Danny Mac's Blog, page 8

Mac’s Moments – Why

Hello to all,

At age eighteen, I knew the answer to every question life threw at me. It is too bad life didn’t remain the same, and as I lived, more questions came. There was a frantic search to find the answers on many occasions, but some questions passed without answers. Middle age piled even more questions upon my life without answers. Not having the answers perplexed me greatly.

As the gray hair replaced the blond I had grown up with, having the answers for everything didn’t seem to matter anymore. I learned to accept life with all its questions as they came at me. Questions still enter daily life, but if some go unanswered, no worries. Some questions are never meant to be answered.

I must admit a few questions linger in my life that cause me to pause and think about them. They do not cause great consternation, but I wonder about them.

Why do the traffic lights always turn red when I run late, but if I am early, they remain constantly green? Inevitably, if I am running late, traffic lights turn red. The more critical the appointment, the more lights turn red, and the length of the redlight increases. I have also been known to sit in my car for arriving too early for an appointment because I left plenty of time and all traffic lights were green.

Why do eggs come in large, extra-large, and jumbo but not medium and small? I prefer jumbo eggs with my breakfast. My wife and daughter like baking, and the specifications require large eggs. The question entered my mind when I came home from the store with a carton of large eggs and a dozen jumbos. The store offers large, extra-large, and jumbo eggs. Why are there not small and medium eggs? If oversized people like myself like jumbo eggs, are there not diminutive people asking for smaller sizes?

Why must I notice my wife’s haircut before entering the house? For thirty years, I would enter the house, and before my hat left my head, Tammy would ask me how I liked her haircut. Sometimes, this question came from another part of the house without a direct line of sight. It is as if I could see her new hairdo telepathically from the car traveling home. Please remember that her hair was a foot long, and the stylist trimmed it a half-inch off the ends. I was to cheer for the new coiffure. I changed to a buzz cut when I noticed the combover looked ragged. I let my hair grow to an inch and then sheered it to a quarter inch. It would take her days to see 75% of my hair missing, but I was to notice her 5% within seconds of entering the door.

I realize there are no answers to satisfy these questions, although they still twirl around in my head from time to time. I have speculated about possible answers, but none seem to fit perfectly. It is life, and some things are never meant to be understood.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Ratings

Hello to all,

I am deeply grateful to a kind reader who recently posted my eighteenth 5-star rating on Goodreads for my first book, The Six Loves of Jack Brown. Another 5-star rating appeared on the Amazon page for this book, contributing to 84% of my ratings for this highest achievement. Your support has led my first book to carry 4.8 stars on Amazon and 4.22 stars on Goodreads. I suspect this is true for other authors, but seeing a 5-star rating associated with my book makes my heart sing with joy.

Ratings and reviews are the most common feedback most writers receive for the many hours spent churning out a book for you to read. It is rare for the reader to sit and discuss my book with me. I rely on the simple task of rating my book to find inspiration to continue writing the next book. Receiving a review focuses me on creating my next book while honing my skills to make it better than the first.

I urge everyone reading a book to take the time to rate it on Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever you purchased the story. Don’t worry if your rating is low. The one thing worse than a low rating is no rating at all. If you have a moment, write a review for the book. It can be as small as “I liked it” to a couple of paragraphs pouring your heart out for other readers to see how it affected you. Again, if you didn’t like the book, I would love to hear why so I may correct for next time. If you loved the book, it fills my heart with joy to see your enjoyment of my work.

Most authors do not make much money selling their books and we will never become wealthy. We write for the love of it. We risk our hearts by publishing our work for the world to see. We prefer to see all 5-star ratings but understand some will not be pleased with our story and give less than a stellar rating. Yes, five stars are better than two stars, but we see people giving our creation enough consideration to rate it. It is all good.

I plead with every reader to rate and review the book when finished devouring the story.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Dog Trouble

Hello to all writers,

As mentioned, I like writing first thing in the morning while sipping tea and sporting my pajamas. The creative vibes manifest the best results in the quiet of the morning, but there are interruptions.

The storyline becomes clear in my head as my fingers peck feverishly at the keys. Then, the noise of steps from the craft room announces Tammy is coming and that I must finish the thought before she appears in the kitchen. She begins talking halfway down the steps, asking me a question that has nothing to do with the plot free-flowing from my brain. As she places her empty cup on the counter, she asks, “Did you hear the latest bird call from the feeder in the backyard?” I stare at my screen, shaking my head no.

Then she heads to the living room to find Ginger sleeping soundly on the couch. In a pitched doggy voice, she squeals, “Oh, you are so adorable,” while scratching both sides of her furry cheeks. She continues to rile up the family dog until she is sufficiently awake. My loving wife hightails it up the stairs to her craft room again.

