Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Like Should Pull You In, Chew You Up and Metaphorically Beat You to a Pulp Before it Spits You Out, Ready for the Next Ride

Writing of course takes a bit of thought whether you’re beginning a manuscript, in the middle or putting the finishing touches on your latest novel. I find that in the middle of the thoughts reserved for said manuscript move ???aside allowing outlandish discourse to float to the surface of my brain. Sometimes these thoughts drag me away from what is supposed to be the blog I am writing and into the clutches of nonsense.

For instance, if I were traveling around the globe and headed in an Easterly direction, no matter how long or how far my travels take me, I’d still be moving east. If I were to turn around and head in a Westerly direction the same is true regardless of the distance or travel time. I would still be traveling west.

Now switch to the top of the globe and begin the same journey only in a southerly direction. Once I reach the bottom of the globe, I am automatically moving north. Then as before, once I reach the furthest point North, I once again begin to move in a southerly direction.

Now I realize this is useless information that has nothing to do with anything. However, that’s just the way my brain works and this summation of how my cranium operates is more of a Boone than a bane.

This condition (if you will) allows me to fulfill my imagination and create some of the most outlandish creatures. I even tend to surprise myself at some of the beasts that move from my head to the virtual paper plastered across the computer screen.

All in all this has been a great help to me as I develop the complicated plots that tend to arise throughout my books. Thank you for allowing me to bend your ear and I’ll be in touch soon.

If We Don’t Get Our Kids Back Outside, They Won”t Remember How to Get There

If you’re an adult past the age of thirty or so, then you have a broader concept of the passage of time and how it relates to the way we chose to entertain ourselves. For instance, when I was a teenager too young to drive, I would spend a portion of spring, my entire summer, and a portion of fall, fishing the rivers, streams, and canals within walking distance of my home.

There were always blue gills, catfish, and the occasional bass to be had, but my favorite and superior tasting was the chain pickerel. This little monster (which we referred to as a “pike”) had a nickname which pronounced him the wolf of the water. Besides hitting your bait like a ton of bricks, it had the most delicious white flesh of any fresh water fish I’ve eaten.

If I travel back to years previous to my fishing escapades, I could always be found outside playing in the freshly plowed and disked fields during the day, or chasing lightning bugs and playing hide-n-seek at night. As children, no matter what we did day or night, in the heat and humidity of a summer day, or a fresh blanket of snow in February, it was always centered around outdoor activities.

It seems that now and for some time, kids have chosen to move inside, forsaking the boundless freedom of nature for the small cubicles void of fresh air and sunshine, for the buttons, screens, and headsets needed to operate a new wave of entertainment, the video game.

What happened to the miniature earthen works and construction sites excavated by the powerful Tonka toys? What became of tree houses, forts, six guns, bows and arrows that merged with the imagination of young minds creating a plethora of unique games?

Never give up. Perhaps one day we’ll see little fellers dressed in cowboy garb keeping the prairies safe for everyone. Until then, drop your remote or game controller, step outside, and get some sun.

Talk about enough fodder for countless stories, I believe I’ve found the mother-load.

Have a great week . . .

Year After Year Some Foods Never Grow Old

The Autumnal Equinox, marking the first day of fall, landed on September 23 this year. In my autumn blog, I normally talk of all the beautiful colors in the changing leaves that grace us as the greenery of summer takes its first steps to becoming dormant during the winter months.

This year, I believe I’ll commiserate regarding the last of the summer vegetable bounty. I don’t plant a large garden as I did in years gone by. Canning and freezing vegetables for the winter was a part of my summertime ritual. Not to save money, for if anything, it was more expensive to buy the seeds or the starter plants, prepare the soil, drop the seeds, set the plants, fertilize and weed the garden plot til harvest.

After all the love and care you show your back yard babies, they begin to ripen at different rates for the next month or two.

This confirms why you spend this massive amount of time and money on green plants with multiple colors and sizes of fruits and vegetables hanging from the stalks or sitting on the ground.

The unbelievable taste of the vine-ripened tomato, whether eaten just after being picked or two thick slices lying majestically between two pieces of bread to form the perfect B.L.T. makes the work all worth it.

Or perhaps your thing is a fresh ear of sweet corn . . . Wait, no one can eat just one ear of freshly shucked corn . . . I’ll start that again. Or, perhaps your thing is fresh ears of sweet corn. Butter the ears generously, apply salt and pepper, then perform your finest typewriter imitation swooning as the butter runs down your chin.

I’ll finish with a couple friends of mine. The first being Watermelon and the second Cantaloupe. Imagine a piece of red ambrosia placed inside of your mouth, so sweet that it seems to form a syrup, satisfying beyond belief.

Then, do the same with a piece of orange lusciousness (occasionally green) unbelievably sweet and most certainly a nectar of the gods. Do you see it?

These days we’re a bit too busy to plant a large garden and bother with the winter preservation of our summertime favorites.

We still get our fingers dirty with a few of our favorites, mine being hot peppers and heirloom tomatoes. We have a few cherry tomatoes and jalapeños left on the vines; however, soon we’ll have to purchase all we eat from our local grocer. No worries, there are plenty of root vegetables and some above ground salads that will thrive for a time after the frost comes. So once again, take good care of yourself, and I’ll be in touch next week.      

Is Planned Obsolescence Growing Obsolete?

Most of the things we use today are planned to last a certain amount of time. To me one of the most irritating objects made with this “planned obsolescence” is the light bulb. We use them in every room of the house–our ovens, refrigerators, automobiles. I even have several in my writer’s room; not just several bulbs, but several different types.

Many of my novels take place in wild areas where electricity is not available to power a conventional light source. Due to this unfortunate situation I am forced to lean on natural luminescence of one type or another or utilized sunlight for my comings and goings.

In my day to day life, incandescent bulbs are becoming a thing of the past. Back in the days of their popularity I’ve seen them last several months or blow as soon as electricity touched the filament.

This brings about a question. Why are some light bulbs still burning after a 100 years as opposed to the bulbs of today making it a few months before going dark? I know that carbon was used for the filaments in bulbs of yesteryear, while today we have gone to tungsten.

It just rubs me the wrong way to build something that will purposely fail after a short time on the job.

We all have things that crawl under our collar and gnaw away. Just thought I would share one of mine with you. Have a great week . . . I’ll be in touch soon.