Modern Day Letter Writing

Wow, it's been almost 3 months since I've posted anything here. I guess that lets you know how exciting my life is.

I just finished reading The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough. Great book, very interesting and inspirational how two brothers with no knowledge or experience with aviation taught themselves to build a plane and fly it. Think of how different the world was barely a hundred years ago.

But what I found most interesting were the letters the Wrights wrote. I'm always fascinated by the letter writing from the 1800s and early 1900s. Whether it's Wilbur Wright or a Civil War soldier, most of the letter writers back then seem to have a greater mastery of the English language than most professional writers today (myself included, I'm afraid). And the letters were usually written in beautiful flowing cursive, unlike the hastily composed emails of today. Here's how a letter home from a travelling husband around 1900 might begin:

My Dearest Katherine,

Upon waking this morning I was most pleased to find the sun's warm rays caressing my face much as I hope to caress yours upon my return. I realize discretion would be the wise course, lest the children read this and laugh at their father's uncouth manner, yet I'm finding myself unable to err on the side of caution when proclaiming my adoration of and love for you, my wife.

And now, an email from a modern day husband:

Hey Kate, you wanna make sure you feed the dog? And don't let him have table scraps, they give him the shits.

It really is too bad that letter writing is a lost art.

I may change the title of my blog - any suggestions?

I'm thinking of changing the title of this blog. It has my name, which is nice, but it's Gary Sprague's Books, which I feel can be a bit confusing. My blog began as a way to talk about and market the books I've written, and since I'd never had a blog before that was the title I came up with. I'm bad with titles.

I don't seem to talk about my books a whole lot on here, though. I have pictures and links (which I hope everyone is taking advantage of) but I don't really talk about them that much. In fact, I mention my newspaper articles far more than my books.

The title also may give the idea that this is a book reviewing blog. I do give opinions on books that I've read, but that also isn't the main subject of this blog.

I guess the main subject is me. I could be like Donald Trump and name everything after myself. The title, every post, etc. Sounds funny, but I really may just call it Gary Sprague. I also like Gary Sprague, Writer. Or Gary Sprague's Blog. Those titles are pretty open ended and allow me to talk topics other than books without being confusing. And, again, they have my name.

One last title that I like is Mainely Writing, because I'm in Maine. For some reason, I like anything with Mainely in it. But then, that either sounds like I'm only talking about writing, or I'm only talking about Maine writing.

I don't know. If anyone has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

How sex caused me to lose my hair

Here's a story about how my son thinks that sex made me lose my hair:

A few months ago, my 9-year-old son told me that he knew all about sex and I didn't have to explain anything to him. I asked where he acquired this information and he said the playground. The same place we all learned it, I guess.

So I asked him to tell me what he'd heard, in the hopes that I might learn something. It's never too late, right? So he said that sex is when a man and a woman lay down together naked and one of them sticks their penis in the other one's butt. Which is about what I'd expect from third-grade sex experts.

I then explained to him what sex is and how it works (as much as I know, anyway). It was an awkward conversation. Then he asked, "What's the point? I mean, why would you even want to do that?" After saying that adults get feelings for each other and blah blah blah, I said, "Oh! It's to make children. The actual point of sex is to reproduce, or make children."

So yesterday, he was making fun of my lack of hair. I told him that I had plenty of hair before he was born (okay, I lied) and that it only started falling out when he was born. And then he asked, "Why, does sex make you lose your hair?"

Pretty clever, I thought.

Another one of his jokes about my hair:
Sam: Dad, do you think you'd be good in a club? I think you would be.
Me: Oh yeah? What kind of club?
Sam: Hair Club.

More (good) reviews would make me happy; Judd Apatow's Sick in the Head

I noticed yesterday that I got a bad review for Bobby's House recently on Amazon.com. Because it's only the third review, that's not good. But, the thing is, Bobby's House has been my best selling book this year. Every month, it's outsold my other books. Strange, really, because Lettahs From Maine was always my biggest seller.

Now, this doesn't mean that it's on the bestsellers list, but it is selling a few copies every month. This means that people are buying it, but nobody reviews it. I know that somebody is enjoying it, though. The two books of mine that people say are their favorites are usually Bobby's House and Lettahs From Maine, and they are very different. So if everyone who liked Bobby's House would review it, I'd be happy. I'm sure there are millions (hundreds, dozens?) of you out there! However, it seems that nobody reviews anything unless they are dissatisfied. I'm the same way.

