Motivation

Saturday mornings are usually my favorite time to write. I usually wake up at about 5:30am and sneak out of bed (makes my wife love me more).

I usually make coffee while wearing my nightshirt, robe and slippers and in the quiet I crank out a chapter or two in my next novel.

Not today.

I heard last night that one of my friends from school had died. He was 57. Kevin was my brother Eric's best friend. We were a pack of knuckleheads back in the day. We all learned about girls, smoking, drinking, cars, music, movies, work and life together.

I had not seen Kevin in a decade. We emailed infrequently. His health had been failing for year so he didn't travel much anymore. He never seemed to get over my brothers death.

In my short story, The Outer Ring, there is a character based on him. The deep space survey ship The Ventura had a bar on it called Peck's Halfway. Peck was the owner and operator of the place.

I regret not stopping in to visit him my last time visiting home. You always think there will be more time.

Today, I am going to visit a friend. I'm going to hold a baby. I am going to skip ahead and write a sad chapter about loss of a friend, but mostly I'm going to think about Peck. Think about his stupid laugh and his enormous capacity for whiskey and bacon. Think about his face on the other side of the campfire. Think about how scared he was of ghost stories. Think about sitting with him and my brother waiting for trains to just watch them go by.

-- Rest in Peace, Peck. Say hi to Eric for me.

Getting Ready for Vacation

I am packing this week to head out on vacation. We go camping for two weeks with a group of close friends.

I am using these people as final reviewers for my next novel: The Broken Cage

This will be interesting. Sitting around a campfire telling me about plot holes, characters and others potential mistakes and improvements.

Mostly, I expect a lot of pointing and laughing.

Please note: I put up with this abuse to make the story better for you, my dedicated readers, both of you.

Writing this Weekend

My wife and I went camping this weekend with some friends. We have a 16 foot camper trailer that we took on it's first shakedown cruise since we bought it.


The camper we had just before this one was nice and helped us figure out what we really wanted in a camper trailer.

• No leaks if it rains
• A bigger double bed
• A booth in addition to that bed
• The ability for my wife to sleep in even if I can't
• Coffee

These were hard and fast requirements so I could quietly slide out of bed, make coffee, and sit at the booth with my laptop. The trailer passed with flying colors.

I would wake at 6am, drink coffee, eat Strawberry Frosted Poptarts and work on my book! There was no Internet there and barely a cell signal. I spent the whole weekend off-line.

I got through six chapters this weekend! It was very productive. More fun and less like work too. I can meet my self imposed deadline if I manage just one chapter a day going forward.

--Maybe it was the Poptarts! Who knew!

The Grey Man

My friend OldNFO finally found something to do with all his spare time besides causing trouble!

"The Bad Guys Don't Stand a Chance Texas rancher and lawman John Cronin knows what it means to be tough. A decorated Vietnam vet with connections to law enforcement agencies all around the world, he’s thwarted smugglers and drug plots across the globe with more than a few narrow escapes. Whether it’s a sniper competition or teaching the feds a thing or two about police work, Cronin doesn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Of course, this slow-talking lawman’s biggest challenge yet might be when his granddaughter Jesse falls in love with a Marine. When drug smugglers stir up trouble in Cronin’s backyard and try to kill Jesse and her new beau, all hell breaks loose, and Cronin and his granddaughter are just the people to set things right."

It is available in Kindle and Nook as well as a dead tree version!

--I ordered mine already! Buy it! Buy it now!

Zombies!!

Yesterday I was chatting with my friend Tom about a favorite TV show, The Walking Dead.

I have an outline for a Zombie Apocalypse novel. I was telling Tom how doomed he was because of his lack of weapons and the place he lives. At least he is reasonably fit for being 54 years old. He still plays soccer.

We ended up creating a character based on him that actually was a great study in back story.

Once I get around to writing that book it will be so much fun.

--Sometimes you just want to shot people in the face! A lot!