If there ever was any remaining doubt that my wife is brilliant, this Kickstarter book trailer she made for me today to promote my upcoming novel, Secondhand Sight, ought to eliminate it. It makes me want to buy my own book. Kudos again to Jason White for his outstanding cover design. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. I'll post another update when the Kickstarter campaign goes live. … [Read more...]
Barnsley Gardens
June 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
My wife and I celebrated our twenty-third anniversary at the Barnsley Gardens resort last week. This most improbably located gem in north Georgia is only a few miles outside of Adairsville, about an hour north of Atlanta and south of Chattanooga with roughly the same traveling time. My general rule of thumb for vacations is that I steadfastly refuse to stay anywhere that isn't nicer than where I live. No problems there.Barnsley Gardens far exceeded my wildest expectations. In fact, I had only one complaint about the whole experience, if that's what you would call the purpose of my call...for the first time in memory, I called the resort after we left with my concern about being under-billed for our stay. The package we selected came with a complimentary round of golf for two OR a one-hour massage in the spa as part of the deal, or so I thought. Since my wife doesn't play golf and doesn't like massage, I took the freebie that came with the package, but also booked a one-hour facial for her. When the smoke cleared from billing, it was clear to me that no charges for the facial showed up on our bill, even though I signed a slip of paper charging the service to our room bill. It turned out that we didn't plan a long enough stay to include golf, anyway. As you can see from the pictures, we had plenty to see, walking the breathtaking gardens and exploring the ruins of the old Barnsley manor. Of course, "room" is a euphemism for the one bedroom standalone cottage we had to ourselves. When the staff found out it was our anniversary, we were showered with … [Read more...]
The power of quotation marks
April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Truly, political correctness is anathema to me.... As a writer, I understand the power of quotation marks. In fiction writing, it’s when my characters come to life and speak. In my nonfiction work, this form of punctuation indicates the words contained within are quoted verbatim, exactly as uttered from the mouth of the speaker cited. Sometimes in my writing, I’ll put quotation marks around a single word to convey what I consider to be questionable usage. Those applications are the only ones using quotes with which I am comfortable using. For example, today I'd like to talk about the ongoing effort to stigmatize users of an currently “unpopular” word. You see, in this instance, “unpopular” suggests that nobody likes the word. But in truth, only a certain set of people dislike use of the word and seek to marginalize its use by the general public. However, there is yet another convention. In the modern vernacular, quotes placed around only a single letter signify that the word associated in question that comes to mind in the given context is politically incorrect, or verboten. For example, the “N” word associated with a racial slur is considered one of the most horrible, offensive words in the English language. It is thought to be so bad that a teacher got fired for using the word "niggardly" correctly in a sentence, because it only sounded like the forbidden one. Before you think it was simply an aberration, the same thing happened to the aide to the mayor of Washington, D.C. In other words, ignorance and hypersensitivity to political … [Read more...]
The blind eye to a bully
April 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Physically, I'm not all that big or intimidating. I don't bully people that way. However, that does not translate to mean I am totally incapable of mistreating other humans. Quite the contrary. In other writings, I have previously recounted bits and pieces of one personal situation where I irritated, manipulated and cajoled one particular "adversary" to the point where he threatened to commit suicide on my front doorstep. The point of mentioning this is not to brag. I'm not proud of that moment in time, a personal nadir. Rather ashamed of myself, in fact. My only point in mentioning the story was to acknowledge the fact that I am perfectly capable of being a bully. And I know it. The question is, what should I do with that information? Now, in my defense, many would argue the person who threatened to kill himself because of my evil scheming was himself a thug and a supreme jerk, and "got what he deserved." Truthfully, it's not like I was picking a fight with Mother Teresa. However, that's no excuse. To make another human being feel so bad about himself that he claimed he wanted to die at my feet, because of my words, was not a good feeling. I had to ask myself, is the only way to deal with a bully to become a worse one? I think not. The incident in question was not a proud moment to remember from my personal history, precisely because in order to defeat what I hate most, I became what I abhor. A bully. Of someone several inches taller, and about fifty pounds heavier than me -- but as we all know, size has nothing to do with it. Speed … [Read more...]
Student loans
April 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Not long ago, a friend asked me to support a “movement” to forgive all outstanding student loans. What, a bowel movement? My response to him was not just no, but Hell, No! My parents paid off my student loans. I’m doing the same for my son. He's currently saving money to go back to school. Actions have consequences. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. These phrases became clichés precisely because they are true. After she’s pregnant, it’s too late to say you don’t want to be a father. Nobody puts a gun to your head and forces you to attend Harvard. Take what you want, but pay for it yourself. Oh wait, sorry. My bad. I forgot about the “convenience” called abortion. That subject was still taboo when I was single. In those days, women weren’t proud to have aborted a baby. Instead, they were ashamed they let themselves get impregnated by a jerk. It doesn’t seem to be a big deal these days. Of course, “back in the day,” abortions were self funded and not covered by any medical plans. Now, the self-proclaimed “have-nots” want the mysterious “haves” to give them anything they desire, and the soup du jour is a free college education. Obama is playing to that class warfare crowd, moaning about the expense of higher education without examining the actual costs. This political advertisement claims “student loan debt exceeds one trillion dollars.” But has anyone asked the question, why? What makes college so expensive? The liberal answer to the rising cost of education seems to be that it should be free, simply because it costs too much. Really? … [Read more...]
