Your'e not a real author...

So said the email from a member of my writer's circle who is obviously not enamored with my work.
My response: It took that long to figure it out? If you figure writing in terms of having a big fat advance and all the word gorgeously curated, then you need to find a different URL, partner. I'm just a schmo(schmo-ette?) who takes the time every Sunday to type out what's transpired in her world that past week.
Which leads to the question of whether  blogs  are publishing. My answer is yes.
It used to be that being self published was the scarlet letter of publishing, a sign  that your work was not deemed good enough and you would be forever tainted with that stain and left with several cases of unsold books for your heirs to dispose of. Well, the world has changed. Much like software, we have a case of the Cathedral and the Bazaar . The Cathedral says that there is only  one source of righteousness, and woe be to those who stray. The Bazaar says come in and find what you like. To my mind, that's a better model - to give everyone an even field, and them let market have at it. It is harder to achieve an 'epic' success? yes, but more folks will have little taste of it, giving us a wider culture. Besides which, 'They' didn't think he could sing (Actually, they still do)


and yes, they are changes coming to my cycling habits. If you don't believe it, just see what I found at the curbside.

The classic at the Curbside

I wrote an article for another blog: 1948 Playboy. I wanted to spend some time here watching the comments flow in, fearing that some would post 'No Gurls Allowed'. That didn't happen, and I took a small step into the publishing world.
I took another step by going over to the Downtube and talked about getting a new bike, along with  the needs of some people I've run across at the prayer table -good on both sides!
Lastly, I had a sinus infection today, so I tried the traditional recipe: The hot toddy. It went OK, except for the fact that I wanted to get the whiskey that Mark Twain drank. I thought it was Marker's Mark, and that was what I came home with. Then I hit Wikipedia, and found out he liked Old Crow. oh, well/

Down, creative demons, down!

Or maybe I should say Dawhn: Part why I started writinbecausease I realized that My mother would need help the older she got , my brother would not help, and there's not much going on in IT in Cape Girardeau. Subjects were chosen so I could double up research trips with Family Visits. Well, now that she in Memphis, that put a different spin on the whole situation. The Cape book is on indefinte hold, but the Vincennes book is still going. And I stumbled across some more fun stuff. The first one has Geneal Nathan Bedford Forrest and the siniking of the Sultana, with Memphis in the Civil War, and the second is Memphis in the 1950's with Dewey Phillips, the first DJ to play Elvis on the radio. And along the way, you stumble across things, like this photo i saw it without caption, and I thought that the gentleman in the Hat looked my Grandfather Lingo. He wasn't, but an enjoyable detour

Finding the music

Had a sore throat, and it was too cold to ride, so I worked on my book.
I wanted to find the right music for when the British came to town

Unfortunately, "Garryowen" dates from 1860, and is really associated with the US Army.
Let's try this, then.

Sorry, not early enough. Guess I'll have to leave up to the imagination.
When the Americans come back? That's easy.

Write first, research later

I've been going back and writing out notes on my writing. Writing Historical fiction is almost as hard as writing a history. Where did i get that idea? How did so and so get his education as a priest? Why did they move? When did the battle happen? who came up with that hare brained idea?
Now, much chastened, I'm caught up. for now.

Best of both worlds

Sorry, no bike pictures today. we've been having the June Gloom.
and thinking back over my trip to Indiana, I came up with: an idea for another story. sigh.
Actually, it's good because I needed to do some plotting on the Lorimer story. I haven't abandoned it, like I have with a couple of other attempts of mine. but this is coming along too, so I guess I've found my niche.
And I've been playing around with some Computer stuff, since we may eventually be using the Spring Framework. so i've been downloaded packages here. Initial opinion: Give me Ruby on Rails or give me death.
And since I got asked for my card, today I sat down with Open Office and 2 hours later, Viola:

From Pictures

not bad, I wanted a Tricon hat with a Quill pen, but alas, none to be found.
And I know I'm showing my age with Van Halen, so :

scratching a note

You may have noticed that I mention that I brought a pen set at Vincennes.
Today, I set on my deck and decided to see what writing was like back then.
Surprisingly, it was eazy:

