Bad dude, like-really bad dude. Just around the corner–coming this spring. SHARK’S BREATH is set for its launch May 25 at the Quarter Moon. (more to follow on that in subsequent posts)

QUOTE: ” It has always seemed strange to me–the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those trait we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” John Steinbeck

WRITING TIP: Take it from the classics, everyone loves a good “bad” story.

SHARK’S BREATH is almost finished! Only a few thousand more words and my baby will be ready to go. Very excited about this one, especially since I spoke to so many experts, trying to gather knowledge and make sure certain things were correct. Let’s see, police, detectives, US Marshal, and this year I spoke to an FBI agent! Wow–learning is so much fun! Looking forward to having the book out by the end of May; I will be sure to announce the exact date and to let you know what’s going on–possible book launch party in the works. So this is fun! Thank you readers, hope you like this one too.

Every year about this time I pay  homage to my favorite flowers by posting them swaying in the breeze. Well, I found this old pic the other day and decided that this one might do this year. I’ve always loved Daffodils–the poem too by Wordsworth–the stuff about wandering lonely as a cloud and then finding the golden expanse of daffodils. Then there is the ending, where the writer is relaxing, closing their eyes and seeing the simplicity, the beauty of the flower once again. I like to think the poem is a metaphor for life–for keeping the beauty, the utter simplicity of it all and holding it within yourself. This photo is from 25 years ago, even then I was a “daffy” dil.

Wordsworth’s poem:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Some days there are no words. Actually, there are no words at anytime. Just imagine what exists below all that calm.

QUOTE: “Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn’t happen.” Steven Wright 🙂

WRITING TIP: Analogy: This is you-the writer. All that stuff that lies beneath your surface is fodder for stories.