Back to politics for a moment... a mistake

  Oops, there are nine republicans running not seven.

Johnson I keep forgetting about since I hardly ever hear about him. In fact I forgot what little I knew of him when he joined the band wagon. My bad as they say.

And Newt is forgettable I guess also, at least for some strange reason for me. Maybe because I think he has no chance. Evidently he has done good and not bad in the debates, which I haven't watched, but he still seems to be left out.  Oh well.  

Hey, new follower

Thanks Redux,  I appreciate you joining the small group.


My posts usually appear willy nilly. Sometimes I skip a week or three and sometimes I do three days in a row or up to four posts in one day. I have a bad habit of waiting 'till the last to do a post and I end up forgetting or running out of time.

Music

Nothing to do with writing or politics but I wanted to discuss my love for certain groups also.



Third Day will be at the Big Fresno Fair this year, and one another night the Imperials.  Third Day will be on a week night and I don't like to go out on week nights but I miss too many concerts waiting for the weekend.  So I want to go.


Newsboys will be here in a weekend night along with three other groups. I would like to go,


And Mannhiem(?) Steamroller will be here again this year... on a week night. I didn't expect them so soon from last year. I want--I want--I want to go.

More updates

Been working on my mini stories. Some are hand written and I need to type them out but those along with the ones I have typed and those I have written over the years might be around 20.

But there are two problems, one is that for a book- even a flipbook- I want at least 22 if not 30 mini stories. Second is that some of them I want to send in to some flash mags. By the time I send all I want to all the markets that take flash I might end up waiting another year or two. But once I get them organized- which is a third problem finding the time to do that- I will see how it works out and exactly how many I want to send it.

One of those stories is a bit long at 1,800 words, no longer a mini story.


I may go with NaNoWriMo again this year haven't quite decided. I have half a dozen book ideas even though right now it could a certain space opera idea I've had for a couple of years.


I may have two people to finish going over Bright Lights, from the Strange New Worlds Yahoo group. That surprised me. But that's good.

And one correction. This last person who was in my group and
made the comment about the writing. I forgot English is his second language, he
does a good job of writing in it usually, and so when he made the comment he
made, he was talking about my writing in English not my writing which is the way
I think it sounded.

Kinda update on something different

Sorry to say kinda jealous of my wife, her crafts are starting to sell more than usual. Mine aren’t.  Still could use some good news for my writing but still not getting any it’s my writing after all.

Novel group I was in has faded away,  So I need someone new to check over my Bright Lights Novel. The last person who was in the group thought my writing had to many problems for him. 

An early Christmas scene and new ideas

A little early but I know what Santa Claus drives when he's giving the sleigh and/or reindeer a rest. An older small pickup. I wasn't able to see what make. But I wonder how much reindeer power it has. 

I was stopped for a red light and turned to see if there was anything to see. There he was pudgy, about the right height, with a full, long, white beard. He wore a red baseball cap. And you probably can guess what color pick up.

What I don't know is if he lives around here or just traveling the countryside; checking on his list, slumming or just mellowing out.

But it gave me an idea for story and a certain character. Not a new one since I believe there's a movie with this character but mine would be different and maybe for the younger set. Oh, it's not anything to do with Death. A little early but I know what Santa Claus drives when he's giving the sleigh and/or reindeer a rest. An older small pickup. I wasn't able to see what make. But I wonder how much reindeer power it has. 

I was stopped for a red light and turned to see if there was anything to see. There he was pudgy, about the right height, with a full, long, white beard. He wore a red baseball cap. And you probably can guess what color pick up.

What I don't know is if he lives around here or just traveling the countryside; checking on his list, slumming or just mellowing out.

But it gave me an idea for story and a certain character. Not a new one since I believe there's a movie with this character but mine would be different and maybe for the younger set. 

Second idea: going along with some of the books about Death's daughter and other such tales. Not sure if this idea would be a story or novel. The problem is that it would more than likely be light hearted and I'm not sure if I can do a whole light hearted book. Oh, it's not about any of Death's children even though I had an idea about boy and girl twins. 

A third idea:  A guy walks out of his house and finds a Gargoyle on the edge of his roof.  He thought he heard something the night before and felt the house groan.  No idea who put it there but awhile later he eams it and finds scratch marks on it. They look kinda fresh but since its there he decides to clean the whole thing and fill in the small chunks that are missing, only thing is what do you use to fill in very hard stone. 

