Shedding Light on the Beginnings of Slobbers Story

 As you can see in a few previous posts, I had a few false starts upon discovering my old blog was still functional.  I guess I had the same experience with Slobbers story. But perseverance willed out. Three books have been published.

There is some truth  to the saying people come and go from your life for a reason.  I guess that's why I've been fortunate enough to meet some bona fide writers in my time.  I've become good friends with a few of them

What do friends do?  They talk.  Especially female friends. Naturally, in discussing books, I finally let it be know that I had this "spoof" locked away and was immediately told to get it written out.  Would they read it? Absolutely.

I had no clue where to begin so I just hen pecked away on the old computer, wrote a half manuscript and half outline. This was all the way back in 2018. The first friend I showed it to gave me some invaluable advice and, contrary to my nature, I actually took it. Advice like what people were and were not reading those days, whether it should be first person or third, that my characters must be diverse, etc. She also told me no one was reading spoofs of monster movies.  I wasn't sure I believed that but I decided to trust her.

What's the saying? Trust but verify?  So I showed it to another friend who promptly told me it would make a great kids story.

A kids story?  I felt lost again.  I even contacted a much younger friend who, too, was a Saint Bernard enthusiast and asked him if he'd like to collaborate.  I felt he could put the kid into the kids far better than I could.  We got started, but as happens, life intervened and that association was not to be.

I took a deep breath and told myself it was a good story and if I was going to have to stumble through it on my own, so be it. I sat back down at my computer and began again...

New Beginnings for an Old Lady

 I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks at which time I will begin a new decade and most likely my last.  Who knows. 

That being said, I've decided to revive this blog and invite you into the wild and wonderful life I've had since taking up writing couple of years ago at the ripe old age of 78.

For years I had harbored a story in my head that  formed when we were living in a time during which high school athletes were into performance enhancers,  our gardens were infested with snails, neighborhood kids were always up to mischief, a brewery brewmaster was a neighbor and we had a Saint Bernard.

How does all that, one day years and years later, become a series of children's adventure /mysteries with the Saint Bernard, Slobbers, doing the telling?  If you're curious, stick around, for I will be telling the tale. Dogwalk Musings still fits, in a sense, though those walks are long gone.  They are missed.  The dogs, however, are still with me in my head and my books.  I'd like to share the journey with you.

The Good Old Days and Writing About Them

 It is always gratifying to me, as a writer, to see readers from other countries post pictures of my books  on social media showing where they have been discovered.

As much as I want success for my Saint Bernard hero, his pals and his human counterparts, I find myself wondering if at some point we might be "canceled". Probably not, since I am an unknown except to the owners of Saint Bernards I've been cultivating, but still...

The reason I wonder is because the basics of my stories, geared to the seven to twelve crowd, is a reflection of the values with which I grew up.  Girls were girls, boys were boys.  There were Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and they didn't intermingle.

Kids were allowed to play freely because their parents trusted them.  Parents also couldn't imagine being turned in to social services for having allowed their kids to do so. Heck, I don't even think there was anything known as "social services" in those days!

I'll keep this post short and to the point.  Otherwise I could write a book about the differences between the ages.  I just remember when my Mom was getting up in years she'd so often say, "I lived in the good old days." It wasn't meant to be a cliche.  It was a statement of fact. Now I find myself saying the same thing.

 Time flies when you're having fun.  I received a notice from Google about a problem with this site so I came over to have a look. I had no idea better than two years had passed since I last wrote a post.

Wow.  Back in 2018 the country was already being torn apart with political strife.  Trump was raging uncontrolled and uncontrollable through his presidency acting every bit the self-indulgent man-child he is.

Charles Krauthammer had recently passed away. A man of intellect and courage.  I miss him still, today. And what have I been doing?  Well, I gave up blogging because it was becoming more and more difficult to remain civil in an uncivil society. I took to writing adventure/mystery stories for kids, hoping somehow that by inserting the values I was taught in my formative years might subtly resonate with those who read the books - be they youngsters or adults.

My hero is a Saint Bernard named Slobbers. That should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this who might also remember the early days of this blog.  It began as a recitation of things I thought about while walking my dog - yes, a Saint Bernard.

All that being said, I just thought I'd pop in and say hello.  I'm finding losing myself in my stories a bearable diversion from what has happened to us and our country over these years. Forget COVID.  I have no doubt the country would be just as divided if the pandemic hadn't hit.  We were well on our way back then.  It has, however, made the human condition worse.  People losing their jobs, businesses and even their lives due to government over-reach and hunger for power.

I find it hard to believe and harder to swallow how once respected people in government have devolved to the level they have.  Let me include the media in that. 

I'm way past young and optimistic now.  My hope is that I can live what I have left of life in as productive a way as possible. I may appear and opine now and then now that I've rediscovered a past self.  If anyone is really interested, leave a comment. Not that not leaving one will really matter.  You'll do what you're going to do as will I. Hope to see someone though, just for the fun of it!

We Will Always Have An America

I can't believe the last time I was over here on my blog was in August.  I just could not handle the decline of civility within the ranks of our media and politicians any more.  I had to walk away from it.  Uttering opinion, any opinion, became so dangerous it didn't seem worth it.  I believe that is still the case.

No matter how tattered and torn our country has become though I do see glimmers of hope.  Unfortunately it comes under the worst of conditions.  Natural disasters.  There is a lesson to be learned.

The southeast has been inundated with storm damage be it winds or floods. The west has been devastated by wild fires.  All seem to have become an annual occurrence.  So where is the hope?

It's certainly not with the fiasco in Congress over the Kavanaugh nomination nor the Russian collusion investigation which dominates the news.  That bit of nastiness seems never to stop.  While Kavanaugh is finished, at least for the time being, and Russia rolls on, the Democrats are salivating over winning the House and already boasting about the havoc they are just waiting to unleash.

Meanwhile out in the America, where I live, the people are showing that ultra politics have no bearing on the lives they live.  No politics are involved what-so-ever in the selfless acts of people helping people.  The latest example of course are the fires in California.  Where thank you signs are posted everywhere in a heartfelt hat tip to the firemen who have been on the lines for what seems like forever.  Thank you.  Imagine that!

Then yesterday, perhaps the crowning moment, was seeing the fire crews coming in from the line, cleaning up then going on to serve the fire victims Thanksgiving dinner. This, you political and media types in your bubble, is America.  It's what we're all about.  Not what you want us to be for sure, but what we are.  People.  Doing the best we can and helping those in need as best we can.  No thanks to you.

I salute all the volunteers who came out to help.  Guy Fieri and the other celebrity chefs who and lent their talents, to the celebrities in Malibu who came out to help others.  Didn't it feel good to leave politics behind?  Didn't it feel good to see the gratitude shown by the people being helped.  Not because of your celebrity status, but because you helped.

I hate to think we've sunk to the point we need these disasters to remind us what America and Americans are really all about but at least it is something good that has risen from the dregs of disaster.

Remember those signs.  Thank you. No one had to ask for the help.  It was there.   It was their job, yes.  But no one had to put a gun to the heads of those who have those jobs.  They took them because that's the type of person they are.  Just plain ole Americans who are what they are and do what they do.

Thank you!