To publish or not to publish

Is there any question?

All of these years, decades now, of writing screenplays, tech manuals, songs, novels, notes, etc. Paper piled up in 4 drawer file cabinets.

The question now becomes how to publish. I've tired of the jumping through hoops, playing 'chase the agent'. Need I write my query in blood to convince thee of my will to write?

So, it's to the masses I turn.

Will they find me and if they do...will they read?

Into the New Year

Like an old car with a weak battery, I'm hard to crank over when it's cold outside. Once I get started, I can run with the best of them.

The past few weeks have been taken up with research for the books I'm working on and doing the agent hunt dance.

When I get away from the keyboard I've been helping a neighbor repair his barn roof. Which is not exactly the type of activity most people engage in during the winter months. It's more of a spring, summer, fall kind of job, which you don't want to fall down on. Tied to a safety rope while sliding across the 45 degree slope of a 60 year old barn is not a leisurely situation. Sure it's not mountain climbing, but then I'm not living in the mountains.

I'm running roofing screws down through crusty tin and corroded aluminum panels, securing them to weathered wood which is more rot than wood in some places. It's a good thing that I'm not too heavy at this time in my life.

Anyone else might go through the roof. Which as those of you who have experienced the vertigo, acceleration and then abrupt deceleration of any fall knows that it's not how it happens, but what lies between you and the ground that can hurt you.

It's good, old fashioned, physical work and it pays off in keeping me sharp plus giving my balance and muscles a work-out. My 80 year old neighbor appreciates it and it keeps his barn roof together.

Getting my mind off my writing brings me back to the computer refreshed and ready to get on with the project at hand.

Out With the Old and in With the BOLD

People who know me will tell you that I can be a bit, let's be gentle, intense, to say the least.

I have little time and less than enough patience for the routine, much less dull in life. Which is why I chafe at the amount of time and effort it takes to get an agent or a publisher for my writing work.

To say that dealing with the old school version of the publishing world is tedious would be polite on my part. I know that it has good reason to be the way it is. Truly there are many who would want to be published so as to reap fortunes and fame. Myself, I just want to write.

After years of doing other jobs, some of which I was good at, I realized that living your life while doing something you don't love is not a life. It's a job.

So, on into the new year.

Where I will rev up the marketing campaign.

You've been warned.

Have a Happy Holidays, for whatever reason you celebrate this season.

 

The Write Life

The write life is the only life.

How can you not communicate once you learn the form?

I spend many hours per week writing and researching my books, screenplays and other expressions of my thoughts.

Now I have to do that which I do not enjoy, but is a necessity.

Marketing my work.

I've been researching agents, agencies, publishers and the various new forms of publishing available to anyone with the urge to write. Then get it out to the public and hope for it's acceptance as viable entertainment.

To paraphrase Elvis, "Too much talk and not enough action, I can't get no satisfaction."

Wait, there might be a touch of Rolling Stones in there...or did they copy Elvis?

Either way, it's time to take action.

Colbert Nation vs Amazon Bezos

Oh boy, now they've done it.

Amazon has picked a fight with known authors, like J.K. Rowling and Stephen Colbert.

What were they thinking?

It was OK when they were not recognizing (and paying royalties to)  minor players or even lesser authors like yours' truly, but going after a major power player like J.K. Rowling?

Woe unto thee Mr. Bezos.

Have you crossed the line into territory where you'll not win?

This is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Too bad we can't get the poor workers at Amazon to realize just how bad they're being treated and do something about it.

Mr. Bezos and company may have bitten off more than they can chew this time.

There always is never enough time

So many of my previous posts gave start dates for various projects. Like most people, some got done, others are in limbo and some will never get finished.

I've just gone through a very difficult period of my life. It won't be recounted here. Let it be said that it's given me a new perspective on what I want to do for the rest of the time I have on this planet.

My writing work is getting done.

Now it's time to get it out to readers.

