Thursday – A little Personal

December 3, 2015December 1, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 26 Comments

Office party

I had the occasion yesterday to attend a Christmas party at my old company. (Yes I was invited) Well, it’s not my old company it is the company from which I retired, and it was nice to return. I remember when we threw a Christmas party, and some of the retirees would show up. I wondered at the time why they came. I thought when I saw them at the event, once retired who would want to return to the thousand points of pain ever again? At the time, I couldn’t imagine being in the same position yet here I was accepting an invitation to attend a Christmas party. The party was at the same company in which I had invested, sweat, nerves, and what I thought was sure to be years off my life.

Driving the two and one-half hours to San Antonio, (A crazy stunt in itself) I figured it out. I wanted to see the lovely people who were still there. It was those people who made the workday bearable and in some cases fun. In spite of the deadlines and boss craziness, these folks managed to keep a bright outlook and positive attitude. They were the ones to give a cheery “good morning” and take the time to ask how things were going. They were also the ones who could tell you had spent an all-nighter or were on the cusp of going postal. They seemed to know that your trials were in some ways also their trials since we all worked for the same company. A quick story or joke would lift some of the tension and make the day go better. They were the ones who brought donuts of breakfast tacos and the ones who were first in line to donate to remember a lost family member.

It came to me that those retirees of the past attended the party to touch briefly those who had shown kindness and charity when they needed it most. It could be they needed it then as well, and I hope each received what they were seeking. Me? I wanted to thank some of the folks for being so darned nice. I did just that and came away with the feeling that I would like to attend another one again sometime.

Thursday – A Little Personal

October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 20 Comments

As the regulars know I’m getting set to launch my second John Cannon thriller. The official launch will be on Sunday after I post the Fifty Two Views of the Gulf. For the rest of the week, I will be trying to recognize those who have volunteered to carry the launch message. This activity will get in the way of my normal schedule, and so I don’t post too many times during the week and become a total nuisance I am suspending the regular programming. I will resume with the next Fifty-Two Views of the Gulf. So Monday’s Top Ten Things Not to Do, Tuesday-Anything Possible, Wednesday Story Day, Thursday – A Little Personal, Friday John Ku, and Stream of Consciousness Saturday will not be posted next week.

Thanks for your understanding. In the meantime here is a trailer for His Revenge. Hope you find it interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTaDFcY9l_s

October 19, 2015October 18, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 31 Comments

This list is inspired by going through some boxes recently and coming across some unusual things. Of course, most of what follows is made up, and so I didn’t have these experiences. I would ask the Wall Street Journal to fact check completely before using this story.
Top Ten Things Not to do with Stuff You Find
10. If you find an unopened box don’t open it. If you do, at best you might find someone’s old toss outs or laundry. At worst, you may find the remains of last year’s Thanksgiving dinner that was to be thrown out. (You still can’t get the image out of your brain)
9 If you find a lawnmower at the side of the road, do not pick it up. If you do, at best you will find out why it was thrown away, At worst, you will put it in a garage sale only to have the original owner accuse you of theft. (How he knew it was his is anyone’s guess)
8 If you find a lamp that has washed up on the beach do not rub it. If you do, at best it will turn out to be made in China. At worst, you will be given three wishes by a fierce looking genie, and you won’t get it right. (You thought you would be clever when you asked for a million bucks and now have a deer-feed bill that won’t quit)
7 If you find what you think is a treasure chest in your backyard, leave it where it is. If you don’t, at best you will find it full of smelly dirt. At worst, it will have things inside carrying a Blackbeard curse. (Go ahead and try to spend those doubloons before your hand falls off)
6 If you find what looks like a bomb in your garage, run away. If you don’t, at best it is only a hand made school project. At worst, old man Jones finally made good on his threat to” blow you to kingdom come.” (Suddenly you remember he used to work for a demolition company)
5 If you find a set of golf clubs at a garage sale, don’t buy ’em. If you do, at best you will find they weren’t worth what you paid for them even if it was only a dollar. At worst, once you take up the game, you will find out why they were for sale in the first place. (How’s that high blood pressure medicine working for you?)
4 If you find a washer on the curb of your neighborhood leave it there.If you don’t, at best you will only be successful in relocating it to your curb. At worst, you will spend the time and trouble to hook it up only to maybe find the spin, and empty cycle don’t work.( Soaking wet clothes weigh a ton. Right?)
3 If you find a strange object with colored lights in the woods behind your house, call the police. If you don’t, at best it is only your neighbor testing the outdoor Christmas tree lights. At worst, you will be asked to join the expedition to a funny place where they will run experiments on you and then send you back. (You say no one believes your story? Really?)
2 If you find a note on the kitchen table, pretend not to see it. If you don’t, at best it is an old shopping list. At worst, it a goodbye note with the name of a lawyer at the bottom who is now your only contact.(And you thought being nice was something you didn’t have to do).
1 If you find a large, five-toed animal footprint in the yard, call animal control. If you don’t, at best it is nothing but the neighbors new dog. At worst, it is the long lost Yeti-like drooling, smelly, hairy thing that is now taking up residence in your shed and suddenly has a thing for you. (Just smile and maybe it will go away).

