Trying Something New

I've been writing this blog for several years, always trying to "capture" an essence of what I wanted to say, but always failing in the completion.  Okay, not a total failure, but I've always felt my blogs were somewhat lackluster. Yes, occasionally I would have one that stood out, glistening in the sunlight, but more often than not, most of the posts were either drab, boring updates or some rant. Again, maybe more rants than updates.

Today I want to try something different. In addition to my usual mundane update and/or rant, I want to add personal items about me.

Why, you ask? Because I want you to know me, the guy who puts this all together. Sure, everyone knows I write and I cook and I have a wife, kids and grandkids. But... do you really know me?

First, my updates. I've been busy the last few weeks doing edits for my writing clients. I really enjoy doing them because I get to be on the cutting edge of what is new coming out. Plus, I feel I am giving back to the writing community, teaching others how to improve their skills as writers.

If all goes well, once more I'll be teaching a class at Terra State Community College in Fremont, OH. This one will be a shorter class, about three weeks. It is about using dialog for characterization. I'm hoping the students find it useful and helpful.

My garden is coming to harvest.  I have nine (9) tomato plants with a couple of plants of several different varieties. I tried something different this year rather than the same old types as I have grown in the past.  The most unusual one was the Jersey Devil, a 'Roma-type' tomato. Here's a picture of them growing and another with my hand around one still growing to ripeness.

Notice their length? And inside is basically all meat with just a few seeds.  Great for salsa, stewed tomatoes and purees.

This is my wife's first batch of salsa for 2017. There wasn't quite enough to make 8 pints so Yours Truly got to do a little QC that night.  And I wiped out what was left of the tortilla chips.  My wife went to the store and bought two big bags so I won't run out. She has since canned 6 qts of stewed tomatoes, another 11 pts of salsa and 8 pts of tomato juice. She looked at the garden and made the following comment. "[heavy sigh] And this is only the start of the season."

I should mention she also canned 9 qts of dill pickles, 8 pts of banana peppers and I have a couple heads of cabbage - to which I will make a lot of egg rolls for the freezer. There is a bevy of green peppers and I'll be making my infamous freezer green pepper casseroles for the winter.

In addition to all this canning, we're also camping. I finally got the RV toilet repaired. It became a fiasco with always something to stymie me as I attempted the project. Let's just say, after several months (this started the fall of 2016) we were finally able to go camping, and camping we did. Almost a month of camping. A week with friends, a week alone, a week with granddaughters and another week alone. Sure, it was only for a few days each week... being honest, the first week was five nights, the week alone was four nights, the one with the granddaughters was three nights since we had other activities planned and the last week was another four nighter.  We prefer to camp during the week to avoid the weekend chaos and cramped camping.  With school just around the corner, camping is going to be mostly seniors until the nights get too cold. Me? I enjoy those brisk nights, sitting around the campfire, enjoying the fall in all its glorious colors. Having been involved with Scouting since I was 10 yrs old, I have no issue camping when the snow flies and have done it several times - in a tent, no less!

Oh, before I forget. I actually got back to writing my own stuff again. Last night I was able to put just a hair over 1000 words to my followup Amish novel - The New York Voice.  It will still need some heavy-handed editing, but I'm thrilled to be writing, again.

Now, for the new stuff.  Here goes...

My favorite color ever since I was a little kid, let's say at least a half century ago... plus a tad more, was red. I love red. But, I've matured a lot since I was a grade school kid and my colors have changed. Not really. I still love red but it is so brash. I've learned I also love green, especially the deep forest greens. And I enjoy a good shade of blue. My wife has taught me to embrace shades of purple, more so the violet shades she enjoys.

One of my granddaughters wanted to make me something special for my birthday and asked my favorite color. I tried to explain my hesitancy to blurt out the color red, instead telling her I liked all the colors of the rainbow.  She made me key chain fob. It was very colorful with red being the main color, but she did a great job blending in all the other colors and not make it look like a rainbow but have almost every color of the rainbow in it.

As with my choice in colors, my music choices are even more eclectic. One cannot point at me and say 'There goes a rock and roll man' or 'He's really into classical music.' Me? I roll with the waves of the ocean and my music is about as varied as the waves of the seas. To get you started, here's one of my favorite music groups, Brulé performing 'Spirit Horses.'

No, I am not Native American, but, even as a young lad playing "Cowboy and Indians" - yes, I'm THAT old - my younger brother always had to be the cowboy with the guns which left me the Indian. As I got older I was drawn to the American Indian mystique and enjoyed doing beading and recreating Indian headdresses. I even learned, at the "ripe" age of 15 some words of the Indians who lived in the NW Ohio area - the Delaware aka the Lenni Lenape or just plain, Lenape. 

