It appears that I am now finishing the first third of the contest. Since I have a busy schedule today, my post may not be too long. You can thank me later.

Regarding faith. My family life was difficult. My father was an Air Force pilot. My mother was a housewife. That’s because there were three children and also because my father was transferred every 3 or 4 years. My parents were Lutherans, although I believe any church we attended was more due to my mother. Her parents were of Norwegian ancestry. In fact, my grandfather and mother were born in Oslo.

In the military, the preachers are also Air Force personnel (Chaplains). I can only recall a few services we attended. Still, I have always been drawn to God. In some of my stories, the protagonist could sense the other side when young. That was me too. Of course, it was also too many years ago to count.

I have always had a Bible. Now I have two. I also have read Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism. One of the bits in his Tao de Ching mentions that the best government is one that leaves you alone. I also own a Bagadvad Gita, although I have not read it yet. Clearly, I was most drawn to Lord Jesus, and still am today.

Now, I am on a journey to read the Bible. I have read the Books of Moses and the New Testament. After hearing some of the words of the Prophet Isaiah, I started to read the books of the famous Jewish prophets. I am now in the book of Jeremiah. Isaiah spoke about the decline of Israel around 800BC. He also prophesied the birth of Jesus. So far, Jeremiah seems to focus on how God will destroy Israel as the people have turned to idol worship. Perhaps many of you know how that book turns out. I do not want any answers. I will finish reading it and move onto the next.

Reading the history of the Jewish people is fascinating. Unfortunately, it seems to mirror what is happening right now in our world. I hope that somehow things can turn around. I do not think I am ready for the Lord to return and render justice.

As always, I encourage you to check out the blog posts by the other authors participating in this challenge. I know you will learn a lot about how people think. I wish you all the best.

Today is National Get-Over-It Day. Of course, that is easier said than done. I had my share of corporate takeovers and crazy executives during my career. Being laid off is never fun, and you are forced to figure out how to live without a paycheck. Thankfully, I was always able to land on my feet. In my last job, the CFO knew less about accounting that I know about brain surgery. Plus he thought he was the greatest of all time. Not a good combination. That job became so painful that I chose to retire instead of suffering that man another minute.

Still, I did always overcome adversity. After the surge of emotion and hand wringing has passed, you learn that life is better than before. The demons who plagued your career are way back in the rear view mirror. After some time, you even feel sorry for their miserable lives. If your supervisor (boss) is a jerk, chances are that his/her life is many times worse than your own. Having some financial security allows you to let it go.

Other aspects of life are more difficult to accept. Divorce comes to mind. Even though the event was not good, over time you realize that everything will be okay. Being a man of strong faith helps a lot. That is how I feel now. Everything I need is within easy reach. I must confess that I do not need a lot. My life is simple. My diet is simple. My needs are simple. When I consider leaving California, I know that the appropriate time will come in due course.

I now realize that my earlier life was tough! Driving the kids to school. Waking every day at six o’clock in the morning to get to work on time. Traveling all over the place for work (that part was actually fun, most of the time). Plus I met a lot of great people, many of whom I am still connected to via social media or the telephone.

I suppose the best thing is to say that our working life is complicated. Retirement is much less so. Now, my major focus is my books. I have written many stories and my brain is still overflowing with new ideas. I will allow those stories to be written in their time, even though I feel the need to do stuff faster. That feeling is a vestige of my working life. Nothing could ever be completed fast enough. I will let that worry go too.

Once again, please check out the blog posts by the other authors who are participating in this challenge. I know you will learn a lot. All the best!

For some reason, today is National Proofreading Day. It seems like the folks who name each day are out to get me and other authors who suffer through our silly mistakes. Since I am not proofreading today, I will talk about something completely different (said in deference to Monty Python’s Flying Circus).

I have mentioned that my next book is currently called Land of Lost Souls. Perhaps some of you out there wonder what the heck I am talking about.

The first thing that came to my mind was Communism. Many socialist or communist regimes claimed there was no God, and the government was to be worshiped instead. If enough people fell for that, perhaps they would turn away from their chance to reach Heaven. My story does not mention that. Instead, I imagine a moment between life and death. At that moment, we may see the tunnel of warm and inviting light leading to Heaven. However, if a demon is nearby, they could convince the soul that they were still alive. Their life would continue forever in the Evil Realm. If that existence seemed familiar, the soul could decide they never died.

Being among demons would not be a pleasant future. Perhaps the soul would face constant pain and hatred. Even if their false life was ended, they would began the cycle again, for all time.

