Hung out with mermaids and pirates

I have a pretty cool day job, sometimes, like when I get to go hang out at a pool with pirates and mermaids. Check out the article here<<

Back to school time for adult learners

Jim Barr, coordinator of Education Partnerships at Gulf Coast State College, poses with Barbara and Stan Guterman, who donated $1,000 to the Education Encore Scholarship Fund.

• EDUCATION ENCORE
• When: In-person registration is 8 a.m. Jan. 16; classes are six consecutive Fridays, Jan. 23 through Feb. 27
• Where: Gulf Coast State College, 5230 U.S. 98, Panama City
• What: Non-credit enrichment classes for adults
• Cost: $88
• Details: Online at GulfCoast.edu/EducationEncore; call 872-3823; or email Jim Barr at jbarr@gulfcoast.edu

PANAMA CITY — With Spring Break on the horizon, it’s time for the winter to start winding down — but that just means Education Encore is about to heat up. The winter session of Gulf Coast State College’s adult education program begins Jan. 23, with in-person registration taking place Friday, Jan. 16.

As I’ve noted in the past, I have had the pleasure — and the challenge — of teaching a writing course for the program, helping students ranging in age from 30 to 80 and ranging in experience from beginner to retired journalist. I have never yet met someone who is as bad a writer as they think they are, but I have met a few who were much better than they ever suspected.

The program, which meets on six consecutive Fridays, offers more than 80 non-credit classes, which are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 7 a.m., and the fee for Panama City participants is $88, which includes four classes on each of the six Fridays. (Classes offered at the GCSC Port St. Joe campus, at a fee of $66, meet each Wednesday for six weeks.)

For details on the program and to see a list of classes, visit GulfCoast.edu/EducationEncore, call   872-3823 or e-mail Jim Barr, coordinator of Education Partnerships, at jbarr@gulfcoast.edu

“The goal of Education Encore is to provide a learning environment that is fun, lively and offers diversity, insight and wisdom — in which adults explore new ideas,” Jim said in an email to participants. “If you have been to college, this is an opportunity to re-live the college experience. If you have not attended college, this is an opportunity to live the college experience. Just as exercising the body keeps one physically fit, exercising the mind keeps one mentally fit.”

The program’s motto is “No Stress, No Tests, No Grades, Just Fun,” though some classes (like mine) encourage participants to work on projects throughout the week. (All good writing is re-writing, you know.)

Established in 1991, originally designed for retired senior adults, the program and the courses offered have evolved over the years. All ages of adults are welcome, and many of the courses are the result of requests and suggestions from students.

Some of the winter courses offered include bridge, quilting, Digital Image Editing, drawing, Heritage Skills for Modern Times, jewelry, Spanish conversation, Birding for Beginners, civil law, Firearms Safety,  History and Training of Navy Seals, line dancing,  storytelling, Fishing Florida Waters, History of Seminole Tribes, financial planning, Understanding Islam, Zumba, acrylic painting, photography, sign language, gardening, musical theatre history, sea life, interior decorating, journaling, Tai Chi, aquatic exercise, car maintenance, astronomy, fitness, physics, a capella harmony, gourmet cooking, yoga and many more.

In fact, writing has been such a popular subject, this year the program will offer four different classes for students to explore. Sherry Anderson will teach Writing Memoirs and Creative Non-fiction; Pat Sabiston has Journaling: A Powerful Tool to Write a Life Story; Michael Brim offers Fear and Fun of Writing Fiction; and I will be discussing the intersection of Writing and Life.

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Peace.

-----

This is my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.

Blog Hop!

My friend Windy of the HouseBlend blog tagged me to play along in a "blog hop" Q&A. The Rules: Answer the following questions, then tag someone else (or someones elses; up to 5). I shall endeavor to play by the rules.

What am I currently working on?

Besides my day job, and the house that needs painting (etc.), I'm working on a novel about a sentient zombie. I have two notebooks full of notes, scenes, character sketches for a steampunk novel set in an alternate post-Civil War America, and another novel that is a sequel to my most recent manuscript (Caliban: Giants in the Earth, which made the quarter-finals of this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, but did not make the semi-finals, alas). My answers below will relate to my fiction writing, not my reporting or columns.

How do I write?

After years of working just in the digital realm, I have returned to writing longhand in unlined journals with a pen for my first draft. Then putting it all together and editing as I go with a keyboard. I tend to write with the keyboard late at night; I make notes, sketch scenes, etc., whenever the idea hits me throughout the day. (I try to keep my notebook handy.)

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

OOof. That's the most difficult question on this list. I like to think my stories have unique approaches stylistically as well as a willingness to be unblinkingly honest about everything, from a character's spirituality to a description of a violent act. Caliban, for instance, is a multi-generational Southern Gothic/Lovecraftian horror/fantasy. My steampunk novel will explore a Native American response to Euro-American expansionism, among other topics.

Why do I write what I write?

Because I can't stop it. I can't take a weekend trip with my wife without coming up with crazy story ideas. I hear a song and stories form in my head. I  see a movie and think how I would have done the story instead. I overhear a conversation at a coffee shop, and imagine the backstory. These things go into text so I can see what I'm thinking, and so I can revise and clarify them, and maybe make somebody feel something real. So few people ever read what I write, that I don't write for them at all.

How does my writing process work?

Like I said, I write down ideas, characters, scenes, questions, notes all the time. I will sometimes write a brief outline to help me recall my thoughts later, but when I sit down to the actual work, those outlines mean nothing. I color outside the lines until I find my way through. I try not to revise as I go, but keep moving forward to the end. I take chapters to my writers' group to get their edits and suggestions, then dive in to revise.