Anyway, to give you a little more insight to me, here's another piece of music I enjoy.

Now, so you totally understand what I mean by the words "I enjoy" or "love" this music. I have these songs on my computer and have had them on my computer for decades for some of them. I listen to them repeatedly - and I do mean repeatedly. I may play a song over and over - as many as a dozen or more times - before moving on to the next song. Some of my music has transferred across as many as ten different computers and laptops over time. Probably more. I kept my music list on all - and I mean ALL - my computers... even at work. My play list is now about four (4) hours long and I keep adding to it as new songs come along or I find a digital copy of an old song I just have to have.

If you have a favorite piece of music, share it with me. Maybe we'll find a common ground.

In future blogs we'll discuss my favorite foods, share some recipes, more music, what I enjoy reading and whatever I feel is necessary for you to know me, Bob Nailor - the guy, the husband, the father, the grandfather and great-grandfather, the writer, the traveler, the gardener, and more.

Until next I ramble on...

A Writing Dilemma

Now exactly what could be so horrific to cause a writer to panic?

I'm 70+ years old and have several novels published, both traditionally and self-published. Not to mention several articles and posts that have offered internationally. Still, I, like so many other authors, remain unknown.

I'm considering not to continue my supposed writing career. At my age, I should be rocking away on the front porch, enjoying life as it passes by.

REALLY?

Enjoy life as it PASSES BY?  NO!  NO!  NO!

I had a few days this week when I actually considered dropping from the authorial world and just enjoy life, playing with the grandkids and great-grandkids, gardening, reading, and traveling. I almost had myself convinced to just sit back.

Then I decided I would step back from writing and just finish up those few novels I'd written and either never finished or needed to clean up to publish.  That sounded like a better idea. It could be something I do while we are traveling and camping... or sitting on the front porch. LOL.

I figured a one-year sabbatical - two years at the most - would be sufficient.

So, I made a list of those novels I needed to work on... uh, all 26 (the count so far) of them. That's correct!  I have 26 novels in different stages of completion. I actually may have more if I scrounge around on my laptop and backup files. This number does not include the myriad of short stories I have written.

Needless to say, I don't want to peek into the sub-directory named "Future Plots" or the other one named "Ideas" for fear of what I may find there.

Therefore, with the idea of not writing anymore now entrenched in my mind, I have decided that perhaps I should reconsider another avenue.

I won't write any more NEW books until I have the ones already on my laptop finished.

Exactly what does this mean?

It means I won't be participating in any future NaNoWriMos (that is National Novel Writing Month which happens in November) or seeing a wild-flung idea/plot from some obscure news article or tidbit discovered while surfing the internet.  Also, I might have to control my imagination when watching certain TV shows - like Aliens on the History channel or of that ilk. National Geographic and History channel can be great idea generators.  I can't give up Giorgio Tsoukalos, Erich von Daniken, David Childress, Peter Fiebag, Robert Bauval and Luc Burgin. Nor can I give up the SyFy channel.  I'll just have to control (aka lock down) my imagination.

I figure if I can finish, edit and publish at least two (2) books a year - it will take me a mere thirteen (13) years to finish all those I have lurking (aka languishing) on my laptop.  Even IF I were to be able to push myself to 3 books a year; it would still take over 8 years to finish them all. Exactly WHERE did I think one or two years would be sufficient?

Can I control my imagination to not... repeat, NOT want to write something new for the next ten years?

At the current time, I am open to any and all suggestions of how to complete the task at hand.

Uh, so you have a "basic" understanding of what I've got stuffed in my laptop --

5 Amish novels, one is a horror, the rest Christian and sort of a series
5 vampire novels (a series)
4 fantasy novels (a series)
2 action adventure novels (1 is a sequel to a published book)
3 epic fantasy novels
1 Native American werewolf vampire detective story
1 Native American fantasy
1 mainstream fiction
1 historical fiction
1 military fantasy
1 SF novel
1 fairy fantasy

As you can see, a very eclectic selection of stories. Oh, and the short stories are a collage of SF, horror, and fantasy... and we have NO count on those.

Is this the time I should mention, I have one "screenplay" I also have in the works and not part of the counts above?

HELP ME!

Until next I ramble on...

Eggs! And More...

To paraphrase Scotty from Star Trek IV The Voyage Home:  Admiral, there be eggs here!

Finally, after several months of watching my chicks grow and mature, I proceeded to the chicken coop to feed and water - my daily routine - and was surprised to discover an egg scurried in the corner on the floor.

Uh, that was about 2 to 3 weeks earlier than I'd been told to expect eggs.  Almost everyone had told me not to expect any eggs until sometime in July. Well...