I was expecting to have ink all over the place, which is why I went out side. I also discovered where term "scratching out a note" came form, as it was really more of a scratching motion compared to a modern pen.
It also came with a quill pen, I could not get any of the heads to fit it. A couple of minutes with some needle nose pliers fixed it:

Not bad , and worth the price. Now to go tame my muses

Foursquare and the Fair

I went on a bike ride yesterday. I stopped by the site of the Old PAL studios:

The engineer was some guy called Frank:

a neat Mural:

From 5-1-2011

I decide to go to the La Times Festival of Books. I missed the early train, but no problem, no one takes the Metrolink on weekends, right?
Well, this weekend is the Lemon Festival in Upland, so downtown was packed. I got a ticket, despite the vending machine insisting there were no train that day, was soon on a Bombardier car going to Union station:

From Book fair

Once I got there, I hopped on a shuttle bus:

From Book fair

and was soon face to face with Tommy Trojan:

From Book fair

They had a number of seminars that could have been of interest to me as an aspiring writer, but there were all sold out. so I wandered around outside:

From Book fair

I've also been playing around with Foursquare. while it is neat, you do have to have GPS enabled on your phone. I usually keep mine, which does produce some strange results. Hopefully, I won't make it on Pleaserobme.com. I did manage to persuade my phone and Foursquare that I was on the USC campus, and checked in.
I found out that UCLA has extension program for people like me, but the folks running the booths for USC and Chapman U were much more friendly. hmm (USC and Chapman are private - more tuition) Made the trip worth it. Chapman had a project where you wrote down a word, thy took your picture with it, and then the students would try and make a story with it.
I wandered around and around some more. Curiously, the part devoted to Food books seemed more busy. Probably because they were handing out free samples. I was also thinking about an analysis I heard on the royal wedding hoopla - That we, as a society, have been trending toward "reality" entertainment rather then "fictionalized." Maye I should devote my energies to "Revolutionary Idol" instead.
I found a free seminar that was interesting, but glanced at my watch. Time to go back to union station.
Turns out everyone else had that idea, too. Thankfully, they had a larger bus. we went by City Hall:

From Book fair

(the "effect" is the Target "advertising" wrap on the bus) before making it back to Union station.

From Book fair

If you've never been there, it's worth a trip. LAUPT was built in the late 30's, at the height of rail travel, and is wonderfully maintained as a period piece.
I bought a Madeline doll for a souvenir( The Times is using the artwork from the books as theme for this year.

From Book fair

before riding the Hyundai car back:

From Book fair

Of course, we stopped at Pomona for an hour due to ride with a medical condition, so maybe I should have taken the later train. I didn't want to go today, as there is an Immigrant rights march downtown in honor of May Day. Plus Metrolink has even less service on Sundays.
One other I did a bit different was I did'nt take my camera, but relied on phone for pictures - worked out well. Amazing how much "phones" have progressed.

remebering

I didn't get much riding in
I had a flat on the front tire of my giro 20, but didn't have a spare tube, I went ahead and made the memorial ride anyway:

From 1-23-2011

I had planned on using "time to say goodbye" but ran into copyright problems. "how to save a life" was used during the memoial service at Pomona College, and it fit in more ways than one.
I did make another video of my ride to the Grind:

Today I did a 25 miles ride in honor of Nancy Fish, aka Pansy Palmetto, I made to 24.75 and had a flat. I walked the rest.
On the aviation front, I added to my fleet:
TOL to ORD via SBN:(BAE 146)

The largest plane I have been on Boeing 757-200:

Special livery

I also started work on another book, primarily because I thought it would be more marketable ("Richard Sharpe meets Duncan McLeod at Blackadder's Castle and moves to America"). Plus it's set in LA in the 1940's, which makes research cheaper. Now to do some more research on GCA radar
Until next week, don't lose your head