I have written a number of books with very dark plots and horrible events. As many of you know, in my stories the good guy always comes out on top. This story is no different. I suppose all of my books follow the Hero’s Journey plot line. That has always influenced my style. I cannot bring myself to write a book with a dark and cruel end. It’s just is not in me.

Please take some time to check out the posts by the other authors who are in this competition. I know you are going to love each and every one. For a quick trip, just click the link below. All the best!

Welcome back for my March 7th blog post. I hope I come up with something interesting. As usual, I’ve got a lot on my mind.

Today has been complicated, and it’s not even 4PM yet (in California). My ex asked me to go with her to Lowe’s, where she was meeting the man who is fixing various things in her house. Unfortunately, the two of them get up earlier than me. I barely had time to brush my teeth and take a shower, and I was off and running. We must have traversed most of the store, and stores like that are HUGE! With nothing in my tummy, I became worn out pretty quickly. At least she received a lot of information and numbers to help her plan.

When we got back, she had to rush off to join a group of friends. I took my dog and hurried back home. After coffee and my quesadilla, I began to feel much better. The bad news is that the weather is still a bit chilly for me. When I was working full-time, I had quite a few more pounds to carry around. Also, my sensitivity to the cold has become more acute with age. Still, I survived.

Later, I went to my outside storage room and took out a box of old paperbacks. It’s a long story, and why I don’t use the Barnes & Noble app to publish e-books anymore. As I lugged the box out, I made the mistake of raising up a second too soon, and whacked the back of my head. No issues, other than the impact hurt. Don’t worry. I am fine now.

Then I tried to start another reread of my upcoming book. I am looking for specific errors in my logic. My stories seem to take on a life of their own while I type. To find anything, I have to read it all. I did not have the motivation to get very far. My muse and I must be in the right mood. Today is not it. As I have mentioned before, everything works out in God’s time. I need to remember to be nice to myself. Do that for you too!

In case you did not notice, I changed the daily title of my blog for this month. I was advised by a smart person in RRBC that I need a more engaging title. Thanks, Paula. I hope this works better now. I suppose the readers will be the arbiters of that.

Since the time is progressing toward 5PM, I think I will end for today. Tomorrow, when I am not so frazzled, I am sure to have more things to say. Please remember to check out the blog posts of the other wonderful RRBC authors who are taking part in this challenge. Most of them are smarter than I.

I have had a sort-of busy day already. Thankfully, I finally went in for a haircut. I feel lighter already! As well, my ears and neck are no longer covered with gray hair. It does feel pretty chilly though. I go to Great Clips, a national chain with a location just a few minutes from my place. They keep track of my preferred cut and can recreate it quickly. My grocery store also had a $5 off coupon. A double winner!

After that adventure, I went grocery shopping at Vons, a California version of Albertsons. It used to be a California version of Safeway, but with all the consolidation in that industry, it’s hard to keep track. Yet again, I was shocked at how expensive groceries are these days. I hope a change in our government can reverse some of that.

Later, I went to my ex’s house. I always buy her some treats that she is too busy or thrifty to buy herself. It is a little thing that makes me happy. Other than those adventures, today has been pretty typical, although we are expecting a big rainstorm over the next few hours. Akiva and I are safe and dry inside for the rest of the day. My Amazon Echo device is showing thunderstorms. My phone weather app just shows rain. From my experience, the Echo is always wrong. We shall see as the evening progresses. The electrical infrastructure in California is terrible. A single lightning bolt hitting a transformer and the lights are out. It also seems our governor has shut down all the power generation (except solar). Another reason our electric rates are outrageous.

My latest project is to throw stuff away. I have accumulated a ton of stuff: papers, clothes, shoes, and other things I just do not use. There is a charity in town that will take clothes and some household items. They resell them or give them to the poor souls who go to their food kitchens. I also have a lot of books. I hope to be able to donate many of the hardcover books to a library. I also have a sizable collection of music CDs, vinyl records, and movie DVDs. I plan to keep most of those, although I did give a Willie Nelson CD set to Aida. She has a friend who absolutely loves Willie. I was probably never going to listen to it again, so it is a win-win for all. Music is huge for Aida. Me, not so much.

Of course, my focus is on my books yet to be born. And maybe an eventual move to Florida, or somewhere else. There is always time in God’s universe, so I will let those things happen when it is their time. That philosophy goes with comment yesterday about being kind to ourselves. There will always be someone who wants to nit-pick everyone else. Ignore them. Most likely, they feel worse about themselves than you. I wish you all the best.

