Memories Of Home

When you think of the home you grew up in, what is one memory that really stands out? I grew up in Wyoming and we moved. A lot. I bet I moved about six times in a fifteen year period. Most of it was within the same 50-mile area, around the town of Cody. No, I wasn’t named after the town. It’s just a coincidence. My parents really like the name.

Anyway, I lived in a lot of different houses, and sometimes, mobile homes. Some were large, some were small. I remember one of our houses had a small church attached to it and we had Sunday Service at our house every week. A very nice lady would bring me the latest issue of the Thundercats magazine when it came out.

I have warm memories of every house I grew up in, but if there was one constant (besides my parents) it was pets. As long as I can remember I have always had animals, usually cats and dogs. We rarely had more than three; most often it was two. When we lived on larger acreage, we also had rabbits, pigs, geese, and horses. I specifically remember coming home from school when I was in the first grade, changing clothes, and going out into the pen to chase the pigs. It was so much fun.

When we lived on the North Fork, we had horses. Dad’s was named Sparky and mine was Trigger. We had them for quite a while. When they weren’t at home, they were being used as guide horses when my dad took tourists out for overnight camping as part of his job at various campgrounds. After dad left, it was too much for just mom and I to take care of them so we had to sell them.

We never bought our cats and dogs from pet stores or shelters. Almost all of ours were strays or ones friends gave us. We occasionally kept the kittens and puppies our animals gave birth to, but we never tried to have more than three pets at a time.

When I moved to Japan, it was the first time I could remember not having a pet. It has been difficult the past six years and I am so happy to have Coco now. She is a purebred Norwegian forest cat. She’s the first purebred cat I remember having.

How about you, readers? What do remember most about your home? Comment below and thanks for reading.

The Moment It All Changed...

Life is full of pivotal moments. You can trace the course of your life and say “If I hadn’t done this, then this wouldn’t have happened” and “If I had done this…” and so on. It’s a little difficult to pick out the big pivots. After all, if you hadn’t done the little changes, would your life still have led you to the big changes.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say one of the most pivotal moments in my life was leaving America for Japan when I joined the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

It hadn’t been the first time I had been in Japan (this was in 2007), I had been there as an exchange student in Osaka in 2005. It wasn’t even the first time I had spent time away from home: I did that in 2005 and also earlier when I spent the summer semester at the Savannah College Of Art And Design. But I was leaving for at least a year. Overseas. If I was homesick, I couldn’t hop on the nearest Greyhound and make a surprise visit. I was pretty much SOL on that point. 

I remember saying goodbye to mom at the Atlanta hotel. We were both so choked up. The enormity of what I was doing was starting to hit me. As an only child, I’m attached to my parents. But here I was, leaving them behind across an ocean to start a new adventure. Most kids leave town or the state. I left thecountry.

The next few days are a blur. The flight, going through customs, the orientations and meetings in Tokyo, flying to my assigned city. But after several months, I felt free and like an adult. I’ve never been very adult-like, in my opinion. But here all the responsibilities were on me. If I didn’t cook, I didn’t get fed. I was living alone in my own apartment. It was fun and felt great. 

That first year I felt I really grew as a person. It may have happened later in life, but it changed me. So much happened that first year that would affect my decision to stay (which I did), I met Yoko whom I would later date then marry, and so much more. My friends always said I would go to Japan and never come back. I expected to stay for only a year, three at most.

Looks like they were right.

The nicest thing about being here is that I knew no one. It was a clean slate. I could be me, with all the geekiness and idiosyncrasies that came with it. I could buy what I wanted, eat where I wanted, go where and when I wanted.

Of course I had responsibilities. It wasn’t all play and no work. But that helped me grow too. I learned how much of a hypocrite I am (more than I expected) and how lazy I can be about certain things, like learning Japanese. But life is always about growing. And I feel I’ve grown the most in these last six years.

As always, thanks for reading.

Comfort Foods

I admit I am a picky eater. But I wouldn’t say I have comfort foods in the traditional sense; there isn’t anything I NEED to eat when I’m sad or depressed.

But I guess I do have comfort food, in the sense that I have a lot that I miss from America. And when I can get it here in Japan, I pounce on it.

Import stores charge a fortune for their goods, nearly twice as much, and sometimes more. And they can’t get everything. I don’t order much food from the internet. Truthfully because I have never really looked into it, plus I’m afraid of what the shipping costs will be, especially for frozen/refrigerated items.

