Posts Tagged With ‘ Until Next Time ’

After spending a couple of days in Porto, we traveled south to historic Coimbra, the fourth-largest city in Portugal.  Belltower at the university Our half-day visit focused on the University of Coimbra and the shopping area near the Mondego River. There’s a limit on what you can see before moving to the next destination on the itinerary. The Romans found the city, naming it Aeminium in the first century. In the succeeding centuries, the Suebi, Alans, Visigoths, and Muslims ruled for periods of time before King Ferdinand I of Leon reconquered the territory in 1064.  You might... Continue Reading

 I suppose one adventure of travel is making connecting flights at various airports. The ideal is to board a plane at your home airport and fly nonstop to your destination. That’s highly unlikely if you’re flying overseas in economy class. I like to think it adds to the adventure of seeing fresh places, even if it is an airport. For my wife and I on our journey to Portugal, we flew out of Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., to O’Hare International in Chicago, then a long flight to Zurich Airport in Switzerland (we can now say we’ve been to Switzerland), and then on to... Continue Reading

 It had been nearly three long years since my wife Mary and I traveled to Greece. In the next two years, we had planned trips to Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Life, as most travelers knew it, had come to a standstill. We were able to take several day trips to nearby state parks to take in the fall foliage or visit the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Columbus zoos. An overnight trip was to Gatlinburg, Tenn., for some Smoky Mountain scenery. Our big journey was a long and memorable weekend at Mackinac Island, Mich., to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.  Portugal... Continue Reading

 It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here; on Feb. 11 to be exact when I posted about a few love songs for Valentine’s Day. For those who are concerned or curious, I have been writing. Just not here.  I’m a contributor on Medium, where I’ve had about five posts in recent weeks. I call them “Random thoughts” if you’d like to read them. I plan to eventually have them here. And I’ve written book reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and other places.  Oh, almost forgot. I’m also working on the sixth book in the “John Ross Boomer... Continue Reading

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, here are a few love songs that I have enjoyed through the years.  The Bee Gees’s last Top 10 hit in the U.S. was “One” in 1989, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard chart.  The song was written by the Gibbs brothers, one of the greatest songwriting teams in history. James Taylor’s “Only One” didn’t crack the Billboard Top 100 in 1985 but it was No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The JT-penned song was on his “That’s Why I’m Here” album. The late, great Jim Croce’s “I’ll... Continue Reading

 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recently announced the nominees for the 2022 class. Now fans can vote for their favorite five artists for inclusion in the hallowed hall.  This year’s nominees include Fela Kuti, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie, Judas Priest, A Tribe Called Quest, Dionne Warwick, Pat Benatar, Eminem, Rage Against The Machine, New York Dolls, Kate Bush, MC5, Eurythmics, DEVO, Duran Duran, and Beck. According to the Rock Hall, to be eligible for induction a band or solo artist must have had a commercial recording at least 25 years before nomination. So... Continue Reading

 I’m back to writing again on a daily basis. Since my last post, I’ve written more than 15,000 words on my next novel. I guess you could say I got back in the groove. I’ve always said and advised others that the best way to write a novel (or nonfiction) is to do it on a daily basis. Some days are better than others, but after time you eventually reach a point where the words begin to flow. That’s where I am. While I don’t produce 3,000-4,000 words a day like I did in my younger days, I do write more than 1,000 and that seems to increase by the day. I do get somewhat... Continue Reading

 Last November I had an ill-fated experience with National Novel Writing Month, throwing up my hands and giving up after a week or so. I only wrote about 5,500 words that had little direction, almost reading like a stream of consciousness.  I opened the file again this morning and began reading and revising. It wasn’t as bad as I had first thought when I initially surrendered to my lack of willpower. What I discovered is that it’s workable, especially since I have a vision for what I want it to develop into in the coming weeks.  The manuscript will evolve into the sixth novel in... Continue Reading

At my age, I’m not one who wishes my life away, but I must admit that I’m glad  2021 is behind me. It wasn’t a particularly bad eight months of the year for me as a writer because I had two novels published — Make Room for Family on February 1 and Reunion of Familiar Strangers on September 1. I also had several successful book-signing events and the novels have had reasonably well online sales. However, since September, I’ve been at a loss for words. And that’s not good for a writer. It was my hope to get reenergized in November in the National Novel Writing Month,... Continue Reading

 I gave it a shot but I couldn’t complete the National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo, challenge in November.  I only wrote for about a week, knocking out only 5,000 or so words, before throwing up my hands and giving up. I kept thinking I would get back into it after a day or so, but those days turned into a week and the week into weeks.  And then it was over. I suppose the reason for not going full bore into the challenge, as I have done on previous occasions, is that I didn’t have anything to write (or say). I’m a pantser, and when I write, I get into a... Continue Reading