Booking It...

In the matter of weeks now, I will become a 'published' author. I wrote this book, you see, and instead of letting it hang around inside the 'Memory Master' thingy jutting out the side of my computer, I decided that I will allow the book out into the world in general. The hope is that I will become insanely rich from my venture. The reality is that I may make enough money to buy a beer or two at the Cross Keys the next time I head up north. I actually took a stab at writing a book a couple of years ago. It was a self-serving piece. I shopped it around to a few people before deciding that I had wasted a good 9 months on a story which held no interest for anyone except for me. The current story started out roughly 15 months ago. I pretty well had most of it written when I attended a "Novel Writing" class at the local College. The best part of the class was the encouragement I got from some of my fellow students who got to read some of the work in progress. Changes were made and adopted. I worked on it with the goal of having the story ready to ship out to an agent in mid-August. That changed on the fifth of July last year when I heard about Kindle Direct Publishing. A good friend of mine mentioned the existance of KDP at a dinner we had in Kentucky. It sounded like a good deal, so I looked into it and decided to think about it. Sending out inquiry letters could wait... besides, I had more re-writing to do. I wasn't finished. Magnolia, Ohio was expanding... the project was getting bigger. More to come. Be Seeing You!

By the numbers...

I was reading a post on Facebook last night from one of the persistant grumblers unhappy with the results of the recent elections. The complaint stated that "reliable polls" had Romney and Obama in a dead heat with less than a 1% difference between them. "Reliable polls". Interesting. Just a day or two previously, I heard an interview with someone connected with "The Daily KOZ" stating that the numbers they had come up with were within spitting distance of the actual results... unlike the numbers generated by the so-called "reliable polls". Something the person from the KOZ suggested that the polling data was tweaked around a bit to suit the needs of the people reading the polls. It ain't the first time nor is it the last time that such shennanigans have been done. My workplace has a yearly "poll" called the Employee Opinion Survey. The objective of the EOS is to tell the company how well their management is doing. A good idea, yes... but there is the same problem that the "reliable polls" had in connection with the data presented to Mr. Romney. Many of the participants and/or the presenters tend to tell what the audience wants to hear rather than what the audience needs to hear. Nobody wants to tell His Majesty that he's not wearing any clothes. I am likely to find no meaningful changes as a result of an EOS which may have been skewed by people who were being polite. I knew this going in and am therefore not outraged by the response generated by the pollsters and posted on the break room wall. I'm sorry that the people who were mislead by fairy-tale numbers are so upset at the results... but on the other hand, remember the headline shown by Harry Truman back in 1948- Dewey Defeats Truman! Same deal, different era. Be Seeing You!

Remembering too darn much for my own good.

For some reason or another, I tend to remember too darn much for my own good, at times. For instance, I recalled having a very short conversation with a friend of mine from High School in which she mentioned watching airplanes taking off and landing at a small nearby airport from her kitchen window. That was the better part of fifteen years ago. This evening, I sent her a copy of an ad I saw on my regular e-mail inviting people to go to that same airport for an "Acrobatic Thrill Ride" for only $200. Shades of Tommy Lee Jones in the movie 'Space Cowboys'! My friend and her husband (another High School Classmate who was as as abundant of hair as I) moved to Minnesota years ago... but I recalled that snippet of conversation out of the blue as if it happened yesterday. In another instance, I recieved a response to a bon-mot I made in a post by a friend on facebook from a woman I interacted with exactly once at a party celebrating the end of the 9th grade down on Caldwell Street in Chillicothe. I may not recall where I placed the checkbook after going to Church on Sunday, but for some reason I recall meeting a girl only once - that being 43 years ago. No, I'm not obsessing nor am I stalking. The name stuck in my head to be released a bunch of years later on this thing called the internet. It's not just girls, either. I have amazed several people with my ability to be able to get somewhere almost at random despite having been there only once before. I almost got lost a few weekends ago on my way to a meeting down in Dallas, but just when I was about to ask for help, I keyed in on a landmark which led to another landmark which put me exactly where I wanted to be at exactly the time I needed to be there. She to whom I was once married speculated that my feats of memory were the result of having a head larger than most (size 8 1/4 - too big for even 'one size fits all') while at the same time deriding me for having a brain that rolled around like a pea inside a drum. But just put me in front of a game of Classic Trivial Pursuit and I'd run rings around just about everyone. Well, except for the Sports category. I recall songs both appropriate and otherwise (quite a few, otherwise, I'm afraid), snippets from movies, television shows and stage presentations. If I'm inclined, I know almost all there is to know about a subject to the point of being quite overbearing... and yes, I admit it. So, be forewarned. Snippets of conversations you have with me may come back unexpectedly. After all, I'm the guy with the size 8 head. Be Seeing You! bdharrell

