I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two.
I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.
“Oh, that one. She said I need to have some more tests. She thinks I may have…”
“Have what?”
“Hold on don’t rush me. She said my memory might need to be sharpened.”
“Sharpened? How?”
“I’m not sure. I went into the office and sat down and then they asked about a dog.”
“A dog? What does that have to do with memory?”
“That’s what I was thinking until I realized I was in the vet’s office.”
“The vet’s office?”
“I thought you went to see your primary care physician.”
“I thought so too but I forgot where the office was so I went in there.”
“Did they think your were crazy?”
“Not really. They told me my nose felt cold and thought I was in pretty good health except for the memory thing. They were so nice I made a follow-up appointment. I helped myself to a couple of biscuits although they were pretty sandy. They did say I should bring my dog next time.”
So much sweat is pouring off me anyone would think I was made only of liquid, but I can’t help it, it’s the effect that the impending event always has on me.
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Ever since I decided to take this path, fear has accompanied me, becoming my constant, and oft-times, only companion.
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Why hadn’t I listened to those who had told me NOT to go this way, it would lead me to a ‘Hell on Earth’, it would drive me insane sometimes, many times, maybe even ALL the time.
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But I was too stubborn to heed them, what did THEY know about this path, THEY had not taken it themselves.
Wonderful Friday. Such a nice day. Only eight more hours and we can kick back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I really like lime as a fruit of labor. You can squeeze it, add it to agave distillate juice with some orange liqueur and agave nectar. Toss it into a shaker and shake till ice-cold. Pour into a mason jar, add a slice of lime. Put your feet up while on the veranda and tell the world how much you have earned this little gem. I only have about 1000 words until I can do that later today. Hope you all have a good weekend. I didn’t forget the JohnKu (a term coined by Words4jp). It is called rest. Hope you like it.
Wednesday is story day and today is no different. These stories are designed to celebrate the fact that the week is more of less under control. It gives me a chance to stretch a little and get away for a few minutes from the job at hand with is my third book in the John Cannon trilogy. I am at about 72,000 words and I see the finish at close to 95,000. As I said last Friday, my characters forced me to write a little differently so it will take me a little longer. Hopefully, the detour will be worth it. Today’s story takes us back to Frank and Billy and if you will recall Billy had not shot his shotgun ever. The story is back at the Starbucks and is titled Next.
“Here’s your decaf latte Frank. Low foam and almond milk.”
“Yeah thanks.”
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? You gotta be kidding me.”
“You still upset that I haven’t shot this shotgun before.”
“Put that thing under your coat. You want the cops to pick us up?”
“Aren’t shotguns legal?”
“In a friggin’ Starbucks? Look around you see any pheasants in here? Don’t you think if a cop came in and saw you waving that thing around he might wonder what I’m doing with a 9MM automatic pistol.”
“I never thought about that. Yeah, your pistol is certainly not legal. Especially with that thirty shot magazine.”
“Please Billy. Please shut up and let me think. We need to have a plan to knock off the bank.”
“Can we do it without guns?”
“Like with what.”
“We could pretend we have a bomb or something.”
“I don’t think we would scare anyone into giving us money with a fake bomb.”
“We could make it look pretty real.”
“I don’t think so. Get me another latte will ya.”
“Sure. Be right back. Hey, Barista I would like another low foam, decaf, almond milk, latte.”
“You have to wait sir. You are not next.”
“Oh yeah, see this gun. Everyone on the floor. Barista draw that latte and don’t touch the alarm.”
Just a reminder that I’m running a Goodreads giveaway for Occasional Soulmates, but it ends on November 5, so now’s your chance to join the fun. If you haven’t purchased the book yet (and come on, you know you haven’t!), step up and put your name in the hat. You have a 1 in 30 shot at winning a copy.
But if you don’t win… you have to promise to buy the book when the giveaway is over.
And by the bye, if you have read the book, I’d dearly appreciate a brief review on Amazon. I’m holding at seven right now and hoping for ten before too long so it looks like more than just my family has read this puppy!
There’s even a contribution on it (Thank you, Christopher – and no, this is not the official thank-you).
Through the campaign, you can PRE-ORDER your very own copy of Changelings, and even have it signed or personally inscribed by yours truely (and if you ask nice, I’ll even have D sign it!). There are also a lot of great perks to be had. I think I had the most fun looking for those!
All of this is an effort to expand the distribution for Changelings. I’ve pushed myself to become more active in my local community, and I want to be able to share this with them – with the libraries I love so dearly, with the bookstores and coffee shops – and distribution…
I am very pleased to welcome Garrett Addison to Fiction Favorites. He is the author of Minions and The Traveller and a Rave Reviews Book Club Spotlight Author. As a Spotlight author Garrett will be touring some interesting blogs this week. (yes mine included) Go here to see the rest of his tour. Welcome Garrett.
Why ‘The Traveller’?
You ask how or why I came to write ‘The Traveller’? I’d actually finished my first novel, ‘Minions’ after many months of late night writing. It was done and I knew I needed to lock it away in a drawer so I could effectively forget about it so as to enable me to re-read it and start editing with a fresh perspective.
I liken it to a ‘now what?’ moment. Anyone who doesn’t write would probably think it was time to sit back and relax after a period of frenetic activity, but the reality was that I’d established such a routine that I was simple unable to stop writing. So what was I to do? My novel was too fresh in my head to start editing, and I hadn’t yet spared a thought as to what my next project would be, so I committed to some professional development. I listened to a mass of podcasts about all aspects of the writing craft, read a lot and tried some things, but really I was just wasting time. Funnily enough, amongst the podcasts I’d listened to was one espousing the virtues of ‘writing what you know’.