Who wants to play along?

Let me tag Mark Boss, author of One Bullet, and Milinda Jay, author of Her Roman Protector.

Writers on Writing: My Approach

Milinda Jay (from GoodReads)

(NOTE: My friend Milinda Jay, whose novel "Her Roman Protector" was published by the Harlequin Love Inspired imprint this spring, has been running a series called "Writers on Writing" on her blog. It focuses on the Love Inspired writers, but she invited some others to play along (including me). These are my answers to her questions about my approach.)

1.What time of the day do you write best and why?

My day job is writing for a newspaper and destination website, so I’m writing, interviewing and editing all day. But I have found that I’m most creative after noon; I tend to write my more personal columns later in the day. I’ve always been a night owl, however, when it comes to fiction. That’s what I did as a teenager and college student, either writing into the wee hours or waking with an idea and writing in the middle of the night. As a young father, I found that I could only have uninterrupted writing time after the kids (and usually, the wife as well) were in bed, so I would work into the night, getting a few hours of sleep, then getting up to help get the kids ready for school and heading to the day job. Now, with the kids grown, I still do most of my creative writing late at night. I don’t know if it’s connected to my own weird biorhythms, or if it’s something I’ve trained myself to do over the years, or if it has anything to do with that contract I signed in my own blood, but all my best work has corresponded to the witching hour.

2.How long do you write every day when you have a deadline looming?

I live with deadlines at work, and they have a way of cutting through the bullshit. You write what needs to be told, without embellishment, when you’re on deadline. It makes for lean prose. In my fiction, at least so far, all my deadlines have been self-imposed.

3.How long do you write every day when you don't have a deadline looming and why?

I’m going to give an answer related to my night-time activities: about two hours, give or take. Some nights I’m surprised to see how late (or rather, early) it is, because I’ve been in the trance state that a good night of writing induces. Some nights are a hard slog for every word. And some nights I have to say ‘screw this’ and go to bed at a decent hour.

4.How do you begin writing a novel?

The short answer: I have no idea.

My first published novel, Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century, started with a short story idea about a meat cutter married to a Vegan. It was more of a concept about ridiculous situations that grew as I came up with more characters. My second published  novel, The Book of Gabriel, evolved out of a set of dreams over the span of several years that I mined during a daily writing regimen I had created for myself in 2008. My third novel (really, a novella), Dragon Rising, was an attempt to write a space opera for my kids, who were at the time ages 10 and 13, something we could share. My current novel project, This Mortal Flesh, also began with a dream (a disturbing one) that made me want to explore the mindset of a sociopathic homicidal narrator. And my manuscript that’s currently in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest is the result of a childish power fantasy story that evolved over thirty years until I was mature enough and had enough words behind me that I could tackle it.

Each one of these began in a different way. I have copious notes and scenes written for a new project that started during a long drive, after the names of towns we passed suggested the names of characters, and I asked myself who these characters might be.

5. Are you a before you ever write your novel planner? If so, how do you plan? Do you use any outlines, books, formats when you plan your novel?

The only novel I have ever outlined in advance was This Mortal Flesh, and I have fallen so far off that outline it’s ridiculous. However, I often write outlines during the process, to help shape the major beats of the plot. Going back over these notes, I’ll often argue with my earlier decisions and make new notes. Then, as I’m writing, I ignore the outline, just sort of finding my way through a vague idea of the landscape.

6.If you aren't a planner, is there a point in writing the novel that you stop, look back and plan? If so, what is your method for doing so?

See above. I will do read-throughs to make sure details match up from chapter to chapter, or to plant the seeds of a plot device, a clue, or create a repeating image from something I came up with in a late chapter. That way, it looks like I always meant to do that. Also, I will never admit to that. You can’t prove it.

7.Where  did the idea come from for the novel you are working on right now?

I awoke in the middle of the night from a nightmare. I had dreamed that I was a flesh-eating zombie, that I had become aware of what I was, and that all the other zombies around me in the ruined city were still mindless. I knew what I had to do to survive (i.e., kill and eat live people), and in my dream I decided that I could do this. In fact, I was okay with this. That’s when I awoke. Did you ever wake from a sad dream and feel like crying? Did you ever wake yourself up laughing at something you dreamed was funny? I awoke with the disturbing realization, convinced at least until the dream had faded and I fully awoke, that I could kill if I had to. What kind of person did that make me? The kind I wanted to explore as a main character.

8.Do you use any visuals for inspiration? (or anything else!)

Not consciously. I have been looking at lots of steampunk items online to fuel a new project’s early conception, but I tend to avoid looking at, reading, or watching TV or movies about the sort of thing I’m currently writing. It makes me feel like it’s been done before, which of course it probably has, but that’s just death to momentum.

9. How do you get through the "murky middle" of your novel?

That part is almost desperately painful. I’m struggling with it right now. I skipped the “muddle” and went on to write the ending chapters, so now that middle ground is all bridge work, but you still have to keep it active, with obstacles and injuries and so forth. Sheer force of will. Stubbornness. Self flagellation.

10.Do you revise every day? If so, how do you organize your revising? What is your revision technique?

I do not revise daily. Going back kills momentum. I do, however back up and re-read previous segments to get me back in the rhythms of the work, remind me where I have been recently. I try to revise as I get notes from my writers group, then do a read-through to note places that are clunky or need more attention, then do another read through to strengthen verbs, increase the specificity of my language, and so forth.

11.If you don't revise every day, when do you revise and why?

See above.

