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February 19, 2010 Started my fourth novel today without a title. Something I have never done before. Always had a title before I started. This tale is about two brothers who stand to inherit the family ranch near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where the Platte River flows into the Missouri. But the terms of their mothers will requires them to walk, canoe, or horseback ride up the entire river to the source and back again. The same trip her father made when he decided to homestead there in the 1800’s. They have six months to complete the trip. A neighbor, who wants to own the ranch, wants them not to make it. Stand by for a title. February 18, 2010 Finally got my new hip joints out in the desert for some serious hiking. We probably did seven miles with an extreme uphill grade for the first two miles. Lee Belknap, one of my readers, and his dog Tina set the pace and led the way. Top notch day for a hike; warm enough, right amount of breeze, some shade under an apricot bush—perfect. Sent my third novel THE CUT OF PRIDE to my agent and awaiting his response to the 8 times re-written novel about an idealistic young man’s immersion in the daily death on a mink ranch run by a dysfunctional family on the Oregon coast. About 77,000 words with great characters—I think. We’ll see what the publishing world has to say. February 16, 2010 Bill Eads and I just got back from attending the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego. Three full days with editors, agents, authors, publishers, and wantabe writers. Excellent faculty. We learned some new things and Bill got inspired to finish his novel, have it edited, and get it to an agent. Good enough return for him. For me, I went inspired and returned, re-dedicated to working within the framework of self-publishing for a multitude of reasons. The profit motive is a big one and the fact that the author must do all of the marketing of his book. With the average book selling only 500 copies—all of my books have sold multiples of that—and the number of publishers increasing while the huge ones get larger, I think it makes sense to derive the profits for the author. David Mathison has compiled a book titled BE THE MEDIA, wherein his most important statement is that the product—books, music, video’s—has expanded while the containers—printed books, 8 track tapes, TV’s—have changed. We now have Kindle for books, MP3 for music, and cell phones that play video. I’m reading the whole book now. March 15, 2006 Old Colonel Rupert Faversham Berk IV beat me at racquetball today, two out of three games. The bugger is three years older than me; cannot touch his toes, can't bend his knees, and doesn't have a kill shot, but he puts the ball in either front corner so skillfully that it dies quickly leaving me wondering why I started to run for it at all. March 20, 2006 March 16, 2006 June 21, 2006 Long Haul Don and I hiked over Resurrection Pass Trail during the longest day of the year, as is our tradition. We added a mile to it this year due to local flooding, so we marked it as 43 miles. Suffice to say we waded a good deal, walked with wet socks and shoes, and finished in a little over 19 hours. Some-where past the summit (2,600') Don declared that he would not do this again. Somewhere around Juneau Lake I agreed with him. A month later I allowed as how I might do it again--providing the weather is good. Course--that was after the two blisters had healed and my little toe nail, which had turned black during the trek, didn't fall off as I thought it would. June 24, 2006 Book signing at Title Wave Books in Anchorage. Great time. Met some fine reader types and sold 18 books in an hour and a half. When I ask someone at a bookstore to buy my book their first remark is, "What is it about?" I need to figure out a short, simple, sweet answer for that. Any ideas? July 15, 2006 Book signing at Girdwood Books and News. Tried my new posters out, put signs up at the road intersection. Zero. Six people came through the store during our two hours. One could only afford one book and she had it in her hand; the others were looking for books that weren't in inventory; and none were novel readers. My Dad told me there would be days like this. July 18, 2006 My association with the Ord Public Library in Ord, Nebraska whence I was born and raised worked out well for all. I contributed $1,000 to the library on a matching funds basis. The Friends of the Library raised another $1,000 to go with mine, they bought furniture for the children's library and sold a case of my novels during the reunion weekend and library open house. August 24, 2006 Austin Helmer's, my 90 year old hiking partner and I hit the Pioneer Ridge Trail which was named after him last year. It was rainy, the bushes dumped their water load on us as we passed, and it was slick underfoot. We both took a dive into the Devils Club on the way down. Took me three days to get the last sticker out of my thumb. I don't mind rain, snow, wind, when I'm hunting but to go for a pleasure hike and push through it is not that great anymore.
Don't know that it ever was come to think on it. September 9, 2006 Book signing at Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska. David and Mellisa are wonderful people and I met some other fine people putting up the posters advertising the signing. Sold twenty books in two hours on a nice sunny day. Don't let them scare you with that motto they have about "Good Books Bad Coffee." Their coffee was tasty, hot, and free. Now how can you beat that?
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