Dealing with the ABC incident.

https://www.rutherford.org/files_images/general/07-01-2013_ABC_Incident_Letter.pdf

I read through Mr. Brownstein’s article (which I did find just a bit biased but that’s neither here nor there) on the division within the country. As a writer, I watch and observe things and have a chance to understand where things are going. I don’t normally open up and share what I think, but I will today.

Here’s my analysis:

There are now two America’s. Red America and Blue America and they’re rapidly becoming so opposite that the soon won’t be able to coexist in the same country. And here’s a step by step of what’s separating them.

Gun Control:

         Most people in Red States, myself included, think that the government needs to enforce the laws currently on the books. It takes 5 different forms of ID to even get to the background check part to purchase a handgun. Yes, I said five! That’s far more than needed for a car or other items. And I have no problem with that because of the item. In one of the mass shootings (Va Tech) the state dropped the ball. They’ll never admit it, but Cho was court ordered to Psychiatric care, which would’ve gone onto his record if the clerk’s had bothered to enter it like supposed to. Why else would Tim Kaine make then parents sign a form saying they wouldn’t sue the school or the state? Furthermore, why was Cho’s records found a couple months later in the trunk of a school official’s car? “Honest mistake” my ass.

         Blue state solution is to ban firearm ownership to anyone who isn’t law enforcement. It’s not openly said but that’s the goal. The only problem with that is the corresponding increase in crime because criminals aren’t going to legally buy their firearms anyway.

This is one thing that is a major divider.

Abortion:

        Red States are trying to limit access, requite ultrasounds, etc etc.

        Blue States want to make access easier and easier.

Analysis:

        The reason this is a divider is that the Supreme Court made the decision, denying both sides the opportunity to make their case. This isn’t a big issue in Britain because they voted and let the people settle. Look at the reaction to the Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act to see part of the reason.

        What happens when a court makes the decision instead of placing it in the hands of the people is bitterness on the side of the losers and then the animosity continues to grow between both sides. One side thinks “You only got your way because the court’s decided it. No one really wants it.” While the other side thinks “The courts have the power and sided with us, so you need to be silent.”

I’m going to finish this tomorrow, so please hang with me.

Absolutely Ridiculous Comment on Depression.

Who Should Replace Matt Smith in Doctor Who? – IGN.

Every once in a while I get a letter that goes something like this: “I’m thinking of writing a book. When can I expect to see it in the bookstore?”

I don’t like to admit this, but when I began to write and fall in love with my own words I had stars in my eyes. I’d seen some stunning successes among the authors I was reading, so why not? And even now, every year there’s an author who bursts upon the scene with a knockout first book and is propelled into overnight success. It can happen. Right?

Sure. But it won’t. Okay, it will for 0.01% of the aspiring authors out there. In fact, only a few very fortunate writers will eke out a living publishing novels. The reality takes a while to dawn and even longer to accept. So then, trying like hell to prove this wrong, we scramble to adopt marketing strategies, chase popular trends, fashion our work to fit the slot, change genres to become more desirable, and read and read and read and measure everything against ourselves and our own work. We take enormous pleasure in the struggles of other writers who ultimately crack the code.

The one piece of advice that is most logical is also the hardest to make peace with: the notion that the only thing the writer can control is the writing—and that’s temporary at best. Editors have an important function, after all, and one of them is helping you see where you went wrong. And yet there is something about finally identifying why you do it that is so much more productive than what you’re doing it for. There’s something just plain logical about knowing what the true motivation is rather than making a list of how you’ll spend all your money and what antics you’ll use to dodge, or take advantage of, celebrity status.

Making up a story—for me, an entertaining escape filled with humanity and romance—is at the core of everything. And it’s hard—so hard. Reading it over and over, researching, making changes, asking for advice, thinking till your brain hurts… Because it’s absolutely true: this is the place where I feel most powerful, most indomitable, and most satisfied when it works. This is the peace—when you know in your gut that this is fun, that you like doing it, that even if no one ever paid you, you’d probably do it anyway. And I also like that it’s hard! If it wasn’t very hard, what would I be accomplishing? If it wasn’t hard, anyone could do it. I might be twisted, but I never wanted to be paid to nap.