Into the Spring

Busy, too swamped with work and literally flooded in the lowlands around here to have time to post on the old blog.

Will increase the blog posts, starting with coverage of the books that I've read over the past few months.

That will have to wait until I get this weekend out of the way. Going to get the Mercury Sable finished off, primer it and look to paint it next week, when the weather finally breaks into the 70's.

As for the folks out there who are dealing with the employee/employer issues and worker rights, I'll be putting up some comments on my 01Wage Slave blog.

It's going to be an interesting year!

Agents, continued

I might have sounded a bit gruff, rough or been tough on agents in my last post.

Didn't mean to upset anyone. Just want some answers to the simple question of using videos as a method to query agents, publishers and for those of us who write screenplays, production companies.

Doing a video isn't easy. Most people have a hard enough time writing a query letter or a pitch for their work. I've been shooting film or video for decades, so it's a something I'm used to.

It's the video age. Everyone was raised on TV. OK, I've got a few gaps there, where I've gone for years at a time without owning one and didn't watch too many hours of programming. That can be explained and no, I wasn't in jail.

Gives me more time to write and shoot photos.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Those of you who read this blog know that I've been working on a novel for the past five years. Which might seem to be a long time to write an action/adventure book based on cyber war.

The problems I encountered trying to find and verify information about the threat that exists in the Internet was a bit difficult, since most people don't want to admit this threat exists. In addition, my novel is based on the premise that the electronic media we all use can be used against us, in more than one way. This goes beyond financial, structural and nation/state attacks.

This week I read "Cyberwar, The Next Threat to National Security". For me, this book confirmed and justified all the work I did on my book. I have a different perspective than Mr. Clarke and Mr. Knake have on how a cyber war would affect the world and this country, but that's to be expected, considering our backgrounds.

The novel is done and I'm sending queries out to agents and publishers at this time. The only thing that concerns me about the publishing business is the amount of time it takes to get into print. This is not a book that can wait for two years.

I'm also considering putting it on the Internet, either through a blog or by posting videos of me reading it.

The novel is not the only that I've written in the past five years. I did a "romance-novella" spoof titled; "Shotgun Romance", a couple of screenplays and a dozen short stories.

During that time I was an extra in a feature film. OK, more like 'human background scenery'.

I've shot some short videos and will be posting them on YouTube in the future on my site at Tom2u.

That and worked on the farm. Hey, don't have to worry about getting to the gym!

Cyber War, The Next Threat to National Security

I just read Richard Clarke and Robert Knake's latest book, "Cyberwar, The Next Threat to National Security" .

You don't know how relieved I am.

NO! Not that the threat of cyber war exists. I've realized it for a long time. Most people think that it's Hollywood movie stuff. Sorry gang, it's real life. I've accepted the possibility for a long time.

Mr. Clarke and Mr. Knake lay out the bare-bones truth in this book. The problem will be trying to get the average American to accept it.

IF you only read one book this year, hell, if you only read one book in your life, read this one. It will change your view of the world as we currently live in it.

After all, do you think that the stock market bounce of last week was just a glitch? Do you think the oil well problem in the Gulf of Mexico was an accident? Maybe they were or maybe they weren't. Either one of them could have happened with a logic bomb or a hacker overriding the control programs.

Thanks Mr. Clarke and Mr. Knake.

Do You Research or Just Write It?

I spend a lot of time at the local library. A couple of weeks ago, my friend, the librarian, asked me, "Do you do research for your books?"

The question caused me to stop for a moment, "Can't write a book without doing research."

We got into a discussion, since that had been a topic brought up by some other librarians.

Even when I did my memoir-mockumentary (there's a new word for you), "Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave" I did research. I checked on quotes, regulations, business topics and liability. Getting sued is no fun.

The novel I just completed took me almost 5 years to write. It's on a complex topic, cyberwar, and there aren't too many references out there. The subject is so leading edge, most people can't comprehend the topic.

