Happy Thanksgiving

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Hi everyone. I'll be taking this week off, as I do every year, to relax and be with the family and catch up on stuff.

So I wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We truly have much to be thankful for. Stay safe. And stay off the streets after midnight as there are a lot of drunk drivers out during this time.

See you Monday, December 2nd.

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Weekend Follies and Holiday Food Drive Blogfest

Holiday Food Drive Blogfest: Sponsored by M.J Joachim and Theresa Downey. The idea behind this blogfest is to give back to the community during this season - to help those less fortunate. Whether the holidays fill you with cheer or dread, helping others is always a good idea.

 

Our church, the Vineyard Community Church of Laguna Niguel, CA operates their Mercy Warehouse.

 

Their Mission: Every day, the VCC Mercy Warehouse takes in tax-deductible donations of unwanted goods, clothing, and furniture. We then sort and store them in our 25,000 square-foot facility. We have warehouse sales on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. We use the profits from those sales to purchase food for needy families both in our own area and abroad. God has blessed our efforts, and through this process we are able provide food for over 1000 people weekly.

 

We fund monthly food donations to Mexico and Santa Ana, and we help to supply several other local food banks. We are a volunteer-run organization. Many members of VCC and other like-minded believers give countless hours every week towards seeing the mission of the Mercy Warehouse fulfilled. We give away food to anyone who needs it.

 

NaNo: I had to call it quits from day one. I really wanted to work on my next book. But it’s important I wrap up Escalation. I’m at just under 90,000 words and 376 complete and edited pages. So close. So very, very close.

 

Weekend Follies: Culture conflict is always a hit when it comes to trying to make your readers laugh. Culture conflict arises you place one person inside the cultural values of a totally opposite person.

 

Rob Schneider did this well in the comedy The Hot Chick, where an attractive and popular teenager who is mean spirited toward others, finds herself in the body of an older man, and must find a way to get back to her original body. Take it away Rob ….
 

Kibbles And Bits

Cheersfest 2.0 2013: sponsored by Alex Cavanaugh, Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, and myself will spotlight someone deserving of being roasted, similar to a Comedy Central roasting.

 

This year’s victim … err …. esteemed recipient is none other than Arlee Bird, who is a constant presence, is positive, possesses integrity, is involved in the online community (participating and hosting); is supportive of others and is a major force in the blogging community. This event will be held December 9th, 2013. More details to follow.

 

Realms Faire 2013: Thanks everyone for stopping by wen Gardner's Web site last week. The thumbs up fortunately outweighed the thumbs down. I am now set free. Thanks again!

 

Books From My Youth. I have the pleasure of reading the books my kids are doing for book reports. These are the same books I read as a kid. Gulliver’s Travels. Little House On The Prairie. Johnny Tremain. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Dr. Doolittle. Treasure Island. I had forgotten what fun it is to read these timeless classics!

What I'm Currently Reading

 

The Word Is … I'm flipping through my first book Breakthrough I wrote five years ago, and I saw a word I used and forgotten what it means. Probably because I don't use it in my day to day conversations.

 

The word is "solicitous."

 

Had to look it up. It means "characterized by or showing interest or concern."

 

I had to laugh.

 

 

Coffee: As a writer, I am always looking for that awesome cup of coffee in the morning. My wife brought home Folgers Half Caff. Smooth, yet bold if you add a little more coffee to the mix. I never would have thought grocery store coffee could taste this good. I highly recommend it.

Finally: The McRib is back in all its glory! For better or worse. And only 500 calories of deliciousness. Get them while you can as they are here for an unlimited time only. Or until whatever animal they use to make the (ahem) meat goes extinct.

 

Realms Faire 2013 and Weekend Follies Dark Ages Style

Realms Faire 2103: Hey everyone, I need your help. I’m on trial at Gwen Garner’s blog Realms Faire 2103 and need your help to secure my freedom. Please, I beg of you, stop by and give me a thumbs up.

 

These darn stockades are to me what kryptonite is to Superman and I am not able to use a wormhole to escape on my own. I need your help!

 

Weekend Follies: And here are a few medieval laughs sure to keep you chuckling into the weekend. Enjoy. But not too much. I need you to help free me from false accusations that Wizardry simply because I am a man of science and faith!

