Latest Writing Activities

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Lately, I’ve been doing several different writing activities. I’m planning to attend the annual Pennwriter’s conference in Pittsburgh in the middle of May. There’s the logistics of travel, hotel reservations, and picking the talks. With this conference, though, opportunities abound, such as pitching a novel to agents. I’m reading (more like studying) Shifting Mars’ Sands, and preparing an elevator pitch as well as being able to discuss it in detail when I hook an agent. (Yeah, I used “when,” not “if.”)

Also, I’ve been critiquing pieces for my Saturday writers’ group. The pieces range from obvious first drafts to fairly polished drafts. I see a variety of issues. Some are overwritten, providing description of the ordinary, yet ignoring details to further understanding. Others exhibit structural issues from a vague protagonist story goal to extraneous scenes detailing secondary character background that dubiously relates to the story. Still others, plod along, seemingly not advancing the plot or advancing it at a snail’s pace.

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The Who 1989

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On July, 7 1989, I went to RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. to see The Who on their 25th Anniversary Tour. The concert was incredible. I was high up on the opposite end of the stadium from the stage and still left with buzzing in my ears.

I bought this t-shirt at the concert:

 

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Fripp Island, SC 2014

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My wife and I vacation on a private island on the South Carolina coast named Fripp Island. For two weeks, there’s no commuting through D.C. traffic or hearing user complaints. It’s days filled with fresh sea air and nights under a clear, star-filled sky.

One evening, we watched the Orionid meteor showers from the beach access stairs. Another evening, we watched a spectacular lightning storm over the ocean.

Over the two weeks, I enjoy taking photographs. One of my favorite times is sunrise.

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The Universe 2014

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Every year, I decorate a metal ivy thing (It’s Kel’s.) with lights and ornaments, mostly from Hallmark. My parents started buying ornaments, mostly Star Trek, and I continued the practice.

For several years, the ornaments hung on the Christmas tree, but I have so many that I can’t hang them on the tree. In fact, I only hang a portion a year.

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Kill Gilligan! or Why Do Characters Do That?

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From 1964 through 1967, Gilligan’s Island was produced and broadcast. I saw the show in syndication when I was a kid.

Virtually every one of the 98 episodes involved the castaways attempting to get rescued with Gilligan screwing it up somehow. The question wasn’t if he’d screw it up but how.

Now, the show was a comedy, a farce really. It was mindless entertainment. It was absurd. Taken for that, the storytelling was fine.

However, if you’re writing this story and not doing it as a comedy, what would the characters really do? At a minimum, they’d tie Gilligan to a palm tree until they were rescued. Perhaps one of them would kill Gilligan. Does that sound harsh? How many attempts would the sanest person see fail because of one man’s idiocy until he helped that man meet with an accident?

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Thanksgiving 2014

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For Thanksgiving this years, my wife and I had planned to swing dance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Not only would it be fun, how may people could say they danced at the Kennedy Center?

Luckily for us, we were invited to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving supper. The company was as wonderful as the food. It was a Happy Thanksgiving, filled with good friends and good food. It was worth missing dancing at the Kennedy Center–we danced Friday night at the Dulles Hilton with the Jive Aces from London playing.

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1987/88 Pink Floyd Tour #TBT

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In an earlier post, I mentioned that I found my T-shirt from the tour but couldn’t find my ticket stub. I was bummed out that I’d lost the stub.

I collect the stubs of events I attend, including concerts and sporting events. It’s a reminder of a good time. For all of my other concerts, I put the ticket stubs in the CD the tour promoted. On the rare chance that I didn’t buy the CD but still went to the concert, I put it in the closest CD. An example of the latter case was the Boston concert earlier this year. I didn’t buy their latest CD (I didn’t know they had one out.), but I went to the concert–it was a bucket list concert.

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Change

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Back in the late ’90 Kel took the picture below of our dogs at the beach steps from the condo we rent on vacation. Patch, the white and black border collie, is lying in the puddle; and Data, the black and white border collie, is patiently waiting.

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Why Swing Dancing?

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Some folks have asked why I’ve taken up swing dancing.

It’s an interesting question. In part, I wanted to do a social activity. A friend who introduced me to it said it was “wholesome.” At first, I thought it kind of odd, funny even, considering that dancers constantly switch partners, but it really is wholesome.

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Pro Football and Cursing

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The Pittsburgh Steelers managed somehow to lose against Tampa Bay.

I didn’t see the game, except for the last 1:30. From what I saw, the Steelers couldn’t do anything right. They couldn’t sustain a drive to run time off of the clock. They punted for 29 yards. (I can punt that far!) Then the defense allows Tampa Bay to march the short field and score.

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