Confessions of a Starving Mystery Writer

It's been a looooooonnnnnnnnng time since I have posted. I have no idea where the time has gone. My small law practice is growing - my fiction production is not. I recently discovered YouTube where, while searching for guitar lessons, I found this video of a version of Classical Gas . Check it out.........it's a gas. If you like'd that, check out Bohemian Rhapsody .

I returned to work, "the day job" this past November. It has been taking up every waking moment trying to rebuild a law practice in a very bad Michigan ecomony. I haven't written but a few pages of bad fiction in about six months. I miss it. There was an escape and freedom I enjoyed writing fiction that I do not get from writing briefs, motions, and objections. I hope to return to blogging and writing fiction soon. There are many stories I wrote that need revisions, revisions, revisions. I seem to lack the persistence necessary to be a true writer or my timing has been off. I hope all of my fellow bloggers and readers are well and hope one day to retrun with gusto to the blogshere. It's cold and lonely out here in the real world. . .

During a school parade in 2002, a Juneau-Douglas High School student named Joseph Frederick and some friends unfurled a 14-foot banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" just as cameras were passing them. Little did Mr. Federick know that his joke would set in motion a l1st amendment legal battle that will soon be decided by the US Supreme Court. Only in America can a school board, Kenneth Starr, and the Bush Administration be pitted against the religious right, the ACLU, and Mr. Federick. Politics and strange bedfellows. As reported by an MTV article , the dispute is the first school freedom of speech case to be heard by the Supreme Court in 40 years. "The case of Morse vs. Frederick could have serious implications on the limits of speech in public schools for generations to come, with one expert saying that a win for the administration's side could create schools in which any form of speech that isn't directly related to the "stated educational mission" is...

MLK 

" In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. " MLK, Silence Society or members of it seem to eliminate good leaders before they are able to make their ultimate contribution. Martin Luther King made real strides to mend the American racial divide only to be hounded by government, threatened by racists, and ultimately assassinated for his belief's and influence. It was America's loss, possibly the worlds.

FDR...where are you when we need you? 

After watching the screaming punditry and media tsunami that we are all doomed, I believe we need to get a grip. Roosevelt's inaguration speech tag line was my inspiration - then I went back and read it... It begins: "I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves w...

Plutoed 

No longer a planet, Pluto 

It was my wish to write something profound for the new year. I struggled and struggled. I saw a recent article about Pluto, and there appeared a blog post. The American Dialect Society 2006 Word of the Year is Plutoed or "to pluto" as "to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet." At one time I thought I could write. I have been Pluoed, by myself. I haven't or do not want it enough. There is a sacrifice required. A pound of flesh to be given that I cannot muster. I write, at times, well. It is sporadic, not professional. Not enough. If before they toss the last shovel of dirt in my face, I find that bit of inspiration, I intend to write it. I really enjoy blogging, but most of what I read and have written is tedious bullshit. The only thing that resonates is honesty and realism. I try and fail. Plutoed.

Merry Christmas! 

Blogger has emerged from there Beta test. I'm not sure how this will effect my blog. During beta, Blogger ate a couple of my templates - So, I'm a little apprehensive how the new Blogger will work. The new features are described in a PC Magazine article, Blogger Leaves Beta . If my blog disappears, you"ll know why.

Hope 

The New Colossus by Emma Lararus (On a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty) Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Great Pacific War Cover 

It amazes me the power and influence of fiction - the novel. Hector Bywater's 1925 novel The Great Pacific War predicted the sneak attack by Japan that would commence a war between the US and Japan. It also accurately predicted many details of the war that would occur. Though flawed in some of the details, it was immediately translated into Japanese and reportly had a significant influence on the man who would become the supreme commander of Japanese forces in the Pacific and planner of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fleet Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto. An excellent account of the details is reported in an article at www.amercianheritage.com . It is interesting in a time when truth is becoming hard to find, fiction is becoming more truthful than reported news, memoirs, and media that purports veracity.

Norman Mailer's new novel "The Castle in the Forest," includes a list of 126 authors and titles that enriched the book. Michael Crichton's new novel, "Next," contains a seven-page bibliography listing 36 books that Crichton read while researching the book, along with citations for 12 articles published in newspapers or other publications and 12 Internet sources. As reported in the International Herald Tribune article " Literature: Do novels really need bibliographies ?", this seems to be the trend. In todays litigious society, is this really necessary? It seems fiction will likely be more true then memoirs, go figure...

Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says "I love New York " in Arabic. Robin Williams' plan... "I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for Peace. So, here's one plan." "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, Past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good ole boys", we will never "interfere" again. "We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence." "All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave, we'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are...

Iraq study Group 

I've come full circle...or is it just a circle jerk? Blogger beta ate my last last blog teplate so I've return from which I came. I'll be working on a new template but I'm trying to write and submit. So if anyone is getting vertigo from my incessant format changes - sorry.