To all those who so graciously read this newsletter: Best wishes for good times, good friends, and good memories in all the days ahead.
I began 2024 with a cat on my lap, a crossword puzzle, a cup of coffee, watching the sunrise through my patio window. I know, I know, the pace is excruciating and I will try to slow down.
We had a white Christmas in Lincoln – a nice, manageable snow fall, not a blizzard – and a wet, chilly New Year’s Day. There are still some small patches of snow of the ground in shaded areas (as of January 4) from modest flurries since then, but some weather models are predicting a more substantial storm on the way. We will try to stay one step ahead of the snow plows by getting our errands taken care of today and tomorrow. After that we look forward to toughing things out with coffee and a good book in front of the fireplace.
Writing stuff: There is no big news to report on the status of the fiction piece that a British company is working on. They are still in the editing and layout phase. No word yet on a release date. I suspect it will be a considerable ways downstream. We will still have to go through a second editing cycle before going final with the manuscript.
I’ve recently had a couple of interesting suggestions about potential writing projects that may be worthy of mention. In early December, Nita and I delivered some extra copies of Battlefields of Nebraska and Boots and Saddles: Military Leaders of the American West to the gift shop at the Archway Memorial at Kearney, Nebraska, and on the way back dropped off some more at a delightful bookstore in Seward. Both places were trying to replenish their stocks in preparation for holiday traffic. (By the way, the next time you are on I-80 going through Nebraska, you should consider stopping at the Archway Monument – full name: Great Platte River Road Archway Memorial. What a neat place. The memorial commemorates the pioneer journeys on the Overland Trail and frontier history. The structure and its exceptionally good history display span the highway. Very unique.) Anyway, at both places the proprietors mentioned that in addition to the histories, they would also welcome works with short stories, poems, etc. They were the ones who raised the subject, so their comments were unexpected but most appreciated.
I don’t have anything like that in progress. It would be a matter of compiling completed works and adding some new material. Most anthology books of that nature have a minimum threshold of at least 50,000 words. I haven’t written enough short stories to reach that baseline, and doing so would involve creating some new stuff to get to that level. I’ve got a couple of things on the shelf that I’ve been piddling around with but haven’t made much attempt to market – one is sort of a quirky science fiction story, something I haven’t tried before. Alternatively, I suppose I could consider incorporating fact and fiction short stories along with some poems and humor. I don’t know how receptive publishing companies would be to that sort of mixture. Most anthologies seem to focus entirely on fiction or factual stories.
Anyway, if you are so inclined, and have the time, I would welcome your thoughts on any or all of that. A complete list of short stories and poems is included in the Bookshelf section of the website. If among them there are some that you recall as having especially enjoyed, those would be the ones that should probably be considered for the book. Or, if there are any that should more appropriately be cast into the dust bin of history, let me know about those, too, so we can discard them. There is, after all, no limit to the amount of paper needed to shield the bottoms of bird cages.
Also related to the above: if you have any thoughts to share on a potential title for a somewhat unusual composite work such as this would be, please let me know. As mentioned, it would possibly contain fiction and factual short stories, humorous pieces, and selected poetry.
A new subject (but a most welcome one): On December 29, my friend and writing colleague, Jeanne Kern, sent a note that said “Huge news! Today is the Baseball Solstice – halfway between the last out of the World Series and the first pitch of the first Spring Training game.” How cool is that? I felt like getting my glove out of the closet. (Of course I would have had to walk through the snow to get to the diamond.) Anyway, we’re halfway there on way to a new season. I’m ready. Special thanks to Jeanne for providing much needed inspiration.
And now to close with something a little different. For Christmas, one of my favorite daughters gave me a book titled Dad Jokes: The Punny Edition. Catch the ‘Punny’ part? The jokes indeed resemble the awful ones I embarrass my family with, but they also have sort of a really bad pun quality associated with them. So … they represent the best (or worst) of both worlds.
Here are some examples to start the New Year:
As a policeman walked through a quiet neighborhood, he passed a slice of apple pie, a hot fudge sundae, and a lemon cheesecake. He thought to himself, the street is strangely desserted.
A man told his psychiatrist that he was afraid of living in a tall building. The doctor told him that it was only an apartment complex.
I visited a monastery the other day and as I walked by the kitchen, I saw a man frying chips.
I asked him: “Are you the friar?”
He replied: “No – I’m the chip monk.”
Gosh those are bad. What a great way to begin 2024.
