Tom Kepler's Blog, page 16

A Writing Life of Digression--Personal and Professional Goals

As a writer, I've discovered that I write about what's going on in my life. 

Subjects include my imaginative life and writing a fantasy novel, my school-teaching life and writing a young adult novel, my emotional life and writing poetry, my family life and writing a memoir, a writing life and writing about writing, or my bicycling life and writing travelogues. These mention a few of my paths of written digression.
fantasy = The Stone Dragon and Three Storiesteaching school = Love Ya Like a Sisterpoetry = Bare Ruined Choirsthe writing life = I Write: Being and Writing family = A Day Out with MomNone of the above address my random blogging.

The best advice about succeeding as a writer and especially as a self-published writer is to focus on branding your writing and yourself as an author. He's a fantasy writer. He's a poet. He's a travel writer.  

I think this is good advice, yet I find myself continually breaking it to the detriment of my writing career. Although the two are linked, I find that I value my personal evolution more than the evolution of my writing career. I care more about people than books, and since I really enjoy reading and writing, then my regard for people (including my own development) must truly be great. There's nothing wrong with this.
I'd rather be a good person than a famous writer. I recognize the two are not mutually exclusive, yet as a matter of time and attention, I find myself focusing more on my humanity than on how many books I sell.

A poet once told me that the limitations of time put too much strain on family for a writer. He told me the success of his career was at the loss of his marriage and family. A teacher once made a similar comment to me. "Teaching colleges don't instruct you on how to be a successful teacher and keep your marriage together." I don't think these perspectives are true, or if there is some truth to time limitations and career success, then I choose to not bind myself solely to career success. I guess I can turn this whole conundrum on its head: in order for my writing to be enlightening, then as a writer, I must be enlightened. I'm just trying to find enough light to write by.

Just for the record, though, I've written 1/50th of my next novel, a fantasy prequel to The Stone Dragon. I'm also intending to write short fiction pieces that are set in that same reality; I've written over a half dozen flash fiction rough drafts of these stories. I do have a writing plan that includes marketing. I consider my writing life important.

All that writing stuff, though, is number 2 on my priority list. Number 1 on my list is to be a person of goodness, a person I'd like to know. I guess I want to know my Self more than sell myself. After all, if I'm in a library and say to someone, "You know, I wrote that book," what if the person responds, "And who are you?" That is the big question, and I'd like to have a better answer than, "Well, I've published Ex and Wye and Zee."

I really think I can achieve a unity of writing and being. I'm just working on the scheduling.

New iPhone Update and Review

I'm writing this using my iPhone 6+. It's actually easier to use the laptop, but it's also good to demonstrate.

Actually, now I've switched to my laptop, which is faster and allows for establishing links and such much more easily.

As I mentioned in an article on my bicycling blog, "One Apple 6+ Smartphone Equals 6 Electronic Devices," the 6+ has replaced a pile of electronics I've been packing on my bicycle:
Kindle eReaderCanon movie/still cameraTracfone (buy minutes of phone time)HP mini computerVerizon MiFi wireless Garmin Edge Touring GPSWell, the weight and compactness cannot be beat!

I think the camera and video functions better than my previous camera, although I have to admit that I had not yet mastered all possibilities with the Canon FS10. The 6+ is pretty slick, though, as a visual recorder. I have also found the provided iMovie editor app very usable; in fact, I've been making all my bicycling videos on my iPhone. I'm still learning the software and plan to improve the audio, but the move to the new software was easy. Check out the videos on my YouTube channel.

Because I bought the 6+, the entertainment possibilities are very robust.  Watching movies or reading e-books when I'm traveling Amtrak is comfortable. The screen size is great for both movies and e-reading. Because I bought the 64G memory, I have plenty of room for all my entertainment.

I also have been writing, using the iPhone. If I'm writing straight text, then although the hunt-and-peck touch keyboard is slower, it's still functional. When writing blog posts, I've found it easiest to write the text as a Google Doc and then to paste it to the blog. After that, I add a photo, centered. Getting fancy with the formatting doesn't work well or quickly. Perhaps I'll learn more with time, but (for instance) I switched with this blog post because I was still trying to find how to locate and copy the URLs I needed for establishing links. Using Google Docs is easy, and making them accessible offline is great for when I'm out of mobile range, like in the Rockies.

As a phone, the Apple 6+ is fine but a touch big. It's one of those trade-offs that come with "one size fits all." One size doesn't fit all, but packing one 6+ in my pocket is a lot more convenient than a bagful of electronics. If I mostly used the smartphone as a phone, then I would probably have purchased the 6 rather than the 6+. I really like Facetime for talking to my grandson or talking to my wife when I'm traveling. The face to face communication keeps the kid happy and keeps me from missing being home as much.

