Which of course means I did not have to get up and go to work, a situation for which I am extremely grateful. As one who puts in the traditional forty hours a week, I look with great expectation towards the weekend. If for anything else, I enjoy the ability to sleep in!
I may have mentioned the last time I posted that my work schedule over the past week was a bit different than it usually is. Because the Spokane Club at Fourth Avenue was shut down for renovation, there was no need for me to be there at 4:00 am everyday. Instead, I went in at 6:00 and came home a corresponding two hours later. One would think that this would have allowed me the privilege of staying up a bit later as well, perhaps to finish watching a Mariner's game or view other rarely seen television programs. Instead, I found that I would be nodding off and ready for bed at roughly the same times that I always am. That was true even later during the week when the extra hours of sleep should have had an effect. I'm inclined to believe that this was due to the different sort of work I ended up doing. I was no longer engaged in my normal daily routine. There were many things I wanted to do, things that I normally don't have a chance to get to on a regular basis. While I did get a start at them, those in charge also came up with many things that needed doing. Needless to say, we were all busy. Monday is supposed to be the last day that the facility is closed. I'm assuming that we'll use the day to put things back or rearrange so we can open again on Tuesday. The scope of renovations however mean that some work will still be going on, so a lot of the facilities will be of a temporary nature.
Later today I'll go up to our local Hastings store. The manager there is really supportive of local authors and is holding a mass book signing from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. Several SASP (Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers www.spokaneauthors.org) will be taking part, as will other writers from the Spokane area. When I last spoke to the manager, she mentioned that about twenty people had signed up. Sadly, I do not yet have anything that I can sign, but I'll go to support and help those that do. More than likely I'll by a few books, even though I still have plenty lying around that I haven't read. Books are a timeless treasure, so even if one sits on the shelf for years, it still has the same potential as it did when purchased or received. My secret hope is that this event will prove successful and will be repeated. Next time I just might be able to sign something. No, I'm not that close to having any of my Stone Island Sea Stories published, but the little essay I wrote for Anne Mini's Author! Author! Contest for Expressive Excellence (www.annemini.com/?p=5092) is supposed to be in the next edition of Gray Dog Press's (www.graydogpress.com) SPOKE-WRITE. As I see it, anyone in the store who would happen to by a copy could then have the potential of having several of the contributing authors sign it.
Speaking of SASP, our next meeting will be this Thursday. We'll have one of our members speaking about his experiences in getting his book published. In addition we will have a unique and worthwhile door prize to offer the holder of the lucky ticket. A few weeks ago I won a copy of THE SKEWED THRONE by Joshua Palmatier (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jpsorrow ). As I already have a copy, I will donate this signed copy as a door prize. Hopefully the winner will enjoy it and become a fan of Joshua and his THRONE OF AMENKOR series.
I have one other project in mind for the weekend. That is to fix the interior rear view mirror in "Tim," my '62 Corvair Rampside pick-up. I've installed one of those long five section "Wink" mirrors in it, something I do with al most any vehicle when I buy it. It currently mounts via a couple of pads glued to the windshield, much as many mirrors do today. However one of the pads is starting to tear away from the windshield, and I cannot adjust the mirror as I would like. I guess the solution is to go to the nearest automotive store and get a tube of glue made for such applications. Don't want to drive the truck until I get that fixed. In its current condition, I don't have the rearward visibility I want, and I'm a little nervous that it might come loose at an inopportune time. Perhaps after I drop by Hastings for a while, I'll head on up the street to Schucks and get what I need to fix it.
If the weather is nice later today or tomorrow, I should also mow and trim the lawn. And since I've no doubt bored any readers of this into a stupor, I should probably end now.
Dave
Last Sunday's Corvair Club Picnic went well, even if it was somewhat sparsely attended. Jessica and I were the first to arrive, and we got there about ten minutes before the announced start time. Of course at events like that, precision arrival times are not important. The first hour or so was spent in general conversation as additional members arrived, most in their Corvairs, and then we ate. Our host member (and the club) provided hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, and condiments, while everything else was brought by those attending. I had hoped that Eva would have been able to make pancit, adobo, fried rice, or perhaps even lumpia for us to bring. Unfortunately she has a lot going on and wasn't able to. Therefore we simply brought a small tub of pre-made potato salad. It seems like a lot of those attending also didn't have the time to make anything from scratch, as we had about four different kinds of salad. The one dish that was homemade was a crockpot full of the best baked beans I've had in a long time.
