I like collecting watches—not the expensive luxury watches you’d have to take out a second mortgage to afford. Okay, I confess, I do own two lower-end luxury watches, but all of the others are fairly inexpensive. I like the variety of colors, shapes, and mechanisms.

A few years ago I wore a nice automatic (read self-winding) as my everyday watch. It was a cheap ($85) kind of knock-around timepiece. While on a cruise to the Caribbean, something interesting happened. One of the things I liked to do during the stops in the Islands was to visit the luxury jewelry and watch stores. A guy can dream after all.

During the excursion, while walking with the family to the row of stores, I noticed something about my knock-around watch: the colors popped in the brilliant Caribbean sunlight. The two-tone silver and gold bracelet sparkled, the cobalt blue dial showed brilliantly, and the rotating bezel’s serrated edges stood out in stark detail. It was as if the watch had been dipped in magical waters.
 
Smiling, I entered one of the watch stores. As I settled in and window-shopped luxury watches behind glass cases at prices comparable to those of a small sedan, a salesman came over. We began to talk. After a few moments, he noticed my watch.
 
“Can I see it?” he asked.
 
“Sure.” I took it off and gave it to him.
 
He began to examine it, turning it over and over in his hands, his eyes laser-focused on every detail, from the intricacies of the dial to the clear exhibition back. The longer he looked, the more I could see his friendly salesman grin morph into an angry scowl. He started turning the bezel like a man in the throes of a fever dream. Finally, he returned the watch and walked away.
 
Strange behavior, I thought, then continued my browsing. As I came to a display of a brand whose name rhymes with “tolex,” it hit me. There in the center of the group was my watch.  Well, OK, it looked like my watch. Actually, a lot like my watch. It was then that I realized the salesman, a man who prided himself on his knowledge of watches, had confused my little knockoff for a watch that cost over one hundred times more, and it had galled him to no end.
 
Needless to say, it was a fun shopping trip.

I was recently culling through files on an old computer and came across an article I wrote for my previous church's news magazine, The Salt & Light. The article was about the upcoming 2012 election. In it, I talked about the anxiety we sometimes have over the constant name-calling and rancor that occurs during a presidential election. I recall at least one person said it helped him during the time. I'd reprint it below in case it might be helpful to someone. Spoiler: I don't take sides.
                                              THE GOSPEL AND PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.   (Matthew 22:15-22 ESV)
 
Working nights has afforded me a new interest. Because I have a hard time sleeping in a strange bed, during the off times on the job, I have taken to viewing or sometimes listening to CNN or Fox News while lying in the very uncomfortable bed in the call room while attempting to catch some shuteye. Since this is an election year, the talk on these programs has been the Republican Primary and the upcoming general election. At the time of this writing, it appears that Mitt Romney will oppose President Obama in the fall election.
    What has fascinated me is the anger and vitriol with which each party seems to hold for the other. If you're a Republican, Obama and the Democrats are driving the country toward a socialistic totalitarian state. And, if you belong to the Democratic Party, the Republicans want to reward rich industrialists with huge tax breaks at the expense of the working man leaving him in no better shape than the workers of the sweat shops of the 1920's. Obviously, the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes.
     Where did this enmity begin? Historically, I'm not exactly sure, but I can at least date when I first became aware of the problem. It was during the election of 1976 when Jimmy Carter was running against Gerald Ford. Right after a bible study in a fellow church member's home the talk drifted into presidential politics. I made the mistake of stating that we should vote for Jimmy Carter as he was a professing Christian. He roundly set me straight. Carter was a Democrat and therefore, despite his profession of faith, was a liberal politician and someone a true conservative Christian could never vote for.
     Thus, for me, began the fall from that slippery political slope of casting the opponent as the "friendly opposition" to that of the hated enemy. Recalling elections prior to 1976, such as Kennedy versus Nixon or Johnson versus Goldwater, I could not recollect any real name calling or political smearing to the degree that has gone on in recent years.
     Since then, I've witnessed George H. W. Bush refer to Clinton as "Bozo" and Gore as "Ozone Man" during the 1992 election. And, recently Romney has been chastised as a high school bully while Obama has been accused of being born outside the United States, therefore not eligible to hold the office of President.
     Now, before I'm accused of being naive about Presidential Politics, I will confess that I understand that contention has gone on between political parties since the founding of this country. For example, during the election of 1848 the Democrats cast Zachary Taylor as cruel, uneducated, vulgar and greedy. And, the Whigs accused his opponent, Lewis Cass, of graft and dishonesty. As another example, lets look at the election of 1912. The Socialist Candidate, Eugene Debs accused the Progressive candidate, Theodore Roosevelt, of being "a charlatan mountebank, and fraud, and his Progressive promises and pledges as the mouthings of a low and utterly unprincipled self seeker and demagogue."
    What's the big fuss? I've noticed that some Christians seem to buy into the name calling and criticism, placing an inordinate amount of emphasis on politics, as if voting for the correct candidate was as important doctrinally as believing Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity. I get the feeling that if their candidate lost they'd be willing take a four-year sabbatical in Canada.
     Scripture commands us to live in obedience to human authority, as it is God's will to do so. In I Peter 2:13-17 it states:
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human    institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
   Perhaps I'm being too sensitive. Scripturally, we should be good citizens and that means being aware of each candidate's platform and being able to make a cogent argument for why we vote the way we do. But, it doesn't mean pinning all our hopes on one man's election to office. Being a Christian isn't defined by party affiliation. It transcends party politics.
    As Christians we live in this country and on this Earth as ambassadors of a greater government ruled by an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient King. Fittingly, our concern should be for the welfare of people everywhere as creatures created in the image of God and for fellow believers bought by the Blood of Christ. And, within that context, voting for the right candidate is altogether fitting and proper.
    As Christians we are not some voting block, demographic, or focus group. We are bought with a price, loved beyond measure by the Creator of the Universe. Some people believe that we must bring our Country back to Christ and see electing the "right" candidate as a legitimate way of doing so. The way we bring this country back to Christ is by going to our knees and not to the voting booth. And out prayers should continually be that we would be conformed to the will of Christ, not necessarily to make politicians do our bidding.
    Where Presidents are in office for four to eight years, our God reigns forever. Where policies change with administrations, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And, where Presidents are sinful men (sometimes glaringly so), we have a Savior who knew no sin, yet became sin for us.
    Oh, yes, and one more thing. Don't forget to vote.

