Memorial Day 2012

I've attended the Sun City Memorial Day Ceremony nearly every year since it began ten years ago. The ceremony is held in the Georgetown-Williamson County Veterans Memorial Plaza in Sun City, Georgetown, Texas, less two miles from our home. We took the golf cart, knowing parking would be a problem. We went early to get a place to put our folding chairs. Still, we barely got there in time to get into the inner ring of grass between a sidewalk and the memorial wall. It was not a shady spot and the sun was bright and hot. The ceremony is short, but getting there so early turns it into a longer time in the sun.

Chrissy, Hawk, Dane, Jakob, Celeste 

This is our second year to share this time with Celeste's son Dane Johnson and his family, wife Chrissy, sons Jakob and Hawk.

In attendance were veterans from as far back as World War II, who stood and were applauded. Then all veterans were asked to stand. Many men and women stood, some in uniforms that no longer fit and some with military caps or shirts designating their unit. Another group was separately honored, that of those currently on active duty. I saw only a few, five or six, in front of me, but there could have been others.

The music was provided by the 36th Infantry Division Band of the Texas National Guard. The color guards were from the Navy Junior ROTC at Georgetown and Stony Point High Schools, the Georgetown Fire Department, and the Williamson County EMS.

The Ladies of the Robert Gilbert Livingston Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution passed out the programs at the start of the ceremony and cookies and lemonade at the end.

Jim Watters with Gov. Perry

The Invocation and Benediction was given by Chaplain James Shaw, Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired.

The guest speaker was Governor Rick Perry.

It was a ceremony that makes you proud to be an American.

Bicycling Memories of Austin, Texas

A year or so ago, I pedaled around Sun City in Georgetown, Texas for my health. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone quite so far the day after donating two pints of blood. Also, if I had it to do over again, I would have eaten breakfast first or at least had some orange juice. I thought about all this while parked on the side of the road trying to decide if I should call 911 or just fall down and hope someone found me.

After some deep breaths, staying close to the flower garden at the woodworking shop in case I had to throw up, I managed to get past the nausea. I had already thought of a way to hold on to the branch of a tree for support if needed. But soon, I felt better and was back on the bike heading for home.

Perhaps I was delirious, but as I rode the rest of the way (mostly downhill, by the way), I had vivid memories of bike riding as a kid. I remember sneaking off when I lived near Clarksville in Austin, so I couldn't have been more than nine years old. My friend, Bobby Bayer, went with me. We told our parents we were just going to see someone a few blocks away and we ended up in deep South Austin. I felt terribly guilty for lying to my mother. But not guilty enough to keep me from repeating the trip several more times on other days.

Those memories and reminders of the guilt I felt, made me think about Brian, the male protagonist in Where Love Once Lived. Don't forget I said I may have been delirious at the time all this was going through my head.

In the novel, Brian had been brought up in a Christian family and attended church every Sunday. What's more, he loved to go to church and continued to go while he was away from his California home attending the University of Texas. Then, he committed a sin and, even though he knew better, the guilt is so strong he believes he is being punished by God. His punishment is to be in a loveless marriage.

He drops out of church for the next thirty years. This is all leading up to my wanting to tell you this is not a biographical story. It didn't happen to me. I was brought up in a Christian home and while there were some times in my life where I missed church because Sunday mornings were the only time I could rest, I never left the church completely the way Brian did in the story.

I am still friends with some of the people I met at church as a youth and we still get together frequently. I continued to be involved in church in college and while in the marines. After marriage and kids there were times when I wasn't involved as much as I should have been, but that didn't last long. I may tell you about that period of my life someday, if I'm ever delirious again.

How about you? When did God become a major part of your life? Have you ever dropped out? What brought you back?

Talking About Writing and Other Life-Changing Events

Friday, I had the opportunity to talk to a Christian women's group at the Berry Creek Country Club in Georgetown, Texas. I've talked to several groups since Where Love Once Lived came out last August and I never know exactly what I'm going to say. Sometimes the hosts suggest a reading. Other times they leave it up to me. This time the announcement said I would talk about the writing process.

