Very important plumbing repair tip

Watch the Youtube video BEFORE going to the hardware store and buying the wrong part.

After I got the right part, it took all of 5 minutes to complete the repair.

Sheesh!

Here's a screen shot from the Youtube video. I was disappointed: my new washers weren't blue. Just plain black. As if I'd ever see them until the faucet begins leaking again in 10 years.

A little bit about my writing history - Part 1

I was reflecting on my writing history today and decided I would share it with you.

I wrote my first short story in the 9th grade for a Literary Club contest. It was a horrible story about a teenager winning an auto drag race. It did NOT win anything. I might actually have a copy somewhere. Maybe I should frame it and entitle it "What not to do!"

I didn't write another one until I was 25. I submitted my first one at age 28 to a science fiction magazine - it was rejected. I sold my first one at age 51 ("He Wasn't Always Old"). I published the first of ten books at age 58.

From 1991 to 2003, when I sold HWAO, I had written about 30 short stories, all but two science fiction. I submitted about four or five and sold two, neither of which were science fiction.

The realization that I was not a science fiction writer finally hit me, and I moved on rather than trying squeeze the square peg into a round hole. In the fall of 2003, just before HWAO sold, I had already decided to write a novel. I had no idea how to do that, so I bought The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, written by Evan Marshall, and read both the book and the workbook.

I felt I was almost ready. I read Ken Follet's excellent WWII book, Hornet Flight. I wanted to see how Follet handled point of view, so I charted the entire book noting which character was the POV for each chapter. Then I counted how many and what percentage of the total each character had. This knowledge, combined with Marshall's nice plotting "plan," gave me my personalized framework I used to plot (in Excel) my first novel, Operation Devil's Fire, which by the way had a terrible working title of The Threat Of Horten 18. Yikes!

I still use the same version of the plot plan I devised in 2003 because it works for me.

Part 2 Coming soon: How I decided on WWII novels, how I picked Sgt. Tom Dunn as my main character. Why Operation Devil's Fire was NOT the first novel I finished writing. The pain of trying to find an agent. How ODF became the first novel I published.

Thanks for stopping by.

Scary things Part II

I recently posted about watching something scary on TV and then going out at night to walk my dog.

Here's something funny (now) my wife did to me about 20 years ago.

Background

I love science fiction movies, and as a kid watched them on TV on Friday nights (10:30 pm). One movie that scared me as an eight year old boy (same year I saw The Time Machine) was IT! The Terror From Beyond Space. It featured a monster who got aboard a rescue craft on Mars. On the way home it started capturing some of the crew and hiding them for nourishment later. One scene showed a crewman who'd been put in an air vent tunnel. His eyes had black raccoon circles and he was terrifying!

Fast forward to the nineties. 

I found the movie on TV and sat down with my son, who was about nine at the time, to watch it. It was the first time since I was a kid.

More background

Ever since we first knew each other, my wife had always tried to spook me by hiding behind doors and such and yelling Boo!. I'm not very jumpy, so it NEVER worked, to her disappointment.

Fast forward to the nineties. 

My chair faced the TV and had a door behind it that led to the foyer. You could enter the foyer from that door, or the one in the dining room. My son sat to my right on a small sofa. He could see into both the dining room and the foyer.

When the movie got to a scary part, my loving wife quietly opened the door behind me and shrieked, "Boo!"

Evidently, I jumped about three feet in the air. My son, who had seen my wife sneaking through the dining room and had said NOTHING, hooted with pleasure and my wife chortled to her heart's content. "I got you!"

Yep. You did. Is that my heart beating?

They still bring it up now and again, so I thought I'd share with you.

Lesson: When watching scary shows, don't have the door behind you.

Watching a scary show and then walking the dog in the dark!

The background

When I was eight (1960), a neighbor girl, who was thirteen, took me to see The Time Machine. I loved it! But there was an unforeseen side-effect: for several months afterwards, I wouldn't go into a dark room until I slid my hand around the door's corner and flipped on the light switch. 