Enough about that. I'm currently reading Sick in the Head, by Judd Apatow. It's a collection of interviews with comedians. It's OK. I like most of the people he interviews in the book, that part is great. But he often talks way too much about himself, which I call the Jon Stewart Syndrome. I like Jon Stewart, but when interviewing someone he has a habit of talking more about himself than about the person being interviewed.

 Plus, I don't care for Judd Apatow's movies. I've never made it through one of them. Since they seem to do very well at the box office, I'm going to admit that I don't speak for the general public when I say this.

Oh, wait. I liked Funny People. So once again, I contradict myself.

Here's a link to my latest Sanford News column. It's about my son Sam and I attending the Sanford Mainers baseball games and his getting an autograph and picture with his favorite player.

Review of Harper Lee's 'Go Set A Watchman' - It stinks.

I read Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman last week. I can give you my review in two words - It stinks.

However, I will say a little more. This book should never have been published. It reads like a first draft, which it probably is. There is a reason Harper Lee didn't publish this book for over 50 years. They say it was recently discovered, but I don't believe that. She knew it was there and didn't want it published. I should add that To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels. Maybe that's why this one bothers me so much.

I'm now reading Scribe, by Bob Ryan. Nothing great, but good if you are a fan of Boston sports.

Summer is coming to an end. Well, I may be rushing it, but it feels that way. The Sanford Mainers baseball team have concluded their season. Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer, and for me the end of the Mainers season is the unofficial end. I don't want it to end, and I'm sure we have lots of nice weather and barbecues ahead of us. At least I hope so.

Today I ordered a  new ergonomic office chair. I'm hoping that will help with my shoulder and back problems and get me back to working on my next novel soon. I know that there are a lot of people looking forward to it. Right? RIGHT?

Summer in Maine

It's been a good summer so far. We've only been to the beach a couple of times but we've also been to the lake and we've seen a lot of Sanford Mainers baseball games. I think this picture of my 9-year-old son fishing at Wadleigh Pond in Lyman best describes what summer in Maine is about:

Speaking of Sam, he's done a lot of writing this week. I worked at my desk while he sat in a chair in the corner of my office. We listened to Guns N' Roses for a while, until he told me it wasn't very good music for writing. Then I changed it to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and he loved it. He said, "You ever listen to music that's so good you almost have to stop listening because it makes you feel like you're going to explode?"

So while we listened to that, he wrote a 600-word story. The next day, he wrote a 1,200-word story. It's been a long time since I've done 1,800 words of fiction in two days. Not bad for a kid of 9.

I am still working on my novel, and I have ideas for several short stories. It's just finding time to get them down on paper. And I've been having problems with my neck and shoulders which limits the time I can write. But once I get my work station ergonomically correct, I'll be right back at it!

Speaking of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, I mentioned them (well, without Young) in my Sanford News column this week. It's about how high the cost of concert tickets are nowadays. Seriously, I like Cheap Trick, but in what universe are they worth $60 to see in concert?

Top pick from the Springvale Library book sale

Yesterday was the Springvale Library annual book sale. I usually buy several books but I had my son with me this year so I didn't search as thoroughly as I normally do. I did get a Batman comic book compilation from 1966 that I think looks pretty cool:

I like that at the top it says, "Now America's No. 1 TV Hero." My son says he still is, because we watch the show every Saturday night.

I've read a few good books this summer. First there was Stephen King's Finders Keepers, and then Nick Hornby's Funny Girl, which was excellent. Now I'm reading Ball Four, the book about the 1969 MLB season by Jim Bouton which was considered so controversial. I'm really enjoying it.

This morning I wrote a newspaper column about the price of concert tickets, and this afternoon I'll probably work on my Coach Zim novel. But because it's about 80 degrees and sunny, I may get outside and enjoy the nice weather too.

Children of Mother Earth - Free today!

My novel Children of Mother Earth is free as a kindle download today. So get it while you can!

I finished I'm With the Band. Thank God. She can stay there. What a waste of time and paper that book was. But good for her, I guess.

I'm now reading Stephen King's Finders Keepers. So far, it's really good. I really enjoy his writing and there's no horror, at least not so far. So that's good. The cover looks like a horror novel, but that's what happens when you've sold a zillion books in that genre.

