​I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that I infrequently receive comments on my blog posts and those I do receive are from friends and colleagues.  Except one type of comment I receive.  The comments I receive do not appear in the comment section of my blog.  I receive comments directly to my personal gmail address.  I have a separate web e-mail account embedded in my website and I’ve never received a comment on that e-mail site.
I received an e-mail on March 21st with the subject of “reply.”  The post, as many of them are, come from an organization, not a person.  This post was from the college paper org on my post “Never Forget”.  I posted the blog “Never Forget” on 9/3/16 and didn’t receive the comment until 6 months later.  Below I’ve shown the exact blog comment:
                Study article to know what he wants us to remember maybe his advice will help
                Us to make our future bright in our career.  I would to tell everyone to know what
                is the purpose of telling us by that writer because his message is very special
                for us.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that the post was either written by an English as second language person – or a machine.  Second, the post is non-sense and doesn’t have full sentences.  Finally, the original post was about remembering 9/11 and my firefighter son’s re-enactment of the climb in Dallas, Texas.  The comment has nothing to do with the content of the post.
Where do such odd comments originate?  I don’t know.  I find them both a nuisance and insulting.  If I had a way to block them, I would.
Anyone in blog land have any idea on the source of such inane comments?    
   

​Last week, one rare sunny morning in Wisconsin, I wondered how many blogs I’ve written since I created my website several years ago.  Well, I’ve written 181 so this is number 182.  Imagine that.  I’ve managed to write a few words on 182 different topics.  Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t even think I was capable of writing on that many topics, but there you have it, I’ve done it.
When I started posting a blog nearly four years ago, there were two options.  One option was to write a blog on wordpress and hope to attract readers.  The second option was to nest a blog within my author’s website.  The hope was that the blog would act like a magnet to my website, drawing readers in and hopefully building a fan base.
My website numbers have been good and fairly steady over the years.  I’ve written about that.  I’ve found it impossible to judge the success of my weekly blog.  I probably haven’t received more than 10 blog comments in almost four years and all of them have been by people I already know.  I’ve asked my fellow writer/blogger friends and they have had similar experiences.
I will say that writing a weekly blog serves to keep the ‘ol creative pump primed.’  It also allows me to spout off once in a while about something that bothers me – a psychological housecleaning.
There you have it for another week.  Blog number 182 posted.   

​Today is the Ides of March.  This date became historic because Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate on this date.  This is your thimble of history for today.
Last weekend we moved our clocks ahead by one hour to begin Daylight Saving Time.  First, you should know that Daylight Saving(s) Time is incorrect.  You can look it up for yourself or trust me on this.  In many parts of the world it is called “Summer Time”.   The idea behind moving the time ahead by one hour is that it “saves” time in the evenings when we are all home from toiling at work.  In the depth of summer here in the Midwest the sun sets about 9:00 pm.  If we didn’t move our clocks ahead the sun would set at 8:00 pm.
This should teach us all a lesson.  There is Time with a capital T and there is time, or more accurately how we measure time.  The fact that we invented Daylight Saving Time shows the genius of our species and how we control our perception of the world.  The sun actually sets in the pattern dictated by our rotation and pitch and position relative to the sun.
The term Daylight Saving Time is confusing and misleading.  We don’t “save” anything.  There is no physics that allows sunlight to be “saved”.  Einstein confused matters worse because he taught us that time is a dimension.  In fact there are four dimensions that are most accurately described as “space-time”.  Einstein also taught us that time isn’t static, it is elastic.  Time stretches or compresses based on how fast we are traveling.  The faster we travel – time slows down.  Now that is a nifty trick.
What I do know about Daylight Saving Time is that I lose an hour of sleep.  It disappears – gone – I don’t know where and it screws up my internal clock – called the circadian clock or circadian rhythm.  The circadian clock is unique to each of us controls our sleep/wakefulness cycle during the day.  When we change the clock time it doesn’t match our circadian clock and there’s trouble. 
So, is experiencing an extra hour of sunlight in the evening worth it?  I’m sure each of us has our own answer.  There’s one thing for sure.  In my case, it alters my sleep/wake pattern for about a week.  What is your experience? 

