Go Chiefs!

When I was in the 6th grade, the NFL came to Kansas City. There was a radio contest to name the team, which was of course the Chiefs. I recall being able to get free Chiefs stickers at just about any store in the neighborhood. Naturally, I stuck them on my school notebook. 

A friend of my mom had a color TV, so we watched the first Superbowl at her house. Even though we lost, it was awesome. Four years later, the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV. I was a senior in high school.

Here we are 50 years later. Looking forward to the game a week from Sunday.

The patches

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

May 2020 bring you and your family joy and happiness!

Ronn

Remembering the Battle of the Bulge

This is 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Bulge. Check out this great video on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/usabmc/videos/2504406096553639/?t=1

Pearl Harbor, December 7th

Remembering Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941

2,403 deaths

Almost 4 years of war

Veterans Day 2019

Honoring Veterans for their 

service, sacrifice, and dedication. 

Thank you!

Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle, Andover, and the Sgt. Dunn Novels

Life is filled with fun coincidences. Ever travel somewhere far from home only to meet someone who lives in the same city as you do? How could I know 15 years ago that my fictional Camp Barton Stacey would be just a few miles from Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle?

When I started researching the first Sgt. Dunn Novel, Operation Devil's Fire, I wanted to find a location for our U.S. Army Camp Barton Stacey that was not too far from London. Part of the research included finding a small city nearby and I selected Andover after examining several places. I emailed someone who lived there and received some historic background that I was able to sprinkle in the book. Camp Barton Stacey is stated as being about 2 miles northeast of Andover in the books.

Like many Americans, my wife and I are Downton Abbey fans and were excited when we learned a movie was in the making. About a month ago, we bought tickets for the opening day showing on September 20th. To celebrate our 47th anniversary (9/23 - Saunders' and Sadie's wedding date), we went to Red Lobster, had Walt's shrimp, and then went to the afternoon movie. We enjoyed it immensely.

Later that night I looked up where the Downton Abbey home is actually located. Highclere Castle, it turns out, is only about 10 miles northeast of downtown Andover. See map:

Here's the Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey)

Here's the Star & Garter Hotel from the Sgt. Dunn books (1939)

Here's the Star & Garter Hotel in 2011

Picture taken by my friend and FIRST READER Steve Barltrop

It's now called the Danebury Hotel.

It still has the wrought iron and Doric columns on the entrance!

Not exactly writer's block . . .

I don't really suffer from writers block, although I know a lot of writers have and do at various times. I tend to think of it more as "I'm stumped" at the moment (and yes, I recognize that this may simply be a matter of semantics). This can occur during the plotting stage of the book as well as the writing of it. This is about a plotting problem.

When I'm plotting, the problem usually comes in the basic form of "what's the big idea for the book?" An example of the "big idea" is trying to destroy the Nazis' atomic bomb lab in Operation Devil's Fire. Sometimes the stumped period can be a few minutes or several days.

I use a lot of resources (online and my continually growing library of WWII history books) to come up with the missions that Dunn and Saunders take their men on. Sometimes, I can get a couple of good ideas, but maybe not the "big" one.

Right now, I'm about 50% done plotting book 13. I have the first missions for Dunn and Saunders, and I have one that could be the "big" one. Last night, I began having doubts about it, and researched the idea, which actually seemed to make it worse. Perhaps it wouldn't work after all. 

Bummer, dude.

I mentioned the problem to my wife and we discussed it for a while. She's really good at helping me think things through. Her comments allowed me decide to let it percolate over night.

This morning, the solution presented itself to me out of nowhere while thinking about something else, not an uncommon thing to happen. This doesn't happen only to writers. Anyone who solves problems of any kind can experience this. It often happened to me when I was an IT Systems Analyst.

Now that I'm satisfied I can make the "big" idea work, all I need to do is apply logical thinking to the story and determine what happens, then what happens next, and repeat until we reach the end.

By the way, I never wait until the book is 100% plotted to start. I began writing book 13 last Sunday, the 8th. No title yet. That's almost always one of the last things we come up with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ronn