On a Good Day...

Aloha,

Have you noticed there’s a lot of bad stuff going on – or going wrong – with the world?

This week alone, a nationally known politician was sentenced to 2.5 years for skimming campaign funds.

Overseas, Egypt is going to hell in a hand basket, and who knows what’s going to happen there?

And, in general, I don’t know my neighbors the way I knew my neighbors as a kid.

Why is that?

I don’t have any answers, except to suggest we should all consider paying it forward instead of looking back.
At least we'd be heading in the right direction…

But, let me tell you three good things that happened to me this week. (As I wrote this post, a fourth happened, but that's for Monday:)

Sat in a McDonald’s the other day, struggling with a certain scene, I looked up from my laptop in real frustration. In my direct line of sight was a father and his son (?) doing a Bible study.

In a McDonald’s. At 9 a.m. On a Wednesday.

It was awesome to witness and it absolutely gave me a shot of positive thinking to where I figured how to get my annoying MC to the end of the chapter. (She won’t listen to me…it's so bothersome...)

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My wife, a U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. is in Rhode Island for three weeks, so SuperGrandma is in town to keep me sane, (which is in itself a good thing.) Hearing that my wife reconnected with a friend at the course is awesome news. Knowing the two women can socialize and share their downtime is a big relief - now that I know she's not "alone."

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And, finally, I didn’t officially misplace my son...

No. 3 Son, nineteen months old, thinks he is six (or at least three) and wants to do everything like his two older brothers.

This past Sunday, he finally conquered the kid’s playground at the Honolulu Zoo.

I was delighted for him, especially when I saw him come off the slide, waddle around to the steps, climb, slide again (and again... repeat to infinity and beyond.)

So, I took a picture and sent it to my wife via smart phone. This is the picture:

It took about 45-60 seconds to upload and send with a quick note. When I looked up, I expected No. 3 Son to be back on the slide.

No Son. Empty slide.

I leaned to the left.

No Son on steps.

Okkkk…

I circled the (very) small play area.

No Son…

My inner Freakoutometer automatically kicked in as my writer’s imagination sent various scenarios to the front lines.

I walked to the busy main playground (100 feet away). SuperGrandma had No. 2 Son, and No. 1 Son was busy with his new friends.

No waddling little boy in lime green Hawaiian shirt/shorts combo…

The Freakoutometer moved to DEFCON-2…

After the third complete revolution around the playground, I noticed several parents sat up to watch me - my facial expression would have worried me, too.

The Freakoutometer clicked to DEFCON-3…

And, then from over my left shoulder I felt something. I whipped around, and about 100 yards away was afore-mentioned No. 3 Son (now since grounded until he’s, mwahhh, say 35.)

Comfortable in the arms of a young man (late teens), the mini-Houdini waved as if to say, “Boy, did I have an adventure, Papa”

Meanwhile, the Freakoutometer switched over to BlabberMode in preparation of its non-essential shutdown.

I thanked the young man and his friend – a lot – and they explained how they found Little Ninja wandering around the corner.

I shook their hands, thanked them – again – and mentioned that they have done me a great service on a good day.

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But what's this got to do with writing, Uncle Mark?

Well, the next time I'm doing a horror or terror scene, I'll be able to pull from personal experience :)

One final thought: Smart phones may be smart, but I’m not sure about the people (ME) using them.

Remember, kids: Parents don’t let parents email cute pictures – until later :)

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PS... This is "On a Good Day" by Above & Beyond.

The English dance music group held a 2009 competition for fans to see who could create the best music video for their next OceanLab single.

The winning video by Ashley Tritton is amazing, and if the homeless are in any way important in your life, you'll appreciate this anytime, but definitely on a good day :)

 

 

"GaryFest" & HAPPY 802nd BIRTHDAY, Father Dragon :)

Aloha,

Alongside my co-hosts, I am so happy to help kickoff the Anti-Blogfest that will forever live on as "GaryFest."

 

Using several tongues in cheeks, we've designed this event as a blog hop to honor Mr. anti-blog hop himself, our Gary at Klahanie.

 

"GaryFest" is hosted by:

 

Me; Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, Rockin’ Robyn Engel, “Life is Good” Tina and our very own GaryFest button designer, Morgan “The Morg” Shamy.