So I content myself with Jupiter, the import store in Hiroshima. If I had pick my comfort foods based on what I have bought the most of from there, it would be: A&W Root Beer, Van Camp’s Pork and Beans, Hormel Chili, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. These might seem like everyday staples of a grocery store, but believe it or not they are almost nonexistent in Japan.

Almost every Japanese person I know hates root beer. It’s because the same flavoring it uses is also used to flavor medicine here in Japan. Hence their nickname for it, “medicine cola.” Chili is almost impossible to make due to a lack of dried beans (or almost any bean) in stores. You see where I’m going with this? I can deal with big social and cultural differences, but little things like the this, every day foods you’d expect in almost every country, is really fascinating. And sometimes frustrating.

I’m not a big fan of Japanese food. While I believe I fit in rather well culturally, and I think I’ve adapted nicely to Japan, food is the one thing I really cling to. I’m very “American” in my choice of food. My wife Westernizes quite a bit of our cooking and she likes Western food, but can’t eat it every day. But I’ll pick Western over Japanese any day. Give me tacos instead of okonomiyaki.

What about you, reader? Any comfort foods. Comment, like, or reblog. As always, thanks for reading.

Writing Prompt

One of the prompts on my list is a creative writing starter. It gives the first sentence and I must finish it as a little story. I’ve never done flash fiction before, so here goes.

***

He saw her just as she stepped from the train platform into the car and without a second thought, he abandoned his plans and followed her steps. The mass of exiting people threatened to separate him from his quarry, but he made it into the car half a second before the doors slid close.

She lowered herself into an empty chair, her back still to him. He paused, wondering if she would turn around and see him. But she didn’t. He heard the whine of the mag-lev train engine starting, then the slight rock of the carriage as the high speed transport began its journey. He ignored the sign above his head advertising the 2312 Olympics, his focus was solely on her. He had ninety minutes until they reached Paris.

The seat bench across from her was empty. He slid into it and settled in next to the window. She looked at him, her eyes an almost electric blue. She blinked three times in succession; he knew that she was clearing the data from her smart contacts that had just ran a facial recognition search. She now knew his name and Internet address. He tried to smile but failed. She turned her attention away from him. She didn’t know him; of course not, they had never met.

Eighty-five minutes to Paris.

He had eighty-five minutes to tell her he was her son.

***

I hope you enjoyed this. As always, comments are welcome and thanks for reading.

My Ideal Writing Space

Writers love this question, don’t they? Imagining your dream home is something everybody does, and having that one little retreat to call your own is an irresistible fantasy.

As a reader, I like seeing the writing spaces of my favorite authors. It makes me feel a connection to them. As I am reading their current release, it’s fun to imagine them working on it. They seem more there, you know? Like they aren’t creating stories in a vacuum. That they are inhabiting a real space.

My ideal space would be my man cave. I’d like a nice desk with a comfortable chair. My room would have no windows, or if that was impossible, small high windows I couldn’t see out of. I’d most likely get distracted if I had a view. My long desk would have an iMac, because I’m an Apple fan. Wireless speakers would be nice because I love listening to soundtracks while I write. Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and almost anything by Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman are particular favorites.

Another necessity is my Battlestar Galactica notebook and Stephen King Constant Reader mug. Beverage of choice? Coffee.

Besides the numerous things I have collected over the years but my wife won’t let display in our home, there are some special things I’d love to have, and I may get starting on trying to acquire them. Since this is indeed my ideal (and most likely never-going-to-be realized) dream space, there are several things I’d decorate it with. First and foremost would be the poster of Morning Musume I bought at their Rival Survival concert. Without a doubt the best concert I have been to. I was in the first row with a great friend seeing my favorite singers. What is NOT great about that? Btw, that poster is rolled up and waiting in a cardboard box at the moment.

The next set of decorations would be autographs. This would be a combination of books and art from my favorite writers and comic artists. I have some signed books and comics now: The Devil’s Workshop by Stephen J. Cannell, an issue of Divine Right by Jim Lee, various Star Trek photos I got at DragonCon, and a trade paperback of Astro City signed by Kurt Busiek. Other things I would like to have would be signed books from Christopher L. Bennett, David Mack, Dayton Ward, and artwork from Brett Booth, J. Scott Campbell, and Rob Liefeld.

