James Haddock's Blog, page 2

Who said?

Do you remember as a kid when you were out playing and wanted to go somewhere new, or do something new? Inevitably one of the other kids would say, “you can’t do that.” Of course, my first question was, “who said?” The answer was usually, “they.” “They” is that 27 eyed, lying individual that likes to start rumors (no relation, I don’t have that many eyes). For me that was a challenge. I’d go where I wanted to go…as long as mom don’t catch me… As a side note mom apparently had paid informants all over the neighborhood, so… the point being we didn’t listen to “they” or “them” before, why are we doing it now? “They” are always going to say you can’t do something, and their list of reasons for not doing it are endless. Some of “them” may think they are helping you. Other are just “haters”. Their dreams aren’t coming true so why should yours. It isn’t their dream, and pardon my southern slang, “it ain’t none of their business”. Don’t ask “them” their opinion, if you want to share “tell” them what you’re are going to do. If you fail, learn from your failure, do better the next time. Life happens, life is going to knock you down. If you stay down, life will kick you while you’re down. The longer you stay down the longer the kicking goes on. Life ain’t for sissies, you gotta fight. If life slaps you, kick life in the crotch, and knuckle up. The first bloody lip hurts, after that it ain’t nothing. Spit the blood out and go at it! Do you have a dream, something you’re are passionate about? Knuckle up. It ain’t nobody else’s dream, its yours. You have to want it, want it bad enough to fight for it. If not, “life”, “them”, and “they” will steal it from you. Who said you couldn’t do it? Remember Susan Boyle? How many of “them” told her she wasn’t good enough. “They” cheered for her after the fact, and said “I knew you could do it…”

I'm working on it!

“When’s your next book coming out?” He asked. “It will probably be a month or so.” I answered. “What’s this one going to be about?” “Well, I’ve got three I’m working on, but the active one is a fantasy Mage story.” “You’re working on three at one time?” “Yes, and no. When I start writing one, and it loses its ‘spark’ let’s call it, I set it aside to simmer. I start another one and continue.” “Doesn’t that get confusing? All those stories going on in your head?” “Not really, for me it’s like watching a TV show, then changing the channel to watch something new. When the new one goes off, I turn it back to the old one and finish watching it.” And I’ve got a lot of ideas I just make a few notes about to ponder a story line later.” “Sounds like a lot to keep track of.” “God gave me a wonderful imagination, there is always something going on in there. It did get me into some trouble as a kid though.” He laughed, “I bet.” What books do you have on the simmer? I smiled, “Are you trying to find out the chef’s ingredients?” He smiled back, “nope just reading the menu,” “One is a post-apocalyptic western. Society has collapsed, and big cities fed on themselves to destruction. Populations fled them to survive. The old west law became the new law.” “Sounds interesting. What else ya got? “Another is a Wizard story. An orphan is caught in the crossfire of two wizards fighting. They destroy each other, in the power overload and explosion, the orphan gets their combined powers.” “Any Sci-fi?” “Yeah but that one is in its early stages of simmering. It’s a military sci-fi. Earth is invaded. Our military is pushed back on all fronts. The twist is, the aliens use human brains to operate their war machines like computers. But humans being humans, that may not have been the alien’s best idea.” “How long all this simmering going to take, and what about sequels?” “The sequels are simmering too, they may cut the line and become active, I don’t know yet.” “So, you don’t have all your stories planned out?” I laughed. “Not even close. I’m a pantser, meaning I write by the seat of my pants. I get an idea, I turn my imagination loose, and just sit down and start writing. For me it’s kind of like reading a new book, even I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s part of the reason I’ve enjoyed writing so much. There is a whole library in my head. Granted there are a lot of misspelled word in them. I don’t have spell check up there.” “Well, get back to work, you need to get more of your library on paper.” “Working on it!”