12.Do you have a writing group, or a trusted reader for your novels? If so, how does that work? Do you meet weekly, or only when you have a novel due? Do you share your materials online or in person?

Yes. I’m part of a group that meets twice a month. We email each other almost daily about some aspect of our lives and work, but we send each other chapters when it’s meeting week. We each make notes on each other’s chapters, and review them in the meeting. Some prefer using printouts, and others forward their notes via email.

13. What have you learned about your method of writing after publishing your book(s)? Has it changed? If so, how?

I have tried to experiment with my approaches to fiction throughout my adult life. What I’ve learned is that your approach is only as effective as your ability. Find what works for you to get those words on paper (or screen). Don’t get hung up on how you plan to do it. Just do it.

14. What advice about a writing method would you give to any new writer?

See above.

15. Is there anything you would like to add about writing?

Our mutual friend Mark says it irks him when someone moans about how they hate writing but love having written (as Dorothy Parker famously said). He says he loves the act itself. I can understand what he means, but I guess I have more pain in the process than he experiences. It is difficult. It is work. Some nights, when it feels like your imaginary world is coming together, it is joyous. When that scene works perfectly, it is bliss. When the ideas are coming fast and freely, it is delicious. But making it make sense to the reader is a job. It can hurt. (My back is killing me right now, for instance.) It will drive you crazy.

In a discussion from lunch recently, I compared writing a novel to a love affair. (I’ve never experienced this sort of thing in my love life, but I read a lot. I believe it is true.) I said my problem with working on a novel is that, once I get past those first heady chapters and am facing the weight of time, I suddenly have an idea for another novel. It’s fresh and new, exciting, sexy – but here I am, stuck in a long-term relationship with the current story. I’ll find myself sneaking off to make notes on the new idea, doing research that won’t help me in the current work at all, basically courting the new idea while still trying to keep the faith with the “old” one. I get mad at the current work, standing between me and my heart’s newest desire. In the past, I’ve even let myself abandon the old work for the new one.

My advice: Finish what you start. The new idea will still be there, waiting, maturing, ready to be set in type when the time is ripe.

Peace.

This arrived in the mail yesterday

Which means it is now a thing in the real world.

Here it is on Kindle (ebook)<<

Here it is from CreateSpace (softcover)<<

'Dragon Rising' is coming tomorrow!

My latest novel is "Dragon Rising," Book One of The Shadow War. It will release on Kindle and in print via CreateSpace on New Year's Day (if all goes according to plan). Expect links and whatnot as soon as it is live and ready to order.

Here is the unfinished artwork/cover design from artist and graphic wiz Jayson Kretzer:

You'll get to see the finished version tomorrow, and I'll also be writing about the story behind the story for tomorrow's launch, so don't miss out.
Peace.

A Book Trailer: The Book of Gabriel

My friend, Lou Columbus, a videographer, writer and audio story narrator, created this trailer for my most recent novel, "The Book of Gabriel: An Endtimes Fable."

He used footage from this shoot on the shore of St. Andrew Bay, as well as found footage, and a photograph of Marisa, on whom I based the personality and image of the angel Joy; the text shown on the background of each scene is taken from the book and corresponds in some way to the scenes being depicted. I think he did a great job.

I hope you'll watch the trailer (1 minute) and check out the book, which is available in trade paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon.

It's the story of Gabriel Jones, a man at the end of his rope who finds himself drafted into a celestial war, fighting fallen angels and heavenly hosts on the side of Shekinah, the female aspect of God. They take some advice from Cain, the first murderer, who lives outside of Eden Gardens State Park. Borrow a ride from Elijah, who likes cars with flames on the side. Meet the Watchers who hover in the night sky over Gulf Breeze.

Dream of new lives in other worlds, and awake to find them true. Step through a door into the torture rooms of Hell, and walk the wilderness with Lilith, first wife of Adam. Stand on the edge of the world, part the sea, and raise the light of hope in a world where Lucifer is lord of all.

This weekend special: 15 PERCENT OFF of my books

NOTE: This special is now ended. Look for more savings in upcoming weeks.

In honor of the 14th annual Gulf Coast Writers Conference, I'm offering 15 PERCENT OFF each of my books available for purchase through the online distributor Lulu.com through this weekend. (Sale ends Sunday.)

Here are direct links to each of the books:

33 Days

33 Days: A collection of 10 stories inspired by the songs on the debut album by The Offer.

 (paperback)

The Book of Gabriel

The Book of Gabriel: An Endtimes Fable

(hardcover)

OR click here for the trade paperback edition

The Best of Days

The Best of Days: Short Stories and Miscellany

(paperback)

Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century

Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century: A Novel
(trade paperback)

City Limits (Vol.2)

City Limits (Volume 2): The Official Literary Anthology of the Panama City Centennial

(paperback)

City Limits (Vol. 1)

City Limits (Volume 1): The Official Literary Anthology of the Panama City Centennial

(paperback)

Get Lit: Book culture thriving

Creative Con lurker.

PANAMA CITY — Somebody asked me what groups are active in the area for people interested in becoming better writers. I threw a book at them.

Not really, but there’s no shortage of places for writers and readers to turn for inspiration, nuts-and-bolts information, and creative support around here. Between conferences, monthly group meetings and public readings, the local book culture appears to be healthy — and much of that is due to the direct support of the Bay County Public Library.

An estimated 1,500 people of all ages attended the recent Creative Con at the library, 898 W. 11th St. in Panama City. The event focused on graphic arts and comic books, which are many a child’s gateway to reading.