That is my ideal writing space. Nothing really large. Just surrounded by the things I like.

It’s a nice dream.

Feel free to comment, Like, and reblog. As always, thanks for reading.

Five Items, One Million Dollars

This week’s prompt is: 5 Items you would buy with a million dollars. This one is fairly simple.

The first four things I’d buy are houses: one for me and my wife, one for her parents, one for my mom, and one for my dad.

Don’t ask me style or anything, that is too much planning and detail I can’t think about at the moment. Yoko and I currently live in a condo. It’s nice but somewhat small. I do know that whatever floor plan we would come up with, my house MUST have a man cave. Yoko had never heard of this term until a couple of years ago. Being the geek that I am, I need my own little space to hang my Morning Musume poster (which I’d get framed) and put up my figures. My cave would double as my writing space with a nice desk and chair. FYI, I currently sit on the floor to do most of my writing, just like I am now as I am writing this blog.

My in-laws’s house is over 30 years old and I know they love to renovate it. I’d like to get them the house they want.

My mom currently lives in a mobile home, so a nice house would be good. Especially one with a basement since Alabama is prone to tornados.

My dad lives in Florida and I’d love to get him a nice house to call his own.

What’s my fifth item to spend my million dollars on? A custom fit, screen accurate Star Trek: First Contact Captain Picard uniform. Because I’m a Trekkie.

As always, thanks for reading.

Write What You Know? Not Really

Everyone has heard the old adage “Write what you know.” I agree with it…to a point. 

I’ve noticed many of my characters are an only child. That’s what I know because I’m an only child. Hina Takamachi, from my work-in-process novel The Super School Uniform, is an only child with divorced parents. That is something I know about. I believe all writers have “write what you know” built into their work. John Grisham used to be a lawyer, he writes lawyer books. Every character is part of the author, or parts of people the author knows. Jobs, settings, hobbies, authors work all sort of little things they know about into their stories.

That shouldn’t stop you from writing about what you don’t know. That’s what research is for. You want to write about space plumbers but don’t know the first thing about space shuttle launches? Find out. The amount of research needed will depend on how accurate you want your novel to be, as well as how much of the knowledge needs to be there. Jeffery Deaver does months of research and outlining before he writes his Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance novels.Christopher L. Bennett tries to ensure the accuracy of his science in Only Superhuman. Today’s era has made research a lot easier and not just because of articles on the Internet and vast databases. It is a lot easier to get in touch with people who work in the field you need information about. Law enforcement, businesses, and physics departments have email addresses to get in touch with and many are willing to provide answers to questions.

So, make the leap. Don’t be afraid to write a book about something you don’t know about. Study it, learn about it, ask questions. The more you know, the more your writing will improve.

As always, thanks for reading.

Writing Goals For 2014

I began my publishing career in 2012, self-publishing Adventure Hunters in 2012. During 2013, I learned a lot about self-publishing, reading, and writing. Although, in truth, you never stop learning. While I plan to learn more and hone my skills, I do have some specific goals for 2014.

I want to publish Adventure Hunters and The Super School Uniform through Mountain Springs House. AH will be edited, something I really should have done the first time around. It will sport a new cover and be better than the first edition. I’m excited about this, as it is my first novel and my first one to be published by a company.

The Super School Uniform is my first wholly original novel (Adventure Hunterswas adapted from an unproduced screenplay) and I will be more proud to have this one published. I conceived it as a novel, and it has been a pain in the butt to write. I have struggled with it more than I thought I ever would. When it sees the light of day, I feel my struggle with it will be over. It may or may not turn into a series. That depends on how well the story resonated with readers.

Another goal is to blog on a more regular basis. For that, I have looked for blogging prompts. I am hoping to manage my time better for blogging and I hoping I can stick with the weekly schedule I have envisioned.

My writing goals may not seem ambitious but I think it is better not to bite off more than I can chew. If I set a few specific small goals, I feel I have a better chance of achieving them. Of course, there is the year-long (life-long?) goal of learning more about writing and publishing.

As always, thanks for reading.

Wonder Woman On TV

It’s 2014! One of my resolutions for the year is to blog on a more regular basis. To that end, I looked for blogging prompts, ideas to help me throughout the year, and to hopefully keep my motivation going. The prompt I picked for this post was: which childhood TV show do you wish you could bring back?