My husband is a commercial pilot and I’m a writer and there have been times—too many to count—that we had to take other jobs to keep the wolf from the door. It was during those times that we talked a lot about what a great privilege it is to have the luxury of doing work we love. More than a privilege, an honor.

I write because it’s fun. To keep that in perspective, some people box for fun, getting their faces bashed in, bleeding and getting knocked out. Writing stories feels good, it feels right, it’s fulfilling.

And yes, it feels even better to get paid for it. But I’d probably do it anyway.

Robyn Carr is a bestselling romance author and creator of the popular Virgin River series. Her next novel, due out from Mira in late June, is The Newcomer—the second book in Carr’s Thunder Point series.

By AC/DC. Wanted to lighten the air tonight.  🙂  It’s also fun as hell to play on my acoustic guitar even if I can’t do the solo!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIxvbaRaZw0

This is a video shot by a gentleman from the Richmond, Va. area. There are 8000 hp on the front and 8000 hp on the rear. The train is moving uphill through the famous horseshoe curve in Altoona, Pa. Note how hard all four engines as working to get it over the mountain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvqAR536tcY

One year ago we got a mighty storm through here. I remember the day clearly. It started off with me cutting grass. We have 10 acres of land with 5 grassy and 5 being woods. So, that day I started late morning around 10-11am to cut the grass. I fired up the riding mower and started to go at it. Cut the front yard and the section on the other side of the driveway while it was sunny, so I moved onto the field.

As I cut away at the field, which takes the longest time even though I keep the grass very short, it started to get cloudy to the northwest. Now, it wasn’t super-fast or slow either, just a typical build in of a storm. Since my eyes are sensitive to sun (comes from wearing photo chromatic lenses when young) so I could see it clearly because my RayBans cut the summer haze away.

The storm continued to come in as I finished the field. I knew it was going to hit in the not too distant future, so I started to race along as I cut beside the house and then the back yard, the entire time, it started to get darker and darker. Once I finished I rode the mower to the top of the driveway and got the paper and mail. By now it was getting quite dark so I booked it back down the hill, parked the mower outside the truck and then went inside to take my shower. When I got out, I could hear some rumbles of thunder and then remembered I forgot the paper and mail outside so I raced outside to get it. By now it was thundering often and the wind was kicking up.

So, I got into the house and cut the police scanner on just in time to get an alert for a Severe Thunderstorm, which meant it was going to be bad, so I call my dad up to warn him it was coming towards his work. The moment I picked up the phone, the alert went off again for a Tornado and wouldn’t end until 3pm. Now it’s 230pm so I knew it hadn’t gotten to me yet. I tell him about the warning and then the power goes out…killing the cordless phone.

By this time the wind was howling and the storm was upon me. I raced to my room, grabbed my cell phone and went into the closet because it was the only room that didn’t touch an outside wall. I then called her and told her about the storm.

Debris is hitting the house at this time and the rain’s coming down so hard it sounds like someone’s driving nails into the roof. I’m rather scared, so I’m telling her all about the storm…and then things went silent. When I mean silent, I mean Silent. It was like being in a soundproof room and the words of a friend of mine who lived in the Midwest came to the forefront of my thoughts. “If it goes dead silent during a storm, then get into cover because a tornado is close!” So, I tell my mother about it.

I’d no sooner gotten the words out of my mouth before debris slammed into the house, the wind grew stronger than ever, and the rain just hammered the roof like hail. This continued for about a minute and then stopped. For the next five minutes until the alert ended, I told mother what happened. I came out of the closet (no pun intended) and looked outside and the sun was shining! Now, remind you, it took well over an hour for the storm to reach me!

The tops of several trees were missing, another tree by the house was cracked (and had to be cut down) and several window screens were blown off the house and lay in the back yard. I got into the truck and the damage in the area was heavy…trees down on houses..power gone…everything.

National Weather Service proceeded to try to tell us it was a ‘straight line wind event.’ Keep in mind, there was a tornado warning in effect. So, how stupid do they think we are? A twister came through but they didn’t want to admit it and here’s why. Most homeowner’s insurance policy’s do not cover wind events like Hurricanes and Tornadoes. While getting an occasional storm (or a hurricane 5-6 years apart) insurance around here will pay. However, if it came out tornadoes were rather often, then we’d all have to get riders on our policies to cover it.

So, the tornado came, it hit and it conquered before leaving.