Building Platform - Wood if I Could

Aloha,

So why am I writing this blog?

Source: Photobucket.com by toddfisher29

Ohh, and that last one, “building a platform,” that’s one I need to concentrate on as it hasn’t worked out too good for me in the past.

Once upon a time, we lived near Orlando, Fla., and I built, with the help of a few friends, a platform in my backyard.

Well, it was more like an irregular-shaped deck, (similar to the picture) but whatever, it could have been a contender.

Years later, my beloved platform/deck was the first thing I thought of while attending the 2011 Southern California Writer’s Conference in San Diego. As I wandered lonely as a cloud, I heard writers, editors and agents chatting in clumps and groups, and it seemed that many were immersed in “platform this” and “platform that” type of conversations.

Dang, there’s more builders than writers here; am I in the right place?

Oh, shoot, hang on. My dear Mom is calling from Dublin…

Hi Mom, I’m writing a blog… it’s short for a “Web log,”… yes Mom… it’s for my writing…yes Mom, writing is a real job… no Mom, I didn’t sell the platform for firewood; we tore it down when the new people didn’t want an odd-shaped thing sitting there with the sprinklers still going off underneath…no Mom… I never knew there was a sprinkler underneath the platform…huh… no Mom, you can read my blog whenever, they won’t charge your minutes for reading my latest post… you will read it? Mahalo! God bless you? Huh? No, I didn’t sneeze… no Mom, I don’t have a cold, Mahalo means “thanks” in Hawaiian… no it doesn’t mean “trashcan,” it means thanks. So you’ll follow me and read my blog… you’ll follow me, but only after 9 p.m. when the minutes are free...OK, Mom… yes, I love you, too.)

Sorry about that. Anyway, one of my friends and an old colleague from my days as a staff writer at the Hometown News – you know who you are, Matt O’Hern, (mattohern.com) – suggested I write a humor blog, and I’m not sure if that’s how this will turn out – I’m going to let the blog lead the way – but I do hope regular readers will return looking for a few laughs, or at least a wry grin.

And that would be great, ‘cos humor sneaks out of my head like a helium balloon escaping out the back of a car.

My point? I’m looking forward to the journey and absolutely appreciate anyone who decides to follow this blog… in fact I have a plan…

Oh oh….

The first 901,367 followers of this blog will receive a FREE! dust jacket when my book project is published. (And it will be, one day.)

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As always, I value your time and appreciate you spending a few minutes of your day with me.

‘Till we meet again, mahalo and aloha,

Mark

To be honest, I’m an author-in-training, and I need to write for many, varied reasons (honing the craft; writing daily; verbal diarrhea; getting my name out there; building a platform, etc.)