Of course one of the things I wanted to determine from the drive to and from the picnic was the mileage that "Tim" would get. Since I got "him" running again in June, gas mileage has been pretty dismal. I'd definitely notice a hole in my budget if I had to drive "him" every day. Once every third or fourth work day I can manage. I topped off the tank the day before the picnic, and the day after returning I gassed up again. I didn't want even a single trip to work to mess up the mileage calculations for the trip. And yes, the mileage experienced over the ninety or so mile round trip was much better than what I'd been getting around town. In rough figures I showed about a 50% improvement. Still, what I got on the picnic trip is closer to what I should be getting overall and around town. We also noticed a distinct lack of power while going up a long, fairly steep grade just before we turned off the main road to our destination. We were probably doing a good 60 mph at the bottom of the hill. With my foot all the way to the floor, we nevertheless slowed down as we climbed the hill. We gained the top doing about 30 mph. Although I'd never driven this particular hill with this particular vehicle, I have driven up others that are similar and know "he" should have done better. Perhaps I will need to take "him" to the club's next "TECH-N-TUNE" and have one of the club experts adjust the carbs, etc. Or it just might be that there are other problems with the engine that prevent it from running at full strength and with the efficiency it should.
This coming week should be interesting as far as work is concerned. The Spokane Club, Valley Facility is closed until September 1st for renovation. While many of the administrative types will be off, those of us in the maintenance end of things will still be working. Hopefully we will be able to get to some of those areas we never get a chance at when the club is in operation. And because no members will be showing up to play tennis, I won't have to go in so darned early to clean the tennis courts before they arrive. Rather than starting work at 4 AM, I'll be starting at 6. The fact that I will be able to sleep an extra couple of hours in the morning will seem almost like a vacation to me. And I'll still be home around 3 or so, and since this will be closer to a "normal" day shift schedule, perhaps I'll have a bit more ambition once I am home.
The little writing group I'm in met earlier today. I passed along a hand-out I'd picked up from the PNWA Conference about "starting a writing group" and we all agreed that we were pretty much doing it by the "book." Basically we decided to keep going as we have been as the way we've been doing it seems to work for the group. Hopefully the one point that the hand-out emphasized will get us all on the ball to have something ready for review when we are the one scheduled. If no one else has anything we usually review the next chapter in my work. While I appreciate the consistency of having my stuff reviewed, it gives me an uncomfortable feeling of selfishness and using the group to my advantage. But as the others don't seem to mind, and as we did need something to review and critique, we went over Chapter 14, DESTINATION FOUND, of BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE. To me, this is one of the milestone chapters in the story, as it is where the fantasy aspect of the story becomes readily apparent. Members of the group felt that in this respect the chapter worked well. They also pointed out a few fairly minor problem areas, such as word repetition, things that I'll be able to fix without much trouble.
So, where am I at with regards to finding an agent? I think I've mentioned that my scheduled pitch at the PNWA Conference (www.pnwa.org) did not go as well as it could have. The particular agent and I simply did not match up. I speak briefly to another agent who is familiar with stories/series that tend to cross between genres as I believe mine do. With her verbal permission, I've queried the agency and have been invited to submit a more "formal" query. That is, the query letter plus pages. Also as a result of some detective work by a friend of mine who is more deeply entrenched in the writing and publishing world, I have an e-mail address for an agent who has been handling a series of stories that also seem not to fit neatly into any one genre or category. But as this same friend reminds people every year, many agents and their staffs tend to be on vacation about now. Therefore I'll probably wait until September is well underway before I do any more querying or submitting. As it has been explained to me, one does not want his or her material to be in the stack of queries and submissions that accumulates while the agent/agency screener is gone. Nor does one want to send material so that it arrives while said agent/agency screener is still trying to whittle that pile down to a more managable size. So around the second week of September, I'll dig out my basic query letter and update it to match the agent(s) that I'll be querying. I might also work up one and send it along to our local Gray Dog Press.
Lest I forget, for anyone who is in or will be in the Spokane area next Saturday, 29 August, give great consideration to stopping by the Hastings at the corner of Ash and Wellesley. The store manager is setting up a mass book signing with as many local authors as she can gather. (At last mention, I believe she had around 15 authors scheduled.) The event runs from 2PM through 5PM. While I don't have anything published yet, I plan to go up for a while. As many of those planning to participate are members of SASP, I feel can help support them simply by being there. In addition, I'm sure to find a few books that I like and will no doubt buy a few. After all, I need stuff to read on my lunch breaks at work.
As for what I am reading, I finished SHOOT/DON'T SHOOT by J. A. Jance on Wednesday. As I still had a few minutes left on my lunch break, I started in on SEA CHANGE by Robert B. Parker.
