292- UPDATES On THAT NOVEL AND THOSE BLOGS, THREE Of 'EM, NOW!.....

The Serpentine Bond! (First novel...coming closer!)
http: thesquiresview.blogspot.com/
http: TheSquiresPoliticalViews.blogspot.com/
http: TheSquiresMtTales.blogspot.com/
.....Meet Me At The Wild Cherry Tree! (Second novel...being planned...300+ pages...romantic tale!)

a- The blogs continue to feed all across America and, via hi5, are now read in 41 countries of the world, including the Philippines, Australia, Romania, Nepal, India, Japan, Greece, Peru, Cyprus, Turkey, Macau, Venezeula, Tawain, South Korea, Kosova...and 26 more!

b- THE SERPENTINE BOND! was honestly first thought of back in the '90s, with notes and thoughts and ideas and clippings thrown into a bankers box....then another and then another. Knew that there would be 7 university coeds and guys, including their names, who meet, become collegiate chums and bond! Kaipo (Maui)...TRENT (California)...TABBI (Montana)...FIZZ (New Hampshire...RAIN (New Orleans)...BUTT (Texas) and ROCKWELL (BOONE) from Virginia. I fell in like with that name of RAIN! SEVEN, in history of course, is a unique number...for me. For years, their adventures were formulated and scenes composed in a notebook, separately. The 'citing part came from organizing all of them and bringing them together to form my tale. Hey, that was my system...it worked!

c- That first novel is really 600+ pages and explores the lives of 7 first year collegians who meet on an old, historic and highly respected university campus to study. They become close friends, a bond, and learn to enhance their many weekends on exciting ADVETURES, including a covered bridge...weekend on a haunted lighthouse...weekend exploring an 18th century mansion in ruins...a rustic ancient barn...a ghost farmhouse...and, that's enough to reveal here! Their weekend late night confabs are brilliantly explored behind the serentine brick walls of a secluded university garden, with so many social issues, using my fave "Socratic-style" of learning and thinking!!!
But the 600+ first novel, though, ends up with a whooping mystery that will shock America during the 34th chapter! By the way, guys,

d- It was first composed in a handwritten notebook to get me close, very close to the 7 characters and detailed plot. That took 2 years or so. Then, THE SERPENTINE BOND! was carefully moved onto WORD. Next, in progress now, every page and chapter, 34 of them, is being carefully and slowly tweaked, page by page, once again for authenticity and especially for detailed use of thoughts and words. I remember my Senior high school teacher saying, often, that a really good author rewrites...rewrites....rewrites and then rewrites some more. NOW, I finally understand what she was telling us, me. The reader will NOT know who "done it" until the very end...the last page! I would even like to have sealed the last chapter in the book for anyone who has a habit of "cheating" when they read a novel and sneaks a peek to the back before reading the good parts.

e- One of my secrets to creatively writing is to have ways to "pause" in between working on SB! to maintain "writing fun".... That's where the first blog came into being and especially now: http: //thesquiresview.blogspot.com/ is exciting for me to compose...it is a true "social commentary" on so many varied sujects! Readers often are so positive in sharing with me, in person or e-mail, the unbelievable numbers and amount of subjects. You'll have to read them to see. And another "pause" to maintaining and keeping fresh my SB! writing is my personal adventures out and about the local area, with Waller Mill Park as a fave! This summer I will be going back to the "serpentine one-brick wide garden sanctuary walls" to see where the ided originated.
I will also be going over the Blue Ridges into that historic valley to see Steffey Street and Buttermilk Spring Road where my grandparents lived out in the country.

f- The national magazine, "Farm and Ranch Living", has published quite a few. Regional magazine articles, especially in the western areas of our State, over the years, have been published...many. "Virginia Wildlife" published my very first published article, about trout fishing in the North River Gorge in the Shenandoah Valley. I will always appreciate, too, "Farm and Ranch Living" magzine for their mentorship in publishing many of my national articles! But, once again, I have a favorite style in that direction...local newspaper essays. They began as humor and satires, then into more involved social commentaries. And have since moved into "local treasures" with lots of pics. Now, the essays have moved further into the entire State of Virginia, using, always, my archives of thousands of slides/prints. Recently, the first one in that state ADVENTURES theme was about our covered bridges and lighthouses. Others on the list in the future include...well, you'll have to wait and read in the Virginia Gazette. I do have the list composed of future ones! By the way, nearly 100 newspaper essays have been written and published over the local years! The Virginia Gazette has been a true mentor. A Tidewater area mag is set to publish an original article, too. Oh, forgot...another secret to becoming an author is to learn, practice and do creatively write MANY styles. And, yes, this guy always stops, when asked, and shares some positive reinforcement to would-be writers...always!

g- MEET ME AT THE WILD CHERRY TREE! is a current "fairy tale". This is the title for the 2nd novel coming up in the future. It is a romantic 300+ page novel, with an old-fashioned twist! Using all of the secrets to writing so far, this one will definitely move along at a faster clip!!! Clue? Involves a treehouse...two who meet one summer, as "kids", and do not see each other again until thirtysomething...hmmmmm. I've got the title, YEAH, and the basic plot. Now, all I need is all that neat middle stuff! As NBC's Ann Curry (someone I admire) would say, "WATCH ME!"