Looking into new possibilities

I am a writer. I have been a writer for most of my life. I have only recently come to this conclusion. For some time I have struggled with my identity and have often asked the question: "What do I want to be when I grow up?" Recent events have helped me to conclude that I have a talent for putting pen to paper (or keystrokes into computer) which I will continue to use, but in a different way. I am a writer. One of the pieces of paper my mother had squirreled away was a copy of the first speech I ever wrote. I was in the third grade and was asked to introduce our bus driver... a student at the local College who made a presentation about his travels in northern Africa at some point between the various civil wars they seemed to hold on a regular basis. That was roughly fifty years ago. More recently, I recall mornings in my Senior Year in High School where I would rush in early to meet with my friend Jeff Swartz to write one or several of the morning announcements we would make on behalf of a number of organizations in the school. I would usually write out a script inside of ten minutes which Jeff and I would perform to the amusement of our classmates. (Jeff is probably the only person other than me to be able to decipher my writing.) I took a student intern job in the publicity and promotions department at my College radio and television stations (WOUB); took a script writing course and wrote ads for a couple of radio stations where I worked. I've written song parodies, poems, short stories... And I am working on several novels. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote and presented a talk for a renewal weekend... the second such talk I had presented. The words came easily. The talk was well recieved. I've taken it as a sign... a nudge from God, if you will, that maybe there is an alternative to the '... life of quiet despair...' I had been leading. Therefore... I have dusted off this dusty old blog in order that I may practice my writing. I am preparing to present my novel to an unsuspecting public (once I decide where and how I will offer it). I am looking for suitable options in the work place where I can exercise my talents, and I am going to see how far this writing of mine can take me. Wish me luck. Be Seeing You!

Getting back into the groove...

I've been absent for a while from these pages, telling myself that I'm just too darn busy to write anything when, in fact, I have been too darn busy puttering around on Facebook. Then there's the novel... Then there's exchanging pictures of cats on the internet. That's why the internet was invented, wasn't it? A week ago I was at a place called Camp Crucis, just outside of Granbury, Texas, participating in a Cursillo weekend. To explain... Cursillo is a renewal weekend put on by various Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Three days, fifteen talks and an emotionally charged closing at the end of the weekend where everyone goes home refreshed, renewed, and generally exhausted for the better part of the next week. I had 'made' my Cursillo weekend at Proctor Farm outside of Midway, Ohio back in 1993 and had been involved off and on ever since. I have been involved with the movement in the Dallas/Fort Worth area almost since moving here in 1998. Sorry... I'm wandering from my point. Anyhoo, I was at Camp Crucis helping to conduct a Cursillo weekend when the thought hit me that perhaps I was in the wrong place in my life in as far as my 'career'. Family had been getting better (especially since the lovely Miss Carol came along), but somehow my work has been getting stale and hollow. Maybe it's my age creeping up on me... maybe there are issues at work which make work seem more like work than an enjoyable time where I go to have a bit of fun, sell stuff and make money. No matter. It's time to make a new start, perhaps. I'll just have to see. While I'm trying to see what it is I want to be when I grow up, I'll be spending more time here, on my blog, keeping in practice writing and hopefully entertaining a few people here and there. Keep those cards and letters... Be Seeing You!

The time has come to dust off this old blog and start to contribute again on a more regular basis. Look for new posts very soon!

New Directions

I've ignored this dusty little attic for far too long. Time for a revival.

It's not that I've given up writing... not by a long shot. I have several pieces of fiction I'm working on which occupy much of my time on the computer these days. My stories are centered on a small community in southern Ohio, not too surprising since most of my adult life has been spent living in a small city in southern Ohio... although the time I have spent in Texas in general and Allen, Texas in particular has been catching up.

The setting is secondary to the characters I am creating. I already have a few which have been remarked upon by others, including Pastor Dan, Tricia Knox and Steve Mulligan to name a few.

Anyhoo, instead of ranting and raving, I will be using this space to exhibit bits and snippets of what I'm working on at the time. I'm also going to be coming back here a little more often.

I have a busy Saturday ahead of me, so this post will be short.

Be seeing you!