​I’m lucky to have friends who are attentive and interested in my writing life.  Often I’m asked “how is the book coming?”  It would be easy to deflect and say “oh fine”.  I would then get the puzzled look because no one on the planet knows what “oh fine” means – it’s always in context.
Since people are kind enough and interested enough to ask I tell them the truth – whatever that may be.  My current answer is “slow” and then I explain that I’m just in the stage of reading and re-writing for story.  I always explain the difference between ‘re-writing’ and ‘editing’ and in most cases my friends didn’t realize there is a difference.
I am even further honest when I tell them how shocked I was the first time I read through the entire manuscript to discover that the first chapter didn’t have an inciting incident.  I don’t like to get wonky with friends but I’m always asked what an ‘inciting incident is’.  I relate it to their own reading experience of getting “hooked” or having a “page turner”.  I love the “oh” of understanding.
I recall the first reaction my best friend had when he finished Murphy’s Troubles: “How do you come up with all those words?  How many words does your book have?”
That question is more difficult to answer, isn’t it?  If we are truthful, the answer is:  “I really don’t know how I come up with all those words.”  The truth is, it is a mystery of our imagination.  I’ve always thought that what makes us unique as humans is our imagination.  We can imagine the future.  We can imagine something that doesn’t exist and then create it.
So, I think I will imagine my manuscript for Dead Reckoning transforming into a published book, then it will happen by some miraculous process.

​Last week Frank Delaney died unexpectedly of a massive stroke at the age of 74.  Mr. Delaney had an incredible literary and broadcast career.  The National Public Radio network referred to him as “the most eloquent man in the world”.
Anyone can google his name and learn about his incredible accomplishments.  I want to share with readers my experience with Frank Delaney.  In 2014 I was a guest author at the Irish Book and Music Celebration in Chicago.  Mr. Delaney was honored by the event for his literary and broadcast accomplishments.  The event organizer asked if I would be interested in participating on a discussion panel on the topic of why Irish authors/literature appeal to Americans.  I was surprised to be invited to join this discussion, at the time I had published only one historical fiction novel, Murphy’s Troubles.   There are times a person says YES and was one of those times.
I wanted to know who would be on the panel with me so I researched the event website to learn that Frank Delaney would be on the panel.  I was terrified.  I was a novice and a light weight.  Other members of the panel included a professor from Northwestern University in Chicago and a professor and journalist from Trinity College Dublin.  Why was I invited to this panel?  I didn’t have the courage to ask the event organizer but spent weeks researching Irish literature in America.
When the panel was scheduled to begin, I arrived early.  At least I thought I did.  When I arrived all three other panelist were seated and ready to go.  We all exchanged pleasantries.  The discussion leader would pose a question and then allow each of us to respond and take questions from the audience.  I could have been knocked off my chair when Mr. Delaney agreed with my view that Americans were drawn to Irish literature because of story not because of heritage.  I felt affirmed and was surprised that he listened to all the responses from panelist, was thoughtful and a gentleman.
Later that day I was attending another lecture, standing in the back of the room.  Mr. Delaney greeted me and said he enjoyed being on a panel with me.  I asked where he was living and learned he lived near Frank McCourt in Connecticut.  He also told me about his children and grandchildren living in the United States which was the reason he moved to the states, to be close to family.  He was not prentious in any way.  
He was the next speaker and he felt the need to explain his sox.  He wore bright red sox.  He said he had reached the age where he could do whatever he wanted and felt red sox made a statement.  He also said he never had a problem with matching sox when he decided to wear only red sox.  He proceeded to speak without any notes for an hour.  Following his presentation he stayed and answered questions without any time restraint.
I feel fortunate to have this one encounter with “the most eloquent man in the world” who was just a guy who put his pants on one leg at a time, like the rest of us.  His passing is our loss.