 

The one rule was *very* simple:

 

1. Create the titles of three PG-13 rated blogfests you would never join - and then add a descriptive sentence or two.

 

For example, would you sign up for the Blocked up Toilet Blogfest - "where crap happens" ???

So, without further use of the loo...

(Rips open cheesy, oversized looking envelope with some nasty blue wax on one end...)

 

...Here then are my three offerings to Blog Hops I would never join.

Evah.



The Open Wound Blog Fest (where scabs tweet their followers to, "Pick me, pick me.")

The He-Ain't-Heavy, He's my Shoplifting-Brother Blog Hop (where Toys 'R' Theirs - until they get busted in the parking lot.)

The Pithy Party Blog Fest (where everyone sits around, all subdued and depressed because no one can think to say anything with substance and point.)


I am soooo looking forward to reading your entries, so THANKS for participating :)


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On a different note, I wanted to (in case you hadn't heard) remind folks and offer a belated Happy 802nd Birthday to our friend, Father Dragon.

Al was kind enough to include me as a "special guest" and I wanted to share his artist's rendition of me on an Oirish dance floor:)

Cheers, Al and all I can say is: "Mi amigo, usted es una estrella de rock" :)

"GaryFest" is *THIS* Monday & I see you, IWSG post

Aloha,

Before I begin with the insecurity of my writerly lack of security and posit on my latest WIP deposit, I wanted to remind you, dear friends, the Anti-Bloghop that is “GaryFest” kicks off this coming Monday.

Full details are totally here, like.

The last I looked, we were only nine hundred and fifty-one away from 1,000 who have signed up via the Linky List - so come on down and join the fun :)

In other awesome sauce news…

It’s time to once again think before you write the acronym for Insecure Writers Support Group.

In case you don't know, IWSG was founded by a non-mandolin-playing dude called Alex (and funded, in 400 parts by his new start-up, “Clones ‘R’ Us”)

IWSG is a place where discovering a writer friend in the fetal position next to a overflowing trashcan of crumpled white printer paper is considered OK, and where weeping of grown men with shiny bald heads is encouraged.

All this happens only because of the wonder that is the Fellowship of IWSG.

 

 

You don’t need a precious ring or even remove a huge, old sword from an older rock to participate, but when you do, you *will* leave stronger than before you posted.

Of that I promise you :)

(Now, where's the darn box of Kleenex...)

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This month, as I bury myself in WIP#2, I’m going with a simple insecurity:

I rarely ask questions at the bottom of my posts.

Is that bad?

I understand asking a question is a way to entice commenters to bite at your hook, but I grew up* (subject to change at author-reader discussion and discretion) as a beat reporter who was supposed to WOW! the reader and leave ‘em with a zinger of a thought.

And, if I got "THE QUOTE" to end the article, that was like finding two jars of Trader Joe's Cookie Butter on the shelf :)

So, what do you think?

Do you ask questions at the bottom of the post – or leave ‘em with a zinger of a thought/quote?

"QueryCon" is back - Three week "seminar" runs Sept. 9 - 27

Aloha,

Hosted by Charity Bradford and the other wonderful writers behind Unicorn Bell, (motto: "To support the writing community by giving constructive tips and criticism through submissions,") I'm delighted to help promote this upcoming query-palooza because:

A. QueryCon is a fabulous idea - and I had so much fun participating last year.

B. QueryCon 2012 helped me "lose" one hundred words on my query (It's like Weightwatchers for a query letter - dare I nickname it Wordwatchers :)

C. QueryCon helped one of our blogging friends find a home for her book... see below :)

Direct from Unicorn Bell, here is the latest:

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If one of your goals in life is to get published, we want to help all we can.

Here's HOW.

Do you remember our awesome query extravaganza from last year? You know, that three week event where we had classes on drafting and polishing the perfect query followed by a workshop week where you got to do just that? And the culmination of all that learning and hard work was a week of final queries being judged by our amazing guest judges.

You know that thing that helped match up Tara Tyler and Pop Travel with a publishing contract?

It's coming again this fall.

So finish up those edits and get ready.

More information to come, but here are a few quick reminders:

• Everyone is invited to participate in the classes and workshop
• Only finished and revised novels qualify for 3rd week final exam by our guest judges (to be announced soon as well)

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How awesome sauce is that!

(I have to say I'm as excited as Alex when he gets a new shipment of Comment Borgs to help with his increased load :)

QueryCon 2013 is going to rock, and I hope you can check it out - and join the fun :)