Next up, the library will welcome internationally best-selling authors Cassandra King and Pat Conroy for a pair of events to raise funds and awareness for the library’s annual Books Alive conference. Catch King and Conroy at a reception Sept. 12 (tickets are $55, which includes a copy of King’s new novel, “Moonrise”) or see them for free at the library 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 13.

For details on these events, check out our Calendar pages, visit NWRLS.com, or email Bettina Mead at bmead@baycountyfl.gov. (Click here for a full interview with King.)

Meanwhile, the library is also planning its annual Local Books Alive event, featuring authors from this area, on Oct. 12. Check back for details as they’re announced. In addition, the library hosts these writing and storytelling groups each month in its meeting room:

The Panhandle Writers Guild meets 1 to 3 p.m. on the third Tuesday, September through May. Details: PWGConnections.net

The local chapter of the Florida Writers Association meets 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the last Thursday. Details: Email Mike Brim at msbrim@comcast.net

Bay Storytellers Guild meets 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday. Details: Facebook.com/BayStorytellers

Books in Motion is the library’s book and film club, encouraging people to read classic books and view the classic films based on the books. Screenings held at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday; the title showing Sept. 17 is “East of Eden” starring James Dean, based on the novel by John Steinbeck.

But that’s not all. Other writing groups hold monthly meetings around town:

The Panama City Writers Association: 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday in the St. Andrew Civic Club, 2629 W. 10th St. New members and visitors are welcome. Details: PanamaCityWriters.org

Writers Gallery: 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday at Chez Amavida in St. Andrews. Hear local writers share their recent work in the open mic setting, or share some of your own words.

Writers Aglow, a special group for Christian writers, has two times for meetings: 3 to 5 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday at Panera Bread by Panama City Mall, 908 E. 23rd St.; and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the third Thursday at Country Inn & Suites, 2203 Harrison Ave. Details: Email samla2@juno.com or visit WritersAglow.com

And later this month, the 14th annual Gulf Coast Writers Conference, established by local author Michael Lister, will offer free admission for the first time. The event will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Language Arts building of Gulf Coast State College, 5230 W. U.S. 98.

Joining Michael as presenters are Lynne Barrett, Cricket Freeman, Ben Leroy, Jeff Koterba, Terry Lewis, Lynn Wallace, Glynn Alam and others. The conference will combine with Michael’s annual River Readings event to focus on inspiration, spirituality and creativity. Details: GulfCoastWriters.com

Also, check out the NAACP Youth Council’s “Speak On It” gatherings (the most recent was Aug. 30) by following them at Facebook.com/BNYC850. Poets, emcees, singers, artists of any variety are encouraged to participate.

There are also untold numbers of small critique groups and pop-up open mics in the region. Keep an eye out, and keep writing.

Peace. 

(This was my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com this week.)

Living in a better time

NewsHerald.com photo

PANAMA CITY — Banjo mixed with the smell of barbecue in McKenzie Park on Monday, as the people of Bay County gathered to mark a birthday milestone.

>>See video of the event here<<

The event played out under threatening gray skies, with gusts of wind kicking up the moss and palmetto fronds, and knocking over banners printed in patriotic colors. Deep South Bluegrass played music, and folks from the Historical Society of Bay County led tours of the Sapp and McKenzie houses. Public Eye recorded videos of old timers telling their personal histories, and J.R.’s Rib Shack served burgers (with Sugar Boogers providing cupcakes).

The ghost of 100 Fourth of July gatherings moved through the crowd, as familiar today as it was in 1913. Exactly 100 years prior, the public had gathered in what was then called City Park to hear political speeches and live music, eat barbecue and celebrate the birth of a new county.

As I wandered the park and watched the people in their folding chairs and Hoverounds, I wondered what those folks of olden days would make of our current world if they could have traded places with us for the day.

A lady sitting under a palm tree talked of how the crowd of 100 years ago probably would not have complained about the heat or humidity, since they had yet to be spoiled by air conditioning. But aside from technological marvels, they probably would wonder why things haven’t changed that much.

For the past several weeks, I’ve been gathering clippings of articles from newspapers of the day, including the Panama City Pilot and the Lynn Haven Tribune, to post on The News Herald’s online Centennial page. And it shouldn’t be too surprising to learn that the Bay Countians of that time were concerned about much the same things as today’s residents.

They thought their government was ineffective. They looked forward to a brighter future, and beheld much of the past as some kind of Golden Age before the world turned so dark and dangerous.

But there were also elements of their personalities expressed in those news pages that are glaring in this age. To put it mildly, let’s just say that, at their best, they treated women and minorities as second-class citizens.

I looked around an integrated crowd on Monday and realized that we had at least that much on our forefathers. It makes me glad to be living today rather than 1913.

After all, it doesn’t matter how old you get, so long as you’re growing and improving. It’s not the years, after all, but the impact you have during them.

Peace. 

-------------------------

(This is my "Undercurrents" column for The News Herald and PanamaCity.com this week.)

-------------------------

Centennial Events

A couple more official events are planned this summer to commemorate the Bay County Centennial:

l The Visual Arts Center Centennial Exhibit will open July 12 and run through Sept. 6, showcasing photographs and artifacts from the past 100 years. Contact Bonnie Jones (769-4454 or bonnie@bonniejonesphoto.com) if you have photographs or items you would like to share for this exhibit. They are also looking for exhibit sponsors. The Visual Arts Center is at 19 E. Fourth St. in Panama City.

l The Bay County Centennial Gala will be 6 to 11 p.m. on Aug. 17 at the Panama Country Club, 100 Country Club Drive, Lynn Haven. Enjoy fine dining and entertainment while celebrating Bay County’s proud past and bright future. (Reception 6 to 7 p.m.; four course dinner 7 to 8:30 p.m.; dancing to the sounds of SolShine 8:30 to 11 p.m.) Details: 248-8277.