As a bicycle traveler on daytrips and overnighters, I've found the GPS function works well. I was at an unmarked gravel crossroad in SE Iowa and didn't know which road to take. The GPS had no suggestions for getting home (not enough information, it said), but I expanded the map and used some orienteering and common sense to choose the right gravel. In California I was on a dayride and didn't want to turn around and retrace my route home, so I checked the GPS, which gave me a new route home. Very pretty and enjoyable to continue on new roads! Therefore, I can say the 6+ can supply my GPS needs, and the screen is much larger than my Garmin Edge Touring, which is great for my older eyes. I've also found than I can save maps and locations for offline use, so if I'm out of mobile range, I've still got a map. If I were heading on an Adventure Cycling route, I'd probably still get the physical maps because of their anecdotal suggestions (and because they are so colorful and fun to open and look at).

As a bike traveler, I also have to say having a compass, flashlight, and weather forecasting service at hand in one device is also great. The charger that I bought at the phone store, which was touted to be able to charge the phone "many times," appears to be a rip-off, but I'm going to work with it some more and talk to the store before naming the brand. It's probably best to check out the reviews online before buying a charger. My charger purchase was a "Gee, I'm in the store and why not? purchase--and the phone folks must know what they're talking about" purchase. Oops!

I have to pay my mobile phone fee every month now, but I consider it a communications utility fee. It's really easy to use the 6+ for my communication and electronics needs. I find myself using it at home just because it's so quick and portable. I don't have to fire up the laptop to check emails.

The other day I read an article that used the word "phablet." I hate the word, but for me the Apple iPhone 6+ really is more a small tablet I use as a phone. Since I spend 4 days out of every 3 months traveling Amtrak (or two weeks a year), and since I spend a lot of time on my bicycle on country roads, having a phone that's a touch too big and a tablet that's a touch too small but all my electronic needs in one highly portable unit is juuuust right!

Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Trapping Chipmunks Ain't So Easy

Two chipmunks have been relocated.

They were tunneling in the window wells and burying the drains, threatening a flooded basement in a deluge. And deluges do happen in SE Iowa!

We all know chipmunks are cute. Sometimes we feed them when camping or at the park. However, the chipmunks that came to dinner at my house decided "tu casa es las casa de nosotros," so I bought a live trap to get rid of them. It wasn't as easy as the instructions of the box indicated.

My first learning curve was the trap. The trigger for the trap was burred and did not trip easily, resulting in several days of loading the trap and finding the next morning that the bait (peanut butter and sunflower seeds) had been eaten. Using a screwdriver and some bike chain oil, I created a hair-triggered trap. Look out, rodents!

The next morning, the trap had been triggered, the cage door had fallen, the bait had been eaten, but the cage was empty. I'm still not certain (and this has happened several times, including last night), but I think mice eat the bait and then squeeze out of the wire openings. It's that or really smart chipmunks.

I finally caught one chipmunk and relocated it to the Pleasant Plain lake area, dropping it off in the weeds at the edge of the parking lot. Go, Trapper Tom! Then several days of tripped, untrapped, baitless failure.

Last night I saw a chipmunk near my coiled garden hose in the front yard. It looked at me as if saying, "Hey, what do you think you're doing in my yard?"

I baited the trap and set it next to the hose. Success! A second chipmunk was relocated, right where I'd dropped off the first, in case they are friends.

I baited the trap again, leaving it in the same location. This morning the trap was sprung, the bait gone, and the cage empty.

It's a mystery, but I'll keep at it. I don't want to wake up in December with Alvin and his chipmunk friends singing "Christmas Time Is Here."

Movie Review: The Expendables 3

Just viewed The Expendables 3, and I can remember the entire script even after only one watching.

"He's one of us. We gotta break him out. You in?"

"Yo."

(15 minute action sequence. Things blow up.)

"We gotta new job.  Got your guns?"

"Yo."

(30 minute fight sequence. Things blow up.)

"The bad guy . . . ain't he supposed to be dead?"

"He needs to be. Let's do it."

(30 minute fight sequence. Things blow up.)

"That SOB's got half our team. We gotta get 'em back. You with me?"

"Yo."

(45 minute action fight sequence. Things really blow up.)

(Denouement: a bar. Drinking. Man hugs--even from the women woman. Vocalizations that resemble human speech. Credits.)

It's OK to mute this movie if things blowing up get too loud. Any dialogue you imagine will probably be better than the original. Or you can just read lips. Yo.

