Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

December 13, 2019December 12, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 58 Comments

Lucy and Twiggy — “is that Friday, Lucy?”
“By golly, it is Little One.”

Once again Friday has arrived. It seems like this week it took its sweet old time. I can’t put my finger on it, but it sure felt like a long week.

We got the Christmas tree up along with some other decorations. It is always nice to have the holiday come around again. I didn’t think my inbox would survive black Friday and Cyber Monday but it certainly did. Heard on the news that this was the biggest retail and online sales figures made to date. I have to believe people are feeling good about buying and giving gifts.

I’m still plugging away at my WIP. Almost halfway through the latest round. It looks like I will be calling for beta readers after January 1st and will then allow until February 15th for comments. I always hate to rush beta readers. After the beta read comes the professional edit. I have made up my mind that this book will be launched in the spring. Probably in April or May.

Today’s JohnKu talks about the holidays and the spirit of the time. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

Holidays by John W. Howell © 2109

No matter the way,

We celebrate holidays . . .

The spirit’s the same.

Friday John Ku – AKA – TGIF

December 6, 2019December 5, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 79 Comments

Twiggy and Lucy — “Hey, Lucy. Want to play with the soccer ball? It’s Friday.”
“I’m so glad you are back at it, Little One. Sure I’ll play.”

Friday is here and a very welcome sight. “I wish I could work all weekend,” said no one ever. (Well maybe there are a few.)

This was a pretty uneventful week. I continue to pour over my WIP. I did a run-through Grammarly and found 4,323 things that need attention. Most are commas, which are the bane of my existence. I fully understand why. When I was in High School, I worked in the journalism department as a reporter and section editor of the yearbook. My journalism teacher would send back my stories with blue pencil circles around all the commas. (Blue pencil was an indicator to eliminate.) I finally got to the point where I almost removed commas from my brain.

The teacher did explain that too many commas slowed the story, and maybe a more fluid sentence would be in order. So that is my excuse, and I’m sticking with it. I also put the 4,323 things into context. If I take all the words in the WIP (96,000) and divide them into corrections needed, that leaves an accuracy ratio of 95.6 percent. I can live with that. (At least I can rationalize with that.)

As you know from yesterday’s post, Twiggy has been under the weather. I am pleased to report she is back to her old self and a testament to big pharma.

Today’s JohnKu talks about worry. I hope you have a great weekend

They can’t speak a word,

Even if something is wrong . . .

Fur babies need us.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

November 22, 2019November 21, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 67 Comments

Another Friday has finally graced us with its presence. I think most of us are glad to see it here. I can imagine a nightclub bouncer would not be too thrilled with Friday, but for the rest of us, it means the eve of freedom. It means the beginning of the end of the workweek. Eight hours is all that separates us from our work world and our relaxing world.

I think given all that is going on in our country these days we definitely need to spend time in the relaxing world. I’m not sure but I have to wonder who is really enjoying all the vitriol coming out of Washington. I for one have had my fill.

Today’s JohnKu talks about trying to live through stressful times.

I hope you all have a very relaxing weekend.

It’s not all roses,

And living can be stressful. . .

Need an inner strength.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

November 15, 2019November 14, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 55 Comments

“Twiggy. What is that thing?”
“It’s my eel toy. I’m celebrating Friday.”
“Good luck with that.”

Friday. So good to see your smiling face. We can celebrate making it another week. Here in Texas, we got hit by a cold front that took the wind chills down into the basement. Man, it was cold. We are not expected to get back to the 70s until next week. I know, I know you folks in the North have no sympathy. My only defense in being such a weenie is if I wanted to be chilled to the bone I would have moved to Alaska. At least I would know what is waiting for me during the winter. This year here the temps went from the 90s to the 30s overnight. No chance to get used to a gradual decline.

The WIP editing is coming along. I’m at page 223 out of 300. I also cut out about 2000 words so far and am down to 93,000. I would say I’ll be finished in another eight days or so.

This week’s JohnKu talks about having to cut precious words from a manuscript. I hope you have a great weekend.

You hate to do it,

The words were hard to come by . . .

Sacrifice is tough.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

November 8, 2019November 7, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 71 Comments

Let’s hear it for Friday. YAY. Always lovely to see your smiling face, Friday. It makes us glad we made it through the week and now only have two days of relaxation ahead.

I’m looking forward to painting the front door. “What?” you say. “Your front door is unpainted?”

Yes, it is painted. The problem is it is not painted the right accent color on the outside. So, the forecast for Saturday has the humidity at 50%, which means good painting weather. I’ll take some photos (I know real exciting stuff) and run them on Views of the Neighborhood on Sunday. Wow. Does it get any better than that?

Still editing the WIP. It is moving slowly but surely.

Today’s JohnKu is about editing. I hope you have a super weekend.

If you don’t do it,

Life later will be like hell . . .

Before publish, edit.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

November 1, 2019October 31, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 73 Comments

Here is that beautiful day of the week that traditionally signals an end to the workweek. Only eight more hours and then the weekend is available for maximum enjoyment. I certainly hope you will enjoy yours.

Not too much new around here. We saw the temperatures drop into the 30s, and for next week, it looks like more of below-normal conditions. The daytime highs are expected to be no more than the high 60s and lows in the 50s. This would compare to the ’80s as a high and 70s as a low. So, yes, sweater weather but not subzero. Tonight is the only low in the 30’s. We are due rain next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

The WIP is coming along but slowly. I work on it everyday but for me, editing is a much slower task than writing. So far, our heroes have been to Dodge City Kansas in 1878, Tombstone Arizona in 1881 and have just arrived at the Alamo in 1838.