I retrain my thoughts to where I left off and begin pecking for the keys once more. “Bing!” alarms the bell as Ginger wants out, and it is my job since the boss went upstairs. I break from typing once again to let her out.

Late in the morning, my current cache of thoughts runs dry. I place my mug on the counter, waiting for the afternoon tea session, and start for the bedroom. As my foot hits the top step, I hear, “What’s up,” coming from the craft room. In my best M.C. Hammer voice, I sing, “It’s shower time, doo, do, do, dodod, dodod, it’s shower time.” Then, I race into the room and remove my PJs as quickly as possible because I heard the dog crawling off the couch.

“Bing!” rings throughout the house, and I hear footsteps approaching our room. The door bursts open, and Tammy cries out, “She binged!” as the last of my clothes reveal my birthday suit.

“I can’t because I am naked,” comes back to her in what she calls the family smirk. I smile throughout the shower, knowing Ginger gave me revenge for my morning disturbance.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Grammarly

Hello to all writers,

A month ago, I splurged on the complete Grammarly package for writing while editing my newest 42,000-word book. I hoped to refine my book enough to not sound like a total idiot when sending it to my professional editor after completing the plot, character development, and overall story.

I opened the rough draft of The Antidimension in Grammarly, expecting to catch all my mistakes in one day. The little icon in the lower left-hand corner showed 999+. Two hours later, after completing two chapters, the icon still showed more than a thousand problems with my work. To complicate my work, the icon disappeared and refused to show again. I closed the file and reopened it to see the icon nestled in the corner once more. I watched as Grammarly added the blunders until it hit the top number of 999+. I gave up for the day.

I opened the newest book the next day after my morning tea. The icon showed the same unforgiving number of errors. To make things worse, the first chapter had red and blue lines, which I thought was complete the day before. The first two chapters went by quickly as the errors were minor and quick to solve. Chapters three and four became as arduous as the day before. Towards the end of chapter four, the icon vanished from the screen, with all the red and blue lines highlighting my inaccuracies.

I broke the work into chapters on the third day of using this new program. I brought up the new book, opened a new page, and copied chapter one to the blank sheet. It showed ten errors, which I quickly dispatched. Finally, the icon only showed the green G for satisfying the rigorous program. I repeated the process to chapter five, which showed fifty-five errors for 1,700 words. It took a half hour, but the green G appeared as approval of a job well done. I completed the corrections for the entire story over the next week.

The time comes from the program not understanding the overall story. In one scene, the narrator has two mugs ready for coffee. One of the mugs has an ounce of milk and a teaspoon of sugar. Grammarly wanted to change it to one mug with sugar and the other with milk. This would not happen since the narrator likes his black coffee, which is unadorned with extras. His wife likes to cut the bitterness by adding the extras. It takes time to sift through the changes so as not to change the story but to make it easier to read.

My initial thought was that Grammarly was a worthwhile expense for improving my writing. I still have to write the story, but now I have a tool to make it more enjoyable.


If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Boxes

Hello,

This story began thirty years ago in a household far, far away. They were newly married, and the beautiful young bride requested that her freshly minted husband take out the trash. The newly faithful husband grabbed the full plastic bag, hiked from the north side of the building, and down a flight of steps to the south exit. The long trudge through the parking lot did not deter the young lover’s eagerness to help.

Twenty-four hours later, the same pretty wife told her dutiful husband the trash was full once more. This struck the newly married man strangely since, spending many years living alone, the garbage in the house never needed emptying within the same week, let alone the next day. He thought, “She must have done a deep clean.”

He gathered the top of the bag and lifted it from the can. The pull was expecting the weight from a full bag. Because of the absence of mass, the bag almost hit the ceiling. The newlywed husband examined the bag and noticed a large cereal box upright in the bottom and a smaller pasta box teed on top, with one day's worth of regular trash holding it together. The bag was full as being filled to the top, but it could have held much more.

Five years later, the young loving couple moved into their first house. Trash removal had been determined to be the loyal husband’s job. He saw it full one night and took it to their lone trash can. Two people don’t need but one trashcan to go to the street. However, it was packed with two more days before trash day. He removed the small bag that came from a bathroom, and a large box was nestled halfway into the canister. He broke down the box and fit all the garbage into our can with plenty of room to spare.

Today, the beautiful wife piles the boxes on a counter for the “Magic Box Fairy” to break them down and throw them into the recycling bin. Please note that the bins sit just two steps out the back door. However, that would break the “Magic Box Fairy’s” heart if she put the boxes in the bin.

For thirty years, I thought this strange behavior of not breaking down boxes was just a plague set upon me by my loving wife. Then, I started watching FaceBook Reels. This week a guy was showing the boxes piled up by the recycling bin. Another video showed a different man facing boxes piled on an empty bin. A third in a week, a woman taught her daughter that the boxes get piled up just outside the door to the garage.