In case you wonder why I always say “all the best,” in one of my jobs, our CEO was Henri Dominque-Petit. Yes, that was a French company. He was always thoughtful and caring. He ended all his memos or letters with A Bien Tot. Obviously, that means all the best. Clearly, he had a big impact on me. Thanks for checking out my blog post!! And please follow the link below to check out the other awesome writers participating in this challenge.

Today is National Cheese Doodle Day. Hmmm. I have nothing to say about that. Instead, I should mention that today is also Super Tuesday, the day when primaries are held in several states, including California where I live. Frankly, I have nothing much to say about that either. I realize the conventions are coming up, and the rhetoric about both sides will be overstated and of little use to any of us. For our political class, it’s a big deal. I am not a member of that class, so I guess you could say I have no class.

Now, next Sunday is another subject. That is the day we switch from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time. I have always hated the time changes. You get used to waking up at a certain time, and suddenly you are oversleeping. Being retired, I probably should not whine too much about it. Plus, I realize that come summer, I will appreciate the later sunset.

The advent of Springtime is another benefit to the month of March. I understand that most people have to survive a brutal winter. Here in San Diego County, it’s a bit rainy and the highs are in the upper 50s or low 60s. After being here more than forty years, my sense of warmth and cold has changed a lot.

What I should be focused on is my writing. Some days, that is not easy to do. This or that pops up, and my mind feverishly creates excuses not to work on my novels. Having an energetic dog adds to my distractions. Somehow, I have still managed to write quite a few books. Perhaps I should not be so harsh to myself. This writer’s brain needs time to figure stuff out. When I am distracted, I imagine my mind is mulling over ideas to improve the current work. My active mind has no idea what is happening in there. Or maybe I am just lazy.

It is critical that we be kind to ourselves first. My books will be completed. I will then come up with new ideas, unless my muse goes on strike. By the way, can I fire my muse? I do not think that is possible.

For all the other writers out there, know that the words will come out at the right time. Please recognize that writing a book is a lot of work. Beating yourself up will never get it done sooner. Allow your muse to lead the way. The quality of your work will excel when you trust that inner you that sits behind your eyeballs and gives you miraculous ideas.

I wish you all the best. You will succeed, and you will probably surprise yourself with words that show up on your pages.

Once again, I am getting an early start on my daily blog post. My day has been eventful already, even at 2:30pm. The largest part of my day was my dentist appointment; really just for my quarterly cleaning. The technician (Chris) is always friendly, but sometimes is a bit rough on this old dude.

It turns out that she is only two years younger than me. She mentioned that she is considering retirement. Oddly, I retired when I was 67 too. She was very concerned about the size of her Social Security Pension, although she owns a house and said she had significant savings. Nothing more tangible than that. Good! The less I know about other people’s finances, the better. Money is not something I like to talk about, although I can offer insights into Social Security, investing, and other financial topics. She was not interested. Good once again.

The worst part of the cleaning is the feeling that my mouth is full of blood. I know it takes a day for so to heal from the scraping, so this feeling will go away.

Something else is more top of mind with me recently. If you don’t live in Southern California, you may not know how crazy things are. For example, in San Diego County where I live, the average price of a house is now one million dollars. Of course, very few houses are really worth that price. The issue is that housing developments vote on whether they want more houses built there or not. Many residents voted no. Instead, the region is getting taken over by new apartment complexes. That is not sustainable. I know that the bubble will break at some point, most likely as companies decide to relocate to other states. If that snowballs, housing values will plummet. I do not have the stomach for this insanity anymore.

I have been considering a move to Florida for the last couple years. I have been reviewing 55+ communities in various states for some time. At one development in North Central Florida, I can buy a new home for $140k. It would not be huge, but who really needs a big house when your children have long ago flown the coop?

I have not made any firm decision yet, although it is clear that California will continue to be poorly run. Even though it is one of the most diverse and beautiful states, the government remains a hot mess. I am certain that I will opine on this matter some more as March trundles forward.

Other bloggers have added pictures to their posts, so here is a picture of my beloved dog Akiva.

Well, it’s Sunday, day three of the 30-Day Blogging Challenge. It’s mid-afternoon here in Chula Vista, California, and I’ve already done a lot (in my opinion). There’s more to do, but powering through this post is at the top of my list.

The weather remains cool and rainy, which is the Southern California version of snow. At my age, even temperatures in the 50s and low 60s are hard to take. So, I’m hunkered down in my living room, imagining warmer weather to come. . . soon, maybe? Most of the time, the weather here is amazing. Not yet. When daylight savings time begins next week, it will only get worse (waking up in the dark).