Walking the dog in the dark

Last Thursday, my daughter told me she and her family had enjoyed watching Stranger Things on Netflix (2 seasons!). That night I watched one episode around ten o'clock. I proceeded to watch the entire 18 remaining episodes through Tuesday morning, viewing several each day. Okay, more than several.

I always walk our dog, Lila (whose namesake appears in Sgt. Dunn #3, Brutal Enemy), at 10:00 pm. Just a quick one so she doesn't have to wait to go until I fall out of bed sometime the next morning.

There are three houses on our side of the street. We are the middle one. There's a street light on the corner about 100 feet north and another about 200 feet south. This means we are almost in the middle of the "not much light here" zone. It's dark. I carry a puny flashlight so I can see what she's doing - she's a black dog so I need it to keep me from walking into her butt and tripping over her.

Monday night at nine o'clock I watched Season 2 Episode 6, incorrectly thinking there were two more. I could squeeze those in by maybe 11:45 pm.

Then I walked Lila.armed with my puny flashlight and a grocery store plastic bag, we walked down the driveway toward the sidewalk. Did I mention that the episode I just finished watching was particularly scary? Yeah. 

Lila stopped stock still and growled! What the hell? The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I mean it. Really. Stood up. I looked the way her nose is pointed and my weak human eyes don't see anything. She growls again. She barks.

And like every fool in a scary movie where the dog barks and growls, the idiot says, "Shush, Rover, there's nothing there." He turns around and there IT is. Whatever the hell it is. Scream. Crunch. Dog runs away to safety. He's the smart one.

I pull on Lila's leash and we beat feet it to the corner and back in like 20 seconds, with her pausing to tinkle. As we walk back UP the drive way she growls again. I still don't see anything. We race into the garage, me pulling her along as she's still gruffing at something.

I hit the "Close the damn garage now!" button on the wall and will the door to move faster.

We make it back inside the house and I stare at her. "Heh, heh," I say. "It was nothing, right, Lila?"

She stares at me like I'm an idiot.

Lesson: Don't watch a scary movie just before you walk your black dog at night!

Finally updated my website!

I bit the bullet and spent some time updating (long overdue) my website. I'm afraid I'm not very diligent about this, contrary to all advice about websites. 

• I added anchors to pages that were long with several items with the links at the top of the page.
• Added a reverse chronological list of all nine novels.
• Updated the "Ronn's Favorites" page, and added some of the songs from my playlist.

Here are the songs:

Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

Africa - Toto

Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood

Cara Mia - Jay and the Americans (Jay Black)

It's a Beautiful Morning - The Rascals

Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Simon and Garfield

Joy to the World - Three Dog Night

Jumpin' Jack - Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy

Light My Fire - The Doors

Mister Bass Man - Johnny Cymbal

Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson

Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison

Riders on the Storm - The Doors

Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay - Danny & The Juniors

Rock Around the Clock -  Bill Haley & His Comets

She's Just My Style - Gary Lewis & The Playboys - saw in concert a few years ago

Soul Sacrifice - Sanatana (drummer was age 19 at Woodstock)

Stand By Me - Ben E. King

Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers

 

Darkest Hour

For Valentines Day, my wife and I went to go see Darkest Hour. This movie is an incredible look inside Churchill's strengths and doubts in May 1940 when he first became Prime Minister.

If you've seen Dunkirk, then this is the sister movie and it's a must see for anyone interested in World War II. Gary Oldman is absolutely breathtaking as Churchill and the rest of the cast was superb.

Filled with tension, the movie has funny spots, which make it so enjoyable.

Run, don't walk, to the theater as soon as possible!

http://focusfeatures.com/darkesthour

Sgt. Dunn Novel # 10 underway

Excited! I published my 9th Sgt. Dunn Novel, Raid on Hitler's Dam, last Friday. On Sunday, I got the initial ideas for book 10. Will work on plot for a few days and then start writing!