What a Year!
Location: Mesa, Arizona
They say you’re healthier if you are driven by purpose. Not to an unhealthy extent, of course, like me, maybe? It’s not as if I have a choice, even though I tell myself I do… at 5 AM each and every morning as I pound away on my laptop!
Reflecting on 2023, like all of you, I’m sure, Kay and I have spun through a tornado of activity this past year. And we’re just an old “retired” couple (fifteen years, now)! Let’s see….
In this issue (a gaggle of short cameos):
- Condo Gone
- RV Rally
- Motorhome Facelift
- Minnesota Summer
- South Dakota Residents. What!
- Month in Yellowstone
- Arizona Winter
- This Writer’s Continuing Education
- 1st Sam Travis Adventure
- 2nd Aubrey Greigh Mystery
- Thanksgiving Up North
- New Flutes
- Character-Building Exercise
- Moving On
- Artificial Intelligence Rant
- Writer’s Competition
- Book Sale
1. Condo Gone
Well, we sold our lovely Southwest Florida home of twenty-two years in March and moved into our beloved bus to continue pursuing our dream as full-time itinerant land-yacht voyagers.
We’ve been indulging in this lifestyle three-quarter-time for eight years already, having lived in 42 states for a few weeks to a few months at a time.
It hasn’t been all that difficult moving from a 2,000-square-foot condo to a 300 square-foot home on wheels, but we do miss our Florida friends and neighbors. However, we’re now making lots of new friends and refreshing old friendships out here on the road, as they say.
2. RV Rally
Kay and I attended America’s largest RV rally in Perry, Georgia . 3,500 RVs in attendance with at least twice that many people at the Georgia State Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia.
Quite a party!
I presented a series of writing/publishing seminars and sold a few books, too. It was not only a party.
3. Motorhome Facelift
Visited our motorhome manufacturer’s factory service center in Indiana.
Had a new residential refrigerator/freezer installed in the bus, plus they addressed a host of other preventative maintenance items for us
4. Minnesota Summer
Spent an utterly delightful summer in beautiful Rochester, Minnesota, our home town, with family and friends.
We were fortunate to bear witness to our granddaughter’s senior prom and graduation.
5. South Dakota Home?
We changed our “state of domicile” (new drivers’ licenses, vehicle registrations, license plates, voter registration, mail forwarding service) from Florida to South Dakota.
Not that we plan to live there any time soon. Zero income tax state, and they only require us to spend one day in-state every five years (to renew our drivers’ licenses). Everything else (vehicle registrations, plates, voter registration, etc.) we can do via mail. AND it’s a darn nice state.
6. Almost a Month in Yellowstone
Spent almost a month exploring Yellowstone Park (Kay was in heaven, I captured some great images),
7. Arizona Winter
8. This Writer’s Continuing Education
- I attended a delightful Writer’s Digest University’s Annual Conference on Writing Historical Fiction. This was a fascinating collection of speakers who offered some great tips on research, period characterization, and a variety of other historical fiction-writing subjects.
- Enrolled and attending a BBC Maestro Masterclass on How to Write Popular Fiction taught by none other than Lee Child (the Jack Reacher novels/movies). Lee’s only sold 200 million books, so what does he know?
- Old joke: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Try-lingual. How about someone who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual. And someone who only speaks one language? An American. Why do I bring this up? Because I bought into a lifetime subscription of Babbel, the popular language education program. I have access to all language learning courses. Right now, however, Español is kicking my butt. I’ll get there. My objective is to write a short story in continental Spanish. Maybe a few poems, too. Crazy, huh?
9. First Sam Travis Adventure
Finished writing and published the first book in my Sam Travis Outdoor Adventure Series, Lethal Game at the end of July with my collaborator and friend, Lt. Tom Kasprzak, a retired Massachusetts Environmental Police Officer. And we’re putting the finishing touches on the second exciting book in this series, Lethal Trail, which should be out a week or three after the new year.
10. 2nd Aubrey Greigh Mystery
I published my second Aubrey Greigh Mystery, Dancing With Death (Sept. 2023), in print and ebook editions (free in Kindle Unlimited), and its audiobook edition (self-narrated) this month. I now have two audiobooks published: Voodoo Vendetta and Dancing With Death.