WRONG!!

It was the cutest little egg.  All brown and smooth.  But, oh, so small.  About 1/2 the size of a normal egg.  Still, one of my 18 chickens decided to give me an egg.  I proudly carried it into the house and presented it to my wife.  She was ecstatic.

Now, one must remember, she was the one who wanted to have chickens.  I wanted to raise about 25 for butchering and stocking the freezer.  She wanted eggs.  I have been the one who goes out every day to feed and water the hens.  Uh, not her.  Also, I don't eat eggs because they make me sulfuric and you don't want me like that - trust me, but that's another story.

Since the first egg's discovery, my wife is more involved with the chickens.  Well, sort of. Okay, she only goes out (about 2 or 3 times a day) to check for more eggs.  I'm the guy who still has to feed and water the chickens... oh, and clean out the coop, etc.

With the egg discovery, my #1 son made us 4 nesting boxes.  I've put some straw in them.  The hens use the boxes for roosting at night, throw out the straw, and continue to lay their eggs on the floor AND NOW, even outside on the ground.  I am going to paint some plastic eggs tan and put them in the boxes to see if that helps.  If not, I will lock them in the coop temporarily in an attempt to get them to lay the eggs inside, at least. Hopefully, at some point, they'll realize they have nests.

It looks so lonely, all by itself on the counter for the picture.

This is what it appears in size against a regular-sized egg.

Also, so you know it, there have been more eggs laid since the first one appeared.  We have a total of nine eggs now.  My wife, in her modest brainstorm, has been saving all the used egg cartons for this adventure - much to my surprise.  In fact, I think she has all the kids saving them, too.  She has a huge stack of empty egg cartons.  But, here is what the eggs in a carton look like...

The darker ones are from the Red Cross hens, the two lighter ones are from the ISA Brown hens. As the hens mature and continue laying eggs, they will get larger. I'm told all the lighter eggs will get darker with time and size.

There are 18 hens.  Egg production should increase with time, as well as size.  Right now, we're getting about 1 or 2 eggs per day.  As stated, I don't eat eggs but do look forward to a lot more angel food cakes to munch on.

In other news, my garden is coming along well.  The peas have really done well and the vines are loaded with pea pods.  My wife figures she will have to consider ambling out to harvest them.  I can't believe we only have about 2 cups of frozen peas left from last year.  I'll probably use them in the next week or two.  By that time, I would say the new peas should be coming in.  Mmm.  Fresh peas in a cream sauce over new baby potatoes.  YUM!

My tomato plants are doing well, growing strong in their wire cages.  Can't wait to make this year's salsa.  I only have 1 qt of salsa left.  My garlic and onions are coming along.  Two days ago I put up the lines for the pole beans to grow on.  Amazing how fast they latched onto the lines and started growing up them.  I'm sort of excited to see how the fish line trellis works this year.  I've always used the tee pee pole method and my loving wife wanted something a little easier to deal with.  We'll see.

The flowers I started are coming along beautifully.  The orange petunias aren't quite the exciting, electric shade as shown in the magazine.  Still, they are pretty, but not so much orange right now, as more coral-colored.  They look good against the white petunias, purple sweet alyssum and lime-green sweet potato vines.

Has anyone ever attempted to grow that large foliage plant, Elephant Ears? See picture.

I've got 3 bulbs that I've planted. It has been 3 weeks now and so far, nada.  Last year I bought a package of 5, planted them in a moist, but not soggy, area, with shade and sun.  My granddaughters, 4 of them, helped and there was one for each of them, plus mine.  None of them grew.  I figured it was something I'd done wrong... or the ground wasn't good.  This time I bought another 5, gave 2 away, and planted the 3 in huge pots, hoping for a fabulous tropical look.  So far, I'm disappointed.  I planted them as shown on the instructions - uh, all the dirt basically washed away in the first rain, leaving the tops exposed.  I figured that was what it was supposed to do.  I'm probably wrong. HELP!

To finish up, a little health update.  My dietitian has me on an 1800 calorie diet with 40-60 carbs per meal and 15-30 carbs per snack.  I gained weight.  NOT GOOD.  She wanted me to have an intake, at minimum, 165 carbs, preferably closer to the high end at 270.  Yeah, I gained weight.  Went to the doctor and explained the circumstances and he agreed, I should go back to my diet, lose the weight and see if we can get me off a lot of these diabetic medicines.  So, I'm now eating small meals, about 4 a day, cutting out carbs but not completely, and, of course, exercising.  I've cut out the biggie carb monsters: rice and potatoes; plus I've given up pop.  Okay, I cheat. I have ONE diet pop at night along with a bowl of popcorn.  Sorry, but I was born in Iowa, the corn state, and I love my corn, especially popcorn.  I use a dribble of oil in a microwave popcorn popper just so the small amount of salt I put on - stays on. LOL.  Of course, I'm consuming more veggies, fresh and raw veggies, not from cans.  Plus, now that fruit is once again in season, I'm checking those out.  My sugar was up a tad when I went to the doctor, but with the new meds (got rid of Januvia, now on Victoza) and new diet, I'm seeing the numbers come back down and that's what I want to see. Yes, I know. Victoza is an injection and I fought to avoid this, but it is NOT insulin. The doctor assured me if I can get my weight down, more than likely the sugar will also come down and I can stop Victoza. It better!