I prepared a written speech. I read it out loud, timed it and changed it a number of times in the two weeks leading up to the luncheon. On the day of the speech, however, I intentionally left all my notes at home. I find I do better speaking without looking at a piece of paper.

There were four tables with nine or ten women at each one. We had finished eating and some had turned their chairs around so that they could see the podium. Without notes, I could easily make eye contact. A few heads nodded from time to time. There were some smiles, some laughter and some sighs from time to time. As a teacher, I know that learning happens when students have an emotional experience. Both laughter and sadness help people learn. Afterwards, more than a few women talked to me and said how much they enjoyed the talk.

I set out to give them the basics and began by telling them about the original idea of the story. That is, the bookmobile librarian I worked with back in the 1960's and how she helped people at each stop. Then I told them about that special sermon I heard one Sunday that gave me the belief that I could write a novel, and how I had to take writing classes for several years to do so. That led to talking about the conversion of the basic story to the one I ended up with and how Where Love Once Lived won several contests.

Then the talk took an unexpected turn, one that wasn't in the notes I'd left back at the house. When I got to the point where I said White Rose Publishing reviewed the complete manuscript and said they would look at it again if I would delete some of the subplots, I had to mention how the email from the publisher came at the same time I learned my wife had pancreatic cancer. I could see on their faces, they knew what that meant.

I told them I wasn't able to write for a long time afterwards, and that Lois died eight months later the day before Thanksgiving. Then, how I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia alone for Christmas and New Year's, hoping I might make the changes the publisher wanted. But, that didn't work.

I wasn't able to write until I started living again by going back to church, singing in the church choir and the community choir, and making plans for the future. I told them how I planned to sell the house and open a bookstore downtown where I could live upstairs.

And about that time, I told the women, was when I learned God had plans for me I hadn't foreseen. Celeste entered my life and that changed everything. Happiness let me write once more and eventually make the changes to the manuscript.

But, a year had passed. Publishers needs change. Mostly, though, I couldn't cut enough. White Rose publishes only Christian romance novels, and there were still subplots I couldn't delete. I knew the book was more than a romance and that I would have to self-publish it. So, I began learning about that process and settled on CreateSpace for the print edition, Amazon for the Kindle edition, and Lulu for the other eBook formats including the iPad edition.

Celeste and I married in March and the book was out in August, 2010.

I told the women about the new book, The Vengeance Squad, that should be published by the end of the year and how it was much easier to write than the first book. I also gave them a two-page handout describing the steps required to write a novel, from story idea to publication.

My First Television Interview

Because of being one of the speakers at the Booked for Lunch fundraiser, I was invited to be  on the Author! Author! segment which is part of Sun City's Channel 79 News and Views. The segment was filmed Friday, March 4, 2011 and will air Monday and Tuesday, March 14-15, 2011.

Preparing for the Interview

I was given the following notes to prepare for the interview:

·         After introductions, name of the book or books, type of book and a brief synopsis
·         When did you decide to write a book?
·         How long did it take you to research/gather ideas?
·         What was the best part of writing and what was the worst part?
·         How many times did you edit or re-write?
·         Did anyone else help you with the book?
·         How did you get it published?
·         Last thought...

Although I received the notes six weeks in advance, I didn't look at them until the day before the interview. By now, I've talked about the book enough to know I do better if I speak from my heart rather than from notes.

Meeting the Interviewer

The interview was held in the Sun City Oaks in what used to be a restaurant. When I came in they were finishing with another interview so I waited quietly until it was over. I was greeted by Pattie Fludd who said she would be the reporter interviewing me. She talked to me briefly and went over the questions with me again. She had not read the book, but knew it was a Christian novel.

The cameraman was about 10 feet in front us with the director sitting in a chair next to him. Behind them was a table with five or six people in what appeared to be a meeting of some type. I wondered if the sound from there would affect the interview, but when the cameraman held up his hand everything got quiet. When he lowered his hand the interview began. No mike check. The cameraman wore earphones and we weren't live, so I suspect they would have restarted if needed.