So many books I want to read this summer. Next up will be Funny Girl, by Nick Hornby, then the last book of the Century trilogy by Ken Follett (that should take the month of July).
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I've been plugging away at my new novel. The working title is Coach Zim. I'm hoping to come up with something better when it's completed, although I kind of like the working title. I have about 17,000 words down of the very rough first draft. Funny, the more I write, the more ideas shoot into my head from out of nowhere, both for this book and future novels. I need to write faster so I can complete all the novels I have ideas for.

I don't plot, I don't outline or diagram or write anything down. Well, except for the names of characters and a brief description, otherwise I begin to get very confused after about 30 pages, which is what's happening now. I need to write the names down soon, I guess. I have an idea of how the story will end, though, or at least how it will get there.

I do sometimes think it would be easier to write everything down first, to plot it out. But I get ideas in my head of where the story is going, and wham! It suddenly takes off in another direction. I've always been like that, and I don't think I'm going to change, so I'll just stick with what I know. Just like my short stories - they all start with a situation. Boy listening to parents talk through vent holes, fishermen find dead body, etc. I sometimes know how my short stories will end, but rarely.  I wonder if anyone else writes the same way.

Reading a lousy book and writing a novel.

It's a pretty typical April day - cold and rainy. Unfortunately, it's June.

Last week, I finished reading Winter of the World, the second book in Ken Follett's Century trilogy. It was really good. The first one was good, but this one was better. Right now I am reading the Pamela Des Barres book, I'm With The Band. Not good. If you are an 18-year-old girl and aspire to be the plaything of a rock star, you may like it. If you have any level of maturity at all, you might want to avoid it. You know it's bad if it's too immature for me. I thought it would give me some insight into the lives of rock stars, but really it's about rock stars blowing her off after having sex with her a few times. Also, it's written like a diary that Marcia Brady would have kept about Davey Jones.

Why, then, am I still reading it? Because I feel the need to finish a book once I've started it, even the bad ones. I don't know why. I don't always make it, and it's a real waste of time, but I will push through this one.

I'm working on a novel about a high school teacher / baseball coach. It has everything - sports, sex, violence. Well, it will when it's finished. I wish I could write a mystery thriller sort of novel, because that seems to be what sells, but I can't. Maybe I could, but it probably wouldn't turn out so great. I do have ideas for my next couple of novels, but I have to finish this one first.

It's amazing to me that I finished writing Rock Star almost two years ago and I haven't written a novel since. I did write Love Lettahs From Maine earlier this year, but those are easy for me to write and only take a few weeks. So I'd better get to it!

World premier of "War + Love = Drama!"

I just read that Kim Kardashian says Bruce Jenner, her stepfather, looks beautiful in a dress. I understand being open to the choices of others, but this man lived with you as your stepfather for many years. I can't imagine if my father announced he wanted to wear dresses. Actually, that would be really funny - "Jesus, this thing don't fit. How in the hell do you zip this thing? Whoever designed this dress ought to have it shoved right up their ass!"

On to more important things, like my latest Sanford News column. It's about the new dent in my truck. If you've ever had a vehicle hit in a parking lot, and the person who did it took off without leaving a note, you'll probably relate to this.

And here's something even more important than my column: my son Samuel's Lego movie. It was made on an iPad and he's a pretty good director for an 8 year old. I think it's really cool and I'm proud of him for his creativity and effort. And now, for your viewing pleasure, here is War + Love = Drama!

Smart investing can lead to the freedom to buy a 2012 Kia Forte

Here is my column from this week's Sanford News. It's about the mind-boggling financial success I've had investing in stocks. Those of you who are considering investing will probably decide to do so after reading this. I hope that those people who are inspired to invest because of my column and experience tremendous success will remember me and share a small portion of their success. Or a large portion. Either way.

Speaking of financial success, we bought a 2012 Kia Forte this week. Yes, with financial success comes the freedom to purchase things that once seemed unattainable, like a 2012 Kia Forte. Actually, it seems like a good car. My wife likes it and that's the important thing, since it's her car.

I finished reading Jaws, which was different in many ways from the movie, including the way it ended. In some ways, I liked it better than the movie.

One thing I always have problems with when writing a story is coming up with names. This morning I was working on a novel and couldn't come up with any names, so I opened an old phone book for some ideas. For instance for the name of a high school principal I found the last name Craggy. Principal Craggy. I like the sound of that.

