The Saga of My 18 Published Books, Part 2

My first publisher, Five Star, didn’t ask for e-book rights for the first four books in the Paul  Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, so I self-published the e-book editions and an e-book box set of the four books. For the next five books Five Star published, they asked for e-book rights. Once Five Star exited the mystery line, I obtained rights for the five e-books they had published. In addition, I also obtained e-book rights for the four books published by four other publishers who went out of business. Working with my new publisher, Encircle Publications, here is how my e-book backlist stacks up. I have self-published eight of these books, and Encircle has published one of them. Encircle has also published four new e-books for me. I have self-published one new e-book, Coronavirus Daze. Consequently, all 18 of my books are available in e-book editions as well as print.

I have worked with one other publisher, Books in Motion, who has published nine of my books in audiobook editions.

The Saga of My 18 Published Books

My first book, Retirement Homes Are Murder, was published in January, 2007. The current count is 18 published books. Over this time, I’ve worked with eight publishers as well as self-published some of my books. Here’s the first installment of my saga: print editions. I originally worked with Five Star who published nine of my books in hardcover and six of them additionally in large print. Unfortunately, they decided to exit the mystery line. Over the years I also had four mystery novels published by four other publishers as trade paperbacks. These publishers are now all out of business as well. The good news is that I have rights to all of my backlist from these publishers. In addition, eight of my mystery novels have been published by Harlequin Worldwide Mysteries as mass market paperbacks. My current publisher, Encircle Publications, has published four new books and reissued seven of my original books as trade paperbacks.  I have self-published one book, a novella titled Coronavirus Daze, and reissued six of my earlier books as self-published trade paperback editions. Thus, all 18 of my books are currently available as trade paperbacks. In my next post, I will discuss e-books and audio books.

Christmas Season

Preparations are underway at our house for Christmas. We’ve sent out a family newsletter, the artificial tree is up and decorated, and some amount of present wrapping has been accomplished. Our 6-year-old grandson has completed his fifth annual craft Christmas tree to display on our dining room mirror. We’re getting there.

Giving In-person Presentations

This week feels a little bit like the times before the pandemic. I gave an in-person presentation to a book club earlier this week and have another presentation scheduled with a Kiwanis Club at the end of this week. I’ll be wearing a mask since we meet indoors, but will take it off when I give the presentation.

Cataract Surgery

Last month I had cataract surgery in one eye. It took several days for the fog to clear but then I could see in the distance without my glasses for the first time since seventh grade. Another surprise: colors were vibrant. The doctor explained that over time the lens gets cloudy, and you don’t notice the gradual change. I’ll be getting the second eye done this week, so hopefully I will be able to go without glasses for distance vision completely in a week or so. I’ll need reading glasses. This will all be quite a change for me.

Dumb Dad Jokes

I’m an advocate for dumb dad jokes. These are jokes we dads tell to our kids and grandkids to make them groan. These are very sophisticated jokes. Here are several examples:

I got fired from the orange juice factory because I couldn’t concentrate.

Every morning I plan to make pancakes, but I keep waffling.

I’ve accumulated a large number of these jokes. My kids have given me dad joke books, and I get a weekly email from a source who always has good jokes. I’ve been sharing these on a daily basis with several friends who appreciate puns and humor.

Thanksgiving

We will have a small family Thanksgiving gathering this year. It’s a good time of the year to express our gratitude for all we have. The one thing that surprised me about the Thanksgiving week: our grandson has the whole week off from school. I don’t know when this changed, but as a kid and when raising our own children, it was only Thursday and Friday off. In fact, when I started working, the Friday after Thanksgiving was a good time to catch up on paperwork at the office. Not being a shopper, I’ve never been inspired by the whole Black Friday thing. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Thinking About Ideas for Cover of Old Detectives Home

My publisher solicits ideas for cover art from authors. With the upcoming Old Detectives Homes, I’ve been thinking about ideas for the cover. The story takes place in a retirement home on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean. The inciting event is a body being discovered on the beach below the cliff. I’m thinking of a view of the retirement home from the beach with a body in the foreground, stairs going up the cliff and the retirement home in the background above the cliff. We’ll see what we come up with.

First of Omnipodge Trilogy, Old Detectives Home, will be Published Next Spring

I’m pleased to announce a three book contract with Encircle Publications for my Omnipodge Trilogy, the first of which is titled Old Detectives Home.