More next time,
Dave
On my way home from work Friday I stopped at the local station and picked up the battery for "Tim," my Corvair Rampside Pickup. I'd taken it up the day before to be charged up as it had been sitting in the rig for over a year and a half. After putting the battery back in and making some initial adjustments to the carbs, I got in and turned the key. Darned if it didn't fire off and run almost as if I'd had it running a few days ago. To confess, it died after one cough, but upon hitting the key a second time it settled down and ran. At first it was a bit rough sounding as having sat for nearly two years, a lot of the oil had drained down. Once lubrication got spread around again, it ran as good as it ever has as of late.
Satisfied that it would run, and having remembered to put current tabs on it and insure current registration and insurance cards were on board, I did a quick drive around the block to see if it truly was in drivable condition. Then it was time for a quick wash and a shower for myself before heading to Coeur d' Alene. Friday night was "cruise night" for the CAR D' LANE car show, with several hundred older vehicles circling the down town area. Because the Inland Northwest Corvair Club was hosting Econo-Run Northwest in conjunction with Car d' Lane, we had special access to one of our member's church's parking lot. A great many of us just parked and watched the other cars "cruise." In addition, that particular member had made arrangements for the church to provide a lasagna dinner for us and our fellow Corvair guests.
Saturday morning I was up early and once again on the road to Coeur d' Alene, this time for the actual car show. Again, special arrangements had been made for all the Corvairs to be parked along the same section of street, regardless of whether or not we all arrived as one group. Normally it's a matter of cars being parked as they arrive. By the time all the Corvairs were in place, they lined both sides of the street for an entire block. As a note, vehicles park for the car show in a reverse "angle" parking mode. Instead of pulling in with the front of the vehicle angled at the curb, they are backed at an angle against the sidewalk. A count revealed the presence of thirty-seven and a half Corvairs on display. A "half?" you say. Some one had made a trailer out of the nose and rear sections of one, so we "counted" it as half a car.
Once the car show ended in the late afternoon, those of the Corvair community eventually found their way to a member's house just outside of town. He had volunteered to host the usual Saturday night awards ceremony and banquet. As it was an outside meal, it was more picnic like in nature, with the "eats" being provided by a local well know catering outfit.
I spent a good portion of my day and early evening tabulating gas mileage results and peoples' choice votes. We had gas mileages ranging from 15 or so mpg up to 36 mpg. Many of the cars on display were superbly restored, maintained, waxed, polished, and detailed to perfection. Others reflected their age and need for a little TLC. Obviously those that were gussied up received the majority of the peoples' choice votes.
There was also a trip to visit an aviation/invention museum today. I had originally intended to go, but by the time the barbeque was winding down last night, I realized that I just didn't have the "gas" to get up and be at it again. One of our other members was thinking of going, so I gave her my ticket for the lunch. In a way, I'd liked to have gone, as the museum sounded like an interesting place to visit. But I could tell that I needed a good day of rest before going back to work Monday morning. With all I had done over the past week to make ready for the event and to get "Tim" ready as well, I hadn't slept nearly as much as I should have, and the lack of sleep was catching up with me. So I slept as late as I could this morning, fell asleep watching the Mariners early this afternoon, and fell asleep again early in the evening. Once I finish this and a couple other tasks at the computer I'll go to bed and get a little more sleep before starting the work week once again.
Dave
Mon, Jul. 21st, 2008, 11:26 am
FINALLY!
I'm getting around to posting after what seems a very long time. But I'm back, and hopefully my little Live Journal visits will occur with greater regularity in the future.
I returned from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's (www.pnwa.org) Summer Conference late yesterday afternoon. It was my third year in a row to attend, and as always, I found it to be a fun, educational, and over all rewarding experience. From my own angle, it was successful as I did have an agent ask for pages. And with the savvy I've gained over the past few years, I'm not going to rush and get them in the mail before my rig's engine has cooled from the drive home. No, I'll wait a few days, print them out and go over them one more time. I'm sure I'll find a few things to tweak and improve before sending them to her.
I also had a bit of a revelation while discussing my work with an acquisition editor. During our meeting (along with four or five other aspiring writers), I began telling about my work, saying that I wrote Naval Adventure with a Fantasy twist. Almost immediately, the editor in question suggested that I wrote Alternative History. While I've always kind of realized that, I hadn't wanted to categorize my writing as such. Probably because in my view of things, the traditional alternate history does away with history as it actually was. I'd be more inclined to say that my work is an additional history that takes place on an additional world. I want the characters in my books to exist here on this world, perhaps contribute to the history of this world as it was in their time, but yet not change it. When they are in the other world, then they are free (in my mind) to influence and cause history to be as it will be. And I want to continue to keep the path between the real/this world and the fantasy/that world open. Perhaps I'm suggesting that our actual history has been influenced by things from beyond our known boundaries of the universe.