Give them a listen on Audible, Amazon, or iTunes! And don’t forget to leave a review! Please?
11. Thanksgiving Up North
Flew to Minnesota for Thanksgiving when we reaffirmed our deepest love of our family, including a heart-glowing family reunion, staying at our dear friend’s beautiful home in their absence (thank you, Nola & Robert!).
Even though we love summers “up north,” we reaffirmed Minnesota in the winter is not for us, even though we grew up there!
Unfortunately, Kay came down with one heck of a cold, so I represented us at a family reunion.
Net: we LOVE Minnesota! In the summer!
12. New Flutes
I’m within spitting distance of finishing two new Native American style flutes, both new designs I’ve struggled with (my first “big bore” flutes, that is, with a. bore diameter larger than one inch), including my first-ever double flute. Designed and worked on these in the woodshop at Val Vista Village in Mesa, AZ. I’ll finish them after we move down to Tucson (tomorrow). I’ll finish tuning, woodburning, and a few coats of varnish, inside and out.
13. Character-Building Exercise
As I have described for some of you on Facebook, our seven-month-old refrigerator/freezer failed while we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, and we’ve been living out of a cooler for the last month. Could be several more weeks before parts (new compressor, etc.) catch up with us after we move to Tucson. This has been an adventure in attitude, and we’re doing just fine living out of a cooler and small “basement” freezer in the motorhome.
14. Moving On
Now, we’re winding up the last twelve hours of a three-month stay at the gorgeous amenity-rich Val Vista Villages in Mesa, Arizona on New Years Eve. My favorite amenity is the state-of-the-art woodshop. I come to Mesa to build flutes.
If you are of a mind to share in my latest rant of what I call Relevant Fiction, read on to the next section, brave soul….
15. Artificial Intelligence Rant
Artificial Intelligence? Computer generated- or enhanced-images? Sci-Fi come to life? Again? So what?
My latest novel, Dancing With Death, explores the pervasive use of AI & CG, but unlike the tired tropes of Terminator tech, or yet another take-over-the-world phenomenon, I’m distressed by what’s become a boring crutch to the entertainment industry (amidst mass mayhem and murder, of course) that exploits writers, artists, and actors while robbing viewers and readers of solid plots, fascinating characters, and authentic sets.
AI & CGI are dumbing us down!
Having just released the audiobook edition of “Dancing With Death,” I thought it might be appropriate to share with you the audio of my “Author’s Note” here within the audiobook’s closing credits. If it would amuse you, check it out below and do let me know your reaction.
And if you’d like to hear me really butcher a few different characters’ voices (yes, I am the voice artist), click play below, if you dare, and then wait for it….):
So, I had hoped to offer you the published audiobook edition of Dancing With Death before Christmas; however, a few RV snags along the way delayed me by a couple of weeks. It is now available. As always, I’d love to know what you think of the production (I’m becoming more efficient at recording and editing, but these audiobook projects still consume a ton of time and energy. If any of you are audio engineers and/or stage performers, you get it!
16. Writer’s Competition
While I have not focused on adding literary credentials to my name as an author in the past, I figured it was time to head in that direction. Toward that end, I threw my hat in the ring in a personal essay competition. You know, by starting small. Hopefully, I’ll hear how my entry fared before I die (time elapsed on these things drives me crazy). I should know by mid-January after submitting last October.
In the meantime, are you feeling bold enough to watch me bare my soul for all to see? If so, take a gander at this short essay, my submission I call Confessions of a Compulsive Believer. Just click once anywhere inside the box below and you’ll be able to scroll down to continue reading—if you dare:
17. Book Sale
Call me crazy, but I’ve lowered the price of all my books as low as they can go. That means $2.99 for every one of my ebooks, and a few pennies above printing and fulfillment costs on all my paperbacks. I have less control on audiobook prices, but consider visiting my Amazon author page and do a little post-holiday browsing.
As Toby Stiler in the Dancing With Death audio clip above might say, stay in touch, for cryin’ out loud, will ya?
That’s it! So, until next time, next year, and wherever…
Let’s roll!
Gene
P.S.
