Back in 1997 I attended my first Wisconsin Writers Institute.  I had a dream of writing fiction one day. I was raised in a small Midwestern town that instilled a “keep your feet on the ground” approach to life.  Attending the conference was a gift to myself to “someday” work on the dream.

That first conference inspired me to take the next step – to take a writing course.  I knew I needed to work on the basics.  Even Picasso admitted that he first had to learn traditional painting before he could re-define modern art with cubism and other innovations.

I found a class that met once a month in the basement of a local senior center from noon to 1:30 pm.  The instructor was Dr. Laurel Yourke.  Her approach was to teach one craft item and then assign us to write 2-3 pages on any topic that would demonstrate the craft item. 

During each class she selected several to read their piece out loud and then solicit comments from class members.  Dr. Yourke had very strict rules on making comments and suggestions positive and not negative.  Dr. Yourke made comments on each piece that she returned to each person at the close of class.  Most of the class members were already retired, I was the only person still working a full time day job.

I struggled the first year.  Frankly, my writing was terrible.   At the end of the first year Dr. Yourke asked me to consider taking another path and give up writing.  I begged her to give me one more year.  In the second year I worked on writing with more tenacity than anything else I had taken on.  At the close of the year Dr. Yourke told me I was the most improved member of the class.
Since then Dr. Yourke has retired and teaches private classes.  I re-united with her at a conference last fall.  I was proud to give her copies of my Irish Troubles Series.  She invited me to attend her select classes in 2019.

I will be attending what she calls a “weekender” in April with a small number of other students.  I must submit four pages by mid-February.  I have now come full circle with my first writing instructor.  I am honored and delighted to be accepted into her exclusive group of students.  Who could have guessed back in 1998?
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I have come full circle.

The Ides of January slipped past last week with notice or fanfare.  Everyone is familiar with the Ides of March – the fatal day for Julius Caesar when the Roman Senate voted with knives and ended Caesar’s rule and his life.  Since that event the Ides of a month has gotten a bad rap.

Had it not been for Caesar’s demise the Ides wouldn’t hold any particular meaning.  In the old Roman calendar the “Ides” is simply the middle of the month.  That means that the actual date of the “Ides” varies with the number of days in the month.  This year the Ides of February is the 14th – Valentine’s Day so it is a double whammy day.

This all has nothing to do with writing or the writing life.  It is just a little detour down another path for my reader’s amusement.
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Until next week . . . the 30th!  

It’s official; with the entrance of 2019 I am writing my fourth novel.  The first three novels are a series, The Irish Troubles Series, and follow the journey of Ian Murphy to cleanse his soul from his role in the Irish Republican Army.
My fourth novel will be radically different.  My first step in writing a novel is the “idea”.  As usual the initial inspiration is external.  I was driving and listening to a story about Pack Horse Librarians on NPR when I realized it was the perfect subject for a novel.

I wasn’t sure about the topic so I queried two of my writing teachers and received rave responses from both.  Based on their reaction I began initial research into the Pack Horse Library Project to make sure I found it interesting.
I found the topic very interesting and could imagine a fiction work about a woman desperate for work after her husband dies in a coal mining accident.  Not a bad inciting incident.

I worried that the setting needed to be eastern Kentucky that I’ve driven through but am not familiar with the culture and the detail landscape.  To solve that our summer vacation will be to visit eastern Kentucky, stay at a state park and roam the Daniel Boone National forest.

My writing has three regular parts.  First, I know the first scene in the book and I know the ending before writing word one.  Second, I “see” each scene before I commit to paper.  This is the reason my writing is called “cinematic”.  Finally, I research and write at the same time.
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I’ll be taking a special writing class in April from Dr. Laurel Yourke and I need to turn in 4 pages by February 15th.  I need goals to work and establish a pace for myself.  I plan on having a draft scene one by February 15th.
   

My property is a certified National Wildlife  -  Wildlife Habitat, which means we supply food, shelter and water to our bird population all year round.  In the spring we put out grape jelly for the Baltimore Oriels which attracts every ant in the county.

In the winter we provide both bird seed and bird suet.  My wife has a recipe for the suet that includes:  lard, peanut butter, bird seed and oatmeal that the birds are crazy about.  The birds can eat a block of suet in three days during the frigid Wisconsin winter.

The problem is that squirrels also have a love of the suet and compete with the birds, especially the woodpeckers.  Squirrels have voracious appetites and can consume an entire block of suet in a day.

My suet feeder hangs from the very top of a green, metal pole about a foot from the pole.  Below the feeder is a clear, dome shaped plastic baffle designed to block squirrels climbing up the pole to the feeder.  I also have a black, metal pyramid shaped baffle that claims to stop squirrels in their tracks.  Neither work.
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 As I begin 2019 I’ve learned two lessons.  First, squirrels are clever and tenacious.  In my writing life I need to be as tenacious as a squirrel.  Second, I will feed both the birds and the squirrels.            

The first days of a new year are always days of reflection for me.  I’ve written about resolutions in the past and don’t want to repeat my harping about that custom.

In the past year I have learned to live by the numbers.  There are three important numbers in my life:  blood sugar (A1C); blood pressure; cholesterol.  You notice I didn’t list age as an important number.  I’ve learned that age is mostly a state of mind the actual chronological number is not significant.

Of the three important numbers the one that almost ruined my life in 2018 is blood sugar.  I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 5 years ago.  During that time I’ve “managed” my diabetes through lifestyle and diet.  There is no cure (yet) for type 2 diabetes but it can be managed and life is normal.

Life turned inside about June and stayed that way until October.  In June my average blood sugar soared to 241 and my AIC to 8.8.  Preferred readings for both are <130 blood sugar and 7.0 AIC.  In the spring at my annual check-up my doctor had a heart to heart talk with me and explained that diabetes is a progressive disease and that I could expect to be prescribed insulin.

I viewed this as defeat.  I had worked to avoid taking insulin for almost six years.  Stress tipped the balance in my life.  With stress the body produces cortisol and epinephrine which tells the liver to release sugar to either “fight or flight”.
 
On October 24th I met a diabetic nurse, learned how to inject insulin and was convinced to adopt the Paleo lifestyle.  By November 21st in a follow-up visit to the diabetic nurse I had cut my blood sugar number in half and lowered my A1C to 7.7.  My blood sugars now are consistently <130. 
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I test my blood sugars twice a day to know how my body is tracking.  It has made a miraculous difference in my life.  Living by the numbers has given me renewed life.