Hi, Friends,
Happy October and fond hopes that the Great Pumpkin does not leave rocks in your trick or treat sack. I felt sorry for Charley Brown every Halloween (after the laughter subsides). And also, of course, for Linus in his annual quest for the “most sincere pumpkin patch.”
Three brief writing tidbits to keep those who are interested up to date. I received word from the editor of Spank the Carp magazine that the “Doomsday 3.0” story will be published in the update due to be posted December 1st. Simply Google “Spank the Carp Fiction and Poetry.” That will take you to the December edition of magazine – it will be labelled “Pond 72 December 2022.” Pond 72 will display the contents of the magazine. Click on “Doomsday 3.0” to bring the story to the screen. Hope you will enjoy it. Assuming I remember to do so, (always a questionable assumption) I will post reminders as the publishing date draws nearer.
The military history manuscript Glory in the Shadows is still being looked at. If nothing more is forthcoming in the next few weeks, I may check to see if there is any interest elsewhere. My notion is to stay with the present version until the end of the year. One of the interesting features of the book, not duplicated elsewhere to my knowledge, is a “Global War on Terror” chronology that begins on 9/11 and details events year by year to the present day. The end of the year would provide a natural break point to close things out. Unfortunately, there is no real end to terrorist episodes around the world. Most recently, (September 27) a suicide bomber from a group called ISIS-K, one of the most violent organizations, killed at least 19 young men and women and injured scores of others as they were taking a practice test for university admission in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The fiction novel I have mentioned a couple of times is about to undergo its second draft. I’ve been getting great help from colleagues from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Five very gifted proofreaders contributed to the first ‘scrub’ of the manuscript. One of them has since had to drop out because of other commitments. I mentioned to her that I hoped she wasn’t so dissatisfied with the story that she had entered the transfer portal and moved to a different author. (The football analogy was unavoidable. Even on a recent trip to far distant locations, the changes in Nebraska’s coaching staff were much in the news. )
What follows has absolutely nothing to do with writing. (So if you wish, hit the ‘delete’ button and move on to better things.)
Nita and I recently enjoyed a two week trip with our daughter Karen into Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Quebec) and East Coast venues in Maine including Acadia National Park. It turned out to be a wonderful trip although the first several hours unfolded like a low cost disaster movie.
The day began when Nita and I got up at 4:30am to ensure we caught a scheduled 6:17 flight. When we arrived at the airport, the first thing we heard was an announcement that the flight had been delayed to 6:57.
In early afternoon, when Nita and I finally boarded the aircraft, the pilot announced that we would have a further “brief delay” while 400 additional pounds of fuel were loaded as a precaution in case the flight had to be diverted due to prospective bad weather enroute to Chicago. When that task was completed and the plane was ready to back away from the gate, the jet way (automated walkway) jammed and could not be disconnected from the plane. After that issue was resolved, we thought for sure we were on our way. Indeed, we were on the roll out to the runway when the plane suddenly stopped. For reasons unknown, a passenger asked to be taken off the aircraft. Her request was accommodated, but not before a further delay occurred as her luggage was located and removed from the cargo bay as we sat on the taxi strip.
We finally left Lincoln, a modest seven to eight hours late. Ironically, we took off at about the same time our daughter was supposed to be picking us up at Hartford, Connecticut, at the end of our journey.
So – this is a further Reader’s Digest Condensed Version of subsequent events – we arrived too late in Chicago to catch our connecting flight to Hartford. We then worked a new connection scheduled to depart at 6:15pm. Turns out that was also delayed – only by a half hour or so, but who’s counting?—as the Hartford flight was held until an incoming connecting flight from Philadelphia arrived. Karen finally retrieved us at Hartford at about 9:30 that night. It was a heckuva day (but admittedly, the marvelous days that followed more than compensated for it).
Oh, we did see a major league baseball game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. It was a nail-biter: Toronto lost 11-0 to Tampa Bay. But it was a major league game so all was good. So was the Plains of Abraham site at Quebec where the British defeated the French in 1759, hastening the demise of the French claim to a portion of the North American continent. Thanks as always to Nita and Karen for indulging my passion for military history.
On a side note: My daughter is a big Stephen King fan, so on the way back from Canada we stopped by his house in Bangor, Maine. Karen insisted on taking a picture, so perhaps some of Mr. King’s magic will rub off. By the way, his house is the size of our local shopping center.
And now, TRULY AWFUL PUNS. (The first is from my niece’s son, Rowan Hamer)
On the way home the other night I walked past a crowbar.
It was the most drunken birds I’ve ever seen in one place.
Why can’t you use fortnight as a password?
Because it is two week.
/////
Have a great October.
Tom
Happy October and fond hopes that the Great Pumpkin does not leave rocks in your trick or treat sack. I felt sorry for Charley Brown every Halloween (after the laughter subsides). And also, of course, for Linus in his annual quest for the “most sincere pumpkin patch.”