Flashback Friday: Gigi Edgley Gives Back

(Once upon a time I got to sit down with actress Gigi Edgley in a semi-quiet corner of the Bay Point Mariott (now Wyndham) conference center. The former star of Farscape was in town as part of a sci-fi convention. She was lovely and charming and sweet, and genuinely enjoyed being there and meeting fans. (Unlike a couple of others who were there to make money by autographing stuff.) I got photos of her chatting with my friends Jayson Kretzer and Mattie Jankowski in the artists' room. (Though I couldn't locate those shots for this post.) Anyway, this interview ran in the News Herald's weekly Entertainer tab on June 12, 2008, the weekend following the event.)

Gigi Edgley Gives Back

Photo by Andrew Wardlow/The News Herald

Gigi Edgley thinks she may be on the verge of creating her own multimedia entertainment empire -- if she doesn't lose track of herself in the process.

"It's just been stunning, the adventures of the last sort of two or three months," she said. "I woke up this morning like, 'Where am I now?'"

The Australian actress, best known for her role as "Chiana" on the long-running Sci Fi Channel series Farscape, was in Panama City Beach recently. She was a featured guest at the "Wrath of Con" science fiction convention held at Marriott's Bay Point Resort.

Fans have kept Farscape alive since it went off the air in 2002. Their support helped revive it for a mini-series in 2005, and it is now advertised to return to SciFi.com later this year in the form of 10 all-new webisodes produced by the Jim Henson Co. (2013 edit: This web series never came to be.)

"I wanted to give something back," Edgley said, explaining why she attends these "cons" all over the world.

Edgley as 'Chiana'

Throughout the three-day Wrath of Con, Edgley mingled with fans in the vendor room, talked with artists, signed autographs, traded friendly barbs with fellow guests, and hit the dance floor during after-hours parties. One afternoon, she sat still for an interview in the lobby of the convention center, laughed easily, and showed off samples of her work.

She's now based in Los Angeles, but in recent weeks she has opened a film (Newcastle) at the Tribeca festival in New York; visited Biloxi, Miss., and Seattle, Wash., for more sci-fi conventions; shot a new movie in Louisiana; and made a stopover to see her family Down Under.

In the meantime, she has also been working on an album (the EP So it Seems is now available), written a comic book (Blue Shift) and a graphic novel (Nobody Knows), and filmed vignettes based on the comic -- using her EP as background music for the short films.

This kind of frantic juggling is second nature to Edgley: Her list of skills includes dance, singing, martial arts, trapeze and fire twirling.

"It's been amazing," she said. "It's been really good to learn how to put my writer's cap on and following my passion into directing and producing and creating projects that, really, I'm very passionate about.  It's been very exciting."

(The rest of the interview is here, in this video:)

Flashback Friday: There Can Be Only One

Once upon a time, I got to talk with Adrian Paul, who was at the time filming the second season of Highlander: The Series. A publicist provided me with a mobile number to call at a specific time, and I did, but we were barely past greetings when he told me the phone battery was dying. Then it died. About 10 minutes later, my phone rang; he had located another phone with service in the remote area where they were shooting, and called me back. We kept it short, but I was always impressed by his effort to make the connection. The following ran in The News Herald's Entertainer section on Nov. 19,1993:

From IMDB.com

 TV's 'Highlander: The Series' fights for viewers

"I am Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod. I was born 400 years ago in the Highlands of Scotland. I am immortal, and I am not alone. For centuries we have waited for the time of the Gathering, when the stroke of a sword and the fall of a head will release the power of the Quickening. In the end, there can be only one..."

So begins each episode of Highlander: The Series, a syndicated hour of action, swordplay and immortal magic based on the movies of the same name. On the big screen, Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery played deathless warriors battling for the future of the world.

On the small screen, that responsibility has fallen to Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod. A native of London, Paul divides his time between Los Angeles, Vancouver and Paris. Paul won't give his age, but said it is less than 400.

"I traveled Europe for many years, doing choreography, dance, modeling. I did a lot of different things,'" Paul said. "I studied a little bit in England, a little bit in New York, until I decided that Los Angeles was a lot easier being poor in."

Paul was interviewed by cellular phone from the "highlands" of Canada. He was on location at the top of a mountain in Vancouver, filming an episode involving MacLeod's struggle to protect an Indian woman and her baby.

The series goes on production hiatus in December, then moves to Paris for shooting the second half of the season. The show is co-produced by American, Canadian, French and Italian investors.

"It's doing very well in Europe (where the films were also hits)," Paul said. "It's actually on in prime time there on major networks. In the United States it's a syndicated market, therefore it's shown at odd times of the night. Most of the time, when people finally see the show, they say, 'Oh, I didn't know this show existed.'"

THE QUICKENING

Paul previously starred in War of the Worlds, another syndicated action-adventure TV series based loosely on the 1953 movie, and he has guest-starred on shows like Murder She Wrote, Beauty and the Beast, and others.

"On War of the Worlds I was taking over somebody else's part, and that's very hard — to come in and replace somebody who has a certain amount of fans," Paul said. "People are used to a certain format on the show. If you change it drastically, then the changes have to be very good or they can be disastrous.

"In a way, there's a similarity (between the two series) because again I'm taking over a role that's already been pre-formed in peoples' minds. (Fans) have a larger vision of the Highlander from the huge production values and larger effects (of the movies). So coming into this, people really look at me and say, 'Is he the Highlander? Do we really like him?'"