My first thought was Small Wonder. I changed my mind and picked one they tried to bring back, but failed: Wonder Woman. In the 80s I watched her on TV. I guess even as a kid I had a thing for strong female characters. She is a great character who just can’t catch a break when it comes to jumping into the live action realm. But with today’s wave of comic book characters hitting the small and big screens, I’d love to see WW come back.

Which brings me to the failed pilot starring Adrianne Palicki. I have seen the bootleg pilot that never aired and you know what…it wasn’t that bad. Written by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, The Practice, and many more) it had his trademarks and was a refreshing 21st-century take on the character. It had its flaws (like the Diana Prince alter-ego sadly eating ice cream while watching romance movies) but it was a pilot episode. The pilots are never the best episodes of a show’s first season. First seasons aren’t usually the best of a show’s run, if you think about it. It takes a while for the writing staff to get use to the characters and how best to present their stories. Even David E. Kelley admitted they went wrong. “We made mistakes with ours. My only regret is we were never given a chance to correct them. We had a lot that was right about it and a great cast. In time, we could have fixed what we had done wrong, we just didn’t get that chance. All my series have been a work in progress to a certain extent where you figure them out by episodes three, four or five. This one actually gelled sooner than any that I have had in the past. We would have gotten there and I wish we were afforded a little more time. ” (from this interview).

I hated that the show never got a chance. The pilot didn’t EVEN AIR and people were bashing it. At least give a show a season to determine its fate. Kelley said it was a genre he wasn’t use to, but I think after a while the show could have found its groove. With the Net able to deliver movie news on an almost take-by-take basis, people are jumping the gun and forming opinions without seeing the whole thing together. It’s like judging a symphony concert by listening to rehearsals.

With news of WW appearing in the Man Of Steel sequel, I’m hoping the Amazon Princess can step into the glow of the big and small screen. As always, thanks for reading.

So I Married A Geek

I'm a geek.

And a recent purchase that my wife disagreed with got me thinking: how much should you change when you get married?

The romanticized answer is: "Nothing. You and your partner should love each for all that you are." That's all fine and good, but I think rarely works in the real-world. I purchased this Star Trek Archer flight jacket. I was sure my wife wouldn't like it; and sure enough, when I showed her the pictures, her face got her half disbelief/half disapproval expression.

This was a jacket I really wanted. I am tired of the same colors and style I have been wearing for years. I wanted a change, and if I did, I might as wear something I really wanted to. I wanted something that appealed to me. I had a limited time to get it at a discount before it went up to full price. I had to act fast or never get it at all. I got it.

Before I bought it, Yoko had asked me if I would buy it anyway, even if she didn't like it. I said 'yes.' But a part of me felt guilty. I wasn't doing this to spite her, it was a jacket I really liked and wanted. But Yoko hates geeky stuff. Figures, posters, merchandise with logos aren't her thing. 

Yoko knew I was a geek before we got married. While I often tease her with my gekkiness, I don't do anything to openly embarrass her. There are plenty of figures and posters I'd like to hang up that I don't out of respect for her. Our apartment is pretty geek-free.

Which begs the question: if you're a Trekkie, Nascar fan, or collect Hummel figurines, should you change that if your spouse doesn't like it? My answer is yes and no. I think the best result comes from understanding and compromise on both partners's parts. Don't try to change your spouse. If she is an Oreo fanatic, don't try to stop her from collecting Oreo merchandise and refuse to let her display it in the house. You should, in the nicest way possible, try to explain that you don't like it. But as the Oreo collector, you have to respect your partner's wishes. There is nothing to gain by parading something your spouse hates. But they need to understand it is a part of you. It's your likes and interests and make you who you are. But you may need to reel in your passion a bit if it openly clashes with your partner.

Until Yoko met me, she had never heard of a "man cave" and I think this is a great solution (for women too). A small out-of-the-way place for you to really be you. But, if you're like me, and can't have your own cave, try to balance your passions. Find tiny unobtrusive ways to showcase your interests without pushing it in your spouse's face. You may have to keep your life-sized T.A.R.D.I.S. replica in storage, but that doesn't mean you can't have a Doctor Who fridge magnet or something similar.

How about it, readers? Do your interests clash with your spouse's? How do you handle it? Any tips or advice? Comment below, and as always, thanks for reading.