It led to me creating a 4 drawer file cabinet full of background information. This doesn't include the movies, videos, library books, Internet, blogs, etc. that I reviewed to gain an understanding of my subject.

The worst thing a writer can do is put out a book that doesn't have all the latest info on the subject. Sure, it might be wrong in the future, when the technology advances or society overtakes the concept.

But for right now, it better be as good as you can make it.

Faking it will get you burned, every time.

For My Next Act...

Yeah, a couple of weeks, I'll be back.

How about just shy of a year, by a couple of weeks?

That's the thrills, chills and headaches of writing, researching, editing and rewriting a novel.

It doesn't help when the agents/publishers decide that anything over 125,000 words is too long. I was at 136,000 words when I got the news by reading the blogosphere.

Back to cutting, rewriting, restructuring the book. I'm not complaining, because I'm convinced it improved the book, immensely.

Now it's time to find an agent. Which, from what I've heard, is much harder work than writing the book.

Yes, I've started writing the next book.

It's what I do.

And Now, THE END as a Beginning

The "Project X" novel has been in the works now for more years than I want to mention. You don't want to get any elements wrong in a techno-thriller. The 'experts' will kill you.

Been gnawing over the ending for the past months, many of them.

A couple of weeks ago, while taking a pecan break during the great house painting escapade of 2008, it struck me. The ending, wrapping up all the elements of my novel, popped into my head as I masticated a pecan. I didn't do a little victory dance, just leaned back against the truck and went, "Whoa, that's it!"

Now I'm rewriting the book, cutting into the 257 pages, slicing the 130,000 plus words, paring it down. Excising fat, leaving meat and bone.

Gotta steal a line here;

"I love it when a plan comes together."*

*("The 'A' Team" TV show)

An Honest Day's Work

For an honest day's wage.

I read other blogs, not as many as I would like, but I try to get an overview of the publishing world. Janet Reid's blog is one of the few that I follow.

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

She also posts over at "Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room".

http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/2008/11/ive-gone-over-to-the-dark-side.html

Buying books is always an experience. I've been surprised at what I've found in old bookstores, usually something that I never would have thought of buying until I stumbled upon it.

That's been changed, with the advent of online book sales. I'm glad that there are ways for people to buy books over the Internet. I've bought and sold books that way myself. It's a new marketplace.

It made me realize that there are too many opportunities in this day and age for people to benefit from the work done by another, without compensation. There are plenty of examples of pirating in the film and music business. Books aren't immune.

When it comes to e-books and tracking their sales, how do you do inventory? Who knows the exact number of downloads?

I've been stonewalled when I ask these questions, either on the phone, letter or by email. The lone writer gets no respect from the company, big or small.

It's one of the reasons that I am looking for an agent for my work.


Let them fight those battles,
earn their keep.
I've got an empty page to fill,
words to go,
before I sleep.

(I couldn't resist....)

Unknown Dead

It was one of those middle of the night phone calls. Lying in the dark, phone ringing, not quite asleep.

I look at the phone, a name I don’t know. Is it some local meth-head, trying to score? Another drunken wrong number, looking for their love? A phone call I don’t want to answer, with a person telling me that someone I know is hurt or dying and I need to rush to a hospital?

Thoughts that pour through my mind, a jumbled cascade as I stare at the unknown name on my phone with the strange number. The answering machine kicks in, they don’t drop off, but start to leave a message.

“Hello, Mr. Thomas, I know it not a good time of night to call and get up with you….”

I pick up the phone. He’s apologizing for the late hour, couldn’t sleep, had to call me. I ask what I can do for him. It’s an old carny, who goes by the name of ‘Tom’. His real name is Gordon, but he’s called Tom. Something about shirts he wore when he first joined the carnival. Which leads to the first of more than a couple of stories that I’ll hear over the next hour.

When I met Gordon, three weeks ago, he was at the local flea market. I was running a table, trying to sell some of my accumulated goods, a polite way of saying I was trying to get rid of some of my junk. It also gives me an excuse to get off the farm, check out what the local folks are doing and maybe, if I’m lucky, make a couple of dollars.