I usually mix and match - a first name from this column, a last name from that column. I do this quite often when writing stories. I should probably just ask my 8-year-old son for name ideas, I'm sure he'd come up with some good ones.

The world's greatest mug

Yesterday, I was given a new mug. This is no ordinary mug. It has a picture on it that Samuel made in art class earlier this year. It's a guy riding a wave and saying "da da da da da." I thought it must be because of me - Sam used to call me Da Da - but he looked at me like I was extremely dense and said, "He's singing the Batman theme - "da da da da da da da, Batman!"

Spring has finally arrived, it's been over 50 degrees every day and the snow is gone. I'm hoping that the change in weather is going to give me the ambition to write a great novel. Or even a mediocre novel. Any novel, really. Even a short story would be nice.

I'm reading Jaws, the novel by Peter Benchley that the classic movie is based on. It's pretty good, but it's very different in some ways from the movie. For instance, the character of Hooper, played in the movie by Richard Dreyfus, is really good looking and sleeps with Brody's wife. That would have made for a very different movie, for sure.

I think I'll do some writing now on the new novel I'm chipping away at. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say it is fantastic and unlike anything ever written before. Are you interested yet? I know I am. I can't wait to finish writing it and find out if the hype is true.

Smaht phones and computahs and whatnot

The hard drive on my laptop died a couple of weeks ago. I had it for exactly a year, I think - since having our taxes done I can't find the receipt - and it's already fried. I had two computer guys look at it and there is no retrieving anything from the hard drive. Which means that the novel I was working on for the past month is no longer with us.

Well Gary, you say, you backed everything up, right? You aren't a total idiot, are you? Well, I answer, not a total idiot. I do back up my documents once a week on a flash drive. Except it had been a month since my last backup, for some reason, so everything written over that last month is gone, poof, goodbye. I think I need to start using an online backup service, just to be safe.

So I bought an HP laptop, the least expensive one I could find. It's a lot bigger than my last two laptops and the touchpad is awful, but hopefully I'll get used to it. And I also got an iPhone 5 this week, my first smartphone. A wicked smaht phone, as we say in Maine. So far I really like it, much more than I expected to. Except that with the case I bought, I can't hear anything. So I can find the weather and check stocks and get directions in an instant, but I won't be able to hear anyone who calls me. That's progress.

Just so it doesn't appear that technology is taking over my life, I should make it known that right now I am listening to a very scratched copy of Led Zeppelin III on vinyl.

I began reading Ken Follet's Fall of Giants, the first book in the Century trilogy. It's 1,000 pages long, as are all three books, and I can't stop wondering, what have I gotten myself into? I'll let you know how it is six months from now when I finish it.

5 Star Review of Rock Star

This post is dedicated to a review of one of my books, Rock Star. A blogger, SBR Martin, contacted me a few weeks ago about doing a review of Rock Star. It would be an honest review, she told me, which meant it could have been good or bad. Luckily, it was good. You can see it here, along with other reviews she's done, or you can read it below:

For many, being a rock star would be a dream come true… But, for Dark Cross axe-grinder Sonny Wells, it was a living nightmare. Sure, it was great to play on stage and share his artistry with the world—and, the fame, fortune, and feral females were fabulous, of course. But, everything else? Not so much. As Dark Cross rose to dominate the 70’s rock scene, Sonny stood by as everything else around him fell apart and crumbled to the ground. The long-term friendships amongst his bandmates deteriorated almost as quickly as the drugs destroyed their minds, and creative differences, greed, and ego further forged a drastic divide. Enough was enough, and Sonny opened his eyes. He took a deep breath, walked away from it all, and never looked back again… until now.
“Rock Star” by Gary Sprague finds fifty-something Sonny in an unlikely place and unthinkable situation. Clad in work boots, mud-stained flannels, and a John Deere cap atop his scraggly grey strands, Sonny makes his home on a farm in rural Maine, where he lives in peace under an assumed name and no one is privy to his past. He’s clean, sober, and bedding a babe over thirty, and, for the past three decades, he’s strummed only for his faithful canine companion, the disabled kids at a nearby school, and the rock icons who hang on the walls of his well-hidden music room. But, unfortunately for Sonny, most of that’s about to change… When an overambitious journalist discovers Sonny’s whereabouts, there’s a media frenzy and corporate chase to get Dark Cross back on the stage. Equally as concerned with the band’s legacy as with his own serenity, Sonny is deadest against it at first—but, when he sees an opportunity to help those he loves, he reluctantly signs on and embarks upon a very lucrative reunion tour. Yet with the millions of dollars comes innumerable woes, and Sonny is once again forced to face those things he tried so hard to avoid, including coming to terms with the consequences of the decisions he’s made.

