The Journal, Tuesday, 8/11

The Day Rolled out closer to 2:30 this morning. Still tired from the trip, I think. Well, I woke up in the mood to “take some air,” as we used to say, and I set out to go for 6 miles. But just as I reached the two mile mark, I realized the large, severe storm I’d been watching to the south was closing on me. Just so you know, I DID look at that lying … Read more

Action Verbs

Hi Folks, In the previous two posts I mentioned using action verbs in brief descriptive narratives. The same goes for longer narratives, of course. There are three kinds of verbs: state-of-being verbs, linking verbs, and action verbs. State-of-being verbs do not show action. As their name implies, they are used to indicate a state of being. The state-of-being verbs are am, is, are, was, were, be, being and been. These are often accompanied by have, has, and … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 8/4

The Day After roughly 6 months of driving around the country, I’m back. Okay, it was only 11 days, inclusive, but I drove on both the first and last day, so “inclusive” is also true. Ugh. And yes, it seems like every bit of six months. ANYway, I’m back. Cleaning up email, running updates, issuing a refund to a guy who bought my computer and changed his mind, etc. Today, I am happy to report, will … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 7/27

Hey folks, just a note to update everyone and hope you’re hangin’ in there. Arrived at our destination today. I was thinking (wrongly, not at all unusual for me) that we’d be on the road three days, then here three days, then on the road again three days. Kind of a weird symmetry in that. But no. Actually, not counting today, we’ll be here four full days. The current intention is to head back early on … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/24

The Day Rolled out about 3. Checked email and did some other waking-up stuff. Good rain last night so no walk today. Not sure I can even get out of my driveway. (grin) No matter how the writing turns out today, more than likely I’ll be going on hiatus from this blog for a few days. I might post and I might not. I’ll be driving about 11 hours per day, so I don’t need the … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 7/23

The Day Rolled out about 3. Checked email and did some website maintenance and updates. Turned a quick 3 mile walk. Went out to the shed and loaded a bunch of my youngest son’s stuff into the pickup for the trip north. Really looking forward to the road trip. Sam Turner from SSA and RWA sent me a very interesting survey comparing readers’ choices in 2015 vs. 2013. There’s a lot of good information there if … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/22

The Day Rolled out about 2:30. No walk again today and maybe no writing. I have to be in Sierra Vista to visit my mechanic at 9 a.m. We’ll see how the day unfolds from there. I could have written earlier, but I didn’t. Well, I did write, but nothing good. During my waking up time, a comment on Facebook set me off. I spent the next three hours writing some nonfiction spurred by the comment. … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 7/21

The Day Rolled out about 2:30 after a rough night babysitting an ulcer. Definitely no walk today. Books 3 and 7 of the Wes Crowley saga came in from CreateSpace today. I order three or four copies of each major title I put out just to have a few on hand. Here are the covers of those two: I got some pretty good writing done today, but not fully up to speed. Took a lot more … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/19

The Day Rolled out at 2:30. Checked emails and weather. No rain, so maybe a walk a bit later. Messed around waking up, then drove out a little early for a sunrise walk. Got some great perspective pics of the railroad tracks and maybe a couple good cover shots, but the walk was truncated when I kept encountering swarms of flying ants. Even got a video of them, little monsters. (grin) Back at the house, while … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/17

The Day Rolled out about 2, so back to normal. Checked emails and other things, including Dean’s blog for the past two days. I recommend reading his topic of the night Here and then Here. Great stuff if you want to see why I say you should NOT get an agent, and why you should publish your work and then leave it published. I also read a lot of the comments on Dean’s posts. Interesting stuff, … Read more