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Best wishes to all. Make it a great year.
Tom
I began 2024 with a cat on my lap, a crossword puzzle, a cup of coffee, watching the sunrise through my patio window. I know, I know, the pace is excruciating and I will try to slow down.
We had a white Christmas in Lincoln – a nice, manageable snow fall, not a blizzard – and a wet, chilly New Year’s Day. There are still some small patches of snow of the ground in shaded areas (as of January 4) from modest flurries since then, but some weather models are predicting a more substantial storm on the way. We will try to stay one step ahead of the snow plows by getting our errands taken care of today and tomorrow. After that we look forward to toughing things out with coffee and a good book in front of the fireplace.
Writing stuff: There is no big news to report on the status of the fiction piece that a British company is working on. They are still in the editing and layout phase. No word yet on a release date. I suspect it will be a considerable ways downstream. We will still have to go through a second editing cycle before going final with the manuscript.
I’ve recently had a couple of interesting suggestions about potential writing projects that may be worthy of mention. In early December, Nita and I delivered some extra copies of Battlefields of Nebraska and Boots and Saddles: Military Leaders of the American West to the gift shop at the Archway Memorial at Kearney, Nebraska, and on the way back dropped off some more at a delightful bookstore in Seward. Both places were trying to replenish their stocks in preparation for holiday traffic. (By the way, the next time you are on I-80 going through Nebraska, you should consider stopping at the Archway Monument – full name: Great Platte River Road Archway Memorial. What a neat place. The memorial commemorates the pioneer journeys on the Overland Trail and frontier history. The structure and its exceptionally good history display span the highway. Very unique.) Anyway, at both places the proprietors mentioned that in addition to the histories, they would also welcome works with short stories, poems, etc. They were the ones who raised the subject, so their comments were unexpected but most appreciated.
I don’t have anything like that in progress. It would be a matter of compiling completed works and adding some new material. Most anthology books of that nature have a minimum threshold of at least 50,000 words. I haven’t written enough short stories to reach that baseline, and doing so would involve creating some new stuff to get to that level. I’ve got a couple of things on the shelf that I’ve been piddling around with but haven’t made much attempt to market – one is sort of a quirky science fiction story, something I haven’t tried before. Alternatively, I suppose I could consider incorporating fact and fiction short stories along with some poems and humor. I don’t know how receptive publishing companies would be to that sort of mixture. Most anthologies seem to focus entirely on fiction or factual stories.
Anyway, if you are so inclined, and have the time, I would welcome your thoughts on any or all of that. A complete list of short stories and poems is included in the Bookshelf section of the website. If among them there are some that you recall as having especially enjoyed, those would be the ones that should probably be considered for the book. Or, if there are any that should more appropriately be cast into the dust bin of history, let me know about those, too, so we can discard them. There is, after all, no limit to the amount of paper needed to shield the bottoms of bird cages.
Also related to the above: if you have any thoughts to share on a potential title for a somewhat unusual composite work such as this would be, please let me know. As mentioned, it would possibly contain fiction and factual short stories, humorous pieces, and selected poetry.
A new subject (but a most welcome one): On December 29, my friend and writing colleague, Jeanne Kern, sent a note that said “Huge news! Today is the Baseball Solstice – halfway between the last out of the World Series and the first pitch of the first Spring Training game.” How cool is that? I felt like getting my glove out of the closet. (Of course I would have had to walk through the snow to get to the diamond.) Anyway, we’re halfway there on way to a new season. I’m ready. Special thanks to Jeanne for providing much needed inspiration.
And now to close with something a little different. For Christmas, one of my favorite daughters gave me a book titled Dad Jokes: The Punny Edition. Catch the ‘Punny’ part? The jokes indeed resemble the awful ones I embarrass my family with, but they also have sort of a really bad pun quality associated with them. So … they represent the best (or worst) of both worlds.
Here are some examples to start the New Year:
As a policeman walked through a quiet neighborhood, he passed a slice of apple pie, a hot fudge sundae, and a lemon cheesecake. He thought to himself, the street is strangely desserted.
A man told his psychiatrist that he was afraid of living in a tall building. The doctor told him that it was only an apartment complex.
I visited a monastery the other day and as I walked by the kitchen, I saw a man frying chips.
I asked him: “Are you the friar?”
He replied: “No – I’m the chip monk.”
Gosh those are bad. What a great way to begin 2024.
/////
Best wishes to all. Make it a great year.
Tom
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