 

Imagine a retirement home populated with residents such as an aging Hercule Poirot and a dementia-suffering Sherlock Holmes and run by staff including Art Doyle, Dash Hammett and Dot Sayers. In this light-hearted spoof of the mystery genre, every character is either a real person from the mystery writing world or a character from a mystery novel. On anything but a dark and stormy night, a dead body is found. The staff managers find themselves unable to control the unruly old detectives. Mix in clues and red herrings galore as the cast of suspects investigate each other to figure out who done it.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie and more, hold on to your rockers as the top detectives of all time reunite at The Old Detectives Home to solve their most difficult whodunit—but first without killing each other. 

My Writing Journey (continued again)

After the publication of my first novel, Retirement Homes Are Murder, I retired to focus on writing. Previously while still working, I had written my manuscripts using a concept I adapted from Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way. Julia recommends writing three hand written pages the first thing every morning (Morning Pages) as a way to get the creative juices flowing. This can be anything: a shopping list, a journal or whatever is on your mind. I adapted this concept as a way of writing three pages of a manuscript every morning. I’d review where I left off and write three hand written pages to continue the story. Then when I came home from work, I’d do an editing pass and enter the three pages into the computer. This produced two type-written pages. If you do the arithmetic, after 150 days, I’d have a rough draft for a 300-page novel.

 

Once I retired, I started writing directly into the computer. Being a morning person, I’d write all morning and then exercise and eat lunch. This was the program I followed during a very productive writing period from 2007 into 2015. During my Morning Pages days and my productive retirement days, I completed over 30 manuscripts, of which 17 have now been published.

My Writing Journey (continued)

After selling my first short story, I bridged into novel length material. I began my Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, and in 2005 submitted the first novel in the series, Retirement Homes Are Murder, to a contest for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference. I didn’t reach the finals, but I received a lot of constructive feedback from the people who read my submission. I madly rewrote and by the time of the conference, I had a much improved manuscript. At the conference, I had an opportunity to pitch to two agents and two publishers. Deni Dietz of Five Star asked me to email her the manuscript. Two months later, I received a contract and Retirement Homes Are Murder was published in January of 2007.

Reviewing My Writing Journey

I’ve been thinking about my writing journey lately. It all began in 2001 when I was 56-years-old. One evening I was sitting in my easy chair in the living room and reviewed things that I had enjoyed doing during my life. It included building model airplanes when I was a kid, writing and painting. The common denominator: they were all creative. It was that evening that I decided to prepare myself to retire into writing. First step: I signed up for a fiction writing course at the University of Colorado (we lived in Boulder, CO, at the time). I had learned that anyone older than 55 could sign up for courses for free with the instructor’s permission. I took two semesters of fiction writing to jump start my new ambition. In these courses we wrote short stories and critiqued each others’ work. As a result, I began sending short stores off to magazines and anthologies, I’m happy to report that on my 112^th submission I sold a story titled, “New Trust a Poison Dart Frog,” in an anthology “Who Died in Here?” that was a collections of short stories with a death or a murder taking place . . . in the bathroom.

Good News

I will divulge more information shortly, but the good news is that my publisher has scheduled the first of my Omnipodge Trilogy mystery novels for release in the spring of next year. The first one is titled Old Detectives Home, and all three books in the trilogy take place in the fictional California coastal town of Omnipodge.

Imagine a retirement home populated with residents such as an aging Hercule Poirot and a dementia-suffering Sherlock Holmes and run by staff including Art Doyle, Dash Hammett and Dot Sayers. In this light-hearted spoof of the mystery genre, every character is either a real person from the mystery writing world or a character from a mystery novel. On anything but a dark and stormy night, a dead body is found. The staff managers find themselves unable to control the unruly old detectives. Mix in clues and red herrings galore as the cast of suspects investigate each other to figure out who done it. 

Fans of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie and more, hold on to your rockers  as the top detectives of all time reunite at The Old Detectives Home to solve their most difficult whodunit—but first without killing each other. 

Making Progress

This week will be six weeks since my knee surgery due to an infection. I’m hoping to be off IV antibiotics and be only taking oral antibiotics soon. We’ll see what the doctors say. A knee infection may not seem like a big deal but it has led to surgery and lots of medicine. Eons ago people would die from such infections. I’m grateful that we now have ways of treating these infections.

