See Musings of a procrastinating author Blog. http://hildredbillings.blogspot.com/ . Hilldred, I think it’s a contraption of Hilarious and Dreadful, she says authors should be achieving 1667 words per day to achieve the desired book output. Outrageous, I think one must work at a more reasoned, cautious speed if one is not to exceed one’s one speed limit. Mine sometimes equates to 50 or so, other days it’s even better …butt, never 1667. Yada Yada Yada as they say in Afghanistan, or was it Vietnam. Yes it was there, on a windy knoll surrounded by elephant grass, and the zing of AK-47 bullets that inspiration came. Perhaps it would be remembered better as Forest Gump’s girlfriend misquoted it … “Run! Through the forest, run!” Another expresso might cure this style of writing of mine, but certainly the pressure of a 1667 word day won’t. Yipers! Ok, I know I misspelled a word, but I felt Hilarious and was trying to pull a Sarah Palin. You Betcha!

Hilldred stated on her blog, and this bears repeating, … “I was supposed to be writing a novel, but then I saw a shiny thing.” I can think of nothing more appropriate, and worthy of contemplation. Oops, did I just get distracted?

Inside flap - What can that mean????

Shimi Wazu, Conichiwah, Ohio Gamamazu!  That comes from my class in Ninja … see

http://www.askaninja.com/ - terrific, especially the routine patterned after Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I am the very model of a modern Major General” from HMS Pinafore. Good fun, and such imagination. http://fans.askaninja.com/video/aan-73-modern-major-ninja  … or try DR Tran http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO0kRE5OTZI (Caution, this may be over the top.) Also see Mordin sings Scientist Salarian… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9CUqJh98sE&NR=1 

Trolls, Ninjas, Jinn, especially the Jinn … they have provided spiritual and life modeling for DP Tolan. One could consider them a vital life force, as perhaps geomancy or the silence of the lemmings. Three cheers for Dodo birds!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

A tribute to my eldest brother, AKA Gomes, Neanderthal, Rastus McGillicutty and occasionally, Himself. He has been an inspiration, and overhanging threat much of my life. He can be jovial, physically intimidating, pose as an uncaring conservative positioned to the right of Attila the Hun, or a most profound philosopher. Shame I can never figure out which he is ... really.

His vocabulary is sprinkled with the refuse of Webster’s dictionary, a testament to being confined for a week with his two brothers to a cot while they all suffered through the whooping cough, then as the story varies - measles, mumps, dysentery, rabies, falling arches, and the gout. This was before yours truly was born, back in the Dark Ages – circa 1940 or 41. They were kept amused, as Dad had purchased a set of the Encyclopedia Americana. Typical words now escaping his lips include … plethora, asymptotic, hyperbole, nugatory, pontificate, thoracic, anthropoids, Australo pithecus, prithipanticus erectus, Neanderthal, and Impertinent twerp! One can assume that an insufferable windbag applies to me, but then one must be deciduous or coniferous to decide. Abstemious comes to mind, but one must be circuitous and reticent to offer an opinion; this might indicate symptoms of an abnormal proclivity. What, indeed, would the authorities say of this? One could be schnockered, or be ignominious or just pontificate. One must, of necessity, speak deferentially of Himself, in dulcet tones! Could one be obstreperous, or even proverbial? One must recognize that flatulence is rampant … Flatulentia rampantus est!!! One must recognize a certain Fondness for the Grape! Indubitably!!! Ratzen Katzen Fratzen!!! I can fix this; where is my hoozeejigger?

Stories persist, spoken in hushed tones that it is true, but one wonders - Are the Lobsters ready yet, dear? The Pooja of Baloop spoke thusly; “What is an appurtenance?” One has, of course, to exert due diligence, lest negligence be profligate and rampant. That situation would be tantamount to nugatoriousity.

Character interviews …

Author - Can you tell us Marcus a bit about yourself, and how you feel about being a principal character in this first book of a trilogy?

“Well, thank you. About me … well, I grew up in Rome, the son of a prominent legislator and former Legionnaire. This of course gave me a certain world view as you might say. We always spoke as though Rome ruled the world, and would to the ends of time. I felt this as a definition of life in my times. 

 I feel privileged to lead off in the book. I felt it placed my life in perspective, to have given birth as it were, to the antagonists in subsequent chapters … and books. I hope the story will go on.

Author – “What did you feel were the most rewarding aspects of your character?”