A delightfully down-to-earth and entirely entertaining piece, “Rock Star” takes readers on an incredible journey to places they might not necessarily want to go. Very realistic, revealing, and raw, it presents a world stripped of all the glam, glory, and gregarious good times we rock-star-wannabe-dreamers dream to find and shows how, believe it or not, the grass ain’t always greener on the other side.
Read it for pleasure; read it for perspective; read it for any reason, or for no reason at all. “Rock Star” gets five stars for its touching, thought-provoking portrayal of one. 

Just spinning my wheels

The bad news (always bad news first) is that we are buried in snow. In case you think I am exaggerating, here is the view from our living room window:

The snow is about a foot from our roof. I'm beginning to feel a little claustrophobic. It's not much better out back, either. But the good news is, it got over 30 degrees today so some of the snow melted. By June I should be able to see what's going on outside my house.

I've been working on a novel for the past couple of weeks. Starting is always the hardest part for me. I've written about ten pages, but I'm actually only on page 2 because I delete so much as I'm starting, trying to go in the right direction. Not to bring up winter again, but it's like having your wheels spin on ice, until you hit the tar below. Then you take off. I'm still waiting to hit the tar.

I just read Insane City, by Dave Barry. It's probably the funniest book I've ever read, laugh out loud funny. Considering I'd never really cared for Dave Barry before, it was a surprise. Right now I'm reading Nobody's Fool, by Richard Russo. One of my all-time favorite books. I read the same book about three years ago and I swear the words have gotten smaller.

Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet couple of weeks. The kids were on vacation last week so I spent most of it in my office, hiding. Oh, and I had a column in the Sanford News last week, about home repair. Stay tuned for even more excitement!

Fifty Shades of Gary

The big news is that my new book, Love Lettahs From Maine, is now available at Amazon.com in print and as a Kindle download. It made me laugh to write it, so I hope it will amuse others. Here it is:

Of course, there's a picture of it to the on the side of this page, too. If you click on that it will take you right to the Amazon.com page. Technology, huh?

Now you are probably thinking, wow, two huge books in one year! Love Lettahs From Maine and the Harper Lee sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. That's why I released my book now, instead of in the summer. I didn't want my book to take away from her sales.  After all, Harper Lee hasn't released a book in over fifty years, so I'll let her have the number one spot. Yes, I really am that thoughtful and generous.

A friend suggested that I write a book and title it Fifty Shades of Gary. Mine will be about a middle-aged balding man who has been faithful to the same woman for ten years. They have kids and both work multiple jobs and on the rare occasions that they are alone they are usually too tired to even stay awake, let alone think about sex. There will be exciting, provocative things in the book, like the sleep mask his wife puts on when she wants to sleep and he's watching television. There will also be lubricants, like the oil he puts in his snowblower. There'll also be toys that plug in, like the generator and the weed wacker, and some that use batteries, like the kids' remote control cars. And the setting will be a ranch house in Maine that's surrounded by snow for half the year. Sounds as exciting as Fifty Shades of Grey, doesn't it? I just hope I don't get in trouble for plagiarism.

Until I get around to writing that, though, I'll work on other things. Like shoveling out from the foot and a half of snow we are expecting this weekend. One month until spring, one month until spring, one month until spring...

What we Mainahs call a dustin'

I'm writing this from beneath four feet of snow. If you don't believe me, take a look at my house:

Right now I'm in my office, located in the basement. So, as you can see, I really am under four feet of snow. We made the national news this week for getting the most snow from the blizzard. And this picture doesn't show the three feet of snow on parts of my roof. At least the driveway is clear.

I have a couple of book updates. First, I'm giving away two signed copies of Rock Star on Goodreads. You can enter to win until February 14. How can you get to the page to enter? I'm not sure. You can go to Goodreads.com and look for my book and go from there. I know, I'm not a lot of help.