Finally, I'm writing again.  Back to my sequel for "The Secret Voice."  I now have Daniel Yoder, my Amish character, in New York City.  He is following a dream, testing Rumshpringe.  I can't believe the trouble he has found himself in, plus I know a few little secrets that should keep him off-balance and the reader turning pages.  More about "The New York Voice" as time passes.

Until next I ramble on...

Ignorance Of The Law

First, Happy Memorial Day as we honor those who died for our right to a free American life. As you picnic and celebrate, remember to give thanks to those who are no longer with us, allowing us the liberty we have.

How often have you heard that line?  Now, for the salt in the wound - I retired from the federal court system.  You have NO idea how many times I heard that cliche phrase: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

As a "happy" farmer and proud owner of 18 chickens and a brand new chicken coop, you'd think all is well.  Unfortunately, to quote Professor Hill of "The Music Man" - You got trouble right here in River City. (BTW, if you click on the link, you can hear the song from musical.)

Yup!  I ran into trouble - not so much with the city as the township.  Seems I crossed the line with the building of my chicken coop.  I was told by several friends, family, and other people that if you put up a temporary building, you don't need a permit or approval.

Ah, yeah. About that. Seems I was being ignorant of the law.  MY township has rules and codes and one of them is a simple thing.  ANY structure needs a permit.

Seems simple enough.  Take my hand slap, buy a permit, and apologize for my ignorance, promising not to do it again.

Oops!  Seems the building is "in front" of my house slightly and not off the property line by a minimum of 5 feet.  Oh, also, it needs to be 15 feet from the house.

Since it is a 'temporary' structure, it can be moved.  Supposedly, the contractor built my home 35 feet from the property line.  That's plenty of space to move the coop back a foot, keep it 15 feet from the house and still remain over 5 feet from the property line.

Hm?  Seems the online satellite image of my property shows the house a mere 25 feet from the property line. Doing some quick math - 15 house offset + 5 foot property line offset gives me a whopping 5 feet to work with.  Uh, the coop is 8x12 with 6 inch overhangs for a size of 9x13. Anyone with a feeble knowledge of math can quickly realize this isn't going to work.

So, my sons are bringing over a laser sight to show the property line and we'll work from that information.  If the line is 35 feet from the house, we will move the shed.  If the distance is truly 25 feet - the only place available to maintain the chickens will be the floodplain and that is not a feasibility since it is also close to the woods - which will tempt all the woodland critters who enjoy chicken dinners as well as I do... and snakes that enjoy eggs.  Not a good working environment.

Again, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.  I have a beautiful 8x12 structure that may soon be nothing more than smoke and ash if I can't resolve this.

Don't even consider the word variance.  When I bought my permit and we discussed placement of the structure, I uttered the word variance.  The guy was nice enough but assured me the trustees have a simple way of handling all variance requests - deny.  I guess they haven't approved a variance in years.  I know the night (over 10 years ago) we got approval to change our property from farmland to residential, they denied a variance request unanimously.

Uh, that might be another issue.  I'm considered residential.  Chickens might be frowned upon.  I figure I will cross that bridge this week when I know the guy who approves permits comes out to check on the property lines since there seems to be a 10 foot difference.

On a brighter note - my tomatoes are planted outside, my garlic is coming along quite well - so far and I finally got my onion sets planted.  I also planted 2 green pepper plants.  I went in search of a couple flowers to plant to accent my orange petunias.  I decided white would do it.  My wife thought yellow would be pretty - so I got some yellow ones, too.  Then she found a deep purple with small yellow throat petunia.  She no longer cared about my orange petunias and wanted the yellow to surround the purple one.  So she won that battle and it is now growing in the large planter on front steps.  I put the orange petunias with the white petunias, a light and dark purple sweet alyssum and lime green sweet potato vines on the ends.  So far, they look pretty and the orange petunias should start blooming in the next week or two.

