I can't spare an hour or two every day to exercise. Not if I intend to have MBTA out by the end of June. And that’s what I intend.
      Do you like authors' photos on books? I can't say it matters much to me either way, but I've been told by a few people that I should put my photo on the back of the book. (Small photo, of course.) I've thought about it and don't feel inclined to do so, but what do you think? Good idea or bad? (And yes, I'd be wearing clothes, Crystal.) Either way, it won't be on this book, but maybe Murder by the Mile. That's next year's problem.
      In bad news, my good friends TL and his lovely wife Mel are going to be moving to Texas. I'm going to miss them terribly. My little town will never grow into its dreams until it is able to provide good paying jobs to bright, entergetic young people like TL and Mel.
      And now I'm going to get ready for work. Have a great day.

Home stretch

      Kirsten won the Murder by the Acre t-shirt! I've already ordered it, and it's on the way to her. (In fact, it shipped today. If you didn't know, Cafepress makes it very easy to send out gift purchases.) Kirsten writes the Now or Never blog. Stop by and say hi.
      I'm on the home stretch on Murder by the Acre. We're only a few thousand away from 68,500, but it doesn't look like the book is going to come in that total. I think it's going to be between 70,000 and 75,000. I'm not sure exactly, but sometime between now and May 18, this "final" rewrite will be done. I'll be glad to be done with it, but I will also be a bit sad. It's like leaving a friend.
      Besides writing and housework, I worked on the May family newsletter. I hope to finish it tonight or mostly finish it. I've been printing excerpts from the first chapter in the newsletter. I'll be finished with the first chapter in the June newsletter, which is good timing since the book will come out the last week of June or the first week of July.
       I'm waiting for the next proof copy of EndlesS. It has the new cover on it and has several formatting changes. I think there will be one more proof as I want to make a couple of more changes in it, but it should go on sale in June, barring unforeseen circumstances. By the way, you can enter a drawing to win the first proof copy of EndlesS by listening to the 3rd 51313 Harbor Street Podcast and following the simple instructions. We'll be announcing the winner this weekend at during the 4th 51313 Harbor Street Podcast this weekend.
      Well, I have to get to MBTA. Hope you're having a great day. Night!

3rd Harbor Street Podcast!

       Click the below link to listen to the third Harbor Street podcast.

Harbor Street Podcast 3

      In this show, we
            1. announce the winner of the first Murder by the Acre t-shirt giveaway,
            2. announce a new contest where you can win a proof copy of EndlesS,
            3. enjoy a poetry reading from Frenzied Feline,
            4. and talk about how Murder by the Acre is going.
      I hope you enjoy the show.

     Did you see the cover for EndlesS in yesterday's post? I'm very pleased about how it turned out. That's my photo on the cover, by the way.
      I hope things are going well for you. I'm very busy with Murder by the Acre and with putting EndlesS to bed. That's about all I have time to do. Sometime in July, I'll get my life back for a couple of weeks before I plunge into Darkness, Oklahoma and plotting Murder by the Mile for National Novel Writing Month in November.
      Anyway, that's all I have to talk about today. Talk to you later. (And privately to J. Clayton of Greystroke. Yes, you're a real swinger, but that doesn't mean J. Porter is. Don't go ape on her. Just take it slow.)

EndlesS cover

      EndlesS should be on sale in June, too. It's a collection of some of my favorite poems.



      Tomorrow we have a full podcast. We'll be announcing the winner of the first MBTA contest (Have you went to the 2nd podcast post and entered yet?); special guest Jolene AKA Frenzied Feline will be reading one of the poems from EndlesS; we'll be announcing a new contest, this one for the EndlesS; and we'll be talking about Murder by the Acre, of course, and a few other things. Be sure to drop by and give it a listen.
      If you like Star Wars®, you can stop by here and get a free audio book download or electronic book download of Betrayal, the first book in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. The offer ends May 13, so hurry on over if you're interested.
      And that's about all I have to tell you tonight. I hope things are going well for you. Have a great night and a wonderful tomorrow. Night!

Strange to think

      It's strange to think that sometime next week, Murder by the Acre will be finished. After all these months. Of course, I will still have the proofing to do and corrections to enter and the cover design to finish, etc., but still, the major writing and re-writing will be finished on it. Sometime in June or early July, we will have a book.
      Actually we will have two books. Endless, my collection of poetry, will be out in June or July, too. In fact, Lulu is producing a proof copy of Endless for me right now. I should get it this week or next week. I already know -- or think I know -- that I'm going to change the cover, but we'll see what it looks like when it arrives.
      What's after MBTA and Endless? Well, of course, I will be doing joint book signings for both and lots of publicity work and mailings. As for writing, I intend to return to Darkness, Oklahoma and get it ready to go out to an agent or publisher. I'm also going to work on getting Floozy ready to publish with Lulu. (Floozy is my collection of humor.) Then in October, I will spend it plotting Murder by the Mile and getting ready for National Novel Writing Month in November. I'll be writing MBTM for NaNoWriMo. Yes, I am crazy. And then we'll publish Floozy and MBTM in 2009. That's the plan, man.
      Did you listen to the blogcast and enter the contest yet? You still have two days (today and tomorrow because I intend to do the 3rd podcast Saturday) to do so. And no, you don't have to submit a photo of yourself wearing the shirt if you really don't want to. And if I don't have have the size you need, you can always give to your children, spouse, or friend. I just want the shirt worn so that it will advertise MBTA. Is that so much to ask? No, it isn't. (TL, you could win it for Mel. And Crystal, you could win it for M or his girlfriend or yourself. And ER, you could win it for ... uh ... Hmm. I don't know if Dr. ER would wear it or not. But you could wear it yourself. Or modify it into a flag to hang beside your Confederate flag.)
      Speaking of the podcast, I'm hoping that we will have a "surprise guest" this week. I'll let you know if I can work that out. EDITED TO ADD: Yes, we can work it out! Frenzied Feline will be reading one of my poems this week on the podcast. Awesome!