Don't Bring Me Down painting by Sarah Jane Szikora
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New Year's Revolution

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I wanted to write some pearls of wisdom for the coming New Year. I wanted to list some resolutions that would propel me and my career into 2006. Every year in the past, I have sat down after Christmas, reviewed goals of the previous years, and listed new goals for the coming year. Usually, I could review the list with some satisfaction, putting a line through tough goals, and creating the new list combining incomplete goals with ambitious new ones. This year for what ever reason, it has become more difficult than prior years. The words and goals are not as evident. The "things" I want out of life have so drastically changed, that a list seems almost superfluous. If you seek to be a professional writer, author Joe Konrath has an excellent list on his December 17th post at Newbies Guide to Publishing . As for me, I hope to have a few short stories published, find an agent, complete the novel and non-fiction book, and seek a publisher. That is what I am working towards. If you ...
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If............Rudyard Kipling

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If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn...
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The Novel: The beginning

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“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” Henry David Thoreau Chapter 1 The sea has long been the place of intrigue, battles, struggles and tragic death. Living close by the sea, I became aware of death at an early age. Mother ocean claimed many people close to me by the time I reached adulthood. The intrigue, battles, and struggles came later. Monday, mid-afternoon, a sweltering late August breeze picked up from the south and induced an instant and persistent all over body sweat. The Atlantic Ocean boiled frothy white and choppy. I pointed the bow west to leave the protection of the Albemarle Sound through the Oregon Inlet at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Not the perfect day for a pleasure cruise but with a topless thonged tanned beauty on the bow with drink in hand, a well stocked bar and galley-- summer’s end was too close to waste the opportunity for a short day sail. The wind whistled through the rigging, topside speakers were loud enough to be heard over the wind a...
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