Not long afterwards, I found myself on a business trip. I was away from my family, travelling for work and after dinner my mind drifted into wondering about what I was missing at home. ‘Writing what I know’ at that very moment amounted to a series of anecdotes about work travel. Really, I was doing little more than putting pen to paper because I couldn’t help myself, but it passed the time between beverages. After the meal, I was left with what amounted to a rant and some observations for the un-initiated about what travelling with work is like. I wondered if there was a story in there, but it seemed like a long shot to take a few unrelated tales and extend them into a novel.
Then it happened on the return flight. I looked at what I’d written and thought of the predictability of a life when travelling and thought about what might make this trip less like every other trip. It got me thinking. What if this trip wasn’t like the others? What if elusive success was suddenly possible? What would I get up to … what could I get up to? Over the space of many frequent flyer miles and a few time zones, my travellers’ rant had turned into a story of one man being different to his usual self.
Words continued to flow over the weekend after my return until I’d written what I saw as being the shell of a good story. Still, after a fast start it still took many months of rewriting to get right because there was a huge difference between that first draft and the finished product. The characters needed to be developed, I couldn’t decide between first and third person perspectives, there was too much sex (yes, that is possible) and I needed to distil the real story from a mass of conflicting sub-plots. I got there in the end.
So there it is. Sometimes you just need to write what you know.
This list was inspired by observing the behaviors of my co-workers when the boss had to leave the office for business travel or vacation. To be clear, I personally never did any of these things since I was always taking notes and was a goodie two shoes. (Don’t forget I’m a fiction writer). Hope you like.
Ten Things Not to Do When Your Boss is Traveling or on Vacation
10 If the boss is out of the office, do not think your workload has been reduced for the length of time the boss is gone. If you do, at best you will get away with the slowdown. At worst, you will be asked by the boss for a status of your projects first thing in the morning of the boss’ return.
9 If the boss is out of the office, do not think you will make brownie points with your boss’ boss. If you do, at best your boss’ boss with think you an opportunist. At worst, the boss’ boss just might give you a ton of extra projects to complete before your boss gets back.
8 If the boss is out of the office, do not think it is your job to be the new boss. If you do, at best your co-workers will ignore you. At worst, your co-workers will actually come to you for decisions on projects that the boss has refused to consider. Your reward will be fully realized when the boss gets back.
7 If the boss is out of the office do not think the dress code is suspended. If you do, at best you’ll be ratted out to the boss by the weenie in the cube next to you. At worst, the boss will come back early and call you into a meeting with the big boss Lederhosen and all.
6 If the boss is out of the office do not think you are due three-hour lunches. If you do, at best you will make your co-workers upset. At worst your boss asked HR to keep an eye on the department and make note of the hours kept by all and you have a number of hours to make up.
5 If your boss is out of the office do not think you can organize an in office football game with the boss’ office on one end and the VP’s office on the other as the goal posts. If you do, at best the team that loses will rat you out to the boss. At worst, although it was supposed to be two-handed touch, Bruno from sales decided to repeat his performance as an All-American tackle. As a result of the hospitalizations, HR and security have been looking for you for days.
4 If your boss is out of the office, do not think you can requisition all the supplies your boss has denied. If you do, at best the supplies will be delivered to your boss’ office for dispersion. At worst, your boss will return to find the budget for supplies has been severally compromised and instead of asking what happened, contacts the internal department of investigation with a fraud investigation request.
3 If your boss is out of the office, do not think you have a carte blanche on business entertainment. If you do, at best you will be asked to reimburse the company for unauthorized expenses. At worst, your co- workers all join you for the meal and thinking you can submit it as a team expense only to find out you will still need to reimburse the company for an unauthorized expense. You also find none of your co-workers knows who you are nor remember any meal.
2 If your boss is out of the office, do not think of bending the alcohol rules for the monthly birthday celebration. If you do, At best the same weenie will rat you out to the boss. At worst, you will have sponsored the best birthday party ever experienced by the team, but unfortunately the party was finally broken up by a city SWAT team after HR and security gave up trying to restore order. Subsequently every attendee claimed to have been drugged without their knowledge and your fingerprints are all over the punch bowl.
1 If your boss is out of the office, do not think you are able to take all the days off. If you do, at best you will not be discovered missing until someone needs a stapler which you have the only one in the office. At worst, you will not be missed until your boss returns early to deal with a problem with one of your accounts due to the fact that the client called the president of the company since they could not reach you. Good luck in the new job hunt.
…I don’’t often cut and paste my Facebook posts as blog pieces, but so many people have asked me to do so with the post I made on there yesterday, in the hope that the message may go viral… if yeez wish to share it, please do so… LUV YEEZ!… here’s the post:
…the older I become, the less rational the world appears… I care not for the arguments and posturing that dress themselves as nationalistic, religious, political or downright greed… when a young man standing HONOUR GUARD in memory of those fallen in horrendous global conflicts around the planet is gunned down under some pretence of a deluded fanatic’s ‘righteousness’, my soul screams out, ‘Enough’! ….how present are the words of the song that ask ‘when will they ever learn?’ ..the ‘they’ being all of the creeds, nutters, even well-meaning hawks of all nationalities… last year, I unashamedly…
