Rudolph Remixed

Word count for Saturday, November 27th

Well, I'm not up to the 20k I wanted to get to, but I'm still moving.

For the last two days my word count is 3982 words, bringing it to
15,763 words total.

“There are men too gentle to live among wolves”

I had read this poem several times and really liked it.
Thought I would share it with you.


“There are men too gentle to live among wolves”

A Poem by James Kavanaugh

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who prey upon them with IBM eyes
And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.
There are men too gentle for a savage world
Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween
And wonder if the leaves will change their color soon.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws
And murder then for a merchant's profit and gain.
There are men too gentle for a corporate world
Who dream instead of candied apples and ferris wheels
And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves.
Who devour them with eager appetite and search
For other men to prey upon and suck their childhood dry.
There are men too gentle for an accountant's world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove.
Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant's world.
Unless they have a gentle one to love.

Word Count for Sunday, November 21st

I know any of you who may be reading the blog wondered where was the word count lately were wondering if I had given up. Well, I had a tough week with some writer's block and a little motivation problem, but I'm back on the horse.

3149 words today bringing it to a grand total of 10,623 and 44 pages. This is the most words I have written in a day on this product. The 10k figure was like a wall. I think I can get to 20k now. Gonna shoot for this weekend since I'm not going to fight the black friday crowds this year.

Word count for Sunday, November 14

1213 words, total of 7474 words total.

Word Count for Saturday, November 13th

Chapter 4 is now up to 1815 words. Overall word cound is 6261 words.

Carol Burnett Show outtakes - Tim Conway's Elephant Story

Raving Roto-Toms!!!

Guest Post

Here's a guest post from my Mom, Artyce Homan. She's been in a writing class and is producing some very good stuff. Enjoy.


As I recall my childhood, I don't recall many times when our family went on vacation. We lived in Calif. and did take a few trips to see relatives in Oklahoma, but the one trip that I especially remember, was a trip to Yosemite National Park. My Father was a welder by trade, and my Mother was a person who was far ahead of her time... she was a jack of all trades, and master at many.

One of the things she was especially good at: building things with wood...Before we moved from OKlahoma, my father had built a frame for a house trailer to live in. I'm not sure how long it was, but I think it must have been around 20 feet long. My Mother built the rest of the trailer, and my family used it in different ways for a lot of years. Of course, it had no bathroom, but it had everything else needed. By the time, we had lived in California a few years, my Mother rebuilt the trailer to a model which would be similar now to pop up tent trailers.

That is what we took to Yosemite. My Mother always loved to build picnic boxes. The size would be about 4 X 4 feet. She had little spaces for everything you would need to cook out... places for plates, and silverware, salt & pepper and all the utensils and food and anything else she could think of. So,we took the little camping trailer, and the picnic box...and whatever else we needed and headed to Yosemite.

There were 6 of us: my Mom and Dad, my brother, Al and his new wife, Vi, plus their little pomeranian puppy,and my sister, Lois and I can't imagine how we all fit in that 33 Plymouth that my Dad loved so much. I do remember trying to get over the Tioga Pass. The historic pass was so steep, that we all had to get out of the car, and walk, so my dad could have enough power in the car, to pull the trailer over the hill...

Finally we got to Camp Curry, the place where everyone camped who went to Yosemite. While we were there, we went to see all the beautiful water falls, and huge rocks and so many other sights that are only to be seen there. One of the most awesome experiences for me as a child though was sitting in the amphitheater...waiting for it to get dark.Most everyone has seen pictures or heard about the big dome at Yosemite. I think its called El Capitan. The place where we all sat and waited was at the bottom of that huge rock...but far enough away to see the top of the huge mountain. As we waited, we saw the fire on the top of the mountain. Finally, we heard the man at the bottom of the mountain,say "Let the Fire Fall". Then the men at the top began to push the fire...I think they must have had a bulldozer because it seemed so huge...anyway, they pushed the fire over the huge rock down to the bottom...and it was a like a huge fire waterfall...what an awesome sight to see!. I will never forget it.

After the program was over, we went back to our campsite,had a snack and got ready for bed. I have often wondered where we all slept, but I know my Mom had that all worked out... As the camp settled down and people got quiet, we began to hear someone in the camp playing an accordion...I can still remember the awesome sound as it echoed in the mountains... We never knew which camper it was, as he played quietly those nights, but the song I do remember was the song that was popular in those days... it went like this:

"You can't be true, dear. Theres nothing more to say.
I trusted you dear, hoping we'd find a way.
Your kisses tell me that you and I are through.
But I'll keep loving you, although you can't be true."

