The Mass Grave…

Crazy murder investigation, a daughter is gone, Bones in the Tree, Mark Reeder didn’t see that coming, Ripped… is wrapped, a note to Fat Duck fans, roses roses everwhere, and more…

Best News First! I have completed my first round of edit reviews on Ripped From My Cold Young Fingers! It has been a long slog but finally, yesterday morning after a 5-hour late-night marathon followed by a 6-hour Saturday morning, I finished. So what does that mean?

The folks at Focus House granted me full veto edits BUT ONLY if I agreed to four complete edits: editor then me, editor then me…and so on. We have now finished the first most grueling round (averaging me between 1 and 6 pages per hour, depending on the section and the number of suggested edits per page). We have three more rounds to go. I would expect that each successive round will be about twice as fast as the one before it…but I’m guessing.

Since the first round of Zachary Pill, The Dragon at Station End edits are not ready for my review, it looks like I have a week to focus my energy on two new stories and a non-fiction release article kids. They are:

·         Bones in the Tree - Not a horror story but a little tense J.

·         Millie’s Tomb (working title) – a captain’s treasure destroys a family and leave’s Brenda’s life in tatters.

·         The Super-Loop – How to make an amazing airplane for kids.

I’m telling on Fat Duck: Fatty and I have had a predictable week. The last few nights he’s found his own way onto the porch just before dark. BUT a couple of times he has snuck back on the porch after morning breakfast. The first time I found his little “accident,” he and I had a talk and I offered to keep it a secret. But after today’s three really terrible “incidents,” I told him that no matter how famous he has become I’m telling on him. So here it is:

Fatty is doing poo on the porch!

So there!

Now, the questions are: will Fatty see a drop in his ever growing fame because his fans all know? Or will I see a drop in readership because who wants to read books by a tattletale J?

My week: My daughter moved out this week with her fiancé, and is off on her first apartment adventure. Though I wished she had slowed down a little more, she felt it was time. So, a good part of my time this past week was spent moving furniture and helping her fill a last minute list of needed items. But, as of now, she’s officially away.

I know some parents feel the need to push their children out into the world as quickly as possible, but my wife and I have never felt that way. Though I hope my children leap with amazing success into life and careers, they are always welcome back to our home. Of course, my youngest son accepted our generous offer (he’s in his first year of high school) and says he’s going to live with us until he retires at age 65. Of course, we’re expected to continue buying his game systems until Play Station 26 comes out J).

I also spent Saturday afternoon (with help) creating and installing new rockers on an antique rocking chair for a friend. She was ecstatic with the result and won’t wear those oak rockers out in this lifetime. Sunday afternoon I finished planting new rosebushes around our newly landscaped well. I also planted this year’s annual flowers around the railing of our windmill. I promise to post pictures as soon as the new grass is in.

News – The “Mass Grave” investigated in Texas: Is it just me or does someone need to explain to ALL police departments that there has never NEVER NEVER been a proven case of a “medium,” “tarot reader,” or “prophet” who has actually been successful in helping to solve to solve a crime, find a runaway or recover a body.

This is craziness. Just because Patricia Arquette (Medium) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) both did amazing jobs with their ghost communication television shows, that doesn’t make these supernatural reports any more true.

For all of you supernatural fans, please know that I’m with you. I desperately want to believe that ghosts surround us and that angels are directing traffic to get us back and forth to work and school safely, but that doesn’t mean we should wait for a ghost to pass a message or zoom through traffic lights expecting higher beings to intervene.

Let me repeat, contrary to all the wacky stories we hear in oddball news outlets and all the stories told by self-proclaimed mediums on Larry King and other interview shows, there has never EVER been a police case solved by a psychic, medium or other person who was not personally there or involved with the crime.  

So which yahoo in the Texas police department took this report and wasted taxpayers’ money on someone’s inspired dream? Whoever it is should be forced to join with hundreds or maybe even thousands of other law enforcement officers who have humored similar reports. They should all be sent to a simple seminar called: MEDIUMS DON”T SOLVE CRIMES, INVESTIGATORS DO!

Where do I get twisted ideas for stories like The Shaft? I’d like to say that every story has an easy-to-pinpoint basis, but they come from virtually everywhere. Some might come from overheard comments or from insane news story (like the one above). Others are exaggerations of true events I might have experienced, and yet others seem to crawl straight from the air into one of my ears.

As for The Shaft, I can only say that I’m often accused of being too humane. I’ve been a strict vegetarian for the past 16 or so years. I protect animals of nearly every stripe and don’t even like to kill most insects (excepting ants, mosquitoes and ticks–ants damage my house and the other two chomp on my animals and family members). So, for me, The Shaft was a story about forced survival, friendship and finally death. I hoped that by painting the characters, both the man and the spider, with a sympathetic (or is that empathetic-I never get those straight) brush, I would allow the readers to understand the need for survival doesn’t negate capacity for caring. I’ve always said that though I am a vegetarian, I would be the first one in the woods with a rifle if my family needed food and it was the only way.

I always loved the Native American view of hunting: Though a hunter kills, he does it with respect and thanks. Though it provides little compensation to the poor dead deer, it at least demonstrates that need not aggression is the driving motive.

Of course, veggie burgers are now available to all tribal members J.  

Thanks so much, Mark Reeder…for your generous review of From My Cold Young Fingers.

His review…

««««« (5 out of 5 stars) May 21, 2011 

I Was Fortunate...

I was fortunate to be a first reader on this book when Tim was working on it (From My Cold Young Fingers). He asked for my input - what did I like, what didn't work ... etc…. So perhaps you're already ahead of me and know the dilemma: reading a draft and knowing you're in the presence of a great read, and here the author is asking for criticism to help him improve it. So I'm looking with my editor's eye, the one I used to use when I was an editor for the ezine Deep Magic, and I'm thinking 'if only all submissions had been this easy.' In fact, I read it from cover to cover and failed in my role as first reader and editor to find something significant for Tim to work on. To say I liked this book is an understatement. It explores death and rebirth with a unique perspective and has an ending that will have you saying, "I didn't see that coming." Do yourself a favor and read this book over the summer.

Mark Reeder, author of Where Memory Has Lease, the Crystal Sword Series, & others…

In the next blog (Wednesday June 15^th): A dead duck, my review of Ender’s Game, the secret to YOUR success and more….

Thanks for spending time with me J!