Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Sea Witch published

Imagine for a moment, what would you do if you could change your entire life?

I did spend a little time thinking about it and this book is the result.

Come away for romance and adventure in The Sea Witch.


Now available on Amazon and Smashwords.




Friday, June 22, 2012

The week in writing.

It's been a really good week and I've gotten a lot done. "From Afar" has gotten off to a very good start and have completed most of the editing on "The Sea Witch". It's looking like I'll definitely be releasing "The Sea Witch" on July 1st as originally intended. Right now, it's also looking like "From Afar" could very well be my first novel. There is a lot of story to tell yet and I'm hurrying to tell it, I'm writing it down as fast as I can.

During this time I've also decided to not make any future releases on Amazon only but will continue to be available there. Sea Witch will also be available on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords, possibly other sites too as there have been requests for this. I don't want to leave anyone out, there's even a good chance that I'll be putting out a paperback of "From Afar". All of my other releases will be also made available more sites when they come off of Select.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The writing experience

Since changing to writing fiction from non-fiction a few things have changed. One of those is what's involved in the writing process for me. It's almost as if I'm in two places, I'm experiencing one and I'm writing in another. To be pulled back from the one that I'm experiencing is sometimes kind of painful to tell you the truth.

While you read the characters and the scenes I've seen them, in my mind anyways. I just hope that when I've finished writing the story you will be able to see a little of what I've experienced while writing it.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Summer Heat and the garden

It's been really hot here lately, 94 degrees yesterday. From what I understand it's the hottest summer on record since they began keeping track. Should have a little temperature break today and tomorrow though here where I am, the 80's will feel good.

We are having a few issues with lettuce wilt and some of the other plants because of that heat. Probably the oddest is that it looks like the strawberries have been burned slightly. So far, the potatoes, garlic, peas and cucumbers don't seem to be having any heat issues. Kind of surprises me with the potatoes, they are one of the more temperature sensitive plants you can grow.

Proper Watering

Make sure you are properly watering your garden and lawn, either water in the evening around sunset or before 7 AM. During the daytime if you water it can kind of be like little lenses on your plants which will in essence burn them. It can also cause plant DNA changes from what I also understand which isn't a good thing.

If you live in a place with higher humidity than we have here, water everything in the morning. Standing water over the evening will cause mildew.

Here in Colorado where I am our normal humidity is between 35 and 40%. That's just about desert dry, you need to water at night or it won't soak in properly. This is what I based the advice I gave in "Growing Things" I'll admit.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Interesting quote from Kurt Vonnegut


I guarantee you that no modern story scheme, even plotlessness, will give a reader genuine satisfaction, unless one of those old-fashioned plots is smuggled in somewhere. I don't praise plots as accurate representations of life, but as ways of keeping readers reading. When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell students to make their characters want something, even if it's only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaningless of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. One of my students wrote a story about a nun who got a piece of dental floss stuck between her lower left molars, and who couldn't get it out all day long. I thought that was wonderful. The story dealt with issues a lot more important than dental floss, but what kept readers going was anxiety about when the dental floss would finally be removed. Nobody could read that story without fishing around in his mouth with a finger.
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Blue Wisteria

Just a few days ago the Wisteria started producing leaves and branches. I'm really looking forward to those blue flowers that it will be producing a little later this year.

Our other climbing rose I planted this year is also producing quite a bit of foliage. That rose bush will be producing nice red flowers and a lot of them especially next year.

Happy Father's Day

I wish all the Father's out there a very happy Father's Day.


I'll admit the proudest I've been as a Father is when my Son took me out to dinner, last year and this year. It was as if I had seen him grown up for the first time when he took me last year, that I had did at least part of my job right. 

Probably the other is as a published author, my adult children reading what I've written. They seem to like it a lot. 

Of course, the Grandchildren are nice once in while also :-)  It's especially nice to spoil them and send them back to your Son/Daughters to pay them back for all the things they did to you while they were growing up.