Even though the words of the song are sad...the music was so beautiful.It was an awesome experience for such a small child and the memories will always be special to me.

I have never been back to Yosemite, but from what I understand, Yosemite is completely changed these days. I have heard that there are so many visitors now that to protect the park, no one is allowed to drive into some of those places anymore. People can only get there by taking a shuttle. I have also read that now,even the concession stands are contracted out to companies from Japan and other countries...

So, I will always remember that vacation, and be thankful that I had the
opportunity to be there in a simpler time.I never really appreciated all my parents' talents until I got older and they were gone...but I do have some great memories, and I am thankful.

Word Count for Wednesday, 11/10/10

Back on the horse again, after research and coming with -Gasp!- a plan for this chapter I got 862 words done, total count is now 5308.

There would have been more, but something as mundane as doing the dishes intervened. I guess someone isn't content to eat milk and cereal without her precious big spoons...the things that an artist has to put up with.

Word Count for Monday November 8th

Ok, my consistency is amazing-I have exactly the same as yesterday! Nothing!

But the thing is I spent 3 hours in research and have 10 pages of text to compare and summarize for my new chapter. Yikes! Can't I just make this stuff up and hope for the best? I wonder if anyone would notice-I could call it a fictional-memoiric-non-fiction-nouveau-genre...Yeah, that sounds good.

Fly Pup

Word count for Sunday Afternoon

Nothing-not a doggone thing. I went out for pancakes and then came home and took a nap. That's a proper Sunday afternoon-What? What?

Drill Seargeant Therapy

Word Count for Early Sunday Morning-4446

Ok, chapter 3 is in the bag. 1216 words tonight, total of 4446 for the book. Lots of re-editting, deleting, and moving things around. I'm not totally pleased with the 3rd chapter, it seemed a little more over the top than I like, but I'm still moving forward and ready to go to the 4th chapter.

Word Count for Thursday morning...really early

Just finished for the night. Chapter 2 with 1493 words and chapter 3 started with 317 words. I'm up to 3230 total so far. Shout out to Wicked Tinkers for the bagpipe jigs that got me through a difficult section and to my ever present homie-Red Vines.

Peace out...I'm getting giddy.

Word Count for Wednesday Morning, 11/3/10

Ok, I actually crawled out of bed at 4:30 am and got into my chair and started work in earnest. Spent most of the two and a half hours in research, but I did get the main idea for this chapter fleshed out, and got 471 words added.

1820 total so far-should be able to get some more done tonight.

Word Count for Tuesday the 2nd of November

0...Zero...goose-egg...nil...nein...nada...I'm thinking of a number between 1 and -1.

Yeah, there's no rounding up that kind of number.

I had my percussion class followed by Christmas music practice for
church, got home at 10:00 pm, so I'm going to be incredibly optimistic
and shoot for getting up a few hours before time to go to work and see
what I can knock out.

Think awake thoughts for me around 4 or 5 in the morning. The coffee maker is set up with my special stash of Costa Rican coffee.

Good night.

Mark Shelton Percussion Show

Noise, please: It's not quiet as usual during library percussion show

Word Count for Monday November 1st

1380 words-chapter 1 is pretty much in the can. Was going to call
it the Introduction, but Laura aptly pointed out that people don't
read introductions.

The Beginning.

For the last several years, something has been gnawing at me. They say everyone has 1 good book inside of them, and I have finally decided to write mine. It's non-fiction. I'm not going to share any more than that so I don't have any "helpful" suggestions.

Today I took the day off of work to get started. I chose November because its National Novel Writing Month, and my wife is doing it too, so we are supporting each other this way.

I spent today getting my "Writing Nest" in order. My drum room had went to ruin, and there was no place to type or read or work, just play drums. So once I got that done, I settled down and am almost done with the first chapter-should be about 1500 words.

I will update here on the blog often. Keeps me from going to Facebook, which ends up sucking valuable writing time fairly quick. Its also good to update about this, so I don't just give up without looking like a schmuck.

-John

"Take Me Out" by Atomic Tom LIVE on NYC subway

Answering some emails...

I seem to keep getting the same spam emails over and over, I've decided I will answer them to see if maybe that will stop them from sending them to me. My spam filter isn't doing that great of a job anyway, so I can't see it will make that much difference.

"Dear Amparo,

I actually don't need to add peculiarity to my style. Do you have anything to add normalcy to my style? That I would be interested in!