I still have the green beans and beets to plant in the raised garden bed.  I decided to casually throw the sweet corn in the old backyard garden, along with cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash.  I know that sounds silly but raccoons don't line vines so maybe they will leave my sweet corn alone.  I don't plan to weed the patch.  It may work - it may not work.  Hopefully, I'll get something out of the patch since the ground is uneven and my lawn service (#1 son) doesn't like to mow it with his rider - which I understand.  So much experimental gardening this year.

On the writing front, I decided to make a major change to my next Amish novel.  By doing so, I'm now psyched to get writing on it again. In fact, the idea energized me so much, I want to write and write but realize I have other obligations to address - like an edit job for another client.

Until next I ramble on...

Year End Round-Up

What did 2015 do for you?  It is the end of another year and, as always, we tend to get a little whispy-eyed with memories of the last 12 months.

This year had it ups and downs.  There were good things and there were bad things.  Of course, we all remember those incidences which just happened... like my mother-in-law passing just prior to Christmas.  That was definitely a down thing but you can spin it as an up thing: She was 103 and had lived a very full life.  Her health had been failing, along with her memory - and that hurt, especially my wife who visited her several times a week.  It's hard when your mother doesn't remember who you are - but, she knows you, just not your name.

Of course, there was my doctor visit in November which wasn't all that great.  My blood sugar was averaging 246 for the last six months and he basically told me, fix it or die.  Again, to spin a good thing to it, I have since lost 18 pounds and my sugar has been hovering around the 100-120 mark.  That is a very good thing.  I'll be going back in January for another blood draw to see what the new results will be.  I'm hoping to lose another few pounds in the meantime.

While on the subject of weight, I'll go clear back to the beginning of the year when I was making resolutions.  What were they?  Lose 25 pounds. Publish 3 books.  So let's see what I did.

Back in June I got so sick I could barely swallow.  I lost weight - a lot of weight.  I lost a total of over 30 pounds.  Then I got well.  I found them.  I didn't have to go that far to search, either.  They were ever so quick to return - and return they did.  Okay, I didn't get them ALL back.  I was able to let some free to roam and find another home.  About 10 pounds were left on the range.  So with the doctor's colorful health report, I've lost almost another 20 pounds, so, in total, I've lost almost 30 pounds this year.  THAT I call a success.  I reached my goal of 25 pounds.  Oh, for you readers, if you find these stray pounds, their yours to keep - call it my gift, if you will.  I don't want them back so they're free for the keeping.  I'm sure they'll be good to keep you warm - not healthy, but good.

Now, to the publishing.  In April I published "The Secret Voice" which has been a great seller.  I have had to order it twice from Amazon to keep it in stock.  I even sold a copy to the young lady who helped me at WalMart when I created my new poster of the cover.  My one classmate also works there and she's been telling everyone about and well, do you have any idea what it is like to have a clerk ask if she can buy a copy?  If you go to Amazon, it doesn't look like it is selling because all the copies I sell don't reflect... and I've sold a LOT of copies.

Anyway, I published that book and was able to finally get my 2nd book published yesterday and should be available now.  "CRACKED! The Writing Mystique" is a short how-to about handling the different aspects (mystiques) of writing including character detail, active/passive voice, writing sex and so much more.  As always, I made sure to include examples so it could be easily understood.

Did I publish three books?  No.  I really feel ashamed.  I could have done so easily but I didn't and there absolutely no excuse.  Of course, I've been working on the sequel to "The Secret Voice" and, as many writers will understand, my mind has been attacked by several other plots and stories that are screaming for attention. I was just busy with other things - like family and life, I guess.

Of course, this year, my wife and I tried to do a little more camping.  Of course, with her mother's health, we didn't want to travel too far away.  Most of the time we went to the local state park just a few miles up the road and would camp there for the week, skipping out Friday morning before it got too crowded.  We did do a trip up into Michigan with our middle granddaughters (ages 13 and 9) where we got in some great fishing.  That was about 5 hours from home... not too far, but away.

My garden.  It was a good garden.  I even was able to grow some sweet corn and it was delicious. My wife canned some tomatoes, making stewed, diced, juice and even several jars of salsa which I have pretty well decimated already.  She agrees - more salsa next year.  Yes, I have already received what I call the best fiction mags of the year - the garden seed catalogs.  And, yes, I already have delusions, uh, I mean, dreams of things I want to attempt to grow this coming year.  Since I was so busy doing mulch to certain areas, I am going to have to be a little more selective in what I want to grow in containers.  I have plans for a couple of tubs.  Of course, my two hanging deck boxes I have to allocate some nice draping plants.  And the step planters, those big 24-inch pots will need some color, too.  In just a few short months I'll be starting my garden seeds likes tomatoes, peppers and just not sure what else as of now.

