Why Adventurers Have No Friends

It probably comes as no surprise that I love adventuring. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that on my life priority list, creature comfort ranks substantially below Adventure.

For the record, I am not a monastic adventurer. I am certainly not morally opposed to creature comforts. I am writing on a computer, sitting in an air conditioned house. My chair is, well, other than being on the verge of breaking, it is … uncomfortable. (I should name it Adventure.) So maybe the chair doesn't qualify as a creature comfort, but I am enjoying a cup of coffee. That said, I am always thinking about something adventurous. Naturally, in my writing, adventures seem to find their way in. Hence, when I set out to write a children's book, the series, The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse is what came about.

What precipitated this line of thought this morning? It so happens that I have Book 3 in the series written in my head. I have also begun to write it on electronic paper. But, since Book 1 is nearing the finish line with the illustrations, and Book 2 has yet to be revealed, I feel like I am going to drown poor Shawna.

Dear Shawna, I am so sorry that I am a mad man who is up hours before the rest of the world on a holiday weekend, writing in peace, and making more work for you. Good thing we are not being driven by deadlines. Although, I suspect that day will come and some production-mined publisher will get us to agree to a deadline and we will be all hours finishing a work. But, hopefully by then we'll be getting paid well. Who knows? Meanwhile we press on making our respective art work the best we can.

P.S. I think you're doing an awesome job. I cannot wait to read Book 1 in The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse to my granddaughter!

So, for all of you who are adventurers at heart, never satisfied to sit and watch TV, and those of you who prefer your adventurers served vicariously, I wish you all a safe adventure this Independence Day weekend.

Someday I will do a blog on the paradox of safe adventures. But for now we'll leave that dog sleeping.

A Sneak Look at Boathouse Mouse

All the writing gurus say steer clear of collaborative work as it can cause bad feelings, and worse, take away some of your profit margin. To me, that seems like a shallow way to live life. Meanwhile, I have this series of children's books growing in my head and in my computer.

Every day that I work on the series, I become more enamored with The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse. I knew early on that Boathouse Mouse needed an artist to love him into existence with pictures the way I do with words.

When I asked Shawna if she would be willing to do the illustrations for the series, I'm not sure she had any idea what was coming. I didn't either. But she was a trooper and jumped in. I've never regretted that decision. Shawna has drawn my words into life. I love what she is doing, and I am out-of-my-mind excited about releasing this book!

Here is a shameless teaser of one of Shawna's color test pieces.

Being a Dad for Twenty Cents

Father's Day comes around about this time each year it seems. I am always surprised by it, as I have a fairly busy life. This day causes me to remember my father throughout the years. His wisdom always was unshakable and I am fortunate to still have him around. I also think of the years when my children were growing up.

There is no training or practice run at being a dad. It happens that all of a sudden, “poof,” you're in the daddy seat! I reminisce about how fast time slips by and how quickly little children become big children and then become grown children. Then, before you know it, they become parents!

This day a particularly amusing incident comes to mind. Two of my kids, which shall remain anonymous for reasons of … aw, forget that. It was Vanessa and Rochelle.

I came home from work on said day and plopped myself onto the ridiculously uncomfortable couch that served as the only socially acceptable piece of furniture in our tiny cabin. The girls had learned an interesting fact in their science class that day and wanted to try it on me.

Vanessa made a fist and declared that it was not possible for me to pry it open. Well, the science was good up to a certain point, but Vanessa was probably about six and Rochelle was about four. We were mismatched by nearly two hundred pounds and it took about a half second to pry Vanessa's hand open and tickle her palm.

Rochelle was either following suit, or perhaps she just thought Vanessa had not applied herself fully. Either way, she insisted that I attempt to pry her hand open. Naturally, that was easy as well.

The girls fell back into a huddle and emerged with renewed determination. We had an instant replay of the first round, then the girls insisted that I make a fist. I presented them each a fist. They worked so hard at trying to pry my hands open that I got fingernail scratches all over my hands.

After another huddle and conference, the girls wanted to know how I could withstand their onslaught so decisively and effortlessly defeat them at this game of physics. So we had a discussion about size and muscles. We compared biceps and hand size. We may even have talked about mass and relativity, who knows. We go to those kinds of places in our conversations.

I knew they were trying to come up with a winning strategy, but that was not going to be possible. I could tell they were agitated that their efforts were fruitless. And that's when I had the epiphany!

I challenged that I could pry their fists open without touching them.

They had a brief conference and returned with tightly clenched fists. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two dimes. I held one in each hand over their fists and … violá, those tiny fists opened like popcorn! I dropped the dimes into their open hands and they were elated and annoyed in what can only be described as a childhood conundrum.

That was yesterday and we were in Alaska. Today they are grown.

Father's Day is a great reminder to savor that which is most precious.

What is it About September

A lot of things begin anew in September. When I was a kid, September made me think about the start of school. I was extremely introverted, so the aspect of making all those fun social connections never crossed my mind. However, the anticipation of getting new shoes to wear to school was a pretty big deal, at least it was for this poor kid.

In high school, I was still an introvert, but I tried to overcome it by being cool. That attempt flopped and I turned out to just be weird. Truth is, I am still socially challenged. But I digress.

The real anticipation of September in my northern Minnesota, farm boy, teen years meant the beginning of hunting season. It meant the end of hay making season. It began the season of colors in the trees and frost on the grass. The air became crisp and the forests became accessible. And, there were no more ticks for the season.

Nowadays I live in North Carolina. My kids are all grown and September means less. The trees here are more patient and wait for October to turn colors. Which begs the question, what is it about September? That question deserves an answer.

The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse is slated to be released in September!

WooHoo! Hold on! Before we do a victory dance, let's catch our breath and take a look at the schedule. There is no actual schedule. We are working on excellence with this book and this series. Shawna is also working around being a mom and wife. Hence, September is more of a guideline than a deadline.

So, we shall all wait patiently, whilst keeping a weather eye on Back to The Drawing Board for clues about what is coming.

I do think it is safe to put The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse: A New Adventure, A New Name, on your Christmas shopping list.

Please stay tuned.

My Secret Identity

In my other life, my day job life, I am a secret agent. Well, maybe that is stretching the description a bit. I am actually a crew foreman at Jarrett Bay Boatworks in Beaufort, North Carolina. It's sort of like being a secret agent. The business of building large luxury sport-fishing yachts is rather mysterious.

What makes it mysterious is ... I'm not really sure. It seems all so familiar to me. But when I take family or friends into the shop for a tour, they seem to think it's amazing. All we do is take a giant pile of lumber and epoxy and fiberglass and turn it into a big boat. It is pretty cool.

So, you may be wondering why I am posting about my day job on my writer's blog. Well, it so happens that we (Jarrett Bay Boatworks) were awarded the North Carolina Manufacturer of the Year award. The video here is my boss being interviewed about it. Most of the shop shots are of my crew in action.

I just thought it might be interesting to you all as well.