Highlander's power rests on creative editing and camera work, the interweaving of past and present plotlines, the sense of history inherent in the drama, the dark humor and deep emotion balancing the violence, and Paul's obvious comfort in the character.

"I think you have to portray part of your own belief, otherwise you can't portray a character correctly. I think that there is part of Duncan in me," Paul said. "It's hard not to have a part of you in the character if you're doing 44 to 66 shows."

Paul handles a sword like he's actually used one for a few lifetimes. He said his choreography experience helped him in that aspect of the series.

"Also, I started picking up the sword before I did the series. I've had some martial arts training, and I did swordwork with the katana, which is the sword I use (in the series)."

(NOTE: The file I have breaks off here, though the interview continued. I will try to find a hard copy and post the remainder of the interview.)

'Century' novel now available on Kindle

My first published novel, "Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century," which debuted in late 2004, is now available for Kindle devices and other mobile devices that run the Kindle app.

>>Click here to check it out<<

Going through it to format it, I got the chance to revisit it like I haven't done for many years, and I'm relieved to say I still like it. If you have ever had the chance to re-read something you wrote many years ago, you may know how it feels - kind of like reading something that's familiar, but that you don't recall writing?  Often, I cringe when I read old work.  I did run across a few passages that I think I would have done differently if I had them to do over, but for the most part I'm pleased with this still.

If that's not a lukewarm endorsement, I don't know what is.  That's not how I meant it.  What I meant is, I liked this book and was very proud of it, and I still do and I still am.  Please check it out (you can read about 2.5 chapters in the preview).

If you've read it, please write a review. Thanks!

Live with an expectation of inspiration

PANAMA CITY — Remember those 3D puzzle posters that were so popular in the 1990s? Life can be like that, especially for an artist.

A flower never is just a flower. A sunset is more than celestial mathematics. A poem is greater than the sum of its rhymes.

Beneath the surface, there always is a hidden meaning. Behind the noise, there’s a pure tone, a carrier wave of truth.

The artist seeks the mystery, the writer poses the question, the musician unleashes emotions — though in each case, the answer will be different for each viewer, reader or listener.

I got the opportunity to reflect on these concepts in public last Sunday, as I made myself available at the Bay County Public Library, where I joined local mystery author Michael Lister for a discussion, reading and book launch. Michael was debuting his latest 1940s noir novel, “The Big Beyond,” and invited me for an open-ended talk about writing, creativity and life.



I read from my current project, which I'm calling "Giants in the Earth."

Michael referred to the moment when everything comes together as a “lightning bolt.” He wasn’t referencing some “eureka” instant of inspiration, but rather the experience when all the pieces you have gathered — all the myriad of facts, feelings and ideas you have explored — suddenly fit into a greater whole.

It doesn’t happen by accident. You must prepare the way by steadily working, and open yourself to the moment. The secret is to look deeper, to listen closer — not just being aware, but also making yourself available for the universe.

And as you seek, feed the furnace of your brain, exercise your creative muscles, tilt at windmills — so that when the connections begin to reveal themselves and that elusive lightning bolt is looking for a place to manifest, you are prepared.

The day following our talk, I interviewed artist and longtime friend John Russo, who also mentioned how inspiration is something one has to pursue. If you wait for it, you could find yourself waiting all your life, he said.

The lightning can find you, sure, even huddled indoors. But if you want to improve your chances, you have to chase the storm, and then stand on the hill and hold a metal rod toward the heavens. Sometimes it helps if you challenge the wind, rage against the night.

You have to court it. You have to, at the very least, live in a state of availability to the muse. To seek.

(And you must acknowledge that the lightning, when it comes, could destroy you. Don’t be fooled: We live in a constant state of being and becoming, one heartbeat shy of nothingness. It’s the same in life as in art.)

The burst of inspiration can be a dangerous thing. It can change our lives, especially when we actively fall into synch with the universe.

Peace.

(This was my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.)

More than Just a BLiP on the Radar

Screen Capture of BLiP dance video.

PANAMA CITY — Andrew Bouchard started Blues and Lindy in the Panhandle (BLiP) in 2010 because he wanted a place to dance in Panama City. BLiP grew into more than he ever imagined and is making plans to reach out to people who never imagined they could dance.

“Not only are people dancing, but we’ve become a tight-knit group of friends invested in each other’s lives,” he explains on a KickStarter page where BLiP is raising funds for its next stage.

They are shooting for $20,000, and they offer a number of incentives for donors. As of Wednesday, and with only 10 days remaining in the campaign, they have logged pledges totaling just over $5,100.

“We travel to exchanges together, celebrate birthdays and holidays together, and help each other out when we get in a jam,” Andrew said. “Most inspiring to me has been watching one of the first dancers to join us go from a wheelchair to dancing on her own feet. That is a gift that I never anticipated, and I want to share it with as many people as I can.”


The KickStarter campaign is to raise funds for a larger venue downtown. Currently, BLiP shares a small dance studio at CityArts Cooperative with three other groups, and Andrew said the schedule and space have become restrictive. He hopes the fundraiser will help BLiP make up the difference between the small fee they charge for admission and the cost of a dedicated dance studio.

“Even better, we’d like to do this in one of the vacant buildings in downtown Panama City and be part of revitalizing this city,” he said, adding that the vision is of “taking an abandoned 1935 department store and turning it into a community center supported by dancing but offering space to all sorts of great things.”

The second part of the project is perhaps the most inspiring: BLiP wants to develop a curriculum to teach people with disabilities to dance.