Also, this coming year, I want to attempt raising some chickens - about 50 for slaughter and another 5 or 6 for eggs during the summer and fall.  Of course, if winter next year is anything like it has been so far this year, those chickens might make it through the winter.  Oh, and I'd like to also raise about 2, maybe 3 turkeys.  Living in the countryside does have its perks but then again, it also has the critters that like chickens and turkeys, especially the young ones... oh, and eggs, too!

So, as you can see, I'm already getting around to my New Years Resolutions for 2016.  I'll keep it simple.  Lose another 25 pounds.  Publish at least 2 books.  Raise some chickens and turkeys.  Grow a garden.  Travel, camp and fish more.  Oh, and spend more time with my wife, kids, grandkids, great grandkids, family and friends.

Until next I ramble on...

Updates to Updates

As we go into the third tri-mester of the year (the last four months), I thought I'd give a little update to what is happening.

Weight.  Good news, bad news.  Remember the 28 pounds I lost back in June when I was sick?  As a friend said, I found some of them. The good news is: Only half of them - so I'm still 14 pounds down which makes my target of 25 pounds by the end of the year - well, it is something I can possibly attain.  At least, I plan to make it.

Overall Health.  I'm not up to par.  I bought into the "you can't do this and that" and my sons have tried to make sure I don't do this or that.  So... now I can't do this or that without getting totally winded.  As stated last week, I bought a lot of mulch to put down.  Of course, having temperatures up into the high eighties and low nineties isn't helping, but I do a little and then need to rest.  I mean, like work for maybe 15-20 minutes and then break for 40 minutes.  It is all about bending over - pushing the gut into the lungs.  Still, I think it might be why the weight hasn't all come back... all that bending.

Mulch.  By the way, the mulch is looking good.  Of course, I didn't buy enough while it was on sale so the one area that I wanted to do probably won't get done - the swing set area.  Just as well.  I think I should put ALL rubber mulch there rather than a mixture of wood mulch with a light sprinkling of rubber mulch.  Since the rubber mulch wasn't on sale, I'll keep an eye open for it to better priced in the next few weeks.

Camping. Took the grand kids camping and now my wife and I can go alone and enjoy some quiet time at the campgrounds during the week since most families have their kids back in school.  OH! Went shopping for a new RV.  We own a 28 foot 1998 Allegro motor home.  Yes, a land-yacht. I'd like to get a "wider" motor home - not necessarily a bigger one.  Let me explain.  I want slide outs in the living area.  If my current motor home had a slide out, I'd keep it since I'm more than thrilled with the mileage I get with it.  Uh, we're talking 10 mpg and up to 14 mpg on flat interstates on cruise.  The new one I looked at would get "maybe" up to 7 mpg, possibly 9 mpg.  LOL. Sure.  I think we're going to hold off on it until maybe next year... unless the salesman comes back with a deal I just can't pass up.  (Like that's going to happen!)

Writing.  Has been stalled.  I've been doing a lot of editing for clients, so I don't have a lot of time for writing.  I've done some - a little - on my second Amish novel.  Was stumped for a while but with a little brain-storming with another writer (thanks, Elyse!), I've now got some great ideas to weave into the tale and give it depth.  With NaNoWriMo coming up in November, I have to decide if I want to attempt it yet again.  I  mean, I've competed 14 years, accomplishing 50K+ words 13 of those times. I've done NaNoWriMo since it's 2nd year of inception and only failing to complete the word count when I attempted a cookbook and my dad passed the month before.  Hint: Don't attempt a cookbook.

Gardening. The garden is coming to an end - sort of.  The corn is done and I've removed all the stalks from the raised bed.  My wife finally agreed that the green pole beans were finished, as were the wax bean plants.  Unfortunately I didn't tie-up my tomato plants - so they've sprawled all over but are doing fine.  We've canned a lot of salsa, diced, and stewed tomatoes - with more to come.  The shelves are filled with beans for the winter.  Still growing are the beets and carrots which appear might be a good crop this year.

Publishing.  I wanted to publish 3 books this year.  So far, only one book out. My Amish novel which has been selling like hotcakes at signings and shows.  On Amazon?  Not so well.  It would seem that the book hasn't sold well at all.  I've order copies twice now and figure I might have to order again before then end of the year - maybe twice!!  If you haven't checked it out - http://amzn.to/1ynQnzQ - you won't be sorry.  But, back to publishing.  Maybe with a little luck I'll be able to get out book 2 of my writing tips and book 1 in my Jewyl adventures is complete, for the most part, just some minor edits and a book cover design.  It's all about time.

Do you remember your New Year's Resolutions?  How are they coming along?  Given up?  Have you accomplished them?  Share.