Book Review: The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth, by S.M. Stirling

Alternative history and speculative fiction author S.M. Stirling has published soon-to-be twelve books from his "Emberverse" world where in 1998, the "lights went out" and the laws of nature change, setting the world back to where only Middle Ages technology was functional. Now Stirling has edited and shared a short story along with fifteen other established writers in the anthology The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth.

It would be fair to say that the sixteen short stories add just as much insight into the Emberverse reality as the eleven novels of that reality that Stirling has written. This, of course, is true because as editor of the anthology, Stirling could ensure that the vision remains true, or consistent.

At one time, "California" was just an idea, a name for the lands of western Mexico and the U.S. west coast. It is speculated that the name came from a popular Spanish novel of the 16th century, Las Sergas de Esplandián, which describes a land ruled by black women. The new discovery of the west coast of the Northern Americas came with rumors and speculation, which gained the land the appellation Las Californias. Travelers visited Las Californias, reports returned to Spain, and fact replaced rumor.

The anthology The Change, in somewhat a similar manner, provides readers in Stirling's Emberverse a similar experience--focused reports of how "The Change" occurred in different parts of the world, progress reports on humanity's efforts to rebuild during the first three generations after change, snapshots from around the world: the Mediterranean, Britain, Australia, and Mexico. Also, tales in the former USA are set in Alaska, Florida, California, Utah/Idaho, Nebraska, and Colorado/Wyoming.

Here's another description: the lands of the Haida, enclaves that existed in the death zones on the east and west coasts of the United States, the birth of New Deseret, survival and re-settlement of the High Plains and the Midwest. The writers of these short stories give to readers people and places, the sweat, the blood, and, yes, the tears of the wrenching Change Stirling's alternative history chronicles. Stirling has granted traveler visas to fifteen other historians, and our knowledge of the Emberverse is enriched.

The stories are filled with interesting characters, research is evident, and the culmination is a real pleasure to read. Get the know the demons of Witmer Hall, or Bernie of the apes, or the Seeker of the Chihuahuan Desert with his friends Thought and Memory. Travel the necropolis of Sydney, Australia, seeking treasure, and fight with the heroes of Topanga Canyon in the Dead Zone of Southern California. Trail along with an alternative history Louis L'Amour-styled hero in the American Southwest deserts.

For those of you that have read all of Stirling's Change novels and have sat back and speculated on how things went down and on--enjoy these tales where thoughtful and creative writers have done the same thing, their words letting us be the boots on the ground.

Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Helping Mom Make Her Bed

I see Mom in her bedroom, changing her sheets. 
"It's so much harder because I can't see," she says. "Everything's all fuzzy."
"Let me help."
"No, I've got to do things myself," Mom says, but I pitch in anyway. 
"Sandy and I do this together at home. It's a lot faster that way."
Mom pulls the sheets up with me on one side and her on the other. She touches the edges, feeling if the sheet is even. I notice she tucks the corners in with precise hospital folds. I make mine just like hers, only backwards. 
With the bedspread added, she touches the side seam and says, "Oh, we have this backwards." We flip the spread ninety degrees, and her fingers trace the seam, ensuring the fit is even. 
"I wish I could see better," she says. 
"There are a lot of people who are ninety who wish they could do what you do."
"There are a lot of people who are ninety who are dead. The only thing they're doing is pushing up daisies."
"I'm glad I can help."
"Both you boys are good boys. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"We don't know what we'd do without you."
"Well, you'll just have to get by."
"But not for a while."
"A while will be OK."
(Posted from my iPhone. Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved.)

Book Review: Changing Gears, a Family Odyssey to the End of the World

In 2008, the Sathre-Vogel family--mom, dad, and two ten-year-old sons--began their bicycle trek from Alaska and the Arctic Circle to Argentina's Tierra del Fuego. The trip lasted about three years, and mother Nancy Sathre-Vogel chronicles the family's adventure.

Quite a journey it was, with desperately difficult terrain, medical emergencies, and equipment failure. Nancy Sathre-Vogel honestly tells their story, including her doubts and weaknesses, the powerful strength of family bonds, and the innocent exuberance of the boys.

Part of the journey's goal was to break the Guinness World Record for the youngest travelers to make the trek, and even though at one point the narrative reveals that over time the journey became more important than the world record, the official quest was a powerful factor in determining how the journey developed.

My personal opinion is that somewhere along the journey, the parents should have sat down with the boys and told them that the joy of the journey was more important than the Guinness record, and that they were all taking the next bus out of Long-suffering Town to a less hostile environment before continuing on bikes. The writer chronicles the family's suffering, their extreme conditions, and after a while I just got tired of the litany of suffering. After all, according to the mom, the journey was more important than the world record. Lots of bike travelers catch a bus or train to skip a particularly unpleasant area.