You never know who is going to show up. My neighbors have wandered up, surprised to see me sitting there, clothes, exercise equipment, copies of my self-published book arrayed across the weathered wooden table.

An author I know from the defunct local writer’s group, shocked that I was mixed in among the rabble. People who pick over things, some just to see what you have, others are truly interested. Snooping and sniffing for a bargain.

A man stops, looks at some of the blue jeans for sale. He’s wearing a shirt with a fiberglass company logo, so I ask if he works for them. “Nope, just have the shirt. I’ve done fiberglass work for years, built those waterpark slides all over the country. Do roofing now.”

I nod, “Yeah, I done a bit of ‘glass work myself, mainly cars, a few boats.”

We talk fiberglass for a few minutes. He picks up a copy of my book, looks over at me.

“Wrote that just after I got back from Europe. People don’t really know the difference between working here and over there. Too many think that it’s all socialism over there. They have more rights than we do and don’t lose their benefits if the company fires them or gets bought up by another company. We bail out the companies and mistreat the people who do all the work.”

He nods and says, “Yeah, you have to work for yourself. Then you can set the price.”

We talk about work, life in general and that topic of disgust, how the economy went to hell. He looks my book over, reads the back cover, “I’ve got someone you should meet. You got a minute?”

“How’s that? I mean, there’s no one here to watch this…” My hand sweeps across the table, turning my dross into gold.

“There’s a guy here, wants someone to write a book about his life. He needs a writer. I was just talking to him about it. He’s right up the way here.”

I’m taken aback. There’s not too many people who you would expect to want a book written about them working at a flea market. Most people here would like to forget about their lives and just make the rent, buy some food and keep the electric on in the old homestead. I look over at Camo-Man, who’s daughter is here helping him.

“Hey, can she watch my table for a couple minutes? I’ll be right back.”

Camo-Man nods and his daughter comes over. She watched me set up and I’ve got prices posted on everything.

“I’ll split the profit with you on anything that you sell. OK?”

“Sure!”

“Good, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

We take off through the throng and dodge our way towards the center of the flea market. Along the way, he’s nodding, waving, saying “Hello” to people. He stops one portly man, makes a snide comment to him, most of which I miss, then moves on through the crowd. He turns to me, “That’s the sheriff, always good to know the sheriff.”

I nod in agreement, “Just as long as he’s not serving a warrant.” We trudge on and suddenly he stops in front of a pork skin stand.

Pork skins are a country delicacy which are self-descriptive, yet indescribable. The first time I threw the pellets into a vat of boiling oil, I knew I could never eat them. Later that day, after finishing off the first bag, I got two more bags to take home with me. They were like eating bacon-lite, not quite as greasy, great with beer. I ate them constantly for about seven months and haven’t touched them now for over fifteen years. After all, deep fried pig skins are still pig skins. Good for footballs, not my stomach.

In front of me is a long-haired man, a snowy beard dappled with black, short, energetic, hands waving about as he explains something to a woman’s he talking to. The crowd surges around us, islands in the middle of the stream.

The fiberglass man grabs Tom the carny’s arm, “He’s a writer,” pointing at me.

Tom nods, “Yeah? I’ve got a writer, school teacher down in Selmer, gonna write my book.”

I think, ‘Wonderful, that’s the end of that…time to go back to the table.’ Still, I’m not about to leave without throwing in my two cents. “That’s great! Are you working on it now?”

He shakes his head, “She hasn’t had time, been teaching school.”

I nod, thinking, ‘Yeah, I’ll bet…what’s a good excuse for me?’. Before I can say anything, he’s off and running, veering through stories, piling decades together, not quite in sequence.

It was the story about the unknown dead guy that got me. Man who had worked for him for six months, running the ‘duck pond’. A game that has rubber ducks floating in it, numbers on the bottom. Put a dollar in the man’s hand, pick up a duck, see what prize you won.