The other book update is that I've finished writing Love Lettahs From Maine. I'm now working on the book cover. I'd hoped to have it published by Valentine's Day for all you wicked romantic types out theya, but I'm not sure if that will happen. It'll be close. To hold you over until then, here's a sample of what you'll get:

This is owa fihst Valentine’s day in owa new home. I’m wicked glad, too. You know I like carryin you ovah the threshold into the bedroom every Valentine’s day, and that was a wicked pissah when you got wedged hahd in the dowaway last yeeya. Them dowaways was wicked narrow in that appahtment. Theya okay in the summah but not in the wintah when you put on that extra layah owa two of wintah fat. The guys from the fiya depahtment was wicked good about it, said they see it all the time around heeya. I aint suprised, with all the narrow dowaways in these apahtments. Nothin I hate mowa than an incompetent buildah. Probly a Masshole. Any Mainah knows that when you build you gotta plan ahead fowa wintah fat! Lucky that spray can of WD40 was almost full owa they mighta nevah gotten you unstuck.

Yes, there's nothing better than reading about love and romance on a cold winter night. So start saving your pennies now so you can afford the .99 Kindle version.

I'm off to make s'mores in the fireplace and then watch Batman on MeTV. Not a bad way to spend Saturday night when buried in snow.

Rock Star book giveaway on Goodreads

Big news: I'm going to give away 2 signed copies of Rock Star on Goodreads.  I think the giveaway starts tomorrow and runs for 3 weeks, and it's free to enter. I suppose I should know more about this.  I'll have more information in my next post, hopefully.

Because I live in New England and the Super Bowl is approaching, I'm going to write a little about the Patriots. I'll keep it brief: I am not a Patriots fan. I read an article this week where a writer said he was wrong for saying in September that the Patriots dynasty was over. What he was actually wrong about was calling the Patriots a dynasty. If you haven't won a Super Bowl in 10 years, you are not a dynasty. If you make it to the Super Bowl twice in 10 years and lose both times, you are not a dynasty.

Okay, enough of that. It's been snowing all day, but the good news is that spring arrives in less than 2 months! It's a good day to read or watch a bunch of shows on Netflix. So why aren't I doing that? I guess because I had to complain about the Patriots. If you want an example of wasting time on something that in no way affects one's life, now you have it. 

Lazy boy in a La-Z-Boy

My birthday was last week and I had a great day. Got a new LL Bean jacket (fowa them wicked cold wintah days) and a recliner, which gives me yet another excuse to avoid writing. I sat in my new recliner and watched a few movies this week. I can see that this is going to be a very, very comfortable way to waste time.

I may look thoughtful, but I'm just trying to decide which movie to watch next.

So, speaking of my birthday, my column in last week's Sanford News was about my birthday and the 10-year anniversary of my first date with my wife. It's a good column, in my completely biased opinion. 10 years together. Wow. A wife, kids, a house, and now my very own recliner. I'm feeling very domesticated.

I've almost finished writing the first draft of Love Lettahs From Maine. How can I tell the difference between the first draft and the finished product, you may ask? Well, it ain't easy, mistah! I'm really enjoying writing it, though. Here is just a sample of the beautiful prose you'll find inside the book:

I know I come off like some big stud with my collection of deeya heads and rifles in my bedroom at Ma’s house, but I aint nevah mated with a real woman befowa. I’m glad we decided to wait, of cawse, but sometimes when I’m with you I feel like a bull moose during ruttin season.

Ah, yes, romance is certainly in the air up here in Maine. When can you get your hands on Love Lettahs From Maine? Hahd sayin, not knowin. But soon.

Bit nippy up heeya in Maine, yessah!

It is really cold here in Maine. -5 to -15 degrees tonight. Someone (my father) told me today that it wasn't too bad outside, warm compared to yesterday. You know someone is a true Mainer when they describe 15 degrees as warm. Everything is covered in a sheet of ice. I've driven into the same snowbank on my street twice this week.

Here's my Christmas column from the Sanford News. It was on the front page of the newspaper, along with two other columns. I didn't like the column when I wrote it, but a lot of people have told me they like it so I assume they know what they are talking about. Normally I think I know more than everyone, unless they are complimenting me.

I just finished reading Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout. It was excellent, really well done. It's a book I never would have considered reading and am glad I did. I think I'll begin another Carl Hiaason novel tonight. He's the funniest writer around today, in my opinion. Excluding myself, of course.

I'm writing a new Lettahs From Maine book, Love Lettahs From Maine. I'm laughing while writing it, which is a good sign. I hope to have it finished and published by February because Valentine's Day is in February, and nothing says romance better than Love Lettahs.