By the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it, these two, James and Samantha, are on a quest to find the best eternal home. They are sampling places and time dimensions to see what fits the best. Along the way, they are seeing plenty of action. If you are a history buff you know some things happened in each of those years. For example, right now they arrive at the Alamo a couple of days before Santa Anna’s attack on the Texas stronghold. Well, more of this later.

Today’s JohnKu talks about the weather which we all seem to find something to complain about no matter what it is.

When it’s hot or cold,

Rain, snow, dead of night or clear . . .

Half want a change now.

Friday John Ku – AKA – TGIF

October 25, 2019October 24, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 69 Comments

“Hey, Twiggy. You want to play? It’s Friday.”
“One more chew on this starfish, Lucy and I’ll be ready.”

Yup, it is Friday, and we all are thankful for that. We had some rain here in Parched City, which was mighty welcome.

The week has been pretty calm. It started with temperatures in the 90s and looks like it will finish in the 70s. It means fall weather has finally arrived here in Texas.

Been plugging away at the WIP. Most of my edits have been additions to the dialog sections. I’ve been adding bits of what could be called Emotional Beats. As you may know, I construct whole stories with nothing but dialog. That may be well and good with less than 1000 words, but throughout a novel, it could be tiring for the reader.

There is plenty of dialog, but I’ve added some points of interest to bring the characters alive when they are talking. I still don’t use tags (he said, she said) since I think it is pretty obvious who is talking and tags just slow the story.

We’ll see if it all works. I’m planning on asking for Beta-reader interest around mid-November. I think I won’t ask for the comments back until mid-January since there are some holidays in there. All in all, the story is still holding, so I’m pretty happy with it.

I had an interesting discussion with someone last weekend. They asked me if I was self-published, and I said, “yes.” Her response was a very patronizing, “Writing is a very good hobby.” I guess we all have had that kind of comment. Today’s John Ku talks about discouraging words. I hope you have a great weekend.

Everyone should know,

If you can’t say something nice . . .

Then shut the fuck up.

Friday JohnKu – AKA- TGIF

October 18, 2019October 17, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 58 Comments

“It’s Friday, Boss.”
“Yeah, time for pizza.”

Friday has arrived as it does each week typically. The prospect of spending a couple of days catching our breath makes Friday a particular day. I used to call it Saturday eve when I was a prisoner of organized commerce. Friday was the day to put on casual clothes and take a little extra time at lunch. Friday was also the day when company re-organizations would take place and thus became a “day of the long knives.” Even if this were the case, Friday was also the day the eagle pooped. Yeah, payday. Payday was a cause to stop after work for a couple of drinks and to celebrate making it another week, bi-week or in the old days, month.

I once asked one of my co-workers if he would like to stop after work for a couple of drinks. He said, “If I can only have a couple, then no.” He was one of those funny guys that every office has on hand.

This week was more editing on the WIP. As I was working, it became apparent to me that my deadline was in serious jeopardy. I had planned to have the MS into my editor’s hands by early November. This would have included beta reader input.

I find that my second draft is taking me longer. I did beg my editor for more time since I hate to send her an MS that isn’t as complete as I can make it. The beta read part of that is essential. If I sent it without input from beta readers, then there would be a chance of another rewrite, which would then be a waste of the editor’s time. So I pushed the launch and will be ready to solicit beta readers shortly. (My editor is an angel) If you would like to read the book, I will be posting an invitation separately.

Today’s JohnKu celebrates the weekend. I hope you have a good one.

It was a hard one,

Now that the week is over. . .

Time to celebrate.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

October 11, 2019October 10, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 71 Comments

“Lucy. Time to get up.”
“Ummm What?”
“It’s Friday. Time to celebrate the weekend.”
“Last time I looked Little One every day is the weekend.”

What a week. It seemed to go pretty fast. I don’t want anyone wishing their life away, but I hope it moved quickly for you as well.

I started editing my WIP on Monday and was pleasantly surprised that the story still looked good to me. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I go back to things I’ve written, and they look like something that requires some starter and a match. I’m glad this one has salvageable parts.

I was delighted to get an excellent Circumstances of Childhood review on Thursday from Kevin Cooper. If you missed it, you could go HERE

I was also a guest of Teri Polen’s Bad Moon Rising. She asks some outstanding questions, and it is always a fun time. You could go HERE as well if you missed it.

I certainly want to thank Kevin and Teri and all of you who visited the posts. Thank you.

Today’s John Ku talks about encouragement from others. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. We are looking for temperatures in the 70s Whoo-Whoo.

Writers work alone,

We struggle with our own ghosts. . .

Comments make our day.

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF

October 4, 2019October 3, 2019 ~ John W. Howell ~ 54 Comments

“Look Lucy. Friday is here.”
“I see it Little One. Thank goodness.”

It is Friday and it came just in time.

As you may know I’m helping C.S.Boyack with his launch of Viral Blues his new book. If you haven’t visited yet here is the link. I’m reading it now and am enjoying it.

I’m happy to say the first draft of my new book is done. I now need to let it rest for a few and then go back for the second run through. It is amazing to me what can be done when you make a committment. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement during the process. Today’s JohnKu talks about a journey. I hope you all have a great weekend.

The first step starts it,

Then it is rinse and repeat . . .

Until you are home.