One of the things I enjoy most at the PNWA conferences is the on-site Barnes and Noble bookstore. Most of the books available are by authors who attend, at least attend the book signing/autograph party. I usually try to get copies (signed copies) of work by the main speakers and presenters. This year was no different and I ended up with another good collection of autographed works. It looks as if I shall have plenty to read over the next few months. I still have to finish Victory Of Eagles, by naominovik, as well as resume reading the two remaining Throne books by jpsorrow. In addition, I have plenty of other books about the house, that I doubt I will run out of reading material in the next few years. I've got today and tomorrow available to me before I go back to work. I do know that I need to more the yard and catch up on some watering. If I'm ambitious enough, I also need to begin work on my Corvair Rampside pick-up. I think I mentioned a post or so ago that I'd like to have one of my Corvairs running for an Inland Northwest Corvair Club function on the 3rd of August. As far as I know, getting the "truck" back in to running condition will be a lot easier than doing so with the car. Maybe now that I'm, for all practical purposes, healed from my surgery, and that this summer's PNWA Conference is history, I'll be able to get into more of a routine and find time to do a little bit of automotive tinkering. Of course I need to keep up with the writing end of things as well. It's been quite a little while now since I've worked on Darnahsian Pirates. And I'm thinking that it might be time to go back through Beyond the Ocean's Edge once more. As a result of the recent conference, I've (hopefully) learned some things that might need to be tweaked a bit more.
I'm spending a portion of today, catching up on my e-mail correspondence, internet surfing, and blog connectivity. It dawned on me that I shall have to get a lap-top one of these days. Such a device would be handy when going to things like the just concluded conference. At least I would be able to keep up with e-mail and the like. And I always seem to have time here and there, that it would be nice to do a little work on whatever my current project might be. (This year I spent most of the time available to me for such things, working and re-working my PITCH. I probably had it down better this year than I had ever before, but when I got into my "agent appointment," it seems that I tossed all that careful preparation out the window and "winged" it. Doing so wasn't a problem, however, as the meeting was successful anyway. I did mention that she asked for pages at the beginning of this post, didn't I?)
Anyway, this should bring me up to date. Ideally I'll get back to posting every week, probably on Sundays again. Depending upon how things go, I may try to post during the week every once in a while.
Happy writing,
Happy reading,
Happy...any other pursuits you may enjoy,
Dave
P. S. As her cumulating senior project, my daughter is working on developing me a web-site. I'm sure I'll mention it here from time to time, as well as providing a link to it. It is also my intention to provide a link from it to this Live Journal Page. I'll (we'll) keep you "posted!"
Wed, Jun. 18th, 2008, 10:43 am
Yesterday I finally had that rare session of writing, the one in which I sit down and the words and the story just seems to flow out of my mind and into the keyboard. A day or so earlier I had laboriously written about a page of the third Chapter of DARNAHIAN PIRATES. In this particular noteworthy session, I wrote a good eight pages, or around two thousand words. I usually feel like I've accomplished something if I write four pages or so, and many times I write less than that. Today, once I get to the writing portion of my time on the computer, I really don't know if I'll be that ambitious or not. Perhaps it's just a matter of being a bit more creative.
I have found that my productivity depends upon just sort of scene that I'm writing. True be told, there are times where even as I write, I'm searching for something to write about. At other moments, such as yesterday, I have a really solid idea of where the story is going (even the minute part of the story that I'm currently dealing with) and things just roll along.
By the way, just to confuse people, today I'm including another pic with my posting. This is the logo of the Inland Northwest Corvair Club. Figured I'd include it in the event any of the club members decide to take a gander at my journal. If I haven't made it clear in any of my previous posts, Chevrolet's Corvair automobile (from the 60's) has been one of my life long interests. I guess I've always been drawn to the unusual and the different. For an All American automobile, the Corvair is certainly the most unusual and different. Once I finish healing from my hernia surgery, I hope to get back to working on mine. In fact, I'm actually feeling good enough these days, that I want to get started on them right now. But there is that idea in the back of my mind that I don't want to get to ambitious too soon and negate the effects of my treatment. While the surgery and subsequent recovery have not been all that discomforting, I certainly do not want to have to go through it again. (I especially do not want to "redo" it because I did not follow the doctor's directions. Should "the other side" eventually fail and require repair, then that's a different matter.)