Tom the carny had called him “Quack Quack”, since he didn’t know his real name. Lots of people, on the run, making a living, just getting from one place to another, no names, pay in cash, gone in the morning. Carnies don’t ask any questions, just as long as you pull your weight. Otherwise you can hit the road, the carnival doesn’t need any freeloaders.

They had set up for the weekend. The carny told me that he had left with his girlfriend, spent the day at the lake, swimming and picnicking. Got back late. In the morning he goes to check on Quack Quack and finds him dead on his cot, lying in the back of a game trailer.

Now, over thirty years later, the carny wants to find out Quack Quack’s real name and contact his family, tell them where he’s buried. That and write a book, except for one problem.

He doesn’t know how to write.

Ike and His Storm

Ike and Ike, the perfect storm.

Irony is one of nature’s strong points. We’re about to get hammered by a storm named “Ike” and we really need an Ike, as in Eisenhower-type president right now.

You don’t hear anyone talk about him. Probably too honest for most of our current political types to mention.

After all, he warned us of the potential problems with various situations in the world and within our country. I have mentioned in a previous post, his book “Mandate for Change” should be required reading. Catchy title, huh? Almost like a political slogan.

I’ll start my review of the book in the next couple of postings. Expect it to last for a couple of weeks. The parallels with our problems today will shock you.

Then there's that storm out there.

I'm afraid it's going to shock this nation, in more ways than one.

Swamped in Cherry Bottom

What a week. I planned on having at least three more posts up, but there has been more work and unexpected incidents. Will have the posts on the feature film up this weekend.

This past Monday was a 20 hour day. Farm life is simple, you 'make hay while the sun shines'. Grab a five hour nap and get up to do it again. Unless you have about three inches of rain, then you deal with the problems that causes. Like a leaky roof. It's an old farm house, so it comes with it's share of character.

Some of my tardiness can be laid off on the fact that I got a nice, second-degree burn on the palm of my hand over the weekend. Hadn't gas welded anything in awhile. After I welded up a broken handle on a rototiller, I went to move it about five minutes later. Without my welding gloves on. It's a lovely, silver dollar-sized burn, right where your palm folds over when making a fist. Yes, it hurts and it bleeds nicely also. Didn't hurt the rototiller at all.

All the wet weather has given the bugs and varmints impetus to harass people. When the Wisconsin Wildman showed up the other day to scream about politics, we stood in the driveway and talked about current events for a while. My ankle started to itch, raised my pants leg and found six ticks! WW was standing there in t-shirt, shorts and sandals, he just looked at me, "Why aren't there any on me?"
"Hell, I don't know, maybe they like that cruise ship soap that I'm using, maybe they like the taste of me." It ended the conversation, then and there. He jumped into his truck and I went into the house. I was now itching, just south of my navel. Where I found that I had five more ticks, one of which had already hooked into me. They wanted to have my genitalia for breakfast. Not the way to start the day.

Later in the afternoon, working in the tractor shed on a piece of farm equipment, I walked outside, looked up the lane towards the old log cabin. There was a stick next to the school bus, just past the dump truck. Which wasn't there five minutes earlier. It didn't seem to be a car part from my father's esoteric collection of motor vehicles. He also has an ambulance. I have no problem with prop cars when I want to shoot a video!

The stick moved, raised it's head. Hmm, a serpent in the lane. Not good. I walked over towards it. Got about twenty feet away from the sucker. He was stretched out, digesting his meal of chicken eggs. My neighbor had told me that she didn't get any hen fruit that day, which didn't make any sense. It did now.

From a distance, it looked like a chicken snake. Which, surprise, surprise, eats chicken eggs. This one was about five feet long. He pivoted his head towards me. It was more triangular than I liked, so I went back and got a pistol. I prefer a shotgun when dealing with snakes, but you use what you have.

