O-Dark-Thirty

The characters in the rough draft of my new novel are smiling, nodding fools. Don't get me wrong - I love them all! We've spent more than the last year together and I know all their secrets - well, most of them. I finished the rough draft ten days ago, except for the final three chapters. I took up the (daunting) task of editing. My editing process differs from most, I think. I do a read-through in my head, looking for continuity problems and fixing passive voice when I notice it. Then I read it aloud to Darling, who seems to have unlimited patience. I fix more passive voice. I correct things that don't flow when I read them out loud. Darling is the one who noticed my characters were smiling and nodding all the time. The truth of that slapped me wonky. My worst error was a preponderance of the word "nodded." Everyone in the story nodded, assuring me my reader would nod off. The worthless nods had to go. In most cases I deleted the word with minor mod...

The birthday card I got at work says "I know why you always look forward to your birthday!" On the inside it continues "It's the spankings isn't it?" What surprised me was that two of my fictional characters signed the card! "Who doesn't like a good spanking?" BA von Crapp "Civilization is lost on my brother. Happy Birthday, Vince." Vic My buddy Wes is the biggest fan of the von Crapp Brothers,  Adventurers. He captured them perfectly. You can find them on  Smashwords   and   Amazon . Their first adventure is the short story called The Duel , where you're introduced to the Von Crapp Brothers. Safari in the Mist is a novella.

Doc Savage is similar to one of my characters Since last July I've been writing my first full-length fiction novel. That might seem like a long time, but I have this rule that if I'm bored with what I'm writing - then I'll bore the reader. So I stop for weeks and months while my mind cogitates the plot and characters. (In the meantime I wrote and published a few short stories, and they are on Amazon and Smashwords .) So last July I actually put the rough draft of the first few chapters in my blog - you can find it here , but it doesn't look quite the same any longer. I also gave it a working title: Zombie Apocalypse: Vampire Raiders of Las Vegas , which still makes me chuckle a bit. I'm at over 82,000 words and the first draft is finished. I have an excellent editor who suggested I change the beginning of the novel, so that's what I'm working on. For your reading pleasure, here's the new Chapter One. Oh, and I changed the title. The novel...

I'd credit the artist if I knew them. Let's look at the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:30-37 NKJV Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to hi...

What is it about our hearts that cry out for the heroic, the sublime desire to become better than we are, better than we even dream of becoming? Thank you to all my heroes, the ones in uniform, the ones who showed me kindness and taught me the meaning of being more.

Today's sermon message was titled "Small Faith vs Big Doubt" and I can sum it up pretty quickly, so bear with me. In matters of Faith, it is okay to have doubts, but it is not okay to stay there. After all, even one of the apostles, men who walked and ate with Jesus, doubted His resurrection. So, of course, we should look at the Gospel account of "Doubting Thomas:" John 20:19-28 and I'll use the New King James Version (NKJV). Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. You can see why Jesus didn't knock on the door. The apostles would not have answered. They were in a closed room or house and afraid of the Jews. A knock on the door would have frighten...

I'll admit it. I was sitting here at lunch time playing Candy Crush. I looked at a couple moves and realized one of them looked like a good move, but wasn't. As clear as a bell I heard my Mother's voice in my head. "My Aunt Fannie, that's a good move." (It was always a negative reference - AND she didn't have an Aunt Fannie.) I haven't heard that expression in decades, probably in more than forty years, but Mom used to say it occasionally, and it was a sign things were not right in the world. (It just now occurred to me what she was really saying, but that's not the point of this tale.) We didn't swear much when we were children. You might not know what soap tastes like, but I sure do. A few times eating that delicacy and even the thought of saying a bad word tasted awful. Oh, we knew what bad words were. Our Grandpa Mac often entertained us with his casual use of foul language, usually directed at us. We were always shocked....