It's Almost the End of the Year - Writing Update

 

Writing - After a couple of years of low output, I am once again rolling along. Yep, I am writing, editing, and working on a new book cover. With a bit of luck, I might get something published in 2025.

Weather - We are experiencing a mild winter so far. We have been getting more wind than I like, but most days are reaching close to 40 degrees with an occasional 50. It was so mild, in fact, that I played golf several days last week.

The early sunsets make it seem like the days are shorter, which, according to the calendar, they are as far as sunlight is concerned.

Books - Tonight, I should have the third book in my series for seniors ready to send to my first readers.

Walking - I'm still getting in my morning walks. A skiff of snow slowed me down today when I was on hard-surfaced roads. Luckily, most of my walking is on gravel, which is much safer for an old guy like me.

Today’s Photos – From my walks and drives nearby. 

Have a great rest of the month. Make sure to finish your Christmas shopping soon. Meanwhile, keep on reading and keep on writing.

 

Writing Thought from Someone Famous - “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” William Faulkner

November Writing Update

Long Time - As I say each time, it's been a while. No, I'm not dead; I'm just not actively writing much. In the past few days, I have started to edit one of my finished projects, hoping to get to the final edit done stage. Maybe I'm back. 

What am I Doing? I am staying busy, working on putting my yard and gardens to bed for the winter, and still spending some time out with my cameras. It is always fun.

Staying Busy - I found myself following more of the news as we went through another election cycle. My hope for the new administration is that prices will stop going up. I would love to see them drop, but I have lost hope for that. 

Keeping Fit - Still working on staying physically active and making sure to get my daily walks in. On that note, I am ready to create a cover for my book on senior walking/fitness. Yes, that one is done. 

Western Writing - My Blade Holmes western mystery, book 3 of the series, should be out this spring. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

With my Camera - Photos today are from my morning walks this month.

Writing Quote of the Day - “You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” — Annie Proulx.

Random Thoughts, Writing, and Loving My Outside Days

Random thoughts today - 

Where has this month and the summer gone? It's hard to believe it's already the last day of July. Here in Wyoming, we have been warm and dry, as normal, but maybe a bit dryer than the past two or three years.

I continue to work, halfheartedly, on some of my finished books. Someday I will reach the level of polish that I want before I reach the satisfaction I need to publish. Meanwhile, I spend too much time working on covers for the two books closest to completion.

I have been spending some time in the mountains, but my outside hours are curtailed presently as we have a huge fire that got within two miles of town yesterday. We are safe, but lots of smoke. 

It seems I am spending more time writing on X and Facebook than I do on my fiction and nonfiction. Oh well—I guess I am still writing something. 

Photos from around my little part of the world this month.

"I need this wild life, this freedom." Zane Grey

Getting Back

Sometimes, it is difficult to get back. But, slowly, I am. For the past two weeks, I have been both writing and editing some works I have finished but not polished. Odd, but I thought they were finished, but I couldn’t get myself to publish. The reason was simple – they were not ready. Why? They were not good enough. I still had work to do and knew it. Now, I seem to be rolling along and, best of all -  enjoying it.

We have been busy enjoying summer company and doing some traveling ourselves. After physical complications kept me off the golf course for two years, I am also back at it again.

Enjoy your summer!

Photos today from our adventures over the past week here in beautiful Wyoming.

2024 - Writing/Edits and a Book Excerpt

And Off We Go - We are off and running now - it's already the second week of January. For us, that means cold, and it's coming. Nighttime lows down to -20 this weekend, and right now, we are waiting for the furnace man to show up. We have good space heaters and a gas fireplace, so we are not in any danger, but that makes for some hot and some cold rooms. Oh, how I like my creature comforts.

Edits Never End - have been spending about two hours a day editing, for the final time, my third book for older readers. This one follows On Turning 70 and Elderly. Titled Morning Walk, it is a physical and mental well-being book. As usual in this series, I try to add as many antidotes, stories, and jokes as I believe my readers can stand. Getting old is many things, even, at times, funny. I have put this one away so many times, but now it is starting to grow on me, looks like a go. 

Morning Walk -  an excerpt from chapter 2. 

Walking is as close to the perfect exercise as will ever be found. We can do it anywhere and at any time of the day - other than a good pair of shoes, no special equipment is needed.  I walk in blue jeans or khakis with a t-shirt or a hoodie in cooler weather.  In warm weather, it’s shorts and a tee shirt.  I see people dressed like me, and I see people dressed to the nines in the latest fashion for runners and walkers.  For younger readers, dressed to the nines is something from my childhood and teen years. Not sure why it made a comeback in the 50s and 60s, as the term goes back about 200 years.  My favorite explanation of this saying is that tailors, at one time, used nine yards of material to make their best suits.  Thus, dressed in the best the tailor could sew together, they would be dressed to the nines. That’s a pretty long-winded explanation of people who dress in nice running/walking gear when I see them on the trail.

 

Photos - Today's photos are from my walks and drives over the past few days/weeks.

Quote of the Day - “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case you fail by default." -  J. K. Rowling

 

That’s it for today - stay warm and enjoy winter as much as possible.

 

With New Year's Come New Beginnings

I hope everyone is off to a great start in the new year. My 2023 was a bit of a loss, so I am happy to put it behind me. 

Starting Over - again

I have started and stopped so many projects in the past two years that I could not, even if I wanted to, count them. Now feeling much better, maybe, just maybe, this will be the year I will publish one or two, or all three of my finished first drafts.

Last year, after having a neck fusion in mid-December, I was determined to walk an extra 1,000 miles in 2023. I kept track and made it with three weeks to spare. This was an accomplishment I was proud of since I was still using a walker to get around on January 1, 2023. Now thirty pounds lighter, I am back, mowing the grass, playing golf, traipsing around the countryside with one of my cameras, and enjoying life as a somewhat older person. 

Writing - For many years, I wrote around 300,000. In the past two years combined, I have written about 50,000. Not so good! This year, with some good luck, I hope to get at least 10,000 per month - I will keep you posted.

Maybe this will be one of many writing posts in the new year. I sure hope so.

Photos from in and around our little place in the world.

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”    Eleanor Roosevelt

Thanks for reading - in 2024, keep writing, and keep reading.