Thank You Fountain Valley Rotary Club

I gave an in-person author presentation earlier this week to the Fountain Valley, CA,  Rotary Club. After all the pandemic time and then my knee infection, it was enjoyable to speak with people live rather than through Zoom. My current talk is titled “Lessons Learned During the Pandemic.” It features the variety of experiences both positive and negative I had over the last two years. It’s good to be back.

Family

I have gained an increased appreciation for my family during the last month of dealing with an infected knee. Our daughter lives a mile away, and she has been helping my wife and me while I’m not a hundred percent. Our oldest son who lives thirty miles away, came down the first two weekends after I was released from the hospital to assist me. Our second son who lives in Iowa is here this week helping with some needed house repairs and errands. And now that I’m driving again, I’m picking up our six-year-old grandson at school each weekday afternoon. Seeing him come running out of school and telling me the things he’s doing keeps a smile on my face.

Gratitude

While recuperating from an infected knee, I’ve had a chance to evaluate my priorities and plans. There’s nothing like a medical emergency to make you appreciate being healthy. I’ve taken some baby steps so far: short walks, driving, light exercises. I’m looking forward to getting back to other activities such as pickleball and golf. In the meantime, I’m extremely grateful that the rest of my family is healthy and safe. 

Assessing After a Medical Scare

After spending time in two hospitals and now home recuperating, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s important to me, The sustaining force has been support from my family. I’m fortunate to have my wife with me, my daughter living close by and a son within driving distance. With an infected knee, I realize that a medical problem can happen at any time. Going forward  my focus will be on family. I’ll continue to be involved in writing activity and look forward to playing pickleball again. During the recuperation I’ve learned to pace myself: do some activity, rest, do some more activity, rest. I’ll be taking it one step at a time.

Dealing with a Medical Emergency

I have not posted lately because I’m dealing with a knee infection. I’ve been in two hospitals and am now home with antibiotic treatment. It just goes to show you can be blindsided with a medical condition. I had knee replacement surgery two years ago, and I woke up one morning with pain, swelling, a hot knee and inability to bend my knee. I ended up going in for surgery to clean out the knee and will be on antibiotics for six weeks. It certainly made me appreciate the good health I had recently experienced and the support of my family and friends.

End of Summer

As the end of summer approaches, I have mixed emotions. I’ve enjoyed the many summer activities with our 6-year-old grandson, but now anticipate hearing about his experiences in first grade, which begins Aug. 31. This was supposed to be the summer to make significant gains against the pandemic, but unfortunately that was not to be. Still, I look forward to fall as things cool off, and hopefully more people will get vaccinated to protect everyone.

Author Presentations

After a long hiatus from giving in-person author presentations, I now have two speeches scheduled. I enjoy speaking to organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimist as well as book clubs and other groups seeking speakers. Over the course of my writing career, I’ve come up with a new speech each time a book has been published. Since I only published one book during the pandemic, my current talk is titled “Lessons Learned During the Pandemic.” It features the variety of experiences both positive and negative I had over the last two years.

Relying on Electronic Devices

If nothing else, the pandemic demonstrated our reliance on electronic devices. I went from not knowing what Zoom was to using it every weekday as my grandson’s Zoom assistant for kindergarten. As we isolated and stayed home, more communications went electronic rather than in person. In our household, we also had a battle over the last six months to get our streaming service working. We spent many hours trying to diagnose streaming problems between our Internet provider, the TV, Roku, electronic connections in our house and phases of the moon. It would work, then die, then work for a while, then die again. Finally, the combination of our two sons and one grandson resolved the problem for us. It has been working for almost a month now Along the way my laptop started acting up, so I replaced it. My smartphone has a cracked screen, a battery that requires constant recharging and often thinks it’s in Gerlach, Nevada, instead of Lakewood, California. All part of the wonderful world of electronic devices.

Reading Patterns

Have your reading patterns changed over the years? For me, I read mainly thrillers for many years. Once I got hooked on writing at the age of 56, I began reading more mysteries because that was the genre I became interested in writing. Now I am going through a non-fiction phase. Although I’ve written one non-fiction book (the biography of a WWII veteran), my other 17 published books have been fiction. The book I most recently finished reading is Sapiens, A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari. I highly recommend it as an insightful analysis of the history of humans, which also poses interesting questions about our future.

