Home At Last

Maybe that's the best part of going away for a vacation-coming home again.” ―  Madeleine L'Engle, Meet the Austins

The North Platte River a few blocks from HOME

It is always nice to be back home. For me, two weeks away is too much. I love to see and experience new places, always learn a lot. But am always ready to get back home usually after a few days.

Have you ever noticed how plain things around you are? Then you go away and come back, and everything looks extraordinary. If for no other reason that is a good argument to take a vacation. We didn’t go far, not by today’s standards, but for us quite a trip.

The highlights? The Vicksburg Mississippi Battlefield National Park, and a riverboat ride in Branson Missouri. 

Southern Cemetery at Vicksburg - sobering

Questions I would like answered from my trip.

1.    Are there any live armadillos? I sure saw a lot of road killed ones. I have a theory that all armadillos are dead and there are no live ones, not sure but could be – maybe not.

2.   Are speed limits just a suggestion? Sure seems that way.

3.   Does Louisiana have more trees per acre than any other state?

-New to me, food, on this trip-

1. Jambalaya – not bad, surprised me, I kind of liked it

2. Southern Blackened Chicken – too hot for this ol’ Cowboy

3. *Arbuckle Fried Pies at Turner Falls, Oklahoma – now we’re talking, very good

The red beans and rice with cornbread - good both times I tried it, as always.

*Not my first rodeo here, love this place.

        Well there it is, my vacation report – Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma. Now its home until February.

The sun sets over the Mississippi River at Vicksburg

“How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.”  ― William Faulkner

 

 

Becoming a Famous Writer

Combing over the nonfiction section of a book store recently it looks to me that famous people write lots of books. Most of these titles didn’t tempt me much, not much at all. Funny how, not many authors get famous, but many famous people fancy themselves as authors. It does do one thing for the writing profession, it keeps authors willing to research and ghost write busy.

 I have been told that the average self-published book sells less than 100 copies and that the smallest of publishing houses often sell less than 100 of a title also. That’s not many books, the competition is fierce, but I still believe that well written fiction or nonfiction can sell if properly promoted. Therein lies the answer to most self-published authors selling so few books, marketing. If someone is already famous and has instant name recognition the selling part is easy.

Seems like I saw more unknown authors that were trying to sell fiction and how-to books than nonfiction. Not sure why, just what I ran across in my most recent visit to a book store – and it was an independent.

Oh – did I buy anything? One paperback by a midlist author that I like, I have read a half dozen or more of her books. When I read unknowns, I always download from Amazon. My price range for these unknown author books, free to $2.99.

Just Looking for a Good Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canvas of Our Time

Although there are quite a few western writers whose stories I enjoy as much or more than Louis L’Amour, his, Education of a Wandering Man, is one of my favorite books regardless of genre.

My favorite quote from the book:

“A mistake constantly made by those who should know better is to judge people of the past by our standards rather than their own. The only way men or women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time.”

In all my years in front of my classes I constantly reminded myself, and my students, that judgment is best left in its own day and age and Mr. L’Amour certainly said it most eloquently.

Another Time and Place

My All New, How to Write Book

Type, writing books, into an Amazon book search and you will get hundreds of books, yes hundreds. Seems how to write books are popular. Some are by famous writers, some by semi-famous writers and many by unknown writers. I googled a few of the authors of what I thought, were obscure books, about the art of writing, and you know what I found? It appears some have written nothing or very little other than the how to write book.

 

Humm, seems odd, writing books by people that are not really writers, or have very little writing to their credit. Think I will continue my practice of googling authors and reading previews of their work before buying. In the meantime I am working on my new writing book, How to Write a Writing Book, should be a best seller. Believe I will talk with my banker in the morning about where to invest my millions.

 

If this plan doesn’t work out for me, see my next book – How To Play In the NFL and Make Millions, Without Working Out, Regardless of Your Age.

 

Nice Wyoming Photo – just for fun.



Parade Grounds at Fort Laramie

 

 

A Good Edit

Getting a good edit is important. Do it yourself or hire someone, it doesn’t matter. But be careful of random editors soliciting on the web.

 I just read an advertisement from a, so called, editing company that bordered on unbelievable. I hope writers are not this gullible. The article explained why a cheap edit was a bad edit, and writers should hire this company to get a good and correct edit. The problem? In one paragraph their math said editing eight pages at two dollars per page netted ten dollars.

Hum –

8 X 2=10, new math I guess.  They also used the word here for hear and rambled so bad that their entire argument for hiring them seemed laughable.

My take, edit. But do it yourself, research and find a good professional editor, or with good luck, get a book contract and let them edit.

Good Luck!

**NOTE – If you find errors in my stuff, the above is an unedited post, but then again I do not claim to be an editor.

But then again, if you want to send money my way, oh never mind.

Fort Laramie Officers Quarters

Writing a Better Book - Like Building a Better Mousetrap

I have been a fan, most of my life, of the works and words of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Recently I, once again, heard someone quote him as saying, “if a man can build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to his door.” The meaning? If you do something better than everyone else, or better than most everyone else, you will be in demand, along with your product. I think authors are the same, if they produce a better product, book, than everyone else, the world will read it. I might add here, if it is marketed well.

J.k. Rowling and Lee Child have proved over the last few years that a writer can build that better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to the bookstore. How do they do it, like Emerson, write about the world through yourself? Create great characters and put them in situations as if you were there, then get them out.

 Seems to me that all great writers have one thing in common, at least one great character. Much like Rowling’s, Harry Potter and Child’s, Jack Reacher, a great character drives the story. I love great characters in novels and will often read every book the author has about a character that I like.

And for today’s, by the way, moment. Emerson said, “If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor the world will beat a path to his door.” Unfortunately Emerson was long gone, having passed away several years before, when this quote was widely attributed to him. So my guess is he probably never said it.

 But he did say, “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.”

Write On!

 

 

Is It Good Enough?

Two questions that every author asks -- When is it finished and is it good enough?

There are two, cult classic, movies that I have watched at least a dozen times, Eddie and the Cruisers and Eddie and the Cruisers II. The movies center on a 60s rock band that is ready to break through to the big time, but Eddie, the band leader, is not sure they are ready. In one scene the bass player says, “We’re not great, we’re just a bunch of guys from Jersey, and Eddie says, “If we can’t be great then there is no reason to make the music.” I am paraphrasing from memory here, but those words are close enough to get the meaning of the scene.

Who is right and how does this apply to writers? Do writers write to be great, or do they write with just a hope of being good enough to sell something? I have two complete novels, one complete non-fiction historical, two collections of short stories and various other finished and unfinished works. All are unpublished. Why? Not good enough, not by my standards anyway. One novel I have edited at least a dozen times, I like it, like it a lot, but the beginning is weak, too weak for me.

I have paragraphs that I rewrite every time I edit, never satisfied with what I have on paper. In my mind there seems to be no definitive end to when it is finished. I want perfect, not sure that’s going to happen. And in case you are new to my posts, I have published a dozen short stories, travel pieces and news articles in the past few years. Somehow I have hit publishing block with the longer stuff.

So what do I do? Write a new story for my grandkids, they love them all, and for them I don’t care if it’s perfect, just want to make it fun.

My Idea of Perfection - Wyoming Sunset Aug 10, 2014

 

Write on!