Now, I know that all of you gun control people out there are probably screaming about this, but how many large snakes have you faced in your life? I get to deal with about three a year, sometimes more. This was the second one this year, the first was a small copperhead that wanted to bite me when I opened the door to the tractor shed. I crushed his head with my boot heel. Remind me sometime to tell you the story about the python.

Most snakes take off and run when they see a human or a dog. Not this one. He just stayed there, sunning himself. I was about twenty feet away, had to call Thor back. He wanted to inspect the reptile. I stood next to the dump truck, getting an angle that would lessen the possibility of a ricochet hitting any farm equipment. The first round hit him about four inches behind the head. He coiled up, wanting to fight. I put two more rounds downrange, hitting him right behind the head and then a head shot. Now he was flipping around, snakes will do that for hours, even with a kill shot. I walked closer, missed, hit with the next round and then missed again as he flopped some more.

Thor was wanting to get in on the action, but stayed back after I called him off. He could sense the danger and tried to stay between me and the snake. I walked over and poked the snake with a tree branch. It was a water moccasin, also called a cottonmouth. One of the few snakes that are aggressive and will come after you. Nothing like a poisonous reptile in the driveway.

I went and got the neighbor, to get his opinion. This was the first cottonmouth that I had seen in a long time. Snakes vary in color, due to age and injury. I pried his mouth open and we both looked at those needle-like fangs. I picked him up and threw him into the back of an old pickup truck. Want to get a photo later.

We got another couple of inches of rain yesterday and that slowed me down. The electric system is so funky that I can't use the computer during a storm. We either get an electrical surge or a power outage, either one kicks in my battery back-up and throws me off the internet and the computer. Spent most of the day reading a book, "Free Lunch" by David Cay Johnston. This book should be required reading for everyone in the country. Especially in an election year.

I won't even go into the emails that I should have answered earlier this week. There are a couple of people out there who are probably wondering what I'm doing. I try to answer my emails immediately after I receive them, unless they require research or other work. Will get those caught up ASAP.

It's Friday, wonder what the weekend is going to be like.

Probably just another boring day in the country.

End Times, Books and the Internet---------Part Two

I should have known better.



Never bring up religion, politics or sex. It ALWAYS gets someone angry. No matter how you present your topic.



I received a comment, which won't be posted, about how I would "enjoy" a website listing lawsuits concerning the Jehovah's Witnesses. Since the person who sent the comment used the 'anon' signature, I won't post it.



You don't have the guts to sign your name, why should I post your stuff?



First off, I don't 'enjoy' any lawsuit. Been there and done that. I don't think anyone 'enjoys' going to court, no matter what the reason. It goes back to what I mentioned in the previous post. No respect. People who don't respect the law or other people, wind up in court. Sometimes, people who do respect the law wind up in court.

We can get into a long debate about 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' here. One of the freedoms guaranteed us is religious freedom in America. The problem is, too many people want to tell other people how to live. They don't stop at what you do, but how you do it, where you do it, who you do it with, and what you wear when you do it.



It's none of your business, how another person lives their life, as long as they respect your rights and your space. Step over the line, try to tell them how to live? Who gave you the right to do that?



Judgmental situations arise every day. We all judge people and events, not knowing all the facts. I have worked with Jehovah's Witnesses at different jobs. Guess what, they are people, just like anyone else. They just have a belief system that's different to the point of bothering those who are more sheep-like than others.



Ever notice that people who have a firm belief are never afraid to express it? Doesn't matter if they are a scientist, a religious leader or a politician. They are SURE that what they are saying is correct, until proven wrong.



Now the key word here is BELIEF. This is where the tribe empowerment comes into play. All those folks who back you up reinforce what you think is correct.



Remember, they burned people at the stake a few centuries back, because they believed that the earth orbited around the sun. At that time, the people with the torches were sure that the sun orbited around the earth. Some even thought that the earth was flat.



Which brings us back to that other thing that I mentioned in the last post, perspective.



I don't know it all, neither do you.



It's always best to try and get some perspective to any situation.

