Howdy,

(Continued from yesterday’s post … )

Sixth grader Jake Jones had never, in any conscious way, thought about it. Playing basketball in its many forms, Jake hadn’t ever wondered when, or if, his dad would visit him while he was out there.

His mom he did think about once in awhile as he spent time doing his own thing on the court, but, no, he didn’t daydream about his dad engaging him in the game he played while his dad worked. Or rested from working.

He’d already kind of known it, from visits, from time around Grandpa in almost any setting, but quickly after moving to town Jake could see that his dad had learned work ethic from Jake’s grandpa. And Jake’s dad working for his dad in the tire shop didn’t look like an easy day’s vacation. Even though, strangely to Jake, both his grandpa and dad did seem to enjoy it somehow. Hours and hours of basketball gave Jake a sweaty smile. In the tire shop, too many minutes made Jake ache. With waiting and watching not much better: that made him restless.

But if Jake had had to, like he was about to, with his dad leaning there, solid and sure against that chest-high chainlink fence, Jake would’ve figured he’d never see his dad on the court, watching him from the sidelines.

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Howdy,

I shared with you a couple of days ago I am reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, (a book containing an insightful and generous tone of open, honest, and well-crafted advice) and today I read through a section in which he gives a short writing assignment (the first I’ve seen and one of the few if not the only one I’d suspect because he writes, “This isn’t a textbook, and so there aren’t a lot of exercises, but I want to offer you one now …”).

The job for the writing exercise is a few pages of drafting “unplotted narration” upon a twist on backstory of a situation he supplies. Emphasized is the notion of situation over plotting, story over plot.

What’s quite an offer is, the famous author gives invitation for contact in sharing the exercise with him on his website and some indication that he’d look forward to reading what he could get to and even respond to a few of those instances. Certainly no guarantee, but a nice gesture.

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Howdy,

So two days ago I posted a revised (first editing pass) version of the beginning of the Jake Jones serial story (it’s going to need a better — or at least more complete — name, a more decided title if nothing else) that I am currently grappling with to smooth out into a novella for publishing in book form. I’m excited and hopeful to have another book available on Amazon at the end of this effort.

Ironically, just about right after I posted that I jumped back in on that part for another run at revising. I started right back at the beginning because I’m reading Stephen King’s book on writing, titled On Writing. That is, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I’ve never read Stephen King, because horror’s not my genre, and not everything in On Writing is my thing either, but I heard it recommended highly for writers and it does have great insight and instruction on writing, particularly fiction.

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Howdy,

Sick today so good to have words in store.

—Billy

Reading. Writing. Living.

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Howdy,

A check in on our Jake Jones story: here’s the start’s first revision, about doubled in length from before …

CHAPTER ONE

It was odd, really.

Odd the way the game of basketball grabbed young Jake Jones’ attention. And held it.

Grasped, like a jump ball certain to happen. A tangle and strong hold. No way either side would let go. Not before the whistle blew.

It hadn’t taken long for the game to wrap itself around Jones, and Jake was constantly active in getting ahold of it. Working — if it could be called that, as the idea of work never crossed Jake’s mind with basketball — to cultivate skill in the game.

A lot of it to do with handles. Dribbling the basketball, keeping it close and to himself.

Close and handled until he was ready to shoot it.

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Howdy,

This blogging every day thing is hard, but it’s also good.

And it feels like it’s paying off. Certainly I’m getting more writing done.

And faster. Which is good for me, because (I believe that I have to admit) I tend to move slowly — let’s call it methodical, can we do that? Thanks so much.

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Howdy,

Oh, it’s good to go to church on a Sunday morning.

You’ll have a chance this Christmas.

—Billy

Reading. Writing. Living.

P.S. Good stuff today.

Please subscribe to mailing list for the Reading Writing Living journey we’re on and get the goodies that’ll come from time to time with my newsletter. Thank you.

Howdy,

Thankfully, I’m not writing about having had to slam the brakes for safety.

However, car brakes slammed me.

I am having to have the brakes on our family vehicle replaced for safety.

Today — it’s happening as I write — both the front and back brakes are being reset.

The estimate hit too many hundreds of dollars. After handing over my keys to the evil man — who speaks in numbers, wait times and dollar signs — and staggering away from the counter, I shuffled down the street to where I sit. Ordering and eating a cheap breakfast, writing, and wondering what the “damages” will be.

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