Another in My Series Reading

 Anyone who knows me and this blog knows that I’m into reading serieses now. I’ve reading WEB Griffin’s Corps series. I’m reading Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. I finished C.K. McDonnell’s Stranger Times series (which was a rare, wonderful, funny, find). I started the Sackett series, but kinda let that one fall off. I’m including some rare Dick Francis and that’s GOTTA be a series right? It doesn’t matter that he’s my favorite of all time. A Daniel Silva’s series. And now the third in the John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. 

These are so much like Lee Child’s Reacher series its just silly. Better, to be sure, but still, it’s like looking in a mirror. 

Back to the Grind

Lately I’ve had to hang up the ole type writer and get back to the dissertation. Actually this turn of phrase doesn’t work. I’ve had to hang up the creative writing and focus on the academic writing.

I was talking to a local Houston author friend, Shina (see her book HERE and order it!) and I told her how jealous I was. I think she works full time as an author and that’s the dream isn’t it? Full time writing. Full time creative writing even better. 

So These Made My Day

I happened to look through my novels (see HERE) and checked my reviews. Made my day. Truth? There are few times that these DON’T make my day. Overall, that’s a good thing. I think it speaks well of my writing, right? 

Now these are from all three of my books. I won’t say which is for which book, but it’s fun to see that all of them are getting decent reviews, still. I know I don’t have many, yet, but compared to three years ago, this is an overwhelming number!

Vector First

Despite not really enjoying it as much as I hoped, I still finished it . . . it being Vector by Robin Cook. It took me back to summer days when I hung out with my grandfather on his Bed and Breakfast (see HERE) in Chappell Hill. 

We would go hit the resale book shop in Brenham and I'd buy novels. I'd buy Louis L'Amour books, Stephen King novels, whatever Sci-Fi and Fantasy books they might have. We, my grandfather and I, were voracious readers and would compete to see who could read the most and return the most books while we were there. I remember buying Robin Cook's there too. I guess as a young student, middle schooler and high schooler, he was fun to read. 

Westerns as Political Allegories

Anyone who reads this blog will know I have a little piece of my heart reserved for Louis L’Amour dime store westerns. I used to read them just for light fun. They’re great because there is no moral controversy. There’s a very clear line of wrong vs right. They’re a bit nonsensical and fantastic. They’re light and fun. 

The first one I ever read, I settled in for a good long novel, and instead I got a series of short stories. I didn’t know the Bowdrie novels were only short story pieces. I was hoping for a novel about the character. Still, they were great little ditties. 

Always Someone Worse Off

An auspicious title, no? What could that mean? What inspired so much negativity? 

I remember talking to someone a while back about how I see my life and attitude about life as sine wave. It goes up and it goes down. The amplitude isn’t too steep, nor too deep. It’s a smooth wave that slowly goes up and down never too far from the y axis. What’s the y axis in this case? That’s me. That’s my attitude. Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, but I’m never too far from the “norm” or the standard. And the standard, that y axis is on the positive side of the graph. 

Feel Good Reviews!

I haven't checked in a while, so I ran into two reviews and I was pleasantly surprised, and happy to read them. As I've said before, this is the best part of the job.

This first one is short and sweet. I like that he was expecting one thing, and I gave him something unexpected and surprising. Plus, every writer wants to hear that they have written a realistic and relatable character. 

Reading Multiples

When I was younger I had several rules for reading. 1) I had to read every book I started. No matter what I had to slog through it. 2) I could only read one book at a time. 3) there are several other rules, but none so easy to express or remember as the first two. 

What happened to rule #1? Well, I realized that life was too short for bad books. It takes a lot for me to give up on a book, but I will. I will set a book aside if I start reading it and realize it's just not worth it. I have better things to do. 

Last Cook?

It's been a while since I read a Robin Cook novel. Medical thrillers are fun, and because I'm not in the medical field, they're new and novel. Robin Cook's books, as I remember, are fast-paced and interesting. So I was surprised it had been such a long while since I read one. 

I remember now . . . that besides being fun, fast-paced, and new, they're also fairly poorly written. 

Work Intrudes

 I’ve had to take a break from my creative writing. Which is too bad. I was hitting a good daily clip of writing at least 600 words a day. But, as always, work and life intrude on creative writing and I had to refocus my attention for a bit. 

BUT, that doesn’t mean I’ve not been writing. In fact, the work that intruded had everything to do with writing.