After moving to Orlando I, like most people, had tons of boxes to unpack. On unpacking a container of books I found an old notebook that I had used to write poems. Following recommendations from a book entitled Writing Poetry From The Inside Out, for a period of time, I wrote a poem a day using a template that required me to use four key words. The poems created were called poem sketches. Periodically, over several years, I wrote a multitude of poems, some good, some not so good.
    Over this period of time I found poetry actually helped with my novel writing the way warmups help an athlete before a competition. There were several specific ways poetry helped me in my novel writing:

• Helped with metaphors and similes
• Provided a sense of accomplishment
• Provided writing practice in general
• Helped with the idea of creating a theme
• Was relaxing and enjoyable (if you’re not writing to publish the poem)
• Aided in finding my voice
• The discipline of writing a poem daily translated into writing daily to complete a novel

If you're a novelist and haven't done it, try writing poetry on a regular basis. You may find that your prose improves.

    Recently, I received a Kirkus Review of my novel, The Proxima Plague. I was hoping for just something positive. After all, Kirkus is known for their sometime scathing reviews of even some very successful authors. My previous novel, Lethal Paradise, got a positive but tepid review from them. And, to be honest, I had to agree with the assessment. So, when I got the notification that the review was done, I felt a little apprehensive. Would this one be as good as the previous one? Or, would it be castigating to the point of verbal torture? I opened the email and began to read. To my astonishment, It was a glowing review. Not only was it a Starred Review. According to their website, a Kirkus Starred Review, “…is one of the most prestigious designations in the book industry.”
    You’d think I’d be over the moon. But, the first thing that came to mind was that old Groucho Marx one liner: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” I was coming down with a case of Imposter Syndrome, a feeling of self-doubt in spite of accomplishments. At any moment I thought I’d get an email from Kirkus telling me that a mistake had been made and that the review was bogus. But, no such email has arrived.
    When I told my older daughter about the review and my reaction, she had the best advice. She told me, “Dad, just take it.”
    It’s now been over two weeks since the review has debuted, and so far no email recalling the review. You know, I think I’ll just take it.
    
    If you're interested in reading the review, click here.

​    Being retired now affords me more time to write. I want to do this full time. But, to be honest, I struggle with turning an avocation into a vocation. In other words, I have a hard time writing on a regular schedule.
    Several years ago I read a “how to” book on writing and the author insisted you set a daily goal of at least three type written pages per day. Based in that schedule, you’d have a 270 page manuscript in about 90 days. A fairly decent sized book.
    Sounds pretty doable, doesn’t it? And, I’ve, for the most part, followed the advice. Even when I would get stuck on a chapter I’ve just found another chapter to write. Some scene I know would need to be included to advance the story.
    So, how do the greats do it? Let’s say Stephen King, for example. He writes 2000 words or six pages a day between 8 or 8:30 am and 11:30 to 1:30 pm. This is seven days a week without fail, by the way. He stated that at that pace you’d have a complete first draft within about three months.
    Lee Child, the creator of the hulking, take-no-prisoners character Jack Reacher, writes 1500 words per day.
    The late Robert Parker, the author of novels about the wise cracking private detective Spencer, wrote about ten pages per day.
    What about the great literary giants of the past? Mark Twain wrote about 1400 to 1800 words per day. The Ulysses author, James Joyce, wrote only 90 words per day. And, Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway wrote 500 words per day.
    What all these great authors had in common was and is consistency. I guess the lesson for me is to find the time to get in my three pages per day. So, excuse me, I’ve got a few more manuscript pages to get in.

    The best lesson I learned about perfecting your craft came during a Royal Caribbean Cruise. My family and I enjoyed the evening shows put on after dinner. On one night a comedian, Rondell Sheridan, performed. Rotund with a smile and demeanor that would make you proud to have him as your next door neighbor, Sheridan did a set during the after dinner hour.
    There were two other comedian that performed on the cruise. Over the course of the seven days at sea, all three did two sets. One during what I call the family hour since parents and children were in attendance. And the material had to be family friendly. Read funny, but not side splitting. The second was for adults only. This is were the blue material was unleashed and the comedians were supposed to be the most hilarious. Read laughed so hard I wet my pants funny.
     I attended both sets of the other two comedians. The bottom line was they were not very funny. Their family hour sets were blah. Their adult sets were profanity laced and seemed more of an excuse to curse up a storm  than to tell jokes.
    On the night that Sheridan did his family hour set a mother and her approximately twelve year old daughter walked in late and took seats near the front of the stage. Sheridan stopped his planned routine of jokes and began asking the mother and daughter questions. Based on the answers he began riffing. He did what comedians call “writing on stage”, essentially being funny by just talking about random subjects. That hour was the funniest I’d ever experienced. All done with no blue material and no curse words.
    What separated Sheridan from the other two? The more I thought about it the more I realized it had to be hard work. Sheridan had to have tried and failed countless times on the comedy stage, but each time learning something from the effort and using the lessons to hone his craft until he was on top of his game. Even then not resting, but continuing to work hard, learning, and getting even better.
    The take away message for me is if I’m going to get better as a novelist I’ve got to be like Rondel Sheridan. I’ve got to keep reading and writing regularly. Not being afraid of failure or criticism. Learning and growing.
    Most importantly, never giving up.

    It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, your chores are done and there’s nothing good on the TV. You go to the bookshelf and pull a volume from the stacks. What is it? When you have time  to curl up with a good book what’s your go to genre?
    I tend to relax with a well-written book on history. Generally, World War II or American history. I am fascinated by questions such as, how could France with arguably the largest and best equipped army (and the best tanks) in the world be defeated by Germany in 1940? Or, why did Japan declare war on the United States knowing that their war industry could never equal that of America? Or, maybe why did President James Madison want Congress to declare war on the most powerful empire on the face of the planet in 1812?
    Questions like these have always intrigued me. And, since “experts” may disagree on the answers, there’s always an interesting point of view popping up. Which means a new volume on the subject. And, a new gripping read.
    What’s your go to genre for a relaxing read? I’d love to hear from you.

    I recently wrote a novel entitled The Proxima Plague and received a review that mentioned the novel as "horror". While I didn't think of the book as a horror story while writing it, I began to wonder: Why do we love scary stories? After all, our natural reaction to scary things is the so called "fight or flight" response: a surge of adrenalin which allows us to survive an existential threat by either runny away or attacking the peril head on. The threat may be dealt with but, afterwards we're left shaken and drained.
​
    Some psychologists and aficionados of the genre would tell us that we enjoy them for the adrenalin rush similar to the feeling we get on riding a roller coaster with the near ninety degree drop. Afterwards we become more alive thanks to a quickened pulse and shaky knees. A different take on the after effects of that adrenalin rush. Or, it may be the closeness some couples feel after experiencing a horror movie. Yeah, who would have thought that watching Jason slice up a dozen or so bodies could be a bonding experience? An even darker explanation is we like seeing the blood and gore. Perhaps that's why each new generation of horror movies seems to ratchet up the cartoonish violence and body count over the previous crop.

    There may be another reason for our love of fright: it helps us face our fears. Since we are thinking rational animals we learn from bad experiences. And I guess watching a scary movie or reading a horror novel could be classified as vicariously living through a bad experience. So, how does it help us face our fears?

• It makes those fearful things less terrorizing. Something can be said for repetition. We learn by repeating things over and over. And by facing those scary moments on a regular basis we begin to see them as less frightening and more manageable. Think of a horror movie you saw at one time on the big screen that scared the living daylights out of you and then watching it on TV a few times in reruns. The actor in the monster suit doesn't seen so scary and the crimson dye blood and latex severed limbs start to look a bit comical.
• It helps us to visualize overcoming our fears. We sit in a darkened theater watching the horror story unfold. The hero is about to be eaten, sawn in half, or smashed to bits by the monster. But, at the last minute our intrepid protagonist turns the tables and defeats the evil beast. If we've bought in to the suspension of disbelief, for the two hours we've lived vicariously through our hero, imagining ourselves as the hero of the drama can help us visualize ourselves overcoming a real life terror. Maybe it's walking into the bosses office to ask for a raise or facing down a bully at school.
• It reminds us that there are real terrors in the world. We aren't confronted with chainsaw wielding psychopaths, fifty foot prehistoric lizards, or supernatural teens crawling out of wells on a daily basis. But, from time to time we do face reckless drivers, duplicitous coworkers, or heartless neighbors. Watching at the theater or reading about those twisted antagonists about to wreak havoc on civilization can remind us that we do live in a world fraught with danger. We should treat others with courtesy and grace but be aware that we may not always receive the same in kind.
• If you're religious, frightening situations reminds us we have no need to fear those terrors. Many religions espouse a God able to overcome those scary situations or at least provide comfort through them. On watching that scary movie or reading that Stephen King-type book we are reminding that we possess an antidote to such fear. On a personal note, I'm a Christian and have a Savior whose love has overcome the world. For me horror only serves to remind me that "...perfect love casts out fear."

    So, the next time The Shining or Texas Chainsaw Massacre is on TV, if you're so inclined, break out the popcorn, pour the sodas, sit back, and relax. You may still jump in fright at the scary parts but as the credits roll you can smile knowing you've faced the fear and come out on top.

   Honestly, I started it before the beginning of 2020. My initial outline involved my heroine infiltrating an underground cabal selling medical research to find a cure for an ailing child. But, it was missing something—not enough conflict and high enough stakes. So what if she steals vital information and is chased by the bad guys? It’s been done before. I needed something unique, something with really high stakes.
     Then it hit me. What if the illness my heroine sought to cure was a heretofore unknown virus that didn’t just affect one person but the entire planet? And not just a flu-like illness but a universally fatal illness that caused a small subset of patients to morph into near supernatural creatures.
    There, I had it. The stakes were raised about as high as they could be: solve the problem or face extinction. With outline in hand I did some research on epidemics, the CDC, and viruses and began to write.
    As I started writing it happened. The Covid-19 pandemic began. I was writing about a fictional pandemic during an actual one.
    Let me stop right here to say that I’m not bragging that I in any way foreknew that Covid was coming. It was a coincidence. I was as shocked by the turn of events as anyone else.
    Now, the burning question was should I stop writing about a fictional pandemic during an actual pandemic? After all, real people were getting sick and dying.
    At the time I was working part time as a hospitalist. The VA hospital I worked in was not on the frontlines of the fight against Covid, but still the risk always loomed as we were required to don N-95 masks, face shields, gowns, and gloves to see new admissions.
    I asked a couple of physician colleagues what they thought about me continuing to write after sharing the storyline. Both were intrigued by the plot and responded with an enthusiastic yes, I should continue writing.
    My writing in a strange way helped me cope with the uncertainty and isolation that accompanied the early days of the pandemic. I suppose a way of facing your fears is to write about them. This is why journaling is considered a healthy way to cope with stress and anxiety.
    The compelling theme—love and sacrifice—was something I wanted to explore in the context of a pandemic. This also drove me to continue to write.
    Lastly, the precedent of famous writers played a part. Daniel Defoe and Albert Camus both wrote eloquently about plagues.
    I recently completed my novel, entitled THE PROXIMA PLAGUE. It was a wild exhausting ride chronicling the tragedy and triumphs of my heroine caught up in a pandemic all the way to the fantastical denouement. Check it out. I think you might like it.