Until next I ramble on...

Stunted Stigma

I wrote a couple of writing tips about sex and how to include sexual scenes in your writing.  I was asked in a personal email if I wrote any porn.

My response was from my teen-age years.  I think it was my sophomore or junior year in high school when I mentioned to my dad that I was considering a life as an author... or a writing career.  He sat me down and gave me his fatherly advice.  His words, more or less:

Being a writer is a good trade but they don't make a lot of money. Sure there are some who make a real good living at it but, for more, it usually takes writing smut and porn, to make any type of living. If you want to write, my only request is - write what you would want or allow your mother to read.

WOW!  Talk about stunting creativity.  My days of being a porn writer were crushed. So long, big bucks and wild times.

Sure I continued to dabble in writing over the next 30+ years.  My first submission to Children's Highlights was rejected.  That was my junior year in high school and the stigma lasted for well over 30 years.  I never really submitted anything again.  Okay, I did submit a poem/story - after a lot of persuasion from friends - to a local rag in Washington, DC.  It was accepted and I saw my name in print - or rather my nom de plume.  I couldn't even bring myself to use my real name.  It was a stupid poetic story about a boy who gets pigeon crap on his head and considers himself special until the his mother forces him to wash his hair.

Anyway, would I write porn or smut?  No.  Could I?  Sure.  Would it be good?  Let's get real here. Like 98% of all porn flicks - is there really any plot or acting?  Sure, the story would be good, but then again, the story might be more plot driven than sex driven.  Would it really be porn anymore?

Why am I even considering this?  I am not about to branch out into the erotica market.  In fact, I can honestly claim that I haven't really read any hot-n-heavy erotica since my Navy days.  And I read the classy stuff - Sexus, Nexus and Plexus by Henry Miller - all banned and, of course, a few of the more colorful books the other guys had brought into the barracks and/or on-board the ship.

No, I'm still creeping along under that stigma - Can my mother read this? And will I be proud of it? So I don't write in that genre.

Until my mother's death, she had read almost everything I had written, especially the last few books which she thought to be extremely weird.  She never understood  my love of science fiction, fantasy or horror.  I do believe she would have really enjoyed my latest release: The Secret Voice. It is an Amish Christian novel.  In fact, I think she would have enjoyed Pangaea, Eden Lost - a clumsy Indiana Jones type adventure.

Well, so much for writing porn and smut.  Not my genre and I believe it will survive without me.

A little other updates.  The garden.  My tomatoes are looking great and with luck, I should be placing them into the garden in the next few days.  My peas are breaking ground finally.  Not sure why it took them almost 3 weeks to come up, but they are showing now.  I have been "conditioning" the two bales of straw and another few days and they will be ready.  So, in preparation of that, I hope to start the vine plants (cukes, zukes, melons) tomorrow in peat pots.  Also plan to put out the corn, carrots, beets, beans and whatever other seeds my wife bought that she thinks we want to grow.  My square foot gardening really pushes the limits.

We won't be going anywhere with the RV this week but will be prepping it for the following week. We plan to go out for a four day stay at the state park and make sure it can handle the rigors of a trip, just in case we decide we want to travel.  Actually, I think we'll spend more time day-dreaming about the renovations we want to do - a complete revamp of the inside.

With the weekend being Mother's Day, we had all of the four boys show up to honor my wife, their mom.  Four boys, four wives, 10 grandchildren and a couple of hopefully soon-to-be members.  Plus my one granddaughter graduated, getting her Phlebotomy degree.  A very active weekend.

Until next I ramble on...

Spring Is Here...

This week has been an interesting with many different events, some intriguing, some fun.

I started the week with a visit to my cardiologist for a fancy Cardiolite Stress Test.  Most of the stress was in the preparation and being told by others who had had the test, what I should expect.  The doctor was not going to allow me to walk on the treadmill - it would be the chemical test. I remember my mother stating that when she had it done, she was short of breath, got terrible headaches and for the most part, thought she was going to die.  My sister-in-law stated it gave her heart a weird feeling and she got a little light-headed.  A couple of other people detailed their horror stories.  To be honest, I was pretty worked up.

I went in, got injected, went back out to the waiting room for 45 minutes.  Came in, got on the table and had about 15 minutes of pictures taken.  Rather dull. Then I was taken over to the other lab and injected.  Now I had to wait about an hour.

An hour later, back in, an injection and I'm sitting there on the gurney, waiting.  I figure at some point this is all going to start and I'll have to lie down.  Nada.  Finally I ask if I'm supposed to lie down. "Are you light-headed?"  "No."  "Do you want to lie down?"  "No. I just figured when you start this thing I will have to be on my back."  Silence.  "Uh, Mr. Nailor, you're over half-way done. In fact, you just finished 4 minutes of the 6 minutes stress test."