Ways to Read Books

I’ve always enjoyed having a print book in my hands to read. I’ll occasionally read in e-book format, but since I’m on devices enough, I still prefer print editions. Back when I was driving by myself a great deal, I always listened to an audio book. Lately, I haven’t been driving by myself much, mainly taking my wife and grandson places so this habit has fallen away. How do you prefer to read books?

Family Gathering

For the first time in over 2 years, we got together with all of our grandkids. We hadn’t seen 2 of them in that period of time, and they had grown like weeds. We also had a chance to go to the beach, the Long Beach aquarium, La Brea tar pits, many good restaurants, parks and playgrounds.

T-Ball

Our grandson has started playing T-Ball. For those of you not familiar with T-Ball, it’s the introduction to baseball. The ball is hit off a tee (an adjustable post). Practice is twice a week with a game on Saturday. In the games, score is not kept, and the kids play for an hour. Each team bats all its players and then the other team is up. This continues to rotate until the hour is up. At the first game last Saturday, each side got to hit twice. It’s fun to watch the kids learn the basic skills of fielding, throwing and hitting. Last Saturday, when a ball was hit, the fielders swarmed toward the ball and sometimes jumped on each other. There is a lot to learn about fielding a ball and throwing it to first base. It’s a great way to start learning a new sport.

End of a School Year

This has been quite a kindergarten school year for our grandson and for me. We started out in September with Zoom school. I was his Zoom assistant and helped keep the computer running and assisted with craft projects. All I can say is that his teacher did an amazing job in preparation, engaging 14 squirming kids and keeping her sense of humor. In April in-person school opened up to the joy of teachers, students and parents. We had one glitch, when there was a COVID case in our grandson’s class and we had to switch back to Zoom school for a week, but other than that it went well. He made new friends and came running out of school each day when I picked him up with a smile on his face as he and his buddies chased each other around the grass in front of the school. I know some parents worried that Zoom school deprived the kids of socialization and there is truth in that, but I think kindergarteners suffered less than older students because they hadn’t experienced in-person elementary school before. Our grandson received a good start with kindergarten supplemented by two afternoons a week in an extension of his preschool program and my wife, an ex-teacher, doing workbooks with him every day. On to first grade.

Summer Activities

Compared to last summer, we have more activities planned this year. After not having seen our son and grandsons from Iowa for over a year, we look forward to a visit from them later this month with trips to the beach. Our 5-year-old grandson is participating in sports programs and having play dates with friends for the first time in over a year. My wife and I have no plans to travel this summer but expect to do that next summer.

Back to Normal — Sort Of

With the COVID infection rates declining, more things are opening up. Our grandson has been enjoying in-person kindergarten and will be starting T-ball this week. Last week, my wife and I went out for our first restaurant dinner in over a year. All of our kids and grandkids except for the 5-year-old have been vaccinated. I feel comfortable taking walks without a mask and have to remind myself to take my mask when going to locations that require masks. Progress.

Shopping in Stores Versus Online

During the pandemic, I went to the food store, but avoided other types of in-person shopping, relying upon online shopping. Now that I’m fully vaccinated, I’ve attempted to return to some in-person shopping. To be honest, the results have been disappointing. I tried to purchase two items at retail stores. In one case, they tried to sell me the pieces rather than a complete product, and in the other the salesperson couldn’t answer any of my questions. So I returned to online shopping, ordered the two items in minutes and received them in days. Like some activities during the pandemic, I expect we will will not return to the way we used to do things.

Grandson’s First Trip to the Zoo

Do you remember the first time you went to a zoo? I had the opportunity to watch my five-year-old grandson’s reactions to seeing real animals (not just pictures) when we went to the Los Angeles Zoo. Reservations were required and a limited number of people were allowed in on half hour increments. We wore masks and hiked around the whole zoo. On the way home he went through his list of the favorite animals he had seen. Two near the top of the list were giraffes and gorillas. It was an enjoyable day for all of us.

e-book Box Sets

Box sets are an interesting concept. Books in a series can be package so a reader can order them as one combined e-book. As an example, the first four books in my Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series are available in an e-Book Box Set. http://ow.ly/D2P6E These four books are Retirement Homes Are Murder, Living with Your Kids Is Murder, Senior Moments Are Murder, and Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder.