Warm Regards,

John Homan"

***

"Dear Luxury R0LEX Sports Models,

I don't know if anyone told you, but 'Regular Joe's' don't buy their watches from schmucks spelling Rolex with a zero in place of the letter o. Just a little marketing tip you may find helpful.

Warm Regards,

J0hn H0man"

***

"Dear Geraldine,

So, what you are telling me is that looks, education, social connections and money, don't matter, but all I need is a decent watch? Thanks for the tip. I had found society's rules so confusing up til this point in my life. Today, I will gain my place in high society with my new R0LEX from Geraldine Marquez, today is the day it all changes!!!

Gratefully yours,

John Homan

P.S. I'm not really grateful."

***

"Dear Luxury R0LEX Datejusts,

I don't think I really can make that sort of committment to a watch. All I wanted was something shiny that told time and possibly upgraded my social status. I really don't need another best friend. Can we just be aquantainces for now and see how things work out?

Warm Regards,

John Homan"

***

"Dear Alvin,

So my financial abilities are so limited that I can only afford a R0LEX that turns my wrist green? A little hint for future offers, insulting your possible customers by saying they only are worthy of cheap knock-offs is no way to engender loyalty.

I'm just saying...

Lukewarm Regards,

John Homan"

***

U2 & B.B. King - When Love Comes To Town (Version 2 HQ)

James Taylor - It's enough to be on your way

My mother-in-law died today... her name was Laurali Smith. This song helped.

Guest Blog Entry

My Mom is in a memoir writing class that she takes in her Winter home of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Below is her latest work. I thought it was really good and wanted to share it.

"My Childhood Adventures"
By Artyce Homan

When I was in the 5th grade, about 1947, my folks moved to the mountain Community of Wrightwood, Calif. It was in the San Gabriel Mountains. The population was about 350 people , and the elevation was 6200 feet.

For school, there was a one room school house, which later became a two room school. Usually, when the teacher, Mrs. Lewis, worked with the younger children, the older children did their assigned work.

If it snowed we always played in the snow, which often was over 5 feet deep. From the first snow of Winter until the snow was all gone, we only wore warm clothes and snow boots. There were only one or two roads that went into the town, and those roads were off of an two lane highway that went up to the ski lifts, and state parks. The whole town was built in the canyon between to mountains. From the highway, the town went straight up. When you first got in the main part, there was a lodge, a grocery store, a cafe,gas station, and several little stores with clothes,and ski supplies.There were always a lot of tourists in the town in both Summer and Winter.

There were three small lakes in the town. two were called twin lakes. They were side by side. One of the twin lakes , we all would swim in. The water was ice cold, and we would stay in it until our lips turned blue, then lay in the sun awhile, and then back into the ice cold water again.The other was called Wright lake, and it was on the other side of town. What I remember about Wright lake is visiting a family there. I heard he was a famous man. His name was Aldous Huxley. I learned in later years, he really was famous.

Every day was an adventure there...not always safe or good, but we were up for anything. We would leave after breakfast in the morning,, and hike all over the mountains and hills during the day. I often wonder, in retrospect, why my parents were so trusting. It was often a wild bunch of kids that lived there, and Summer or Winter, we were all over town. Sometimes we made scooters out of roller skates, and wood, and roared down the steep hills. At the first snow we would we would bring all the makings for snow ice cream, and have it for lunch at school. We made snow angels, used our toboggans and sleds and whatever else we could find to go down the hills with.

In the Summer, we would fish sometimes, or other times we would hike way up in the hills and then run for our life when we thought we heard the cry of a mountain lion. The town had a volunteer fire department, and when the siren blew, all of the men went to the fire. There were forest fires often, and the men didn't have any special clothes. They wore what they had when the siren blew. They would stay until the fire was out or until the forestry department sent other helpers. While the men were fighting fires, the women were making meals to take to the fire fighters.

For heat we had wood fires, and my Mom would hang clothes on the line, even in the winter. Sometimes the clothes would freeze on the line, and then she would bring them in and hang them around the house. It was a fun time for a kid. Our teacher was very creative, and had been in Hollywood, so she did a lot of musical stuff with us.

There were two little churches in the town, one Community church and one Catholic church. My family went to the community church, but my friend's family went to the Catholic church.

Still we had great fun...I look back on those years with fond recollections. It was a few years of great adventures for young kids. I am just thankful that the Lord protected me through all those dare devil activities that we were involved in.It was an unforgettable childhood...and I learned a lot, both good and bad, but I survived, as did most of my friends at the time.