Observations From Hadleyville

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Friday, March 20, 2009

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.

Winston Churchill

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE POSTURING

Thursday, March 19, 2009

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO COME OUT OF HIBERNATION...

Friday, March 13, 2009

THE PEOPLE WANT IT NOW

Volkswagon is currently running a series of trendy commercials with their talking, Ludvig Von Drake Beetlebug. I find "the people want it now, event" to be irritating in the extreme. Apparently what the people want is a bunch of focus-grouped, marketing cliche's.

Sheesh, give me a break. The phrase itself grates like fingernails on a chalk board. "The People" is a discredited phrase from the bad old days of the happily defunct Soviet Union. "The People" was an excuse to foist policies and programs on citizens without their approval with the tacit assumption that it was all for the greater good of "The People."

Here's a couple of examples: Introducing The People want it NOW!
The People want taxation without representation!
The People want gulags!
The People want self-righteous government officials to chew out
corporate CEO's for daring to ride on private jets paid for by company
funds while said government officials gallivant around on Air Force
jets at taxpayers expense!
The People want nationalized healthcare so the same government
mis-management found at the Post Office can ruin the medical
industry, too!

Nuts. This particular People wants Volkswagon to stop putting words in my mouth.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

GET RIGHT, OR GET LEFT

What can I say? I have the same warped sense of humor.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

BAIT -N- SWITCH

Friday, March 6, 2009

FICTION QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I gotta tell you, this industrial espionage is kinda fun. There's no guns, no explosions; it's like going on the kiddie rides at the carnival."

Ex-Navy SEAL Sam Axe from the TV show, Burn Notice

Thursday, March 5, 2009

MY NOVEL WILL BE READY SOON

I haven't written much on this site for the last month because I'm making final corrections to my novel, COLOMBIAN KILO. I received the Galley copy last month. The Galley is the book in printed form as it will look for the public. The author looks over the Galley for final corrections and revisions. I've read through it myself and caught a bunch of changes, many of them word processor format errors. I also have three people checking the galley independently, mostly for spelling and typos.

Not really happy with the silhouette of the sub. Looks like one of the newer German "Type" boats instead of a Kilo, to me. I've asked the artist to update it.

As soon as we finish the work the book will be ready for printing and available on Amazon and the major online book distributors. The younger writers in my group call this Snoppy Dance Time. I call it Walter Brennen Dance Time. (Dag nabit, Luke!)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

CALIFORNIA OCTUPLETS OMLET

You get eight eggs, no sausage, and your neighbors pay for it.

QUASI-LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Don the Baptist considers himself to be both intellectually deep and extremely humorous. Don the Baptist assumes no responsibility for blog browsers who cannot tell the difference between the two. Blog browsers are advised to consider any "Observations from Hadleyville" content that makes no sense to be the result of a lack of intellect or sense of humor on the part of the blog browser and not that of the blogger. Don the Baptist is a non profit guy so don't bother suing Don the Baptist as it would be a waste of time and resources.

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
-Jerry Pournelle

WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”