In Retirement Homes Are Murder cantankerous octogenarian Paul Jacobson must become an amateur sleuth to clear himself as a murder suspect when he finds a dead body in the trash chute of a retirement home. As Paul’s snooping and short-term memory loss get him in trouble with the local police, his new friends and granddaughter Jennifer help him solve an expanding list of crimes. Paul finds romance as he struggles to escape a murderer intent on a repeat performance.

In Living with Your Kids Is Murder Paul Jacobson must solve two murders while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. As Paul ends up suspiciously close to a bank robbery, kidnapping and drug bust, his granddaughter Jennifer helps him track down the real perpetrators. Paul juggles two girlfriends, experiences the quirks of old age romance and must find a way to stay alive when he confronts a murderer.

In Senior Moments Are Murder Paul Jacobson must solve a series of murders in spite of his short-term memory loss. Paul learns about the homeless community, disreputable art dealers and the beach scene in Venice Beach, California, and dances a geezer two-step to stay out of the clutches of the police and the bad guys. 

In Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder memory-impaired amateur sleuth Paul Jacobson becomes involved in a series of crimes. On an Alaskan cruise, he must deal with mayhem, missing people and murder and use all his geezer resources to solve a case of international intrigue.

What’s a Mystery Novel?

I’m currently a judge for a mystery novel contest and have been thinking about the question of what is a mystery novel?

In one sense, most novels are mystery novels in the sense that there is something that we as readers try to figure out as we read. This is the broadest definition. The more restrictive definition is a novel that includes a crime, most often murder. There are also books of other genres such as fantasy or romance that have mystery elements. What do you think?

Things Are Opening Up

I’m looking forward to doing in-person author events again in the fall. I will be on a panel with Tim Hallinan, Paige Shelton and Allison Brennan at the Anaheim Library’s Mystery Authors Luncheon on Sunday, October 24, 2021, The last in-person event I participated in was The Left Coast Crime Conference in San Diego in March, 2020, which was cut short after one day.  After doing Zoom events, it will be a pleasure to see readers face-to-face again.

The Beauty of School Reopening

Our grandson has attended in-person kindergarten for a little over two weeks now. The school is in Lakewood, CA, and part of the Long Beach Unified School District. I have nothing but praise for how the school district and school administration prepared for the reopening. I attended three weekly Zoom calls with the Principal to hear about the safety plans and to have questions answered. The week before reopening, they had all the students come over for a COVID test. Each morning the parents submit answers to a questionnaire on the student’s health and the student’s temperature is taken before entering the building. They maintain social distancing in the classroom, wear masks and sanitize the room regularly. At snack break the kids sit is separate hula hoops on the playground. But the most impressive thing is what I see when I pick my grandson up after school. The parents and grandparents are all waiting outside. Everyone is wearing a mask. It’s wonderful to see the full support of the families to do what is best for the health of their kids and their families.

New audiobook

I enjoy audiobooks. Up until the pandemic when I stopped driving very much, I always listened to an audiobook when I was driving by myself.

I'm pleased to announce that Books in Motion has released an audiobook edition of my international thriller, The Tesla Legacy, which is also available in print and e-book editions:

Audio download https://bit.ly/3rZtlvD         

Audio CD https://bit.ly/3dP9LNp      

Print https://amzn.to/3mz4rlf  

e-book https://amzn.to/3d45whL

Picture a retired mathematics professor and conspiracy nut with a butt-kicking, surrogate-daughter sidekick. Elmore Kranz bombards the police with his predictions of disaster until one of them actually happens, to the point that he’s implicated in the plot. Even with the assistance of his one ally, rookie cop Brittney Chase, people start dying around Elmore as attempts are made on his life. Following up on inventions from eccentric genius, Nikola Tesla, Elmore and Brittney team up to solve a hundred year old puzzle while trying to thwart a secret government agency and an Afghani terrorist group who seek to get their hands on a doomsday weapon.

