Freezing; High Tech Stereo System

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but it's really cold out there. It was 10 degrees at noon and the wind chill temperature is not going to get up over 0 for the rest of the day. So I'm staying inside. I did run outside to get the mail, and I believe that gave me all the fresh air I should need today. And I am planning to go to the movies tonight, so that hundred yard walk from the truck to the building should be quite refreshing.

I've been working on my new novel, sort of. As I often do, I'll start writing a novel, then get another idea and start another novel. So I'll work on 2 novels, often one after the other, until the characters in one become very clear. Then I'll stick with that one and drop the other one. It usually takes 10-20 pages. Strange, I know.

As I've said before, I enjoy listening to music while I write. Not always; if I'm writing an article or something I really need to think about, I'd often rather not listen to anything. But usually, especially when writing short stories or novels, I like to listen to music. Here, for the first time, I reveal the hi-fi system I use:

Yes, that's seriously what I listen to music on. Turntable, cassette, receiver - all I need to do is get a cd player and I'll have updated it to the 1980's. I will admit, I have an ipod hooked up to it. But it's a fourth generation ipod.

Another great quote from Sam: We were listening to the Beach Boys - his current favorite - and he was asking about them. I told him that they are old now and probably can't sing as high anymore. He replied,  "Yeah, when people get old their voices get kind of crumbly."

Falling Star Magazine, The Deep Freeze

Already suffering from the post-holiday doldrums. January and February are always depressing in Maine, but when the temperature is consistently in the single numbers and below zero, it gets old quickly. Here is a picture of my family during the holiday season.

Cold but joyful, right? I can't post a photo of us now. We're all frozen solid. Not really, but let's just say we're not smiling as much as we were during the holidays. At least, I'm not.

I do have good news, though. I received an email today from Falling Star Magazine, telling me that they would like to publish my short story, "Date Night at the Drive-In". It's a story I wrote in July 2011, two and a half years ago, right after I finished my novel Bobby's House. It's the raunchiest short story I've ever written, and I really didn't expect it to get published. It's a good story, though, and well written, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That's number 14. I need to write more short stories, I'd like to eventually publish a book of my published stories.

Here's my column from last week's Sanford News. It's about all the cars I've had over the years, and how most guys would buy a new car first after winning the lottery.

Listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash's first LP, trying to get inspired to write. I just read Graham Nash's autobiography, Wild Tales. It was really good. After this album I'll listen to a Buffalo Springfield record. Who knows, I may end up writing another book about a commune.

My 7-year-old son Sam's quote of the day, after my cell phone rang: "Wow, that gave me quite a fright."

Happy New Year 2014, Rock Star on Amazon.com

Happy New Year! My novel Rock Star is finally available on Amazon.com in both ebook and print formats. It's a great book, if I do say so myself (and I do).  I hope everyone enjoys it. To check it out, just click on the picture to the right (yes, it's the one that says Rock Star). And be sure to check out my other books, as well.

So what did everybody do last night? I sat home with my son Sam. He was asleep at 7:30, so I made a hot toddy and watched Blame it on Rio, with Michael Caine. Well, I didn't watch it with Michael Caine. He starred in the movie. Then I read Wild Tales, by Graham Nash, until I fell asleep. Yes, it was a pretty wild New Years Eve. The good news is, I'm not at all hungover today.

Expecting about a foot of snow over the next couple of days, with highs in the single digits and lows down to about -20. That's cold, even for Maine.