I'm taking a poll

I’m taking a poll. I’ve started a blog on my web site (jameshaddock.us), but I wanted it to be more than saying I am writing a new book. I’m always writing a new book (wake me when you have something new to say). Neither did I want to just fill space saying; I just refilled the bird feeder. Or, I’m training my neighbors horse to come to me when I whistle (which is true), so when the EMP attack happens (may not be true, but…) I’ll have a ride out of town. You get the idea. So, here is my poll question: What do you wish your parents (and/or Grandparents) had taught you when you were growing up? Most things we learned from them, was by watching them. Actions speak louder than words (getting pinched for being too loud in church reinforced the lesson). Manners, interactions with others, hunting, planting a garden, driving, etc. The thing that stands out most for me is finance, business, and wealth building. Of course, I understand why, we weren’t rich. My father was career military, my mother career nurse. Their best advice offered was get a good education and put money away for retirement. Good advice as far as it went. I gave my kids the same advice. That was the best I had to offer at the time. Now I have better advice and I want to pass it along to them, and my grand-kids, and great grand-kids. I plan to be hanging around for a long time, I can’t think of a better way to spend my time. With your help, I’ll try to post some helpful lessons, information, tips, that we can pass on to our kids and beyond. What do you wish your parents (and/or Grandparents) had taught you when you were growing up?

Ya gotta start somewhere!

A saying I use quite often is, “ya gotta start somewhere.” What ever it is that you want to do, ya gotta start somewhere. You want to write a book, ya gotta start somewhere, sit down and write. Even if it’s only a paragraph, a page, whatever, ya gotta start somewhere. You want to lose weight; you want to build muscle; you want to paint; you want to be a marathon runner; you get the point. It’s even Biblical… Ok, I paraphrased, kinda. The Bible says, “do not to despise these small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10). The truth is, you start small. Pick a saying, “the longest journey starts with a single step.” Look at it how ever you wish. The point is, START! One word written. One ounce lost. One push-up done. One picture painted. One lap ran. For myself, when I started writing, I was looking for a hobby. I had always wanted to write a story; I had just never sat down and written. One day I decided I would, I sat down and started writing. Once I started, the words started flowing out of me (Thank God), and still are. There will always be some obstacle, some reason to put off ‘til tomorrow… There will be people’s opinion, the world’s opinion, the weather, you name it. Mine, as far as publishing my book was, what if no one buys it. So what, I wasn’t doing it for them, I was doing it for me. Admittedly, it’s nice to be recognized for your work (if it pays, that's icing on the cake), but that is just a by-product. The biggest reward comes when “they” say; you have written and published how many books? You lost how much weight? You can bench how much? You sold how many paintings? You ran a marathon? Yep that was me… But ya gotta start somewhere.

I wonder...

I’ve been on vacation is Colorado Springs, Colorado this week, visiting the kids and grand kids. Having a great time answering a thousand questions from my grandson. He is beginning to speak clearly, and his favorite question so far has been, “Doing Papa?” As in “What are you doing Papa?” I have also taken the opportunity to finish building my website (jameshaddock.us), with the assistance of my tech support (my daughter Erin, she growls at me, lol), and graphic design adviser (my son Derek, his claim). It turned out better than I could have done on my own. Thanks to both. Looking up at Pike’s Peak made me think of the pioneers seeing it for the first time. Many stayed on this side of the mountain, some thought, “I wonder what’s on the other side,” and pushed on. I’m the kind of person that would wonder what was on the other side. Would I have the courage to push on? I wonder…

Duty Calls published!

Duty Calls on sale now on Amazon. Hope you enjoy it!

Duty Calls progresses

I've finally finished dictating Book 2 of the Duty Trilogy, Duty Calls. I have now started editing and my first rewrite. It was more fun writing the story, than editing it. I'II keep you updated on my progress.

Duty Calls. Book 2 in the Duty trilogy.

I have written book two of the Duty Trilogy: “Duty Calls”. As soon as I finish dictating it, I'll send it to my editors. This will be the last book I have to dictate, I hope. I have a new handwriting recognition program that changes my handwriting to text, saving me this step to get my books ready for the editors. I'll keep you updated.