Obituary of a loser

Not really sure why--although I'm positive Dr. Freud would just love to get me on the couch to talk about it--but lately I've been reading a lot of obituaries.  Some are fascinating, the deceased person having lived such a full, abundant life (some even accomplishing much in a short amount of years) while others . . . are downright boring.

If you want to do something, don't wait until you're on your deathbed and wonder what in the hell you ever did with your life.  Do it now.  Start.  Set goals.  Accomplish them.

Read the biographies of accomplished people and be inspired.

What would your obituary say?

Accomplish something!  Do something productive, instead of sitting on the couch for hours each day watching TV.

Dream.

Then do.

If not for the world, do it for your life.  Accomplish so much that even your obituary is inspiring.

Tales of a diabetic father: packing extra for trips

Last week, over the Fourth of July, I took my wife and our oldest son to Rochester, MN, as my wife had an appointment at the Mayo Clinic.

Our son has type 1 diabetes.  He is on a Medtronic pump, and has been for over seven years.  And there is one thing about pump-users: there is a lot of equipment to bring.  Even for an overnight trip, like this one was, we still had to bring an extra reservoir full of insulin and 2-3 infusion sets, just in case.

Because you never know when things go wrong.  Even if you're not a pump-user, things can still go wrong.  Sometimes we over-prepare for trips, and feel stupid for doing so, but when the crap hits the fan we're glad for the extra supplies.

I checked our son's insulin level on the reservoir before leaving.  It was half-full, which should've been more than enough for the trip.  It wasn't.  As we left Rochester Friday, our son said, "Ah, Dad, I only have 3 hours left on the pump."

This was three hours with no bolus activity.  Not good.  Especially for a 7-8 hours trip.

Needless to say, we're glad we had the extra reservoir of insulin packed.

To swear or not to swear

Vulgar language can be a sticky subject.  If you swear, it may turn some people off.  If you don't, it may sound unrealistic--depending on the circumstances.

My very first novel--a deer hunting horror story--was about five guys who went off hunting together each November, and boy oh boy did they swear.  Fuck this and fuck that, with a few shits and goddamns thrown in for good measure.  And, of course, can't forget the (ironic) mother of all vulgarity: motherfucker.

By the time I had five novels under my belt, the amount of swearing went down.  Dramatically.  Why?  It wasn't that I was a prude.  I'm not.  I can use profanity like a sailor, and in many cases I'm not proud of it--especially when it's been pointed out.  But in my writing nowadays, I only put it in if it fits the circumstances.

When I edited Beholder's Eye, a thriller about a police investigator who's daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer, I noticed that when I have dialogue between the two main characters--both investigators for the Minneapolis PD--they don't swear very much.  Do they need to?  I decided not to.  I worked as a cop for roughly a dozen years, and trust me not all cops swear.  Some do.  And some do a lot!  But not all.

It has nothing to do with vulgarity lacking nobility--I believe this was a line taken from the movie Misery.  If it fits, put it in.  If it doesn't . . . then don't force it.

But, by God, if you really need a character to say "Fuck!" don't substitute "Fudge-muffin!" or, worse yet, "F%#@!"  You'll just make yourself look stupid.

Happenings In The Outhouse 05-Jul-2013 / Cancer and Critics

This has been a whirlwind week--and it has nothing to do with it being Independence Day yesterday.

Monday morning I completed my inspirational novella tentatively titled "Sorry, Lord."  It turned out better than I expected, and for now it's going to sit in the digital drawer while I work on other projects.  Currently, it's a little over 15K words, which means technically it's a novelette (SFWA rules dictate novellas start at 17,500 words).  But, after I start editing it, it'll be well over the 17.5K mark.

I'm also submitting writing to an online class taught by Brandon Sanderson called Write About Dragons.com  Besides the online lessons, writers are asked to submit a piece of original writing every week and critique four other writers' writings.  I'm having a blast reading all the new stories, and I'm even loving the critiques I've been receiving.  Some good and some not-so-good.  Doesn't matter.  I want to grow much better as a writer and I want the harsh critics.  A few don't like my present tense style, but have backed it up with a note that it's a personal preference.  I'm learning, and that's all that matters.