The sections of suffering aside, much of the book describes the beauty of the Americas and the "up close and personal" experience of traveling by bicycle. I enjoyed the book, for the most part, and admire the achievement of the Sathre-Vogel family. Because the book describes the entire route, it is a good reference source to know what awaits you if you choose to make this journey . . . and it may just convince you that you don't have to pedal every since inch of the journey.


Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

The Apple iPhone 6+: Smaller (and Less) Is More

Well, I did it. I bought an Apple iPhone to replace all the electronics (and chargers) I was packing around on my bicycle.

Here are the devices I've accumulated and have been packing on my bicycle:

Kindle eReaderCanon movie/still cameraTracfone (buy minutes of phone time)HP mini computerVerizon MiFi wireless Garmin Edge Touring GPS
What I've Learned So Far

I'm still on the learning edge regarding the iPhone 6+, but I'm very impressed and believe adding a new, monthly "communications utility bill" to my expenses is worth it. Buying the 64G phone should provide me with plenty of space for all my needs. >>Read more on my bicycle blog>>

This a sample piece from Tom Kepler Bicycling. If you find my adventures interesting, subscribe to my blog to receive emails when I post, or sign up via Networked Blogs to have my posts show up on your Facebook timeline.

Book Review: Old Man on a Bicycle: A Ride Across America and How to Realize a More Enjoyable Old Age

The title captures the flavor of this book, which is both compelling and insightful. The book is an excellent blend of description of the ride, the land, and the people, coupled with a life's worth of wisdom about what our journey of life, whether on or off the bicycle, is all about.

"When Don Petterson, a former American ambassador, told family and friends he intended to ride a bicycle from New Hampshire to San Francisco, most of them questioned his judgment, if not his sanity. He was in his seventies, hadn't been on a bike for years, and had never ridden more than a few miles at a time. But, in May 2002, putting doubters-and self-doubt-behind him, Petterson headed west."

Old Man on a Bicycle: A Ride Across America and How to Realize a More Enjoyable Old Age chronicles Petterson's ride, yet it also provides the reader with the distillation of Peterson's experience and research, not only of the ride and its environs but also on aging and how to stay vital. His Amazon Author page is also an interesting read and provides insight into Petterson's writing style. He has also written two books, one about the Sudan and one about Zanzibar, based upon his experience as a US ambassador. "Ambassador on a Bicycle" might have been a better title for the book!

If I understand the chronology correctly, Peterson took his ride across American at age 72 and then wrote the book 12 years later, using his journal of the ride as the focal point of his writing. The book includes journal narration in italics and also ambassadorial analysis and commentary on the terrain and the towns along the ride and more introspective analysis of how Peterson's mind and body hold up during the ride. The commentary includes footnotes. The author has done his research and has provided useful and interesting information about "an old man on a bicycle."

Behind the narration and commentary, or perhaps suffusing it, is the reality that this man rode across America at age 72 and then wrote a very readable book about that experience at age 84. The ride and book are testimonials that life is not over at retirement and that getting old need not be an impediment to living a gracious and meaningful life.



Read the book, and the younger you are, the better.

Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

I've Decided Not to Retire

"So, you're just going to sit around and watch TV?" I was asked when I said I was retiring.

Those words or variations of them led me to believe I am inaccurately representing my plan. People are getting the wrong idea, or maybe they've allowed themselves to fall into the wrong paradigm.

"Yes, I'm retiring at the end of May from my position at Maharishi School as news writer and social media support" was the beginning of my last blog post. I realize now I should have used the word leaving instead of retiring. Much more accurate.

I plan to still write--to pursue contract work and tutoring--and also to spend much more time on my own writing projects. That's not retiring if the word conjures images that lack self-directed purpose.

So, I'm not retiring. This is my formal announcement.

I'm not going to retire if retirement implies inactivity, infirmity, and indecision. I am not over the hill or past my prime, nor have I outlived my usefulness or live in a world that is going too fast for me. No, I'm going into business for myself, or maybe going into the business of my Self. I'll do what I like and like what I do. I'm on my bicycle, and the open road is before me.

The thing is, this world is a wonderful place, and I am surrounded by wonderful people. I'm going to spend more time enjoying myself--and much of that time will be centered around the jobs or tasks I have assigned myself.

Consider it recreation as I re-create my daily schedule. I plan to be the chef, the restaurant owner, and the hungry gourmet; and I'll be dishing up all the achievement and fulfillment this table will hold. Tuck in, trencherman!

Copyright 2015 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved