Douglas Arvidson is a past winner of the WICE/Paris Transcontinental International Short Story competition. His short fiction has been published in Paris, Prague, and in literary magazines in the United States and he was recently invited to be a staff writer for the Prague Revue, a cutting-edge, online literary journal (http://bit.ly/1mMT6ZC). The novels in his fantasy series, The Eye of the Eye of Stallion, include The Face in Amber, The Mirrors of Castaway Time, and A Drop of Wizard's Blood. His new novel, Brothers of the Fire Star, was selected as a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year national awards and as a finalist in three categories in the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards: Action Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction. It has become part of the pantheon of Pacific literature and is now included in school literature programs. Brothers of the Fire Star is an adventure story set in the Pacific during World War II and concerns two boys of different races and cultures who escape the island of Guam in a small sailboat when the Japanese army invades. They must then struggle to survive as they master the secrets of the ancient Pacific navigators. Appropriate for young adults as well as adult readers, Brothers of the Fire Star is available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com (http://amzn.to/1j3axVk) and Crossquarter.com. Visit the author's website: douglasarvidson.com



Friday, August 28, 2009

Friday: A Storm Moves of the Coast, Terry is Back Home, Trying to Write


An Old Drawing of a Micronesian Navigator
(Photo from Sandra Okada)


Terry got home last night. She was off in Kentucky visiting schools as part of her job as FEA Director for DDESS. She's gone a lot now and leaves again on Monday for another week. Color me home alone.

But, I, who hates being alone, has learned to enjoy solitude for short periods. Had no choice. Finally, after a year, I have found the days go by faster in retirement than they did when I was working, so the solitude is not only bearable, but with practice, became constructive. I'm busy, busy, busy, you betcha.

I'm starting this entry in the morning before I start writing, but it's getting late--nearly 10:00 AM--and I'm still mucking about with less important things. Wasting time, shamming, procrastinating. I've got to dig in. I'll report in later.

2:00 PM--Done writing for the day. Progress was slow, but wrote a couple of pages. When I work, I get up a lot, walk around, make lunch for Terry, etc. Lots of thinking to before I can put words down. Plotting the end, I see changes I need to make to the previous sections to make it all work. I like the "comment" feature of Word that allows me to put ideas/reminders out in the margin of the text. All in all, when I read what I have written, I'm pleased. Words are coming out they way they should and making nice music on the page. There will be many re-writes and then professional editing before I send the manuscript out, and this after my trip to Guam in October to pick the brain of Manny Sikau, the master navigator who has been my friend for years now.

Now for a nap and then a run/walk of four miles or so. Then Terry might be finished working for the day and we'll go out to the boat and check the level on the batteries. The bilge pump is working and I've got to keep an eye on things.
We had planned on sailing this weekend, but there's a tropical storm moving up the coast and we're scheduled to get deluged here this weekend.



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