So it goes...

 As I forge ahead with my next writing project, I often question why I do it. Why do I feel compelled to write out my stories and try and create something out of nothing? I am an ordinary lunchpail-to-work guy for what pays the bills and keeps the creditors at bay. What moves me to write? What motivates me and how did it ever start? Those are tough questions for any writer I suppose. I suspect a few do it out of a desire for some (seemingly unattainable) level of fame. Others may do it out of boredom or maybe even obligation. So where do I fall on that spectrum? All I can say is it is and always has been part of me. It is almost genetic that way. I've enjoyed it ever since I was a kid. Unfortunately there were a lot of lost years where the only way it manifested itself was in letters to my brother in New York, my friend Pat in Tulsa, and eventually to this girl, Donna, who I would eventually marry after a long courtship via letters back and fourth between WI and NY.  It's thes...

 I paid a much needed visit to the dentist today. I was scheduled for an appointment in April before the bottom fell out because of COVID-19. It was a semi-normal experience excluding them meeting me at the door and walking me out of the place. I figure, next to a doctor's office, there's probably no safer place from a germ standpoint than a dentist's office right now, so what the heck.  I take meticulous care of my teeth, brush twice daily and floss faithfully, to a fault almost. I've developed good habits over the years because I had such a traumatic youth from a dental standpoint. I have a mouth full of metal, as the saying goes, and have for most of my life. My wife on the other hand, has 2 or 3 fillings TOTAL and literally didn't have one until she was in her 40's. Anyway, today I was blessed with the news that I had two problems. One "small" cavity and the need to replace another older one. (I'm at that age where they're redoing the old o...

 This time of October is one of my favorite times of year. The fall colors are spectacular, the weather is still bearable and the holidays are in the forecast.  It is also a time of a couple of key birthdays. My brother Rob would have been 57 today, an unpleasant reminder that cancer is an unfair beast. I miss him every day. Yesterday was my nephew/godson Nick's birthday. He and I were always close when he was a little guy and he's grown into a good man/husband/father. Celebrating birthdays of loved ones lightens up the angst of COVID-19 and all the fun political crap that is going on.  One of the better memories I have of Rob was the "Landwehr Hunt" that takes place every year over this weekend. The one year I was able to attend was pretty cool because all 4 of us brothers were there for it. It was held in Fergus Falls every year and usually involved everything but hunting. Cards, smart talk and adult beverages were the substitute for any actual gunfire, though the y...

Over the weekend I got news that my manuscript, Cretin Boy, was accepted for publication by Burning Bulb Pulishing. If you're on Facebook, you already know this, but for those not, well, now you know. This will be my third published memoir since I began this whole writing thing 10 years ago. Getting a book published is an amazing feeling and it never grows old. I am so excited by the prospect of this book about my high school experience becoming real! Like my other books, it's been in the works for years, in this case, about 3 years. When you put that much work into something, there is nothing better than to see it validated by a willing publisher. And as weird as it may sound, I have always thought that until I have 3 full length books, I'm still not legit. I know that is warped, untrue and self-defeating, but it's a number I had in my mind. I also have 5 poetry books, but I always look at those as a bonus to my success as a nonfiction writer. It's these 220+ page ...