Reading & Writing

If you have read my blog, then you know that I am a writer, and for the millions who haven't read my blog, I am a writer but I am also a reader. A voracious reader. I went back and looked at my reading habits for the last six months and I have read 58 novels. That averages out to a little more than two a week.


I have decided to start sharing my finds of good reading, some great, with you. I am not going to give you a review but simply let you know when I come across what I consider a good read. I don't read reviews myself, mostly because 99% of them give away too much of the book. I don't even read the inside flap of the book. I don't want to know anything about the story, I want to discover it all for myself. Here are some of the ways I decide on a book; knowing the author,looking at the cover, reading the back, and reading the first chapter of the book.

I will tell you I lean toward thrillers, but I read all kinds of books about all kinds of things. I read mostly fiction but do read some non-fiction. I am interested in a great story that is well told and I will only tell you about books that I enjoy, I have no interest in slamming something I didn't like.

Next post will have a few of the good books I have read lately. Stay tuned for future adventures.

National Poultry Day

Today is National Poultry Day. I wasn't going to write about this but my wife egged me on and I knew if I didn't, I would probably end up with egg on my face so here it is.I'm not sure what we are supposed to do or how we are to celebrate it, but here are few ideas. One thing is, you could go visit the National Poultry Museum in Bonner Springs, Kansas. (Here's a link for Backyard Poultry telling all about it.) It looks like a fascinating place if you are a fox. Another is to make a list of every "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke you can think of and have it framed to be hung in your kitchen. There is even a "Why did the chicken cross the road?" website to help you out.

You could also adopt a chicken for a pet or put on a chicken suit and tell everyone your name is Chicken Little and that the sky is falling. (I did a tv commercial once where I had to wear a chicken suit so I really don't recommend doing this as they are very hot.) How about talking like Foghorn Leghorn for a day or throwing away your alarm clock and hiring a rooster? These are just a few suggestions and I'll bet you can come up with many more to do or say, unless you chicken out.

I personally think the day came about to honor the world's first and greatest debates, and there have been many; the Lincoln/Douglas, Kennedy/Nixon, less filing/great taste, to be or not to be, Coke/Pepsi, to name a few, but the original debate has always been; which came first, the chicken or the egg.

I do want you to know, I had to scramble to get this together but I hope you enjoyed it.

For future adventures, stay tuned.

Writing Woes

One of the things that gives me the most pleasure in my life is writing. Writing makes me feel alive. It also gives me a feeling of accomplishment like nothing else. I have been writing for a long time yet it wasn't until a few years ago that I would actually call myself a writer. Writing was always that other thing I did, not what I really was doing. I can remember when I was in high school and the principal would come and get me and say "Uh, we have a assembly program coming up but we don't have anything" and I would write them something to do.

I have written two screenplays, a three-act play, sketch comedy for television, lot's of jokes for myself and other comedians including Jay Leno, poems, a recorded country song and currently working on my second novel.

So the question is....Why is it so damn hard? I can find more trivial, meaningless things to do than sit down and write and yet it gives me enormous happiness.

Oh well, back to the grindstone.
More adventures in writing later.

Fun in the Studio with Sound Breaking Ground

An update on the fun in the studio. I love working in the studio with talented people and I am very fortunate to be working with some extremely talented folks right now. The band is called Sound Breaking Ground or SBG as I refer to them most of the time. They have been together as a band for about four years but they all have been playing music for years and it shows. Speaking of shows, their live show is incredible.

Recording a song is like painting a painting. It comes a few layers at a time. About mid-way through you are wondering if this is going to be something or not, but as the layers come together and the picture starts to come into focus, it's like magic. At times it is very tedious and nerves can get frayed quickly when you have to work on one tiny section over and over but, when it finally comes together it is a feeling of great joy.

To me, being in the studio and bringing a song to fruition from beginning to end is the ultimate creative process in action. Don't I look active on the couch?