I
have always wanted to be a professional writer. Magazine articles,
books, plays, scripts… I’ve got ideas for them all. I won’t pretend
to be productive about attacking these projects though. Maybe
that lovely bride of mine has added a line or two (or fifteen)
to her list of projects that I need to pay more attention to.
Perhaps the dogs decided to wake me up several times during the
night to express their thoughts on a recent effort of mine (or,
more likely, to express their desire to chase the squirrels across
the backyard in the moonlight regardless of my need for sleep).
Or…
of course… maybe I’m just damn good at procrastinating, and it’s
always fun to work on something you’re good at. Let’s face it…
I’m very willing to put a hammock up in the back yard and take
frequent naps (and refer to them as thought-filled research and
development efforts). And while having no desire to be a starving
writer, I am open to hearing arguments about the pro-side of being
an alcoholic writer.
Anyway...
I
have sent many letters and packages out for consideration and
placed others into the filing cabinet. I’ve got several envelopes
ready to go as you are reading this. To date though, the most
experience I can pass along to aspiring authors is how to handle
a rejection slip.
Comes
with the territory. Anyone that tells you differently probably
hasn’t attempted much. The only guaranteed way to avoid failure
is to not try. I intend to keep trying.
I
wanted a way to put some things out there though… even as I keep
working behind the scenes at creating a best seller that could
justify those future naps. Pull out some of the stuff and ideas
I’ve been carrying around for so many years and perhaps get them
read by a person or two. Do I think a miracle will take place…
and a friend of a friend of a friend will e-mail the site address
to someone in a position to make a difference? Perhaps. But more
importantly right now is that I am producing material, working
off some rust while getting in some practice, and hopefully that
you enjoy it…
This
web site was initially designed in February of 2003, and went
live in March of that year. In 2008, I smashed into several computer
issues… and smashed I have found to be the best word to describe
the wide range of challenges presented… and eventually re-launched
a new version of the site in December of that year. I plan to
use it as my little way of posting columns, articles, thoughts
and ideas. The exact dates for updates is roughly whenever I feel
I have something ready. (Or more specifically when I get off my
butt and write.) However, hoping to get you interested enough
to return on a frequent and regular basis, and understanding the
feeling of wanting more material from web sites I enjoy, I will
do everything I can to make certain something gets posted as often
as possible.
The
success of the site will ultimately depend on you. So I hope you
will take a few seconds, visit the Complaint
Department section, and let me know your comments
and suggestions for future efforts. I also encourage you to visit
the Extras
section, where I have placed some links I think you may find interesting.
If you continue down this page you’ll find descriptions of what
this site contains, and how to use the banner at the top of the
site to find things.
Thanks
for visiting. I appreciate it.
~
~ ~ ~ ~
Here’s
a quick overview of In My Backpack…
Now
Playing ~ Kind of a daily diary, with informal
thoughts and comments on anything that strikes me as worth posting.
When a new article is posted to the site, I’ll have it noted in
an entry for that day. I’ll also have special links and other
items here. Once a month changes, a new “Now Playing” entry will
begin, and the old month will be filed away in The Attic.
The
Attic ~ Easy enough to figure out, this is
the archive of articles and material. Go here and you’ll find
general interest as a catch all along with interviews, sports,
travel, and basically any thing else I think I need.
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~ If you’re reading this I don’t need to explain it.
Complaint
Department ~ Contact information.
Extras
~ Links that either mean something to me, or that I would like
to direct your attention to, that deserve a bit more permanent
spot than a simple listing in an entry in Now Playing.
