Delivery Guaranteed

Others, much more intelligent than I am, have impressed upon me the need to have some place where people may go to find out about my books, about my progress (or lack thereof). They’ve recommended all sorts of new forums like Facebook, Twitter, etc., forums which I’ve no great interest in learning the intricacies of.

Basically, I’m a storyteller. Basically, we are all storytellers. It starts off very early in life with things like, “Tell me what happened today in school.” And we, in our struggling way to fit words to events, tell a story in fits and starts: “Timmy punched me, and the teacher made him throw his wrapper in the garbage.” Those, of course, are two completely different episodes, taking place at different times and having nothing to do with each other. But in our limited way, with thoughts jumping wildly about in our heads, it makes sense to put them together, no matter the look of confusion on our parents’ faces.

From there we graduate to longer stories, which hold up better under scrutiny. Some of those stories are true, some contain some truths, and others are just plain fiction. “Who broke the lamp?” “The dog. She got all excited to see me when I came home, started jumping up and down, pushed me near the table, and then she bumped the table, knocking over the lamp.” Right. Poor Perky, victim of not speaking English, and thus not being able to defend herself against vile slander.

We tell our lives in stories, striving to make sense out of random events, tying them together in order to get the feeling that we progress down a street, instead of hopping from dimension to dimension in a haphazard fashion. We invent things like Karma, to explain the good or evil that comes upon us. “If only I hadn’t lied about Perky 50 years ago, this wouldn’t be happening to me now.” And who knows, our invention of ‘Karma’ might be a stumbling onto a truth. It may exist. Cause and effect may work in ways we never even dream of. And some author will tell that story, too – because he or she did dream of it.

Ah, dreams. Those nightly visitations of strange and wondrous elements of mixed fiction and truth tell stories, too. And then we come to daydreams, where we consciously create the stories in our heads – how we will captain a pirate ship, a merchant ship, a spaceship. These stories can fill in the boring moments of our life – like arithmetic class. “Doug, Doug. Can you give me the answer?” Oh, oh, she’s caught me. What’s the question? A quick look at the blackboard. Ah. 7 + 3 = ? “Um, ten?” “Thank you, Doug. Next, we …” and back to the daydream of piloting a rocketship. [For more on this, see the wonderful cartoons by Bill Watterson: Calvin & Hobbes. He knew what little boys really think of during class.]

Unfortunately, during classes, the teachers kept interrupting my daydreams, my fantasy worlds. However, whilst on my paper route, I could dream to my heart’s content. While I delivered The Edmonton Journal to the doors of my customers, my mind oftentimes went elsewhere. To the Old West, the Atlantic during WWII, Space, and a dozen other places. I told myself stories.

Now, all grown up – though you might find others who disagree with that notion – I continue the human tradition of telling stories. In this, I’m no different than any other human. But, I’ve undertaken to write some of these stories down. And in this day and age, with electronic publishing, just like the little boy of almost 5 decades ago on his paper route, I (with the help of Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, and others) continue to deliver to your door (or Kindle, Nook, computer).

I've chosen a Blog for my initial foray into the horrors of Social Media, because I value the telling of stories, and thus it seems an appropriate platform for me. So, drop by this Blog for the news (updates of what works are in progress, where I am on various titles, what I’m doing – in terms of writing), for stories of the past, present and future, and for calls to action: “Please, please, please, buy my book – the cat has nothing to eat.” Well, perhaps it is best to not believe that one. The cat, in his opinion, never has anything to eat – even if his food dish overflows.

So, thanks to those who have given me the final push (Charles, George, and Acheron’s Flow) I now have a blog.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

And, you can subscribe if you wish: Delivery Guaranteed. (Well, mostly. When I start having flights of the imagination, who knows who will get your copy of the paper.)