I am really hoping that having my hernia fixed will allow me to feel better overall. While I was "suffering" from it, I told myself and others that most of the time it did not bother me. For the most part, I don't think it directly did, but I wonder if it didn't effect me to some extent. I mention this because when my convalescence is up and I go back to work, I'm hoping that I will be a litte more ambitious around here. Quite naturally I want to continue and press forward with my writing. Yet, I want to get back to the garage and the cars. What's the use in having them if I never do anything to improve or use them. As well, there are probably aspects of yard work that I've avoided over the years due to the physical condition.
Another kick that I'm on right now is that of designing ships. I've already used plans of HMS/OGS Island Expedition to accompany the last couple of posts. (If you don't remember, it is the vessel in which a lot of the story of both BEYOND THE OCEAN'S EDGE and SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS occurs. As I begin DARNAHIAN PIRATES, it is also the central vessel of that story as well.) Anyway, since finishing those drawing of the schooner, I did a little work on a vessel (a frigate) that hopefully will be used in a later story. It came out pretty much as I had hoped. I don't want to present the drawing or any details about it, simply because it's inclusion in the STONE ISLAND SEA STORIES is so far in the future that I'm not really sure of its relativitiy. But as I believe I have also mentioned that I would like to do, I've started designing a "dragon transport," based on mention of those vessels in naominovik 's wonderful tales of Temeraire the dragon. I'm not sure that what I'll eventually come up with will match what she had in mind as she wrote the stories. I'm trying to create it based upon what I know of ships of that era and the limitations and practicalities that ship designers and builders faced then. If it turns out, I'll post it and you can see what you think.
Well, I've messed around with this post enough for today. Time I got back to the writing and continued with the adventures of chapter three.
Dave
Well, if you must know, the small triumph of which I speak is that yesterday I completed Chapter 24 of SAILING DANGEROUS WATERS! (You may have noticed that I've dropped the "Always" from the beginning of the title. I originally did that to fit it on to my business card layout. Decided it was better as it is now and changed it.) The delay is that I went to post about that and a few sundry other things yesterday. I was nearly done and ready to post when I evidently got a case of fumble fingers and somehow deleted it. Since I had been on the computer just about all day, I decided that I wasn't going to try and redo it. I'd just wait until today.
Now that Chapter twenty-four is done, I can say I'm getting pretty close to the end of this particular book. I'm thinking there will be one or perhaps two more chapters. Then it'll be time to set the writing aside for a little while and get some work done on my cars. (I'd at least like to devote the weekends to the wrench turning, and write after work on weekdays.)
If I haven't mentioned it, I have two Corvairs. One is a '62 Rampside pickup. I had it running again last summer and fall. I think that it needs a good tune up to be back on the road. That and some body and structural work, which I hope to get done as well. The other is a '65 "Spyderized" Monza coupe. About four or five years ago I started a "two week" project on it. I'm maybe a third of the way done. Primarily I'm rebuilding the "homemade dash and instrument panel that's in it. I plan to get to that as well this spring and summer.
Do any of you, especially those of you with older cars name them? I do. The '65 is "Ralph" for Ralph Nader, whose book, DANGEROUS AT ANY SPEED had a chapter about the Corvair, and in many folks' opinion led to it's demise. The '62 is "Tim" for Tim Allen/Tim Taylor, because when I first bought it, it needed more power! My current daily driver is a '98 Suzuki Sidekick. Living in the Pacific Northwest and being a Mariners fan, is it any wonder that we refer to it as "Ichi?"
This will no doubt be a fairly short post. As I end, I'll continue with the list of what I've read as of late.
BLACK ORDER(autographed)
James Rollins
AMERICAN KNEES(autographed)
Shawn Wong
SHADOWFALL(autographed)
James Clemens
THE END OF BARBARY TERROR(non-fiction)
Frederick C. Leiner
DEPTHS OF MADNESS(autographed)
Eric Scott de Bie
HAND OF EVIL
J. A. Jance
EMPIRE OF IVORY
Naomi Novik
THE JURYMASTER(autographed)
Robert Dugoni (I should finish this on my lunch break tomorrow.)
It seems that I was posting fairly regularly on either Saturday or Sunday, each week. I'm thinking now that I will try for Mondays and Fridays, and unless I really get deep into something, the posts will be a little shorter. I do want to thank those of you who have commented. That's one of the more enjoyable parts of doing this LJ page. It lets me know that someone is reading it, and I like the dialogue and discussions that often ensue.
Dave
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