“I will never forget watching this young lady roll into one of my first lessons in a wheelchair, and watching her slowly move from getting pulled around the floor to dancing on her own feet has been a blessing beyond words,” Andrew said. “I didn’t do much other than support her efforts, but we believe that by involving professionals in the dance community and the medical community, we can teach others to do what she has figured out herself.”

The plan is to generate a series of lessons to be released for free as videos, written instructions, information on the limitations and abilities of various conditions, and anything else that might be needed.

To help keep costs low, the group is starting side businesses making dance T-shirts and hosting events. (See the T-shirt designs at the KickStarter page.)

The group also is planning a Valentine’s Ball, a semi-formal dance where BLiP members can party, show off to the community, and formally announce the results of the campaign. The event will feature men and women in vintage getups, suits and dresses, heavy hors d’oeuvres, classic and modern music, and a dance floor.

The young lady Andrew mentioned is Ashlyn McWhorter, who suffers from spina bifida. The Mayo Clinic describes spina bifida as a developmental disorder in which a portion of the neural tube fails to close properly, causing defects in the spinal cord and in the bones of the backbone.

“I always loved dancing, but I had a condition that kept me from dancing. I had surgery, so I couldn’t,” Ashley told me in January 2012. “But I found out about this group from a friend of mine at school, and she said they would be willing to try to teach me what they could, and see how far I could go with it. I’ve gotten much farther than I expected. I love it. It’s wonderful.”

(This was my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald for Friday, Feb. 8.)

When the word is given ...

PANAMA CITY — The first time I attended a Books Alive event, my kids were just whipper-snappers.

We sat on a floor in a standing-room-only classroom to hear Tim Dorsey read a segment about his character, Serge, teaching a Florida history course. We managed seats for the session featuring poets Barbara Hamby and David Kirby, who recited selections of their work and told stories about their muses.

We left that day with a book by each of these writers, autographed of course.

More importantly than that, we left with the gifts of inspiration and a shared experience. The kids were only knee high to grasshoppers then, but we still refer back to that day from time to time. We still follow the work of those writers because that morning their words touched us or tickled our funny bones. We still recall their lessons of encouragement and revelation.

In my own childhood, I didn’t have the joy of such experiences — meeting people who live in a world of words. So it was important to me to make that experience available to my children, one of whom has studied theatre and now writes plays and song lyrics, and the other of whom has dabbled in fiction and is studying public relations and marketing.

We live in a world of words — and depending on your beliefs, that statement can be taken literally.

When we argue, we say we had “words” with each other. When we order something to be done, we “say the word.” When we make a promise, we “give our word.” It’s a man’s bond, you know.

Street slang caught up with the concept when a declaration of agreement and appreciation came to be indicated by responding, “Word up,” or simply, “Word.”

So it’s no surprise that even the Good Book (in John 1:1) acknowledges, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In fact, Genesis says God spoke the universe into being, starting with the words, “Let there be light.”

And still you wonder why folks like me are fascinated by the ways in which words work. It’s about storytelling, to be sure, but it’s also about communicating a mood, joy, fear, discovery, adventure, love. It’s about a transcendent power that our words can only attempt to describe.

The best writers are so fluent with that arcane power that their work can change the way we see the world — and the way we use words. Shakespeare alone coined more than 1,500 of our commonly used words and phrases, according to some estimates.

Word up.

When I was a kid, about the age my children were when we first visited Books Alive, my father told a story that included a joke: One character said to another that he knew what was in every book in every library in the world. The second character bet he didn’t; just what is in every book in every library in the world, he asked.

“Words,” was the answer.

For me, words remain the answer.

Peace.



(This is my Friday Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald.)

Trying to 'finally see' what's evident

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two white-tailed does bounded and hopped through overgrown lots across the street from my dining room windows Tuesday morning. They halted abruptly and looked my way, circled in a lot and searched for an exit. One of them turned and disappeared under an oak tree, and the second followed.

The incident lasted a handful of seconds, and I was just lucky to have been facing the windows when they raced by in the golden light of morning.

It’s important to recognize that part of being in the right place at the right time is making yourself available. The other part is sheer luck. That morning’s vision was a fortuitous combination.

Last Friday afternoon, I made myself available and was lucky enough to speak briefly with Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo, two of the founding members of Fastball, the band that hit the big time with their song, “The Way,” in 1998. The place was Fish Out of Water, the restaurant at Watercolor resort in South Walton, and the reason was a press conference for some of the artists appearing at the 30A Songwriters Festival.

They paused long enough to have a photo taken, but I didn’t get to tell them how much my son loved their album “All the Pain Money Can Buy.” He played that CD until it was worn to a nub, if such a thing could be done. Easily dismissed by the cynical as “one-hit wonders,” they continue to write, play, record and sing.

Earlier that day, I made myself available to a class at Education Encore, the adult enrichment program at Gulf Coast State College. The program signed up a record high of 428 students this session, which runs through Feb. 22. The most popular classes, with 59 students each, are Gourmet Cooking Made Easy, Islam: Get the Facts, and We the People.

I was lucky enough to be presented with 22 students who wanted to know something about creative writing. It remains to be seen if they will consider this a fortunate appointment.

As you read this on a Friday, I hope to have attended a private screening of the 1962 film “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Martin Theatre on Thursday evening. The movie, one of my all-time favorites, is being presented by the Bay County Public Library Foundation, in part to promote the upcoming appearance of Mary McDonagh Murphy at next weekend’s Books Alive festival.

Murphy, a former producer for “60 Minutes,” also produced “Hey, Boo,” an award-winning documentary on author Harper Lee, her book and its film adaptation. I will be introducing Murphy at Books Alive on Feb. 2 at Florida State University-Panama City, where she will talk about her project. Books Alive is a free event; for more information, visit BooksAlive.net.