What I do know is this. When it comes to my body, it's none of your business how it's treated and cared for. You aren't paying for it, so you don't have any say in it.

As for people who refuse blood transfusions, I'm one of them. No, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness.

I'm a person who's worked in a hospital and seen doctors, nurses and others make mistakes. Some of which killed people.

Why do you think that doctors and lawyers have 'practices'?

It's because they're still learning on the job.

End Times, Books and the Internet

I was looking for something to read the other day. My house is full of books and magazines, most of which I had read. I was looking for something with quality.

Found my old set of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare". A two volume set that I read many years ago. It's a Book Club set that was printed by Nelson Doubleday. There's no printing date, so I don't know the year I got them. They have to be at least forty years old, as I started reading them in grade school. I drag them out every so often to read.

It got me to thinking about what people read these days. After seeing the latest news that about 30 percent of our high school students drop out. Hearing tales from my neighbors of their kids quitting school. They aren't doing it to work, they just want to hang out and be 'cool'.

Mr. Shakespeare definitely influenced me. We studied his stuff in high school, saw "Romeo and Juliet", the movie, when it came out in 1971. I was in Europe at the time, so it may have come out in the USA earlier. A writer still being read and having his work made into films, centuries later. It gives you an idea of the power of the word.

The next day, I went out to get the mail. As I walked back to the house, a car pulled in the driveway. An older man and two teenage girls. I turned around and went to their mini-van to find out what they wanted, figured they were lost or selling something.

The old man asked me if he was still in his county, I told him that the line was up the road. He was out of his assigned territory. No matter, he wanted to talk.

They were Jehovah's Witnesses. When he started to ask me if I was concerned about it being 'the end times' I knew where the conversation was headed. My question took him by surprise, "You're a Jehovah's Witness, right?" He nodded.

He asked me if I watched TV. I told him, "No." Which shocked him.
"How do you get your news? You read the newspaper?"
"No. If you believe in the Bible, why do you watch TV and read the newspaper?"
That got his attention.

The local Jehovah's Witnesses quit coming around here about a year ago. They found out that I would talk their ears off. What they heard they didn't like. This guy was more tolerant. He got back on the 'end times' thing.

I asked him about the Mayans. They predicted an 'end times' a couple of thousand years ago. He had never heard of them. I suggested that he might want to read up on them. Do something new, like look at things from a different point of view.

So, I asked him about the Internet. He confessed that he had just bought a laptop about two weeks ago and was now going to get on the Internet to see what it was about.

One of the questions that I ask is "What church or religion is mentioned in the Bible?" In any group where I mention this, most don't want to discuss it. Probably because they aren't Jewish. I'm not Jewish and the Jews that I know usually don't want to discuss the Bible either.

The second question that I ask is, "What did Jesus do between the ages of 12 and 30?" There is no mention of this time period in the Bible. He had no answer to this one either.

I asked him if he knew that other groups had records of Jesus visiting them. Didn't know about it and acted like he really didn't want to hear it. Ignorance is bliss.

We briefly got on the topic of how reading a book leads people to believe what they read as being the only way something can work or how something happened. I tried to bring up the perspective of the author.

It was getting obvious that this was one of those 'can't see the forest for the trees' deals. When you get too close to something, you lose perspective. People join groups, no matter what they believe in, whether it's a drug gang or a political party, so they can feel like they are part of the tribe. It's a sense of empowerment. I'm now part of a larger group and that gives me the power of their numbers. They believe in the tribal power.

Too many things are written with an agenda that has no relation to the truth of the matter. People who are unwilling to search for the truth on their own, will always take the easy road and believe what they are told.

Which brings us to the situation we are in today, worldwide. There is no trust between people, locally or nationally. Respect has gone out the window. Why should anyone respect the rights of other people. As long as they can get their way, they don't care if you suffer for it.

The irony is that in the end, we all suffer for it.

As for the 'end times'?

Well, everything ends, sooner or later.

Just like a book.