Just wanted to let you all know that I just got home again after a visit to Chicago to visit with my parents. It was difficult getting back home due to the bad weather in Oklahoma. We have been hit hard this year, and it's not over yet. If you have sent me any messages in the last ten days, sorry if I did not respond.

Howdy, Writer's Chat Pals!

Get your reading eyes on - because you will not want to miss THIS review (it just might win you a freebie or two!)

Make sure to stop by my book review blog site to read about Aaron Redfern's "The Long Way" -

If you like fantasy adventure books you will LOVE this book!

And you can sign up to win a $25 Amazon gift card and downloads of the book, too!

FREEBIES ARE AWESOME!!

http://magnoliablossomreview.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-long-way-by-aaron-redfern.html

Have a great day! I'm having my coffee and getting out in the sun shine today, dinner tonight with friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bAYrcu5_Pko

About three years ago I got involved on a journey to do something I have wanted to do for a long time, “Write.” Like just about everything I have done when trying to learn a new job or hobby, I researched the subject. I joined a few writing websites and read a lot about not only writing, but what other writers thought about the subject.

What I found was that there are many opinions about writing and how one should approach it. I also found that while a lot of the information was great, if I listened to everything presented I would have never completed my first book. While I agreed with most things like grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and such, not every opinion was helpful.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good writers out there, but there are also a lot of writers who will shut your writing down, if it is not written the way they write. What I found was that I had to decide what information I could use, and which was not relevant to what I was trying to accomplish. I’ll admit that I still have a lot to learn about writing fiction and what genre is best suited to what I am writing.

At the moment I am writing my memoirs about the Vietnam War In which I lived through as a squad leader with the 1st Marine Division during the war. I have written a couple of other books. One is a book of silly poems, and another about two detectives in 1950’s Chicago. In these two books I received good criticism about research, storytelling, and some punctuation pointers. I learned a lot in writing these two books. I have learned that while writing can be fun, it’s also a lot of work if you take your writing seriously. One more thing, at least as I see it, writing is an on going learning process.

While I have some fiction book projects on that back burner, I have decided to put them aside for now. The reason is that I have to more books to finish about my tour of duty in Vietnam. These are very emotional and difficult books to write because of the memories. I had decided after forty plus years to write them for my family and for posterity. Here again I have learned something about writing. Here are some observations about writing my memoirs.

First, no one can really help me with content, because it’s one of those, you had to be there stories. Second, it is a story that will resonate more with a special audience. And last, is time. At age sixty-one, it is important that I get these stories out, before my time runs out. So for now I am a man with a mission. I have found that my first book, “Black Dragon Red Sun” has done well so far with the military community, which makes sense. Most civilians are not interested in war stories. An important lesson here is that when I write something in the future, I will have to consider audience and genre. Also, when I write fiction, I will have to pay attention to those that know more about fiction writing, than I do.

Howdy, howdy, hi! I just wanted to send you all a little redirect to a post I put in the Serious Writer's group. It lists 10 websites to visit if you're in need of a little writing prompt (and let's face it - I think it happens to us all!) I hope if you're feeling a little mental blockage that you'll find the right brand of 'Brain-O' to clear up the clog. (Oooh, that's a cute phrase - DIBS!)

http://www.bookrix.com/post/group;content-id:group_2716408035,id:974241.html

So I Started a blog because I just love to write and type about new experiences. Check it out I would love some feedback about it. (Hopefully I'm not bugging you. Sorry if I did) and suscribe to keep up with me?~ Http://www.Escapeperfection.blogspot.com