Three brief writing tidbits to keep those who are interested up to date. I received word from the editor of Spank the Carp magazine that the “Doomsday 3.0” story will be published in the update due to be posted December 1st. Simply Google “Spank the Carp Fiction and Poetry.” That will take you to the December edition of magazine – it will be labelled “Pond 72 December 2022.” Pond 72 will display the contents of the magazine. Click on “Doomsday 3.0” to bring the story to the screen. Hope you will enjoy it. Assuming I remember to do so, (always a questionable assumption) I will post reminders as the publishing date draws nearer.
The military history manuscript Glory in the Shadows is still being looked at. If nothing more is forthcoming in the next few weeks, I may check to see if there is any interest elsewhere. My notion is to stay with the present version until the end of the year. One of the interesting features of the book, not duplicated elsewhere to my knowledge, is a “Global War on Terror” chronology that begins on 9/11 and details events year by year to the present day. The end of the year would provide a natural break point to close things out. Unfortunately, there is no real end to terrorist episodes around the world. Most recently, (September 27) a suicide bomber from a group called ISIS-K, one of the most violent organizations, killed at least 19 young men and women and injured scores of others as they were taking a practice test for university admission in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The fiction novel I have mentioned a couple of times is about to undergo its second draft. I’ve been getting great help from colleagues from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Five very gifted proofreaders contributed to the first ‘scrub’ of the manuscript. One of them has since had to drop out because of other commitments. I mentioned to her that I hoped she wasn’t so dissatisfied with the story that she had entered the transfer portal and moved to a different author. (The football analogy was unavoidable. Even on a recent trip to far distant locations, the changes in Nebraska’s coaching staff were much in the news. )
What follows has absolutely nothing to do with writing. (So if you wish, hit the ‘delete’ button and move on to better things.)
Nita and I recently enjoyed a two week trip with our daughter Karen into Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Quebec) and East Coast venues in Maine including Acadia National Park. It turned out to be a wonderful trip although the first several hours unfolded like a low cost disaster movie.
The day began when Nita and I got up at 4:30am to ensure we caught a scheduled 6:17 flight. When we arrived at the airport, the first thing we heard was an announcement that the flight had been delayed to 6:57.
- Then a second announcement that the flight would leave at 8:00;
- Then a third announcement that the flight would leave at 10:59;
- Then a fourth announcement that the flight would leave at 12:59;
- Then after that, I think they gave up announcing departure times – or maybe the dispatcher was getting laryngitis.
In early afternoon, when Nita and I finally boarded the aircraft, the pilot announced that we would have a further “brief delay” while 400 additional pounds of fuel were loaded as a precaution in case the flight had to be diverted due to prospective bad weather enroute to Chicago. When that task was completed and the plane was ready to back away from the gate, the jet way (automated walkway) jammed and could not be disconnected from the plane. After that issue was resolved, we thought for sure we were on our way. Indeed, we were on the roll out to the runway when the plane suddenly stopped. For reasons unknown, a passenger asked to be taken off the aircraft. Her request was accommodated, but not before a further delay occurred as her luggage was located and removed from the cargo bay as we sat on the taxi strip.
We finally left Lincoln, a modest seven to eight hours late. Ironically, we took off at about the same time our daughter was supposed to be picking us up at Hartford, Connecticut, at the end of our journey.
So – this is a further Reader’s Digest Condensed Version of subsequent events – we arrived too late in Chicago to catch our connecting flight to Hartford. We then worked a new connection scheduled to depart at 6:15pm. Turns out that was also delayed – only by a half hour or so, but who’s counting?—as the Hartford flight was held until an incoming connecting flight from Philadelphia arrived. Karen finally retrieved us at Hartford at about 9:30 that night. It was a heckuva day (but admittedly, the marvelous days that followed more than compensated for it).
Oh, we did see a major league baseball game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. It was a nail-biter: Toronto lost 11-0 to Tampa Bay. But it was a major league game so all was good. So was the Plains of Abraham site at Quebec where the British defeated the French in 1759, hastening the demise of the French claim to a portion of the North American continent. Thanks as always to Nita and Karen for indulging my passion for military history.
On a side note: My daughter is a big Stephen King fan, so on the way back from Canada we stopped by his house in Bangor, Maine. Karen insisted on taking a picture, so perhaps some of Mr. King’s magic will rub off. By the way, his house is the size of our local shopping center.
And now, TRULY AWFUL PUNS. (The first is from my niece’s son, Rowan Hamer)
On the way home the other night I walked past a crowbar.
It was the most drunken birds I’ve ever seen in one place.
Why can’t you use fortnight as a password?
Because it is two week.
/////
Have a great October.
Tom
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