True Life and Fiction

I recently joined in a discussion about current works in progress. It was just a simple question from a blog asking about what everyone was currently working on. I posted a comment about one of my current projects. Although I hadn't finished the draft yet and should not have brought the idea out into public; foolish as I am, I went ahead and ignored that tickling in my brain and put it out there. Well, the comment I posted garnered a couple return comments. I didn't know that I was joining in on a discussion but there it was. Unfortunately, the comments weren't great or positive, and it just knocked the wind right out of my sails for writing. I've gone back to the project a few times since then but cannot seem to gather my thoughts and put them on paper. Does this ever happen to you? If so, what do you do to get back into your project?

I was watching a television program this last weekend and a commercial came on advertising some brand of razor. Ok, everything seemed normal so far. But, about half-way through the commercial, the camera shows a man in the shower using this super razor to shave his chest. I was taken aback and thought, Have we come to the place in history where this is considered normal? I asked my daughter about this practice and she said, "oh yeah Dad, that's just manscaping. Men do it all the time now." Wow. Now I remember when bodybuilders shaved their body hair to accentuate their muscles. I know that swimmers and bicycle racers shaved for better aerodynamics. The thought being that shaving body hair decreased drag and increased aerodynamic efficiency. I suppose those pictures one sees on the covers of romance novels often depicted men (who looked prettier than the women) standing behind some swooning debutante with long flowing hair on their heads but hairless chest

Y esterday I saw a pre-screening of the new movie "Cats and Dogs - Revenge of Kitty Galore." We took my two and a half year old Grandson. He seemed to enjoy the movie but I think some of the humor went over his head. The movie was, of course, the sequel to the first "Cats and Dogs"  that had the motto "Cats rule, Dogs drool." Tinkles (from the first movie) made an appearance in the sequel. He was doing time at Alcatraz and was all chained up on a board with a muzzle over his mouth reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter in the movie "Silence of the Lambs. The makers of the movie even found  a way to squeeze in the "Fave bean" statement, although it was lost to the majority of the viewing audience who were not even born when that movie first appeared. The rest of the movie was a spoofy mix of James Bond, Men in Black, and Gilligan's Island. I won't say anything more or I could spoil the plot. But I will say this: Many of the children's

As of last night when I was on my way to a writer's group meeting, I still had not heard any news about my submissions. But, when I arrived home, I had notification that not one, but both of my submissions were accepted for publication! So, for those of you that are interested, look for my two first published works (beside some poetry and a very naughty story) to appear in the September issue of  Eclectic Flash magazine. The first story is called, The Sentient Soldier , a speculative piece about a spec ops soldier of the future clearing distant planets for industrial use who is endowed with very special training, drugs, and devices, which allow him to follow his killing orders without remorse or guilt. Of course, when all of his external devices fail, he is left with a life or death decision that must come from the pit of his soul. What will he decide? The second story is called My Mind's Eye , and is a comedic piece about truth in advertising. You see, my main character

As some of you have seen through my previous posts, I've recently submitted one of my stories to a couple markets. Now, I am patiently waiting for today's posting on one a market to see if my work was accepted. My chances are low as I am not sure the work I've submitted is a good fit for the type of stories they normally post. We'll see. If I can find success with some short work, I will eventually submit some longer projects for publication. I am down to the last three chapters in my paranormal erotic crime romance project. I originally started this project as an experiment in genre-bending. It's now developed a life of its own. Well, stay tuned. I should know, by the end of the day, if my work was accepted in its third submission.

M ary had a little dragon Its teeth were sharp and white The dragon followed everywhere It was quite a sight S o, Mary one day went to work Her dragon close in tow The boss said, like an insolent jerk “That dragon’s gotta go” W ith Mary this did not sit well In fact, it pissed her off So, she said to her little dragon, “sit” And took its collar off I ts collar gone, up it came And pounced upon the boss Snapping teeth and spitting flame Giving the man’s head a toss I n smoke and flames, the building went From dragon’s fiery breath And when the dragon’s lungs were spent There was not a damn thing left M ary lost her job that day But it’s neither here nor there She’ll do fine anyway On wealth redistribution and Obamacare

OK, I know I've ranted on Dora the Explorer before but I must go at it again. Since the last time, I've surpassed the ten thousand hour mark in forced watching of the program. This weekend as I sat with my Grandson, watching the bossy little girl do her thing, I started thinking of great cast-offs to the show. For instance, what if the producers of the show were to mix Dora with that old favorite, The Wizard of Oz ? I can imagine Dora, swept away by some strong wind. Maybe, with some luck, she'll lose that stupid backpack along the way. She would, of course, end up at the far end of the yellow brick road with her dog, or in this case, monkey: Boots. Some princess would invariably appear, and tell her she must venture to the end of the yellow brick path and the lost city in order to recover her lost backpack. Along the way she would meet up with that poor brainless wonder, Tico . The two of them would continue down the path on her way to regain possession of her ba

This week I attended a local writer's group meeting. I was given the opportunity to read a small portion of one of my works in progress. By read, I mean read out loud. Things sound different when one reads them out loud. One thing I noticed while I was reading my own work was an issue with dialogue and the use of dialogue tags. Of course, this led to some research and this is what I found: KEEP IT SIMPLE ... uh, I'll let you figure the last word out. The most effective dialogue tag in almost all cases is a simple "said." For example: "Put that spatula down and step away from the grill," she said. Occasionally, one might need to put a name in place to distinguish who is doing the talking. Most often though, the name is not necessary as long as the writer firmly seats the readers mind in the scene. Sometimes, nothing at all is necessary. By way of example, let me use a story most of you are familiar with (guys, you don't have to admit it if you

T his post is just to let ya'll know that I am still alive. Just been keeping very busy, trying to finish a project. More posts to follow ... post-haste.