I'm Back!

May 19, 2014

Sorry that there was no blog last week.  I spent the weekend of the 9-11 in Gainesville, TX, which is just below the Oklahoma border.  It was a 4 1/2 hour drive and when I got home on Sunday, I was just too tired to do anything but collapse.

I was in Gainesville to attend a Writer's Roundup event.  Unfortunately, although I did sell some books, the event wasn't too well attended by the public. I did meet some nice people there, including actor Alex Cord. 

Sandy and I also toured the Frank Buck Zoo.  Buck is the guy who, back in the 1930s, used to "Bring "Em Back Alive"  (e.g. lions and other wild beasts from Africa).  He was born in Gainesville.

We also visited the spot (and the tree) where in 1862 they had "the Great Gainesville Hanging".  Over 40 Northern sympathizers, many of them innocent, were strung up in what is now a small park.

For the most part, this past week, I've continued to research my next play and I've also pretty much decided, once that project is complete, to reactivate a novel I set aside two or three years ago.  I think that I've now come up with a way to solve the storytelling issues I encountered.

On Friday (16), I received a copy of FAMOUS ENOUGH, Diane McBain's Hollywood memoir.  I've read about 130 pages and it's quite good.  Diane, who has been a friend for well over 30 years, is really quite frank about her years in Tinseltown (perhaps too frank), but the book is a quick read and I highly recommend it.

There a new DVD (actually Blu-Ray) review of POMPEII on the Best Bets on DVD site, accessible via the link in the Introduction section of this page.  It's a fun movie, so take a look.

You have a creative week.

Michael