“My interaction with other characters was the most enjoyable, especially in being able to name two sons. Each was named after an ancient God of the desert, Gilgash after Gilgamesh, and Shama after Shamash; we felt this was our way of blessing their paths. Besides that I enjoyed fighting my way across Gaul to far off lands across the sea.”

Author – “Didn’t you feel that war was dangerous, of little worth to the peoples you encountered?”

“No, quite the opposite. I feel peace is overrated. War is action; challenge… the struggle of life versus death. It creates its own vitality.”

Well, while stumbling through the basement file cabinets, in pursuit of a candied yam or a sugar plum fairy… my notes from a course once taught. It was at Germanna Community College and the course syllabus called it … “The American Experience in Vietnam.” While looking for course materials to donate to a Military Museum in Largo, MD reams of material, even notes on special guests that came as guest speakers were discovered. One speaker was the last Vietnamese Chief of Naval Operations. He was not the best speaker, as his worldview was very old school and paternalistic … I talk, you listen, that sort of approach Well, others were far more interesting. The course did not have that much of interest to the young student body and eventually failed to get enough sign ups to restart the next semester … a real shame.

Well, my friend – the widow of an officer I served with in Nam, hasn’t called. I feel a little down, as I spent an hour going through my old class notes and figuring out what I can donate. My son didn’t want the North Vietnamese flag I had, so I guess even that can go. Ah me!

Late note – I find I’m spending more time reading Blogs and doing this blogging than writing … will have to address that as a New Years Resolution.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Two other ideas I found on the Internet appealed to my sense of humor, incorporate on The Tessera Trilogy Blog segments on “Deleted scenes” from the book(s), and add “Character interviews.”  The last especially sounds like I could put a spin on it. The idea didn’t fall far from the writing tree of this author.

Deleted from, or corrected in Golden Gate … I had erroneously incorporated a character with the rank of General in the first edition, and the same person as a Colonel later in the second novel. This was obviously bad form, and was corrected before REV D of the first book went out. I had also inserted a section from the third novel in the second, so that was corrected, as those characters would not have been alive at that point in the trilogy.

Stop using “I.”

The author supports - The masses, the people, the average Joe; the village; a free meal; birds, lizards and other natural critters; recycling; not using chemicals on lawns or gardens; trapping rainwater with a barrel; composting; universal health care; use of seat belts; and a draft … of beer, for the NFL, and for military service.

The investigation of marketing led to Wikipedia and its affiliate Wikibooks as a means to publish or offer the first two novels of The Tessera Trilogy ©. It turns out that Wikibooks is for textbooks that are open for review and allows users to edit the online texts. Since the trilogy is fiction, Wikibooks does not fit my marketing plan; further investigation must be undertaken to identify Internet identification and publicity. 

Another brilliant idea came to mind; do the novels of The Tessera Trilogy for charity. That way no publisher could resist the advertising value. So investigate whether DP Tolan can create a Not For Profit, or For Charity 501-C instrument that will allow collection and write off of expenses, but allow non-taxable donation of the huge advance and movie offers to charities. The author is thinking along lines of homeless shelters, food banks, Hope House (Fredericksburg, VA), and similar organizations. Hmm, that’s the spirit – this is the day before Christmas.

I developed brief summaries for each book, as a technique for marketing …

Golden Gate © is set across and around the globe, in Viet Nam, the Mediterranean, Wales, the deserts of Arabia, and is the evolving story of Michael Padrick O’Toole (Tooley) and his life. Tooley serves in Nam, falls in love, marries and sees his life shattered by events. He avenges wrongs, settles the score, and experiences the ravages of war. He becomes a partner with a former family member in what might be called a mercenary corps, involved in the world issue of nuclear waste.

Sooley Base ©  – In the south of Arabia, at As Sulayyil, the Saudi government begins construction of a Medium Range Ballistic Missile base. As the base moves closer to operational status, Israel becomes alarmed at the implications. Tooley, on an inspection tour of the base, is placed in the firing line. The consequences are not what any country or agency expects.

Kashan Kashmeeri ©  – The Middle East moves inexorably towards a general war, with Jerusalem the target. Israel, caught unaware, is surprised by forces and weapons she seems unable to counter or defeat. Tooley is caught between opposing forces, again is in the line of fire. At the Peace conference that exchanges prisoners and ends hostilities, the adversaries find a surprising yet common factor unites them.

I’m trying to figure why it costs so much time and energy to write a book, and then finding out it costs a chunk of change even if you want to give it away. This is because the ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, that coded sequence of digits which identifies your book in a library, or at a book, store is available only for a fee. It looks now like I have to pay at least $125.00 to get an ISBN, just to give away the book. That amount is for one ISBN number; additional in a block of ten can be purchased for higher fees. I probably need a block of ten, as I plan the three books in The Tessera Trilogy, then a follow-on novel. I mention this as some of you may eventually want to write a book.

I think figuring out this system is like trying to train your dragon, or at least a chipmunk. I got around this little glitch by donating several CD copies to our regional library system, so they’ll catalog it somehow with their numbers, but I still need to figure out the ISBN process and see if I can find one for free. I’ll report on progress as life evolves in this Petri dish.

Right now I’m working to lay out my chapter outlines and rough characters/action flow for the second book. It features opposing groups who are simultaneously analyzing each other’s actions, motives and possible responses to take. This goes along with the necessity to develop the respective characters, and somehow keeping their actions interesting to potential readers. Doing this blog will force me to ensure that the pieces fit together neatly, and make sense.

The section above is a late entry, forgotten when I was cutting and pasting to the Blog.

Yesterday I was working on the third novel, Kashan Kashmeeri ©. I was converting the rough, very rough draft paragraphs from Times New Roman 12 pitch to Calibri 12, this in hopes that I don’t have a lot of conversion later. I was also renumbering the various Chapters and saving to archival folder so nothing is lost.

This work interrupted my feverish pursuit of an illusionary goal, losing some weight and getting in shape. My hope is that a fitter body will mean better mental acuity and thus a better book. Fat chance as they say in the movies! My father used to quote an old English adage, “If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner…” This doesn’t seem to work well for me, as the spirit is far more willing that the body.

I want to record, so I won’t forget while marketing the second novel, some ideas for its distribution. I found several of these ideas on websites related to e marketing and e publishing, all of which want some sort of contract or publishing commitment. The ideas are pretty generic and accomplishable.

Another idea to recall in the future is NOT to send copies to friends, Romans, countrymen without being asked. That approach, because of fat fingers doing e-mails, doesn’t let me track circulation numbers … and build a following.

Concepts - Post info about the trilogy on a Blog, offer the book to friends, fellow workers, at libraries, and to writers’ groups. I expanded this approach a bit and offered Golden Gate to former shipmates, High School classmates, associates from Scouting, and plan today to draft some short blurb to post on the University of Mary Washington (UMW) Alumni webpage, as well as updating my bio page there with a link to the Blog. I’ve joined the Riverside Writers Group and hope to get some critical reviews there. Additionally I have asked a friend (Faculty at UMW) if as an alumnus I can avail myself of reviews through their Writing Center.

QA later note, I’ll tackle UMW via their Facebook pages. These may give better advertising. Well, well, well … it turns out the “ad” appears on my Facebook page. Alas, the tribulations a struggling author must endure to find the truth.

Two other ideas I found on the Internet appealed to my sense of humor, incorporate on The Tessera Trilogy Blog segments on “Deleted scenes” from the book(s), and add “Character interviews.”  The last especially sounds like I could spin it. The idea doesn’t fall far from the writing tree; just yesterday at my wife’s Christmas office party I asked one of her fellow workers for his acquiescence to incorporate a character with his name in my fourth novel. Ah … the cat is out of the bag, and you now know that I’m planning a fourth novel. I will just dangle a clue; its title corresponds with the letters … drum roll, TNO. He said he was delighted and even said he planned to share our collaboration with his wife, as a broad smile washed across his face.

Oh, another encouraging note came in from a Golden Gate reader - She wrote – “I have started reading it, and I'm quite impressed. It's very gripping! I'm busy these days, but I can't wait to go on with the reading...”

Yesterday (15 Dec 2010) I reworked, and reworded my emerging draft of the first five chapters. The process reminds me of undergraduate days, where one dreaded the proverbial R&R from a Prof. It meant Rewrite and Resubmit, and meant you’d better get it right the next time through. The most difficult part is to chronologically and plausibly sequence similar bits of the plot from different points of view, so that they don’t give away any part of the story, yet show the competing organizations analyzing the same basic situation on the ground. Wish me luck here, as this R&R effort is mind numbing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9G-Np1HB9M&feature=related - this is a link to a You Tube video of the Dubliners singing a tribute to Charley Mops, the reputed inventor of beer. You may recall that I dedicated Sooley Base to him; remember that factoid - there is a test later.

Recycle Center - Statistical analysis – 87.356% of the words used in the first book have been used previously, revealing the intrinsic value of recycling.

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Results may vary from reader to reader. If no response from reading selected chapters posted, consult with your physician or seek counseling from Hari Krishna. 

Awards Received – Vietnam – Nong Lam, Mung Choi, and Toi Mat Nuoc awards of excellence. Germany – Schiezen Bitter from Grandes Schloss, Heidelberg.

Receipt of Group Excellence Award from Dog Run, VA - Primer titled “Program Manglement for Dummies” was published. Reviews have shown the program, of management by Power Point ®, is “so simple even a caveman can do it.”

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Why Written – The three books comprising The Tessera Trilogy © were conceived about 1985 when the author was living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The ideas have grown and been modified over time, but geo-political situations on the grounds suggest they need to be completed. It is the hope of the author that the events depicted in the third of the books both does, and does not occur. If it does, it is prayed that the final outcome is as conceived.

This blog entry represents thoughts from a website originally concocted for The Tessera Trilogy. I hope you enjoy it.

Well, that free anti-virus program I was having trouble with … has been fixed. I uninstalled the AVG Free 2011® program, and then re-installed a slightly newer version. That worked. I recommend it; it is free and has protected my computers for several years. Just this morning it blocked access to my personal PC from a social networking site. It screens all my e-mail, so that is a beneficial side benefit.

I’ve printed off the first five chapters of Sooley Base©, and am now working my way back through the markups I made, correcting grammar, syntax, and estate taxes also. Couldn’t resist that; remember it is my nickel, and there are so few followers that I can write about anything and no one (almost no one) will read or care. So, I work my way back through the markups, which in this case have included excerpts from Wikipedia and other Internet information sites. Their stories never really match with what I’m trying to write, so I have to highlight their slant and re-write to fit my storyline.

There is another bit of novel engineering going on. In many large scale projects engineers use something called PERT, Program (or Project) Evaluation and Review Techniques as a tool to lay out and manage a major program. I found out the US Navy (Go Navy, Beat Army!) used PERT methods to organize the program to design and build its nuclear submarines, so obviously the concept has great merit. Microsoft® actually incorporates a very similar concept in its Project® software, so Bill Gates gets his two cents out of this. To get back to how this impacts writing Sooley Base©, I need to give a set of parallel views to how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KOSA) perhaps used similar techniques for the construction and activation of the As Sulayyil missile base. PERT is very likely the approach they used, as well as perhaps the technique the IDF and Mossad would use in deciding whether the base was near operational status, and whether it posed a threat. Of course, one has to ask whether the IDF and Mossad did their analysis properly and with all the relevant facts. As readers you have to wait and find that out … don’t you?

You may have noticed that I inserted the special characters for Registered Trademark ® and Copyright © in the paragraphs above. I have previously copyrighted my work, and have previously just incorporated a notation to that effect in the various versions within the File Properties pages. I guess as I get nearer to that huge advance and movie deal for the third book I should include the Copyright © symbol also.  

More about Sooley Base, As Sulayyil as it is in real life, resting sullenly in the sands and wadis. Some may say, “launch complex located approximately 27 kilometers North of the desert oasis of Al Sulayyil consists of a site support area and two launch areas located 6 kilometers apart.”  Nah, that’s all I want to let you in on at the moment.

Is blood thicker than water? Is life a circle? So perhaps one should research the genome project, DNA and see how it fits in. It does, doesn’t it – don’t missiles and blood tie together? Perhaps it will become clear when Sooley Base or The Tessera Trilogy is complete … one can only hope.

Surprise of all surprises, a reader of Golden Gate, one of the select group of discriminating readers to whom copies were sent or offered, provided a comment. While brief, it offered a ray of encouragement in my world, so devoid of feedback -  “Just reading the first couple of pages, I am excited about reading the entire novel.”

As a part of the upwelling of festive cheer preceding the holidays, community outreach efforts, and as an assignment from the Shameless and Crass Commercialism Division of DP Tolan Books, an offer for a free copy of his first novel, Golden Gate, was sent out to a select group of discriminating readers; a few of whom actually were sent a copy.

Oh …the storyline of the second novel in The Tessera Trilogy, Sooley Base, is centered on one of two Saudi missile bases, As Sulayyil, in southern Arabia. As Sulayyil Missile Base, located at 20°43'07"N 45°35'01"E, is very real. The novel is, of course, fiction … or is it?

I got the idea for this blog, and collecting my writing process for the second book after watching the movie Julie and Julia. The movie is about a young woman who becomes fascinated with Julia Childs life and cookbook, and resolves to cook each recipe. In the process she starts a blog to record her thoughts, difficulties, and successes. The blog became a book, which then became the movie. Stranger things could happen … who knew?

So … I’m writing the blog to capture my writing process. Hopefully some other writers, ones with better abilities, will comment and suggest improvements. The whole idea is that the first two books of The Tessera Trilogy (Golden Gate and Sooley Base) will be FREE, while the third, Kashan Kashmeeri, will cause some publisher to give me an enormous advance, followed by a movie contract. Give me a break … I can be eccentric and hopeful, right???

An endeavor today will be to identify where in the Google world I can post a copy of the first novel and make it accessible to readers free of charge. Can anyone help!!!

I drafted some paragraphs on the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and Mossad, real or imagined (this is a novel, right?) buildings, locations, and hierarchy and their interactions with right wing parties of the Israeli Knesset. The Mossad HQ is of course located at “an undisclosed location” … or probably at numerous locations. That’s the way I see it and will go with that, unless confronted with documented, verifiable evidence ... Unlikely!

I also did some cursory research on the Internet for right wing Israeli political parties. They weren’t hard to find, as there are so many there, and I really believe that is part of the Middle East’s problem; those zealots all demand their voices be heard and their voices are so extreme as to preclude or greatly diminish the normal give and take discussions of politics we see as the norm.

Today I have decided to insert several review comments/suggestions I received on the first novel, Golden Gate. Hopefully this will remind me not to repeat the previous errors or omissions. These suggestions were for an early version of Golden Gate and an early chapter of the novel. I find that one area I do weakly in is writing of the romantic feelings and actions of the protagonists; I write awkwardly of these areas, and need to improve my style.

Here they are - “Surprised…”  “Like the Iliad or the Odyssey”  “Marcus is an interesting character” “Very well written”

“I found no split infinitives or dangling participles”  “Really good” (plot) “jumps around a lot”  “marvelous for your first work”  “Diametrically sanctimonious”  “Amazing – don’t change a word”  “Have you tried to find a publisher?”

Your little parchment is really great, methinks. One might say, even isometrically parenthetical. If I were to offer my humble advice, I wouldn't change a word of it.

 The above comments are from an older brother, so there may just be a bit of humoring in his words. 

The comments below come from a son, who is far more direct –

Chapters 1 and 2 need to be cliff hangers … characterization is most important … do better job … characterize (the character) Mahudh better (Chapter 1)

On paragraph titled - In the sands – Need to progress the plot!  Data is good, but need plot.

On paragraph titled - The Lanun of Num Chuk … More character development for Mahudh … need more flow

On paragraph titled - Repel Boarders – makes them seem to me as the good guys; don’t want to ask questions … on Captain Jorgensen – more development; or don’t name. Can’t just say they (rails on ship) were greased; have to say why. Change (character) Hung’s “marksmanship” to read “shot.”  Change “decision” to read, “mistake.”  On “red water spewing forth” … change to read “pumping fury and rage into the pirate.” Change aft to use easier words (less technical). Change “AK-47” to read, “rifle.”

Well enough for efforts on the second novel that, by the way, is dedicated to Charley Mops. Charley according to current Irish drinking songs is “the man who invented beer.” This is unfortunately not true, as the Egyptians drank beer over five thousand years ago.

This morning I’m also struggling to try and install a bit of free anti-virus software, actually to replace the version I have now … which is acting up. Still having problems in the evening, so I hope the morning brings success.

A thought came to mind ... Is FREE really too much to ask, as the price of getting a First Edition copy of Golden Gate? It does have a professional cover, a brief bio inside about the author, and meanders across over two thousand years before the heroes and villains emerge to do battle in the modern age.

One reviewer has said "don't change a single word" so perhaps a following will develop. Did I mention there are 90 odd pages - that is sized as 8.5 by 11 inches, which roughly equates to a three hundred page paperback. Fascinating!!!

06 Dec 2010 - Well here goes nothing, as Dubius Quintelllus once said!

I thought I'd give this a try to see what effect it has on the circulation of the first novel (Golden Gate) in The Tessera Trilogy. I've finished it and am about to join a local writers group (sort of after the fact) to see if they'll review my first effort and offer any suggestions.

I'm at work on the second of the trilogy, Sooley Base, and will offer some insights as I struggle to make it a reality. Any suggestions, other than the obvious to stop bothering you, or quit and go home, will be carefully considered. Since the first two books in The Tessera Trilogy will be offered FREE, I expect there will be throngs of eager readers. Well, one can only hope can't one!

I'll sign off for now, confident that no one will display any interest and I can enjoy throwing words at the Wall and seeing if any stick.  Ta Ta, Troopies!