The Interview

I looked toward the interviewer mostly, but once I held the book up for the camera. I also noticed the positive looks from the director from time to time. The only surprise for me was when Pattie asked what the worst part of writing the book was. Even though I hadn't worked on the questions, my memory was that she was supposed to ask what was the best and then what was the worst. So, when she asked about the worst, I changed it to best and what surprised me was I said the best part was when the characters came alive for me. I then answered her question about the worst part by saying it was getting it published.

When Pattie asked if I had any last thoughts, I talked about how to buy a copy of the book.

The whole interview lasted less than fifteen minutes and I had much more I could have said.

An Open Letter to the Austin History Center

As you know, I dropped off two copies of my novel, Where Love Once Lived, last week. As a long-time resident of Austin who is now living in Sun City Texas in Georgetown, I know you have a place for the publications of local authors because my last book, Automated Law Office Systems, is in the Austin History Center according to the online catalog.

What you don’t know is that the idea for Where Love Once Lived came to me when I worked in the building now called the Austin History Center. At that time it was the main library building. This was back in the 1960s when I was a part-time bookmobile driver while going to the University of Texas.

The librarian I rode with most was Jean Siedo. She was outspoken and somewhat unorthodox, and clearly not the typical librarian. However, she was loved by all the patrons. Liz Siedo, the fictional bookmobile librarian in my book is an exaggeration of the real librarian based on my half-century-old memories.

Another thing you don’t know is that my next book, currently called Vengeance Is Mine, also involves Liz and the library. However, in this book, she has been promoted to director of libraries. She likes the old building where the Austin History Center is and has her office there. The manuscript for that book is with a potential publisher, but I’ll make sure you get a copy when it’s published.

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Brenda Branch, the director of libraries in Austin because Ms. Varner, head librarian in my book is a villain. I didn't set out to make her evil, but early readers of the manuscript said it needed more conflict. Everyone loved the Liz character, so getting Ms. Varner fired presented a way to promote Liz. Remember, it is fiction.

Bicycling Memories and Guilt

Today, I pedaled around Sun City in Georgetown, Texas for my health. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone quite so far the day after donating two pints of blood. Also, if I had it to do over again, I would have eaten breakfast first or at least had some orange juice. I thought about all this will parked on the side of the road trying to decide if I should call 911 or just throw up. After some deep breaths, staying close to the flower garden at the woodworking shop, I managed to get past the nausea. I had already thought of a way to hold on to the branch of a tree for support if needed. But soon, I felt better and was back on the bike heading for home.

Perhaps I was delirious, but as I rode the rest of the way (mostly downhill, by the way), I had vivid memories of bike riding as a kid. I remember sneaking off when I lived near Clarksville in Austin, so I couldn't have been more than nine years old. My friend, Bobby Bayer, went with me. We told our parents we were just going to see someone a few blocks away and we ended up in deep South Austin. I felt terribly guilty for lying to my mother. But not guilty enough to keep me from repeating the trip several more times.

Those memories and reminders of the guilt I felt, made me think about Brian, the male protagonist in Where Love Once Lived. Don't forget I said I may have been delirious at the time all this was going through my head.

In the novel, Brian had been brought up in a Christian family and attended church every Sunday. What's more, he loved to go to church and continued to go while he was away from his California home attending the University of Texas. Then, he commits a sin and, even though he knows better, guilt is such that he believes he is being punished by God. His punishment is to be in a loveless marriage.

He drops out of church for the next thirty years. This is all leading up to my wanting to tell you this is not a biographical story. It didn't happen to me. I was brought up in a Christian home and my life revolved around the church. I still have friends I met at church and we still get together frequently. I'll tell you more about the Combine as we go. I continued to be involved in church in college and while in the Marines. After marriage and kids there were times when I wasn't involved as much as I should have been, but that didn't last long. I may tell you about that period of my life someday, if I'm ever delirious again.

How about you? When did God become a major part of your life? Have you ever dropped out? What brought you back?