Cancer sucks.  Let's make no bones about it.  Virtually everyone knows someone who has been struck down by cancer in one form or another.  Our family, up until roughly two years ago, seemed to be pretty well immune to it--aside from two grandfathers, one who battled leukemia and lost while the other battled prostate and won.  For now.  There are other shirt-tail relatives, but by and large it didn't seem to affect us greatly.

Until two years ago.

My wife was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  Long story short, she's still in remission (thank God!) but has had other complications.  Namely with her eyes.  She is legally blind and is fighting to keep the sight she has left.  On the day of this posting, we'll be in Rochester, MN at the Mayo Clinic for another appointment to check her eyes.

Cancer sucks.  This week, a guy my wife met when she was battling her leukemia lost his battle with leukemia Wednesday.  He was in his mid-twenties and fought more than anyone I know.

Yeah, cancer sucks.  I just wish Bill Gates would funnel some of the money he's using to make new toilets or battle malaria (yes, all worthy causes) and help battle cancer.  I understand it's a complicated battle.  But I do believe it's one we can win.

Then one day we can all cheer: RIP CANCER!

Part 1 of 6 Publishing Hurdles - where do your ideas come from?

Getting published, either self-published or traditional, is difficult.  It requires hours upon hours of hard work, and it is a long path few people successfully achieve.

In August last year, I wrote a popular blog post titled: The Perpetual Bell Curve of Becoming a Published Writer.  I wrote it on a whim, when I looked at the rocky road to becoming published, and realized it looked like a bell curve--or a series of them, almost like a wave.

I decided to take the bell curve scenario now and chop it up, examining each piece in individual posts.  I came up with at least 6 "hurdles."

The first hurdle is coming up with an idea.

Everyone gets ideas.  There isn't a person I know who hasn't said at one time or another, "Man, I've got this great idea for a book!"

But here's the problem: they did nothing with the idea.  The first hurdle is taking the idea and forming it into a story.

What if vampires invaded a small New England town and took it over?  Enter Stephen King's Salem's Lot.  What if a young lawyer, fresh out of law school, was hired by a law firm who happened to do business with the mob?  Enter John Grisham's The Firm.  What if a young orphan boy discovered his parents were wizards--and he is too!  Enter J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

These ideas are simple.  And there's nothing stopping you from creating your own.  Here's an exercise: take a blank sheet of paper and sit somewhere (preferably not at your computer) and write down 20 story ideas.  Do this for a week--not including weekends.  You'll end up with 100 story ideas.  I listened to a podcast recently where the author forced himself to come up with a new story idea every single day.  Including weekends.

You also need to make it easy to write down your ideas.  Put them in your Smartphone, write them on a piece of paper, text it to yourself, e-mail it to yourself.  I have a TASK feature on my phone, and that's where I story a lot of my ideas.

What tricks have you used to keep track of your ideas?  Please feel free to leave a comment.  Also, if you have any brainstorming tips, I'd love to read about it.

Tales of a diabetic father: a math lesson for the younger diabetic children.

This past year, my seven-year-old daughter was in the first grade.  She loves school, and near the beginning of the year one area she was having troubles with was math.

It wasn't that she was failing.  Lord, no.  But she was having a little troubles with addition and subtraction.

Then, I decided to make a game out of her blood sugar checks.

Let's say we check her blood and her reading is: 145.  I then ask her, "Okay, what's 1 plus 4 plus 5?"

She'll think and think . . . then say, "Ten!"

Yes!  She is so proud of herself.

Now, so many months later, we still do it.  It's a little game we play, which gets her to start thinking of addition in her head.  There are times when she counts on her fingers.  No problem.  At least she's thinking about it.

And loves it!

Here's the cool part: it even gets her to remember what her blood sugar is afterwards too, later in the day.

Half-year review. How are you doing on your goals?

Yesterday, as I flipped my three calendars for the next three months--yes, I have three calendars in my office, the first one showing the current month and the next showing two months out--I realized the year was half over.

Can't believe it's gone by so quickly.

Then, I perused my 2013 goals.  I'm still a long ways from completing a lot of them, but then again I have accomplished much so far.  Some are close to being completed, and a few others are "pie in the sky" goals.

How are you doing?

What do you need to do to accomplish some goals?

What are you waiting for?  The year will be done before you know it, and then you'll complain that you accomplished nothing.  For once in your life, do something that matters.

Do it today.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week.  Today.

Your life, and the world, depends on it.