Finally! After over 2 years, I'm this close to pushing Book 4 of Arlo and Jake out into the sunlight! A heart attack and subsequent long recovery put a real kink in this one. Plus I wanted to make this one better than the last one so I've been taking my time. I think the dialogue and story line are definitely the best I've done so far!
I've finished a dozen rounds of rewrites and my lovely wife is editing it. Of course she's finding a bunch of errors and 'could be better' spots. I expected that. I'm so close to the story it's hard not to must gloss over the text.
While she puts the screws to the story I'm off trying to make a good cover art. How to put new stuff on the cover and not give away the story line. I have a couple of ideas to try out.
Thanks so much to all my readers for continuing to buy the books and leave reviews! I've had an uptick in readers this month, partly because I'm posting on some Navy Facebook pages. It's been heartwarming to hear from shipmates from the past and new friends in the Navy now. The Arlo and Jake series has been receiving great reviews and comments!
Be Cool everyone!
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Monday, September 10, 2018
It's Monday!!!
Perfect writing weather this morning! Cool and cloudy here in Lewisville Texas.
Just got my hot cup of Matcha tea and a couple of spinach triangles for breakfast.
Who's up for a few hours of imagination exploration?!
I'm working the last scene of Arlo and Jake #4. Then it's off to rewrite-rewrite-rewrite land. Yea....
Feels good to have this one close to done. It's been one of the most challenging and I hope it will be the best.
Keep writing!
Just got my hot cup of Matcha tea and a couple of spinach triangles for breakfast.
Who's up for a few hours of imagination exploration?!
I'm working the last scene of Arlo and Jake #4. Then it's off to rewrite-rewrite-rewrite land. Yea....
Feels good to have this one close to done. It's been one of the most challenging and I hope it will be the best.
Keep writing!
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Thursday morning writing...
Cool and cloudy morning here in Lewisville. Great relief from the heat of Summer.
I'm in the final stretch on book #4 of the Arlo and Jake SciFi series. Whew, it's been a long, long slough through this one.
I started it almost two years ago! My heart attack put a big halt to just about everything, including the drive to write. It's been coming back though. I've been ramping up and I'm excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Lots of other stories have been striving for my attention so I'm looking forward to sifting through the mob, looking for the next book.
I hope you're having a great week.
Be Cool
Be Happy
Just Be
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Rekindling old Navy friendships!
I don't know why I didn't think of this before! I found the USS Bluefish SSN 675 Facebook page and made contact with a couple old ship mates! I told them about my books and a few have already grabbed one! Can't wait for the reviews.
Now I'm looking through my picture boxes looking for pix from my time as a Nuc Submariner. This is the first one I found. It's my graduating class from Nuclear Power School in Bainbridge Maryland, 1971. That's me second row down from the top and seventh from the left. Those thick navy issue glasses made everyone look like Groucho Marx! I had forgotten about the mustache.
It was a 6 month school with emphasis on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow for steam generation engine rooms, Nuclear power generation, math, power plant chemistry and radiation health physics. 12 hour days, 5 days a week with enough homework to say it was really a 6 day work week.
I had an instructor, math I think, that would start on the upper left side of the wall to wall chalkboard (yes blackboard with white chalk) writing as he talked. He would move down the board and then back to the top as he walked left to right, writing the whole time. In his left hand he had an eraser. He would erase the left most row as he wrote the right rows. Yep. You either 'got it' or stopped him before he erased because he was not going to repeat it. It forced you to pay attention and ask questions.
Mostly great instructors who motivated and truly cared that we understood the material. Not all, but most.
I can still do some of the chemistry, power plant operations and equations in my head. Of course I was also 19, so my brain was a bit more agile then. ;-) And the systems I learned are obsolete.
I'll share more as I find the pix.
BTW, Jake Jasper in my 'Arlo and Jake' SciFi series is based on yours truly and some of my mates from this time in my life.
Be Cool
Be Happy
Just Be
Now I'm looking through my picture boxes looking for pix from my time as a Nuc Submariner. This is the first one I found. It's my graduating class from Nuclear Power School in Bainbridge Maryland, 1971. That's me second row down from the top and seventh from the left. Those thick navy issue glasses made everyone look like Groucho Marx! I had forgotten about the mustache.
It was a 6 month school with emphasis on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow for steam generation engine rooms, Nuclear power generation, math, power plant chemistry and radiation health physics. 12 hour days, 5 days a week with enough homework to say it was really a 6 day work week.
I had an instructor, math I think, that would start on the upper left side of the wall to wall chalkboard (yes blackboard with white chalk) writing as he talked. He would move down the board and then back to the top as he walked left to right, writing the whole time. In his left hand he had an eraser. He would erase the left most row as he wrote the right rows. Yep. You either 'got it' or stopped him before he erased because he was not going to repeat it. It forced you to pay attention and ask questions.
Mostly great instructors who motivated and truly cared that we understood the material. Not all, but most.
I can still do some of the chemistry, power plant operations and equations in my head. Of course I was also 19, so my brain was a bit more agile then. ;-) And the systems I learned are obsolete.
I'll share more as I find the pix.
BTW, Jake Jasper in my 'Arlo and Jake' SciFi series is based on yours truly and some of my mates from this time in my life.
Be Cool
Be Happy
Just Be
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