I am not the lone “Magic Box Fairy” in this world. There should be a club or a union for men to gather and commiserate on our role in the house run by women.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Showertime

Hello,

My morning starts between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m., depending on when my wife or dog interrupts my slumber. Dragging my old bones out of bed, I lumber to the kitchen for my first cup of tea. I gave up coffee twenty-five years ago, but that is a story for another time. Breakfast waits until I run through my messages, including checking for sales for the past twenty-four hours. The YouTube channel plays a Reddit story as the pans heat on the stove for my usual eggs, sausage, and toast for breakfast. A second story entertains me while eating my first meal of the day.

Work begins immediately by opening a story for writing or editing. The quiet of the morning gives me time to brainstorm, as my creative juices are at their peak. I hunt and peck the keys until the story matches the images in my head. It becomes time to dress for the day somewhere between ten and eleven when the cache of creativity runs dry.

A Thirty-year problem amuses me whenever I see the curtain keeping the water inside the tub. There is a lever that I must lift to block off the water to the tub and force it through the showerhead. My best option is reaching around the curtain while it remains closed, exposing only my hand in the shower arena. I turn on the water to my preferred temperature, then lift the lever.

On the other hand, Tammy opens the curtain that removes the protection and sticks her whole body into the showerhead's aim. She lifts the lever and sets the water to a much higher temperature. However, the temperature of the first blast of water from the nozzle measures around absolute zero degrees. A fridged scream fills the house, “You always leave the level up when you get out of the shower.”

Since learning the consequences of starting the shower with the lever up as a young man, I have followed my prescribed shower method to avoid the negative 700-degree water. To this day, because I forget once or twice a year to push the level down when finishing my shower, I have my protocol when beginning. She prefers to rely on her tried-and-tested method of yelling at me after the fact. Here is a prime example for young people who wonder what marriage looks like after thirty years.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Wedding Vows

Mac’s Moments – Wedding Vows

Hello,

Today, one month ago, we celebrated thirty years of marriage. Over the past month, our vows came to mind, and I mulled them over. It would seem we have done reasonably well in achieving the lofty goals of our vows. Love is a definite yes; we love each other and try to show it daily. Honor was a little less effective over the years, but for the most part, we show honor to each other in everything we do. We managed through the worst while celebrating, the better. Through sickness, we cleaned up after each other and enjoyed our healthy days immensely. We started relatively poor as we struggled through the last year of college and became wealthy enough to retire together. The fidelity of our marriage is a hallmark forever.

However, there are several parts of the vows my wife heard that I didn’t. The first that comes to mind is removing all things that creep and crawl through the house. On our first warm spring day together, a scream, “Spider,” permeated the apartment, scaring me from my chair. The sheer terror etched in this warning gave me the idea of a six-foot high with two-foot fangs behemoth of a spider sucking the life out of my bride. I reached for the driver out of my golf bag. “Okay,” I told myself, “it can’t be that big.” A paper towel should be sufficient for an early spring spider.

Entering the bedroom, she pointed at the wall, almost crying, “There.”

I could not see the object of her near-death experience and followed her point. The itsy-bitsy spider of childhood song is on the far wall, about halfway up. This killer of children and wives was no bigger than a pinhead. Using the tip of my forefinger, I vanquished the foe with a mighty tap that was no harder than trying to gain someone’s attention in a noisy bar. She hailed me as her hero for saving her from the jaws of the villainous pest.

My wife gave birth to a beautiful daughter who quickly became a daddy’s girl. The dear ole dad read to her every night, gave her baths, and comforted her in troubling times. Around five years old, I taught her how to kill spiders. Something happened before she turned ten, and she was now becoming her mother. This included a deep fear of bugs, flies, and especially spiders. I am now the knight in shining armor protecting both women in the house from any woman-eating spiders that might enter it.

I don’t remember the preacher stating it was my job, but over the years, my wife and my friends' wives confirmed that killing spiders in the house was part of the vows the day I said, “I do” to my wife.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Editing

Hello,

This week found me deep into the editing process of my next fantasy book two months after completing the rough draft. Fourteen chapters saw many corrections from my haphazard approach to putting my thoughts into words. Numerous times where it should have read “off,” only “of” appeared. One paragraph had present tense, while the next showed past tense. A few sentences carried past and present, but the plot was established. I made it all to have past tense and to document history. This added very little to the length of the book.

Once the initial edit is completed, I will delve into a thorough review for plot holes, incongruities, and errors in the timeline. This process often leads to expanding small scenes into more descriptive portraits of the action, significantly increasing the word count. I repeat this review process three or four times, with a week or more breaks, to ensure a fresh perspective each time. In the meantime, I've also been working on a collection of short stories, all of which are undergoing the same rigorous editing process.