As you might recall from the book (or film), Atticus tells his children he would prefer them to shoot at tin cans with their air rifles, but he knows they will eventually go after birds; he allows that it’s all right to shoot blue jays, but it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

He was trying to say that it’s wrong to willfully hurt someone who does nothing wrong. He later assures Scout that most people are nice, “when you finally see them.”

I don’t know how my train of thought ended up here, exactly, except that since we moved into the isolated neighborhood off the beach I’ve had more opportunity than in recent years to witness wild animals and birds brushing up against the edges of civilization.  Visions like that of the running does have connected with memories of the lessons in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and those lessons have informed the passage of my days.

So sing your hearts out, Fastball. Tell your stories, Encore students. Visit the book festival and hear the good words of writers seeking some kind of truth in the world. Try to “finally see” the people around you, and reserve your pellets for the tin cans — and maybe the blue jays.


Peace.

This was my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald today. 

Postcard Girl, Dancer Guy

I shoot and edit videos as part of my job at PanamaCity.com and NewsHerald.com. Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing a local lady who was a model used to promote Panama City Beach in the 1960s. Here's some video of her:



And today, at the joint meeting of the Bay County/Panama City Beach chambers of commerce, I had a front-row seat for a performance by Brandon Bryant, a winner of the TV series "So You Think You Can Dance" and the choreographer of a movie, "East Side Story," that begins filming Sunday in PCB. Here's his dance:






Overall, not a bad way to make a living.
Have a great weekend, folks.
Peace.

Something someone said once

I'm feeling a bit off today. My name (sort of) was in today's obituary page. It wasn't me, but it was about as close as I'd ever like to see.

So I wondered what people might say if it was me; what eulogy would I receive? And that reminded me of one of the nicest things a coworker ever wrote about me. It was upon the release of my book, "Dazed and Raving in the Undercurrents," a collection of my better columns at the News Herald in my first 10 years of employment there.

The writer was Claude Duncan, at the time our Editorial Page Editor. Here's what he wrote, as taken from our electronic archive at the paper:

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Bay County perspective: Words as flashes of light

By Claude Duncan Editorial Page Editor

Tony Simmons is a journalist in, for newspapers, a post-journalistic age. With family to support, he thus also practices the bread-and-butter craft of editoring and has during his decade at The News Herald been beat reporter and columnist.

Simmons is good at all that. But he was born a journalist, with fingers connected to the mind’s eye. By training, intent and design, modern reporting in that respect is mindless work, albeit hard work.

Journalism was born of travel writing when much of the world was new to much of the world, and everything — everything — was about discovery. The writer inescapably was a part of his journey, as was self-discovery.

The poet Sarah Manguso, referring to the 18th century French philosopher most remembered for his encyclopedia, wrote that to Diderot, "the word is not the thing, but a flash in whose light we perceive the thing." Journalists like Simmons invoke masterfully what Manguso calls "codependent impulses" with readers. His new book, Dazed and Raving in the Undercurrents, is nothing if not flashes of light exposing this eternal co-dependency.

"Despite what you may have heard, you can go home again," Simmons writes in one entry, from 1995, "but you probably won’t enjoy it very much. … The faces I recall sometimes recall mine. In the Piggly Wiggly, we pass and they ask where I’ve been, what I’ve done with myself. I ask the same. Smiles circulate around uncomfortable silences. Then: a parting with promises to keep in touch."

Simmons often refers to himself on these visits home as "the prodigal." In morality tales, a prodigal is a rejecter who comes to happily embrace that which he rejected. So it is with Simmons, eventually.

Early on, though, Simmons can’t even remember his high school graduation ceremony, presumably as his mind already was in flight from town. When he returns for a niece’s graduation, he connects old slights to newly aging faces. Yet, by then, he also has written of a boyhood friend injured as an adult in a car wreck, perhaps for life. Simmons titled the rumination, "Now is the time to look up old friends."

In one visit home he found, "I am no longer familiar with the landscape of the hamlet where I wandered in my childhood. Trees have grown and grayed. Roads have widened. The houses of old friends have burned or fallen to disrepair or had their stiff, wooden skins covered by synthetic transplants of aluminum and vinyl." By this fall, too late for this volume but memorable to readers of this newspaper, upon seeing a photograph of his grandmother’s house, Simmons "thought of how he missed that front porch, and those days of play and work, and the old woman who had lived there, who always had been an old woman in his memory."

This is journalism eternal. Made peculiar to the time, it could have been written centuries ago, or centuries hence. Something like it was, and will. Self-discovery is human nature at its most unchanging. Simmons’ words are flashes of light for the reader to perceive things. His fingers are connected to his co-dependents’ mind. That is his art.

Dazed and Raving in the Undercurrents, as Simmons notes in his introduction, "is not just a collection of columns. It also is the story of a life — an unwitting autobiography composed as it unfolded." Rather little is nostalgic. It is full of observations about the ordinary modern world’s technological and cultural facets that Simmons, like his co-dependents, inhabits with dizzying degrees of confidence and confusion, skepticism and satisfaction. Always, though, Simmons seems not bored.

This is a book for the excitable who want to feel understood, and for the bored curious who want to understand the world outside their door. Always, it is about Simmons, the journalist, and therefore, always to some extent about the reader.


----

Claude passed away suddenly on Oct. 29, 2008, after retiring from his position at the News Herald. He was 62.

Video Post (Catching Up, Part 1)

Here is part of how I've been spending my time recently:

 

Peace.