The Tesla Legacy is a thriller following six books in the Paul Jacobson geezer-lit mystery series, including Retirement Homes Are Murder; Living With Your Kids Is Murder, a finalist for the 2009 Lefty Award for best humorous mystery; Senior Moments Are Murder; Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder, a finalist for the 2012 Lefty Award for best humorous mystery of 2012; Care Homes Are Murder; and Nursing Homes Are Murder. Other published mystery novels include Court Trouble, Paradise Court, The V V Agency, The Back Wing, The Front Wing, Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse, Murder on the Switzerland Trail, Unstuff Your Stuff, Death of a Scam Artist, in addition to a non-fiction book, The Best Chicken Thief in All of Europe, and an inspiring story of a boy titled Coronavirus Daze.

Editing a Manuscript

How much editing should an author do on a manuscript? I tend to write a first draft quickly but then go through numerous editing passes. This includes checking the consistency of the content, grammar and punctuation, consistency of the character descriptions. In spite of all the passes, once I let someone else read it, they always find things I missed. This raises the question of what is enough editing?

I’m reminded of a similar question when I was in the computer industry. We often said that some engineers would never be ready for a product to be released because they could always find ways to improve what they were designing. Similarly, I can always find more areas for improvement when I do an additional editing pass, but I could do this forever and never get it published. If I discover a major flaw or error I need to fix it. Put there comes a time when the minor tuning needs to give way to getting it into the publisher’s hands. That will lead to additional changes because my editor will find things I missed.

Vaccine Liberation

My wife and I have now reached our vaccine liberation date of over two weeks since our second COVID vaccination. This is psychologically liberating although we continue to follow all the guidelines of wearing masks in public, avoiding large crowds and maintaining social distancing. We don’t have any desire to go out to restaurants yet. I’ve returned to doing food shopping in person rather than ordering online delivery. We will get together with family members as appropriate. Caution but moving forward.

One Good Decision I Made

Thinking back about good and bad decisions during my life, here’s one that I made right. In 2013 I was driving home from a workout and felt a twinge in my chest. It got worse and as I approached an intersection where I could turn right into our residential area or left into a hospital, I chose to go to the hospital emergency room. Seventeen minutes later I was being operated on for a heart attack. I was very fortunate to not have blacked out while driving. Also if I had been out hiking that day, I wouldn’t have made it. I count my blessings.

A Surprise Lesson Learned

In the mid-1990s I was in a consulting firm with two other partners. I had always followed the unspoken rule of not arguing with my partners in front of the customer. One time I violated this rule. We were meeting with the president and chief operating officer of a division of a large corporation. While giving our recommendations, one of my partners and I got into a debate about one recommendation. This was a no-no, but it had an unexpected effect. It turned out the two top people we were presenting to had the same differing views, but they had never voiced their respective opinions. With my partner and me having this disagreement in front of them, it gave them permission to also have this debate between themselves. The result: they reached an agreement they otherwise wouldn’t have. Our consulting mistake ending up being a huge benefit for our customer.

A Favorite Story

Here’s a favorite story of mine from a long time ago at a parent-child program: Two young men had been selected to compete to be the next Chief. Each was given a tinderbox with an ember and told to climb the nearby mountain at night. The first to reach the top and light a fire with the ember from the tinderbox would become the next chief. The two men started out after dark. Around midnight the first man reached a spot where an old man lay shivering in the cold. The old man asked the younger man to use his ember to relight a fire. The young man replied, “I can’t stop. I need to reach the top of the mountain to become Chief.” He departed. Shortly thereafter, the second man arrived and again the old man beseeched him to light his fire. This man thought about continuing on his journey but realized he needed to save the old man from freezing in the cold even though it might cost him the competition. He used his ember to relight the old man’s fire and then added an ember from that fire to his tinderbox. He raced ahead to complete his journey even though he realized he would not be first to reach the summit. Just before dawn, the people below watched as a fire blazed on the top of the mountain. The first man had reached the summit and opened his tinderbox to discover his ember had died out. The second man when he arrived at the summit, had an ember still alive and was able to start a fire and become the new Chief.

Positive Messages

We’ve been going through a period of pandemic, political turmoil and social isolation. I have found myself being negative or succumbing to sending out negative messages. I’d like to challenge myself and my friends, particularly fellow writers, to post positive stories. As a writer and storyteller, I’m aware of the power of a good story. Let’s share our positive stories with each other.