HUH?

They had my heart racing and I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.  No dizziness.  No flutters.  No headaches.  I mean, the most excitement at that time was me getting up onto the gurney.  Ten minutes later I'm back in the photo area being re-photographed.  Fifteen minutes later - I'm headed out.  Done.

It took two days for the doctor to get back to me with the results.  I had negative results.  That had me shaken until it was explained, that was good.  Nothing showed up.  My heart was working perfectly.

What did that mean?  Simple.  I'm out of shape - REAL BAD.  Contrary to popular belief, I guess having a thought, any thought, is NOT exercise.  I need to build up my strength and stamina.  I've vegetated too much during the winter and allowed others to do for me when I should be doing it for myself.  Yes, I need to lose that weight.  So far, I haven't.

So, later that day I had to drive my wife back up to my #4 son's place since they put his wife back in the hospital.  Yes, the one who had the twins.  During her weekly checkup it was decided her blood pressure was too high and her liver enzymes were elevated.  So,mama's in the hospital, the twins are at the house and daddy has to go to work.  Yup.  Grandma to the rescue and grandpa is alone with the dog.

On the bright side, it has allowed me to get my butt outside and do some work.  I worked on the garden and have my peas planted.  I re-transplanted my tomato plants into bigger 5" pots.  They were in 3" one.  I could have probably moved them to the garden but the thought of trying to cover them if we get a late frost just seemed like so much work.  I now have moved my mini-greenhouse to the side deck and the plants are doing well outside.  I've opened the ventilation and they are hardening off.

Today (Sunday) I bought two bales of straw to start rotting so I can grow veggies in them this year.  Trying new stuff constantly.  My raised garden will have corn this year - a very small area of about 4ft X 6ft, about 50-60 plants.  Yes, intense gardening and I have super great soil.  The bales will have my vining crops - cukes, zukes and cantelopes.  Can't wait to plant the rest of the garden - pole beans, carrots, beets and of course, the tomatoes.  Did I mention that my garlic from last year which I thought had died, came up and I've now got about 20 plants growing?  Well, I do.

My novel, "The Secret Voice" is doing well and I got a great 5-star review on Amazon.  Hoping to get more as time passes.  Now working on next book - Another 52 Weeks of Writing Tips.  Yes, on the heels of last year's super-seller, I'm putting out another one.  This will be my second book to be published this year.  I'm hoping to have it finalized either later this month or definitely by next month.

The RV has languished beside the house with my wife being up north helping to care for the twins.  But that should all be a thing of the past as we prep for weekday camping expeditions and get away to the local state park during the week.  Imagine!  For $50, we can camp for four days and be away from the hubbub of country living.  I know it doesn't make sense, but it reality, it does.  It feels good to be camping, away from the house and everything.  No TV, no house phone, no internet (OMG!) - just relaxing, watching the lake, enjoying the campfire and well, for me, writing which I find relaxing.

Summer is coming... need to take grandkids camping. LOL.

Until next I ramble on...

Proud Moment

Strange how that feeling sneaks up on you.  PROUD.  It just slides in and embraces you and that warm, fuzzy feeling overwhelms. It's like when your child is born.  Each book is like a child.

Why do I call it strange?  It isn't my first time.  No, I'm not a virgin to this fabulous, emotional moment.  I'll be honest.  I've had this feeling many times.  Okay, not THAT many times, but still, several and you'd think I'd be over it.

I'm not. Four books. Four sons. Eight grandchildren. Fifteen anthologies or co-authored.

I just released another book.  My fifth book and YES, book one of my hopefully three to get published this year has finally hit the presses and is now available at Amazon...

THE SECRET VOICE

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VW3BCA6/
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/161877154X

Above is the cover and I'm really excited about it.  I feel the photographer was able to catch the essence of my fictional character, Daniel, an Amish lad, perfectly. I'm hoping it will catch the reader's eye to make them pick the book up. A little tidbit about the photo - it was taken in Shipshewana, IN at the horse auction several years ago. The lad was deep in thought and the photographer snapped a perfect moment.

This is the back of the paper version.  Hopefully it will intrigue enough to get the reader to purchase the book.

I've released books of my own and been in several anthologies. I've had children and grandchildren. And yet, with each, the emotional embrace is unbelievable.  I love that moment.

Now, for a secret.  Later this week, I get to experience that feeling all over again.  How?  My youngest son's wife will be delivering twins on Thursday, if not before. Books and children!

So, go buy my latest book - you won't be sorry and await next week's blog when I brag about the new twins.

Until next I ramble on...