 

W4WS

Writers4Writers: Thanks again everyone for supporting a really amazing and awesome venture! Hosted by Mary Pax, Christine Raines, C.M. Brown, and myself, the objective is to help other writers to succeed. This month we spotlight Michael Offutt.

 

Our Mission:

• Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people

• Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (i.e., suspense, free, etc.)

• Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over

• Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following

• Create verbal and viral buzz

 

What To Do, You Ask? Simply stop by Marta's sites and copy and paste their pre-written Tweets into your Twitter account. Or go to #W4WS on Twitter and Retweet something. You can do this once or all week long as much as you feel inspired. Or click the W4WS Facebook Page and then share their links with your Facebook friends and writers groups. thus enabling Laura and Marian to reach countless new people they could never before reach! If you want more information, CLICK HERE and sign up.

 

On A More Somber Note: Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribblings superstar boy Andrew sadly passed away in his sleep a few days ago. Kyra Lennon is coordinating flowers/donation from authors for Nick and his family. Kyra is one of Nick's crit partners. If you want to donate and/or pass on the info, feel free. You can send money through Paypal to Kyra. Her Paypal address is kyralennon@gmail.com

 

Although it's early days, and we're not sure what Nick's family need right now (not that there's anything that can REALLY help), if anyone would like to donate some money to send them some flowers to let them know we're thinking of them, and any remaining money can be donated to a charity of their choice.

 

You can send money through Paypal - because that's the easiest way for it to be collected and sent on. Any donations are welcome - if you can only afford £1/$1, then great! If you can't afford anything, don't feel bad. What we're doing here is trying to let Nick and his family know that - as a group - us writers are there for him.

 

God Bless Nick And His Family. Nick was to be featured this month on W4WS. But we can do something to honor Nick and his son in other ways if you feel so inspired. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Nick.

Oh How I Miss You Blogfest, Space Junk, and the Weekend Follies

Oh How I Miss You Blogfest: Sponsered by Andrew Leon, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew McNish. Maybe this should have been my IWSG post. Since Google shut me down earlier this year and I lost contact with most of my followers. There are just too many people to list. I miss like a thousand people. Literally. Not what to say here. But I miss you all. Wherever you are.

 

Who Would I Miss: I’m thinking L. Diane Wolfe. She has so much to offer. She should charge for what she posts for free on her blog. But wait. That’s not all. Take a few moments to download her material and you will find yourself in a much better place to promote and market your works!

 

Steve’s Science And Other Fun Stuff: If you haven’t already, please take a moment at the end of this post to click Einstein’s face at the top of my right side bar. I have a great post I think you will be very much interested int. Satellite To Crash To Earth:

 

What in the world? Que’ en el mundo for my Hispanic friends. A European space satellite that has been mapping the Earth’s gravitational field is set to crash down to Earth in the coming days, and it could provide a “real treat” for space watchers. But does it pose a danger to people? Check in Monday for my post on Asteroids, Space Junk, and other stuff that could unexpectently crash into Earth with little to no warning. Reference

I had this amazing article on Space Junk on my previous blog. But damned if Google, who acquired Blogger, didn't come in and shut me down with no reason and no warning. No worries. I'll have to rewrite everything from scratch. Still ... Bad Google. Evil Google.

 

Go Lions!!!

Weekend Follies: I was born and raised in the great state of Michigan and live in southern California now. Came out right after high school. But I still wear my Michigan sports teams shirts with great pride.

 

I came across this clip on YouTube that demonstrates team loyalties run deep at a very young age. I can laugh because the Bears and the Packers play in the same division as the Lions. Damn it man, this is football!!!  Enjoy!

ISWG, Writers4Writers, This Month In Astronomy, and National Nacho Day

Beau Last Christmas

ISWG: My concern this month is our fourteen year old Yorkie named Beau. He’s a regular member of the family. You see, we got Beau at a time when it had been difficult for us to have kids. Beau officially made us a family. But God graciously gave us two awesome daughters after that! But Beau is at that point where we have to seriously consider putting him down.