Here’s my first one: after a month of frustration I was finally able to get an appointment for a COVID vaccination for my wife and me through the help of Gerard and Pearl at the Von’s Pharmacy in Lakewood, CA. Their friendly and professional assistance made this a positive experience for us.

Listening to a Young Storyteller

As a writer and storyteller, I’ve learned that it’s important to put obstacles in the way of my protagonist to add conflict and tension in a story. Recently, I experienced my 5-year-old grandson doing this as he played. He was moving a train along a wooden track and narrating what was happening. To make it more interesting, he started adding obstacles to the train’s progress: taking out a piece of track and adding barriers over sections of the track. He then had to come up with solutions for continuing to move the train along the track. Instinctively he has discovered how to make his play story more interesting.

More Back to Normal?

March 19 will be a key date for my wife and me in returning to a little more sense of normality. That date will be two weeks after our second vaccination. Sure, we’ll continue to wear masks out in public, social distance and avoid large gathering. But I expect to slowly move away from the home isolation we have followed for most of the last year. I’ve been ordering food online. For the most part this has worked but, often the store is out of items we need and we don’t get exactly what we’re expecting. I plan to resume in-store food shopping with my mask on. Our pod has included our 5-year-old grandson. I’m his zoom assistant, and we play, work on school assignments and perform science experiments. I think we’ll be able to pursue more outdoor activities in the near future.

Success

After trying for a month to get an appointment for a COVOD vaccination, I finally succeeded. I’ve been tracking 27 vaccination locations near where I live and none of them has had openings for reservations. As a last resort, I decided to visit six pharmacies close by to speak with a person. At five of these, they said they couldn’t do anything and to go to the web site. I explained I had been going to their web site multiple times a day, but no reservations were available. I asked if they could put me on a waiting list but they said they couldn’t help me. At one pharmacy, I had a good conversation with the pharmacist, and he said he would put me on a waiting list. I thanked him profusely. That night I received a phone call from this pharmacy with news of spots opening for my wife and me the next day. I leaped on it.

When we went, there was no line, we quickly filled out paperwork, got our shots, waited fifteen minutes, were given vaccination cards and our follow on appointment. It was refreshing to find helpful people in this frustrating situation.

Good News, Bad News

On the vaccination front, there is good news and bad news. The good news: more pharmacies will be providing vaccinations. The bad news: it’s still impossible to get a reservation for an appointment where I live. It’s disconcerting that some health care workers who qualify are refusing to get vaccinated while many of us wish we had their appointments. Hopefully, we will see progress.

ProVaxers Face Challenge

There are AntiVaxers who don’t want to get the COVID vaccine, but the bigger issue is for those of us who are ProVaxers but can’t get the vaccine. I am currently tracking 27 locations within a short drive of where I live that offer vaccine. I check early morning and in the late afternoon. Over the last week none of them has offered vaccination dates. I’ve got close several times when a site indicates dates available but after putting in a bunch of information about me and getting to the final page to confirm at date and time, poof, a message appears that no appointments are available. It’s frustrating, but I realize many people are facing the same frustration.

A Breath of Fresh Air

With all the conflict and problems lately in our country, I’m looking forward to positive change. One of the biggest complaints about Joe Biden is that he’s boring. Well, I’m looking forward to boring. We’ve had enough histrionics. We need some calm, clear leadership, and we’ll see what unfolds. In spite of different policy opinions between the right and the left, my hope is that we can unite on what is best for the country and do it in a caring and  constructive way.

Lack of Vaccine Coordination and Information

I live in Los Angeles County and have been trying to get some useful guidance about receiving a vaccination and how to make an appointment. I’ve tried my primary care physician, a nearby hospital and the County. What has become frustrating is the conflicting information from federal, state and county authorities. In Los Angeles County I should be in Phase 1b tier 1. The county says this will start in early February. There is no provision for making an appointment, and we’re almost half way through January. Meanwhile, vaccinations are running way behind the existing supplies. How are thing being handled in your part of the country?

Uncertainties in the New Year

I’m glad that 2020 is behind us. What does 2021 have in store for us? There are still looming uncertainties: the political turmoil, the spike in COVID, the question of when we will be able to be vaccinated. We can all do our part in our communities to stay safe and to help others stay safe as well. We will ride through this uncertainty. I’m realistic about the problems but optimistic that we can find solutions.