Thunder and Lightning
Today is Thursday, August 17, 2017. I’m sitting at my favorite coffee shop with an iced coffee with vanilla and milk. It is 6:10 a.m. Thunder, lightning, and monsoon like rain greeted me as I left home for the twenty-minute drive to the coffee house. A weather warning with a flood warning is in effect. I am listening to a concert by First Aid Kit. Their song Wolf has my toes tapping.
Collaborative or Group Blog
The writer’s group I belong to met last night. All but one member was present. The group is looking at doing a collaborative or group blog. It has been under discussion since a late April 2017 meeting. I’m not sure anything meaningful was decided. Sitting at the table listening to the discussion my mind wandered back to 1968 and The Paris Peace talks, which opened on May 10. The Paris Peace Talks plagued by procedural questions that impeded any meaningful progress. They discussed for seven months the shape of the table and seating arrangements! In my opinion, the writer’s group is being equally unproductive. Some of the group members read this blog. Hi there. ANd that’s what I think.
Countdown
Two weeks from today I retire. I am on my final countdown. Here’s an inventory of what I am working on in my writing life –
- Fiction book – Quest: Book Two of the Liberator Series. I am about 25,000 words into writing the first draft. It is religious science fiction.
- Fiction book – writing under a pen name. It is literary fiction. I am 15,000 words into the first draft.
- Non-fiction – working title “Prayers for the Chronically Ill.” The first draft is finished. I have the book proposal with the acquisitions editor of a traditional New York Publisher. Why? I want to see my book in a Barnes and Nobles. If they say no I will self-publish and make more money.
- Non-fiction – I have the first draft completed of a memoir tentatively titled, “The Cold War Kid: Growing up With Sputnik, Castro, Khrushchev, Vietnam and Roock ‘n Roll.”
- Fiction – I am turning my award winning short story “The Praire Dos Have Cold Mining Helmets with Lights into a novel.