I just finished reading yesterday’s posts from my fellow bloggers. If you haven’t checked them out, I recommend them all highly. The link to those posts is included at the end of this post.

Today is National Day of Unplugging (from Social Media). Now that’s something I can get behind! I do use Facebook, X, and LinkedIn, but not a lot, other than posting my Tweet Support Team posts. I look at Facebook to see pictures of the grandchildren. I look at X every morning to see posts from pundits I like (5 minutes or less). After being in business for more than forty years, I get lots of notifications from former bosses and coworkers on LinkedIn. That’s about it. Some folks are heavily invested in their posts. I wonder if they think those posts will find like-minded people, or get fans. I’m not interested.

So, what did I accomplish today? Well, I got up, fed my doggie and me, did my weekly laundry and washed the dishes. I made a new batch of black beans. I also believe my conversion to this new computer is complete. I still can’t believe my old computer is twelve or fourteen years old. All I have left to do is pay for the new computer.

It’s probably time for me to start my next review of my upcoming novel. I really hope it doesn’t need too many fixes. I have too many other stories yet to complete. I hope your day is awesome, and I’ll post again tomorrow (after my dentist appointment, and hopefully a haircut).

Hello my friends, and welcome to day 2 of the 30-Day Blogging Challenge. I decided to start earlier today. I have already done most of my daily activities, although Akiva and I may go for another walk, unless it starts to rain again.

The first thing I did, after getting ready for the day, was to fulfill my Tweet Support Team duties. Too often, I forget and then I’m late once again. But not today. I even linked one to Nonnie’s blog post from yesterday.

Between eating breakfast (my usual chicken quesadilla and coffee) and now, I finally finished the second reread of my latest novel, which is tentatively titled Land of Lost Souls. Unfortunately, I think another read is required. My writing often gets ahead of my intended plot. I don’t know if there is anything major to redo, but I’m hoping not. I am also not satisfied with the current title. As I may have mentioned before, most of the action takes place in the Evil Realm (H E double-hockey-sticks). An earlier title was Gates of Perdition. While my protagonist is again a young teen, I do not think it will qualify as Young Adult fiction. I frankly scared myself a few times, making me wonder: Where the heck did that come from?!

By the way, Land of Lost Souls is also where I first came up with Manny’s Bar and Grill, and where my protagonist (Simon Connor) could feel the other side since he was very young. That sense of the other side was something that affected me as a youngster.

To be totally honest, I also made a new batch of Pico de Gallo and washed the dishes. I know you’re impressed…

I hope the current story is close to going to my editor. I have a few other stories that I began and then set aside. I hope each of those will ultimately get completed and put on paper or Kindle.

I have checked out the posts of all the other contestants. I honor your commitment, and I hope we all succeed for the rest of March. Please check out how our other great bloggers are doing by following the link below.

And so it begins. Follow me for the rest of March to see whether I can blog each day this month. I really appreciate your attention and comments.

Today was just another typical day, which means I was running around like crazy all day. First, I have to take my dog for walkies three or four times a day. She loves every person and dog she meets along the way. Unfortunately, her affections are not always returned by the dog (or cat) in question. Still, being with Akiva makes me very happy. I also had to trek to Northgate Gonzales Market, a local Mexican grocery store. After being married to a Mexican lady for twenty-eight years, the taste for Mexican cuisine is in my blood. I also tend to eat the same thing every day. That’s a chicken quesadilla in the morning, and a bowl of black beans, chicken, and cheese in the evening. For anyone who knew me when I was working, they will likely find it odd that I don’t eat very much. Age has a lot to do with it (I’m a young 69).

Later in the afternoon, Akiva and I went to visit my ex. She loves my dog and spent time together with us. She also did some major surgery on two of Akiva’s favorite dog toys.

Now, here I sit in my little place, preparing for the end of the day. I’m just about to go make my black bean/chicken/cheese dinner. Of course, I will share some of the chicken with my beloved dog.

What didn’t I accomplish today? My main regret is not continuing the second reread of my new novel. Also, I’m in the process of moving from my old PC (12-14 years old) to my new one. Even with Carbonite, a lot of the stuff needs to be reentered by hand. That process will take some time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish my reread soon. Then it’s off to the editor and cover designer.

I hope to have more news on that and everything else over the coming days and weeks. I promise to be more newsworthy as the days go by. I hope you have a wonderful evening, and I’ll talk more tomorrow.