Thursday – A Little Personal – The Birds

October 15, 2015October 13, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 21 Comments

This week was one of those times here on the coast where the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds came to mind. For whatever reason, there have been a great number of birds gathering on the beach. It may be the availability of small fish but as a fiction writer I tend to want the motivation to be deeper than just a run of minnows. You know, something sinister like they are all responding to the call to gather and prepare for further instructions from the Leader. (Okay, knock it off. This is not a prompt.)

The first picture is of the pelicans floating out in the water. No diving just sitting. (And watching?)

The next is a whole bunch of seagulls on the beach.

Next comes the call to wing it outta there.

The order is to go to the rendezvous point.

Which is back on the beach (go figure)

I guess it is all okay. No need to call the government and take somebody away from campaigning.

Thursday – A Little Personal

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 21 Comments

We have been having a little rain this week. While walking the dogs, I looked out over the water and saw this cloud formation. There are three waterspouts under the clouds but unfortunately unless you blow this photo up they remain hard to see. I marked them with little arrows so maybe you can find them. The one with two arrows (on the right) is visible from the cloud all the way to the water. I wanted to show the spouts, but then started looking at the cloud and picked up three characters. To the left is a laughing man with a heavy beard. I think he has been joking around with the dog (at the top) in the center. The dog is barking at the fox (at the top) on the right who looks very concerned. I also see a number of other animals in this formation. This shows how a writer can pretty much pull something out of nothing. It could be another way of saying we are all nuts. What do you see?

Thursday – A Little Personal

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 25 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I did a post that had the tail end of a freighter moving through the Corpus Christi ship channel on the way to pick up some oil. I wasn’t quick enough to get a good picture. You can go HERE to see it if you want. I was finally successful yesterday in getting a couple of shots of a freighter just as it entered the channel from the Gulf. Here is one picture.

Notice how high the ship rides in the water. This shows you the boat is empty.

The ship’s name is Cape Bird and this photo shows you the bow wave. Usually, there are dolphins swimming in the bow wave playing a game of racing the ship. There were none when I took the photo.

Here is a closer photo as the ship passes and begins to move further into the channel on its way to pick up oil.

I took this final shot which includes a couple of old salts pondering what they should have for lunch. “How about fish fellas?”

Thursday – A Little Personal

August 13, 2015August 12, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 25 Comments

I thought I would give a view of our shipping channel which I took this last week.

This is a large oil tanker moving toward the Port of Corpus Christi to pick up a load of Oil that has come from the Eagle Shale oilfield. This is oil that has been extracted from the shale by the process called fracking. This fracking process is responsible for the low price of oil these days. It is not because of the abundance of oil from the process but the decision of OPEC to reduce the price of oil to make this process too expensive to be practical. The potential for fracked oil was over 30% of the use in the US. That strategy is working since exploration and building of new facilities has been slowed considerably.

On the left is the tail end of a ferry that connects our island to the mainland. The ferry cuts across the shipping channel and usually has to yield to the large tankers.

You can see the ferries better with this longer shot. Also, you can see a drilling platform to the right. These are built locally and then shipped all over the Gulf. This one has been brought back for rehab and retrofit for another deployment.

Here is a picture taken from this same spot of a platform heading out to sea after it was manufactured. This was taken a couple of years ago.

And finally a close up. You can see the size as compared to the people on the dock.