The final round of edits, which will start this summer, will add and enrich the characters' actions. This includes bringing out their personality, temperament, and intellect. This allows the reader to know what happened and how the actor feels during the action. The color of the portrait comes alive in the round of edits and expands the story with emotion. The book expands by a few thousand words, enriching the story with passion, excitement, and sentiment.

I still need a title for this book, but I am thinking of “The Devil’s Gambit," which is one of the chapter titles. Coming up with a title is one of the most complex parts of writing a book. This and the blurbs for the back of the book always cause me the most distress.


If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Pop Tribute

Hello,

On Tuesday evening, Tammy received a phone call from hospice with the news we had been expecting - her eighty-nine-year-old father had lost his battle with brain cancer. Although the news was not unexpected, it still caused deep grief and sadness in the house. Our family knew that his suffering was over, but the loss of a loved one was never easy to bear.

Tammy's mother (MIL) was heartbroken to hear that her fifty-five-year marriage had come to an end with "death do us part." She tried to be strong while we settled the details with the funeral home, but upon identifying her husband's remains, she broke down again. We did not let mother-in-law go through this trial alone; I fetched her rolling chair from the truck as Tammy offered a shoulder to cry on.

Ronald L. Davis, Tammy's father, was a kind, generous man with a unique personality. He loved to sing melodies with made-up words as he drummed on his recliner to music that only played in his head and then he watched the birds come to his feeder, which he always kept full.

Over the past twenty years of sharing our home with Pop and MIL, he did his part by helping around the house. He loved cutting their two acres of grass, and even though he never had a straight line in any of his cuts, he mowed down every blade of grass. I think his enjoyment of the mower stemmed from the enjoyment of the quiet solitude of thoughts while riding the lawn tractor. Nothing could be heard over the engine and the spinning blades except the thoughts of the driver.

I first met him in 1975 at a Howard Johnson in our hometown but never called him Pop until I married his daughter. I brought her home from our first date as he was cooking breakfast, not a good start to our relationship. Then she had me over for dinner. While tending the chicken over the charcoal grill, he cracked a dad joke and we became friends over corny jokes.

We always shared a beer or two whenever we got together. That is until I married his daughter. He indulged quite heavily that night to the point that many comments flowed over the next thirty years regarding his antics on the dance floor. After the ceremony, his daughter moved in with me, and then he stopped drinking. My wife claimed that it was just a coincidence and I knew not to argue with her.

We will miss him dearly, and his absence will be felt for a long time to come. May God hold him with comfort in his loving arms and bring peace to our family in this time of mourning.

I edited my next fantasy on Monday and Tuesday. The only writing accomplished since then is this blog about a kind old man who passed away this week.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac

Mac’s Moments – Promoter Epidemic

Hello,

I had a digital promoter DM me this week. He asked directly and politely if I was interested in using him to run a promo for me. His upfront proposition took me aback. At first, I went to ban him like I do all the other marketing experts contacting me with dishonest approaches. After thinking about it, I answered, “No, thank you,” He replied, “Your Welcome.”

This was just a drastic change from the months of disreputable whizzes starting with, “Oh great author, your book is amazing.” The insincerity dripped from their opening message like a one-toothed used car salesman stating the car was only driven by a little old lady. However, this young man started with “Sir” and asked openly and honestly about my promotional needs. He didn’t blow smoke up my butt, nor did he try underhanded tactics. I answered as respectfully as he treated me.

This spark of humanity happened during a week when many “Authors” contacted me to collaborate on our work, only to find out they wanted me to sign up for their “person” who promoted their books to gain thousands of reviews. In the epidemic of DM falsehoods five “Authors” started by asking what genre do I write. Then asked for my link even though they contacted me through an ad with a link to my books. I pointed out they liked the link just before they DM me and I heard nothing back. Being somewhat fed up, the last when they asked for my link, I told them I could do their promotions for a small fee. I never heard back from any of them. It didn’t help that I blocked them from contacting me again. The conversations mirror each other so precisely, that I cannot help but think there is a school teaching them this approach to scamming authors.

The epidemic became acknowledged when I noticed an author group this week posted they would ban anyone offering promotional expertise to its members. I applaud the administrators of the group. Then I woke up Thursday morning to ten DMs waiting for me from “Authors” and expert digital marketers. I banned them all even if they started a new page with a different name. It is an option with Facebook. I cannot remember the last time there was a DM from a person just wanting to hi or learn more about my books, but I am thinking of shutting down my messages for a while.

It was a life-happening week and I didn’t do much writing, editing, or promoting of my books. I’ll get back to it next week.

If you like my blogs, please subscribe for email distribution at www.dannymacauthor.com.

God bless,
Danny Mac