A bit politicial vent

I won't go into too much detail which is why I say a bit. But it's somewhat frustrating. Of all the seven Republican candidates for the primary I have four in a group, All of whom I would love to vote for President. I have listed them in order of who I like most, which is where the frustration comes. More than likely two on the list, including my top person, will be gone by the time the primary is held in Calif.  There could be three gone even though most probably not all four even though one is doing good right now. If a certain two others join in, that group will expand to six.

There are also two of the seven now running, on the bottom. I would have problems voting for the for President. That leaves one in the middle. Not in that group of four but not as bad as the other two either.

We shall see who is running when it reaches Calif. it might be better than I think but we shall see.

Writing update of sorts

Working on mini-stories, of 500 words or less. One I did today takes place on a baseball field and starts with a guy running the bases nude. It has a lesson in it. Then there's a UF started a while back and just came up with an ending. And a space opera one I started and need to finish.

The baseball one is 502 but I should be able to cut a few words when I revise it.

AND:


I want to write a Noir(new meaning for that word I learned today) - hard boiled- UF that takes place in the thirties. Usually the hard boiled guy is a gumshoe but he or she doesn't have to be. I also want to write about a wizard in the wild west. Actually there already is one. Written about many years ago. I forget who write about him but he's a mountain man who rides a unicorn and does a bit of magic. He carries an odd assortment of stuff in his saddlebags including an very old earthen cup that can heal any injury if you drink from it.

Anyway, I might write a series that takes place throughout history, starting with the West, with the same family or same person. I already have a hero who has lived for a few hundred years. So it could be him in each time period. Depends if it's a book or a series of short stories. We shall see when I have time to do it.

9/11 venting and grief

  Too much has been in the various media about 9/11 even though we need some of it, probably most of what is said but here is a story I wrote one and half to two years after it happened. I updated it once and just now added a couple of sentences. I also spellchecked it and checked for some words I have a habit of getting wrong, however there are probably still grammar issues and other problems but I don't feel like going over it that well.


No one seems to be sure why bin laden hated the US but he let that hated corrupt other People who believe in Islam. Anything said about the US can be said for as lot of other countries- some have killed more Muslims than we would even if everything they said about us was true- even though he picked us for "the great satan".

 THE REACTION

                        BY L. E. Doggett

     A group of gaily dressed people were standing around talking. They were discussing the weather changes, if they could do anything about the weather changes, fiancees, the fighting some of the neighbors had been involved with, and other issues. Many were buying items other neighbors had made, while a few were huddled together in conferences dealing with conflicts between those who lived next each other. They were all neighbors, even though some lived a good distance from others that were present. Those present were of various sizes, and ages. Some were short, while others had been tall once, but were now stooped over with age. Some were very short while a couple were very tall, and unstopped. Each person, male and female, were dressed differently. Some wore bright colors, others dull colors. Some of the women wore floor length dresses, while others wore a tighter type of dress from shoulders to ankles, with a robe type wrap spiraling around the outside of the dress. Some men, and women were wearing pants, and shirts of various types. A few of these were bright colors, some were plain 

solid colors. Some of the men were wearing various styles of head gear. From turbans, to fur hats, with a few skull caps mixed in. 

     One particular tall, skinny man was dressed in a fancy, bright, tri-colored suit with tails. He wore a narrow top hat with the same colors. This man while not as old as many present, still sprouted a white goatee on his chin. He was by no means the youngest, but he was the tallest person present. He was twice the height of some, and almost three times as tall as others. This still youngish looking man was neither stooped over, nor weak looking, even though he was gaining what some referred to as spare tire around his middle. This follow was a contradiction at times, for he had done things to harm some of those present, while at the same time he had done more to help. He had fed the children of many in this group, he had come to their aid when they were attacked, he had helped out when natural disasters had struck. He had also been involved in trying to make piece with some that were immediate neighbors. Those were just a few ways he had helped over the years. Now he seemed rather laid back, and to some lazy. Lately he had not always responded completely to personal attacks, but even though he had put on a bit of weight, he still stood as tall as always, and had not lost any muscle strength.  

     One mourning, soon after he awoke, dressed for work, and had gone out to meet with the others, one of the shorter ones, a skinny guy with long arms, and a full beard, snuck up to him. Suddenly, this newcomer kicked the fancy dressed man where it would hurt the most. Taken by surprise, the man looked shocked, a second later his eyes glazed over. He fell to his knees and a few minutes later he fell to the ground. A dust cloud formed from all the debris kicked up by his landing. He gathered himself into a 

fetal position, and groaned. The kicker who was less than one third the man’s height, and who looked like a small monkey, looked at him. He smiled big, put his hands over his head as he danced 

around in victory. Most of the others looked on in shock. Some smiled for they enjoyed the man’s pain, but others went over to do what they could to help. One was a portly gentleman, who was many years older. He was dressed almost as fancy in bright colors. On the back of his jacket was a design with stripes and crosses though it. Many years ago these two had fought, but now they were friends, and the chubby individual had had his problems with these short small men. As he did what he could this man hummed one of the injured man’s favorite songs. 

     Some of the man’s friends were hurt as the man fell, for he fell on their children as well as many of his own. As they were mourning, a couple of the other smaller men, and women joined in with the victory dance. As the dancing went on the tall man recovered, obviously far faster than expected by those who didn’t like him. He got up and looked down at the ruin created by his fall. He saw the bodies of rescue workers who had gone under him as he had been on his knees, to pull out those still trapped. Tears streamed down his face as he unashamedly cried for those who had died. For all who died but also for all the heroes who gave themselves to help others.

    Suddenly two of the dancers stopped as they noticed the man, with a very angry expression on his face, start to move in their direction. The one who had kicked him didn’t noticed, however, so he kept going. He put his hands above his head in a boxer’s victory stance. The tall man walked up to him from behind, and for a moment just stood there. The short man happened to look down, 

and saw the man’s rather large shadow. He next noticed that those who had joined him had stopped, and were staring at something behind him. He swallowed hard, and tried to run, and hide. He was 

caught before he could take more than a few steps. The man grabbed his arms, and pulled him up. He kept lifting the man up, until he could look at him in the face. The small bearded one’s legs just dangled as he hung by his arms. As the short bearded man stared at the calm anger showing on the man’s face he swallowed again, and realized that he had made a big mistake in kicking him like that.

     He wasn’t going to apologize though. He put a defiant look on his face, and announced that the tall man could not hold him like 

that. The tall one let him go by just opening his hands. The bearded small man landed hard, got up immediately, and ran away. The tall man followed him to the edge of worked surface everyone was standing on. There was a slope on that edge of the man worked area. The slope was desert, and sand, but it soon turned to grass, and trees. The green area was an over grown section with trees, bushes, thorns and ugly dying flowers. As it went on the terrain turned into a jungle. One of the worst jungles, with poisoned plants, long sharp thorns, and more ugly flowers. The majority of the plants were dead, or stunted because of the bad soil, and bad water.

     The tall man caught up with the shorter man before he could 

hide in the sun whacked terrain. 

     The man turned around and said, “you can’t do anything to me, after all I didn’t kick you.” 

     The tall man didn’t respond he just kicked out with one foot, catching the shorter man in the stomach. The blow was hard enough to push the small man backwards. As he scooted backwards he went 

"urf", and doubled over. The attacker clapped his hands over his foe’s ears. It was a hard double blow that sent the little creature reeling. 

     He couldn’t hear it with his ears still ringing from the blow but the big man said, “And don’t worry about your children, once they are no longer under your control we will help them to a better life.” 

     He then proceeded to pick up the little guy, and tossed him out into the desert ground. Some of the men, and women standing around watching exclaimed that it was unfair of the taller man to treat the smaller one like that, even if he was a small. The 

towering individual responded by explaining that the little man would have just kicked him again, killing even more of the man’s children, if he was not stopped.

      By then other small men had gone to the one who had been thrown, and were helping him. Some of these short skinny people had bona fide complaints that had turned them into hateful mean people while others had became such because of cultic religious teachings and others had been whipped into a frenzy by hateful individuals with certain political leanings. The larger man turned to ask for help in stopping all of the small men. In the middle of that discussion, the original little man mostly recovered, silently ran up, and punched his foe in the bottom. The tri- colored clothed man turned suddenly, and kneed the little, crazy, guy in the chin. The large foe tried to grab the shorter one again, but he managed to back out of reach. 

     The big guy turned back to his neighbors, and asked if anyone would help. This time a couple came to help, but others still wanted to discuss it. This started an on going brawl between the 

short, breaded, small man, some of his friends, and the few larger individuals. At this point the fight included another small man who looked older and had just a mustache. He had tried to take control of his immediate neighbors but had been beaten off and was treating his own children very badly. He had been one to help the breaded small man and had vowed that he to would hurt the large man. Sometimes one, or two of the other small men would punch, or bite one of the group, but most of them stayed out of it. The portly man who had sung to the tall skinny guy while he was recovery, joined as did a couple other women and men, helping to defeat the small one with the mustache. Some did not understand why this group attacked the mustached person, a few got angry but the tall man continued to lead his friends in the attack. For it was done to defend his children from that enemy and to stop that little man from using his money to help other small people attack the children of the larger citizens. 

     The large fighter took a moment to stop and to mourn all those who had died in that first attack and to honor those who had died heroes, as his children finished cleaning up the mess. He next waded back into the battle. Kicking, chopping, punching, even at times dropping objects on the smalls to try to get them to stop kicking, and biting him. Some neighbors said if he would feed their children they would stop, but the bigger guy had been doing that already. At one point the tall slender one chopped the original small in the throat, spun around, and kicked another one that was in the process of jumping on his back. The second one went flying sideways, landing hard. He scrambled up, and while holding one of his arms he ran off to hide. Finally a couple of more neighbors, one of whom had been a sworn enemy of the tall guy 

not that long ago, joined in. They were able to corner the original small man. One of the others, the one that had gone into hiding, snuck up, and bit the ankle of one of the new helpers. The tall man quickly grabbed him, pulled him away from his ally, and threw him far into the desert. 

     The breaded small saw he was trapped, and suddenly let out a loud scream, and with spittle spraying out of his mouth he leaped further than anyone thought he could. He landed on the bigger, colorful dressed man’s face, trying to claw him. The man expecting something like this, quickly grabbed him, held him at arms’ length, and punched him hard in the face. Next he swung the little blighter around twice in complete circle, much like a hammer thrower would, than let go of him. The insane guy flew far, 

beyond one corner of the worked area. He finally landed hard on a 

grassy field. He bounced hard three times, then tumbled down a grassy slope toward a cliff. He stopped before he fell off the cliff. He laid there for quite awhile before he picked himself up, 

and crawled away. His face was bloody, and everyone could tell that even though he was still alive, he had been permanently crippled. During the melee two even smaller small faced individuals had been crippled as well, one worst than the other two. Another small one came up, and kicked the taller one. 

The small one screamed his hate, saying the large man couldn’t do that to a neighbor.

     The one dressed in the fancy clothes, pushed him over, picked him up, and asked if the new attacker would like to join his buddy. When he said that he already had, the tall skinny man swung him hard into the wilderness. He landed with a hard uff, with the wind knocked out of him. When he recovered he saw that his way 

back to the group was blocked, so he ran off to live in the jungle. 

     After the melee everything quieted down again, the group of neighbors started discussing the weather, jobs and such again. The tall man with the multicolored clothing finished rebuilding what 

had been destroyed in the original attack. Many of his children still mourned and honored those who had died during that attack, follow up attacks and those who had been killed during the battle with the simian men. Most of the small men stayed in the back ground, only biting someone now, and again. A few months later one of the neighbors, a larger heavy set man with a fur hat, who looked almost like a bear, hit one small in the head as the small guy was kicking his ankle. He had been one of those who had joined in just before the melee. It was a hard hit pushing the guy down 

with much force. The taller man hit him again, and went on to punch out two others who had been giving a couple of neighbors trouble. They finally gave up.

    After this there was a long period of quiet, and the tall man in the blues, reds, and white trim continued as he had been. He built a monument to all the heroes who had died, not only while helping those trapped in the original attack but also the warriors  who died in the following battles. He went back to doing what he had been doing, mostly helping his neighbors as before as well as buying raw materials, selling things he had built, and buying what others had made.

    Some years later the head monkey man was found hiding in another land. A team of black clad men snuck in, and ended his life. They buried him at sea. His follow monkey men didn't quit their hatred based on lies but they were hunted down even as they hurt other "men".

    THE END 

A bit of venting here

I've said it before and I will probably say it again.

I want some Star Trek type of SF movies. Most are horror tales not really SF. There was "Serenity"  Based on the TV series Firefly  and I might include Star Wars in that even though it's more space fantasy. But that's all.

They can make a good SF movie with top stars. There are good writers and directors out there.


On a second level how about some Urban Fantasy movies and TV. There was one movie even though I have no idea how it did, well one not including Harry Potter, even though technically UF, it seems to be a horse of a different color though.

There was one TV show which wasn't bad if you didn't compare it to the Books it was supposedly based on.  There are some paranormal TV shows most of which are on cable and might be good but still not what I want.

Pardon something political but Government messed up

You may or may not have heard by now what has been done to the Gibson guitar company by our government. There are thousands of links talking about it. But just in case


You can listen to an interview with the founder of Gibson here  http://www.kmjnow.com/common/global_audio/174/34124.mp3

Or go to this site http://www.kmjnow.com/pages/chrisdaniel   to find out more and about a one of a kind protest.   Of course the way musicians are it may not be one of a kind for long.


Or google Gibson guitar "Chris Daniel"

WotF anthology # 27

I'm reading Writer's Of The Future Number 27. Since I had to order it anyway I decided to download it to my Nook.  Cheaper that way too.  Started the first story not bad at all even though melancholy so far. And the illustration that goes with it shows melancholy also.

But the opening line of the first story blows my usual comment for Firsts out of the water. The thing is long and a bit on the complicated side. I need to see how the others begin but usually short stories open with short and to the point sentences. And that was a long author's blurb.

The descriptions of the stories make some of them sound very interesting. I think I will enjoy most of them.

I know, online that is, one to three writers who got in this one. So it will be interesting to see how they do. I forget if I helped crit any of these but we shall see.

Next WotF quarter

Yep, still trying.  Partly for the illustration:  one reason-besides it being neat, for the prestige, the accomplishment of a goal, and what it would mean about my writing, I would love to win because it would be very cool to have an illustration with my story. That alone would make it worth entering.


For the next quarter I'm thinking of doing a SF story again. I have a couple of ideas plus a couple of new stories that I could use some help.

Since my muse seems to be stuck on Urban Fantasy these days I would love to do one of those but I'm not sure how WotF feel about it. The one or two I sent in didn't get very far but that could be because of my writing. There's a dark UF(that's almost redundant but not for how I usually write UF) I've written that I think is one of my better tales. I suspect they don't mind dark stories.

I know I have a better than average, unique UF story inside of me. The one's I've written seem to mostly pretty much normal for that genre.

Hmm, come to think of it, the one I sent in for this quarter could be considered UF even though not quite the usual fare for UF.

But I have time to think.

Update on two story ideas

I believe I have mention these two ideas. Both inspired by a cover pic on a Dean Wesley Smith story. I've written one already, actually two different stories based on the same pic but the second one I'm having problems with. Dean's story is about a Vampire and you should read it. It came close to winning a nice award. But mine is about a werewolf. My problem is that I want to put in a twist but I've come up with one yet. I came up with three plots, all of which would make good stories, but they are just normal... if you get what I mean. One has a vamp who doesn't want to kill and she is a 'wolf who doesn't want to kill so they work something out. In another one, he helps 'wolves escape from a pack and it ends in a fight.  So more thinking.

The pic can be found here  http://tinyurl.com/3q8p9a2 it's part of smashwords.com so go and buy Dean's story.   


The other story can be found here  http://tinyurl.com/3wt8lz4   I know a different name but it's Dean. It's more a romance story so he used that name. Oops, I just realized I haven't finished the second story yet. It's on my laptop and its been too hot to take it to work. But I need to add a bit to the description of the scene. 

Another WotF HM and ...

Oaky, got another Honorable Mention for the quarter of '11 Writers of the Future contest. 

With all the work and crits that went into it, I was hoping for a sliver HM but it's still my writing so only an HM.

But still working on those mini stories. I have two on paper and I started a Third. We will see how I publish them. I will try one to a flash market but I may try others.

And today I realized I have four stories about writing, if I can do one more I think I will do one of those five story sets with e-publishing. That seems to be a popular length for story sets.  

Oh as a side issue I'm looking over more apps to see if I can put in book "Shelves" I see on a couple of other blogs.  So far nothing.