 

I’ve tried, only to turn around and bring the little guy back home. With the weather getting colder, he is really struggling to just walk. I don’t want to see him suffer this bad. One day, sooner rather than later, I’ll have to wake up and make that fateful decision. I just hope he can make it for another family Christmas picture.

 

Writers4Writers: This month we will spotlight Michael Offutt and Nick Wilford. Please join us Wednesday November 20th in support of these two awesome and amazing writers!

 

Did You Know: India launched its first rocket to Mars on Tuesday, aiming to reach the Red Planet at a much lower cost than successful missions by other nations. The Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan, mission positions the emerging Asian giant as a budget player in the latest global space race.

 

Probes to Mars have a high failure rate, and a success would be a boost for Indian national pride, especially after a similar mission mounted by Russia and China failed to leave Earth's orbit in 2011. Reference

 

Fun Fact (or not): India's space program began 50 years ago and developed rapidly after Western powers imposed sanctions in response to a nuclear weapons test in 1974, spurring its scientists to build advanced rocket technology. Five years ago, its Chandrayaan satellite found evidence of water on the moon. Nothing like the threat of a war of mass destruction to get a space program off and running.

 

This Month is Astronomy: I’ll have a new TAB each month for upcoming celestial phenomena. November has an amazing lineup of spectacular events avid and novice sky watchers won’t want to miss. Views of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, two meteor showers, the ISON comet and of course the rare hybrid eclipse of November 3 will highlight this month. I should have this TAB finished in a week or so. You’ll want to tune in for this the beginning of every month. It’s amazing what you can see with the naked eye, with binoculars, and a cheap telescope.

Steve's Science And Other Fun Stuff: On Thursday, take a moment to check out my post on the Blogging A to Z Challenge blog. I have a summation of what I'm all about. I think it's very cool and I'm sure you will too. Just tale a moment and click on Einstein's face at the top of my right side bar. You will be glad that you did!
 

 

National Nacho Day: How cool is this! November 6th is National Nacho Day. So go ahead and treat yourself to a plate of your favorite nachos! Me, I’m going for carne asada with lot of cheese, refried beans, and guacamole (hold the sour cream, please).

 

Question: Are you going out for nachos this today?

This Is The Fun Part, Rare Solar Eclipse, Scott Carpenter Remembered, and The Challenger Disaster

This Is The Fun Part: What do you do with your characters, both good and bad, at the end of the story? The Breakthrough trilogy is not a cozy mystery. There are lots of people I need to decide what to do with. Who lives? Who dies? Who goes to jail? Who walks free? Does anyone get married?

 

I am the judge, the jury, and the executioner.

 

I can’t say that I finished ESCALATION by October 31st as was my goal, but close enough. I’m going over the final chapters and will send them off to my editor. Oh yeah. This is the part I like the best!

 

Rare Solar Eclipse: A rare solar eclipse that began as a "ring of fire" and transformed into a spectacular total eclipse of the sun amazed skywatchers from North America to Africa. The Sunday eclipse was a rare hybrid solar eclipse, which began over the Atlantic Ocean as an annular eclipse and transitioned into a full total solar eclipse for observers along the narrow path of totality in the eastern Atlantic and over parts of Africa. Observers along the U.S. East Coast and parts of Canada, meanwhile, awoke to a partial solar eclipse at sunrise. Reference

 

Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter Remembered: The second American astronaut to orbit the Earth was remembered by family and friends at a funeral service in his Colorado hometown. Carpenter made his first and only spaceflight on May 24, 1962, when he became the sixth man worldwide to leave the planet. During his Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, Carpenter circled the Earth three times and conducted some of the first astronaut science experiments. Reference

 

What To Watch: The Challenger Disaster Saturday November 16th on the Science and the movie details William Hurt plays the main character’s participation in the Presidential Commission put together to investigate the Challenger explosion. I’m looking forward to seeing this and hope it’s worth the hype. With William Hurt, I like the chances.

 

Author Of The Week: Check out Susan Gourley’s release First Dragon. Just click the image of the book at the top of my right side bar. Good luck Susan!

 

Question: Did you see Sunday’s eclipse? How do you decide what to do with your characters at the end of the story?