Thursday – A Little Personal – My Second Post Oct. 2012

August 6, 2015August 4, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 19 Comments

Linda Hill nominated me for the First Post honor. The idea is to go back to your first post and then publish it again.

The rules are:
Copy-paste, link, pingback, etc. your first post.

Identify the post: introduction, story, poem.

Explain why it was your first post.

Nominate five other bloggers.

Since I have been honored before I decided I would publish my second post which was a brief discussion of the author William F. Buckley. I decided to re-post this under my personal banner this time because the post was a little embarrassing. This was my second post since I was doing a series on authors and William F. Buckley was one of my favorites.

Before I get to the post here are my mentions.

GREAT ESPIONAGE STORIES FROM AN UNUSUAL SOURCE

October 29, 2012 · by John W. Howell · in Favorite Fiction · 2 Comments ·Edit

1/21/1988 President Reagan meeting with William F Buckley in oval office (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

William F. Buckley known more for his conservative view of politics, his acerbic wit, and his own television show was also very talented in crafting entertaining and well thought out espionage novels. He established the hero Blackford Oakes, a Yale-trained CIA agent, who started as a newbie on the East West bloc and rose to a senior field operative. Buckley, who was described by the New York Times as the Waugh of suspense fiction, taught me in his many novels that there is no need to be confined to single dimensional thoughts or career. His lesson to me in short – when you aspire to do more you will. Buckley wrote his stories in the 80s but they are still worth a read today. His titles include Saving the Queen; Stained Glass; Marco Polo, If You Can; Who’s on First; The Story of Henri Tod and See You Later Alligator.

Thursday – A Little Personal

July 30, 2015July 27, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 29 Comments

I just returned from an excellent writer’s conference and have the need to change/set some short-term goals if I am to accomplish what I envisioned as a successful conclusion when I started this writer’s journey.

To begin the process, I think a restatement of my original goal (mission statement) is in order. Here it is: To Write What People Want to Read.

I know my mission statement doesn’t sound all that profound but has been my guiding principle since I began writing in 2012. You will notice it has nothing to do with money, fame, glory, or Amazon rankings. The idea of writing for readers answers the question of why my so-called platform here on WordPress is more about entertainment than selling books. Yes there is a click-through on the sidebar and yes I have put an arrow (see below) on the blog now and then pointing to all the hard sell on the sidebar but for the most part subjects covered here are to be read. I keep the word counts manageable in recognition of the time it takes to visit some blogs. In short I don’t do a superb job conforming to the basic rules of attracting a mass following. I do know those who do follow do not need to waste their time on overly long posts.

Where am I going with all of this?

1. I need to rewrite the opening to the sequel to My GRL. I have never been entirely happy with it and a group of very bright folks gave me some clues on how to make it better.

2. I need to hold on any more work on editing book three of the My GRL trilogy until the sequel to book one is published.

3. I need to finish the edits and rework for what I am calling a stand alone (my fourth book) and begin the query process. The current name is Circumstances of Childhood.

4. I have asked for and received from my publisher a waiver on the first right of refusal for books two and three of the trilogy. I have made the decision to self-publish these.

5. I will continue to write material I hope people want to read and will do those things necessary to try to reach readers with the message that my stuff is good to read.

So there you have it. A clear path and the basic plan for the next twelve months. I think the conference was worth it.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt “VIS”

July 25, 2015July 25, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 17 Comments

Stream of Consciousness Saturday time again and this week’s prompt is “VIS.” Linda Hill in her graciousness has allowed us to use VIS any way we want. For more information about this painful, exciting prompt go here. http://lindaghill.com/2015/07/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-2515/

All VISITORS MUST CHECK IN said the sign on the receptionist’s desk. Vincent stopped and waited for the young lady to acknowledge him.

“Yes, sir. May I help you?”

“Yes, you may. I’m here to see Mr. Viscount.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“I represent VIS Racing and yes I do.”

“Yes sir please sign in and I will call his assistant.”

“Thank you.”

“Sir?”

“Yes.”

“Mr. Viscount is in the visual studio and cannot be disturbed.”

“But I have an appointment for ten o’clock.”

“I understand, but his assistant said he has a concern with the stock price of VIS vis-a-vis other industrials.”