Category: commentary

Well, not fading exactly, but not thriving either. Deep dark secrets here. I’m wasting time here, and at 81 years of age I don’t have time to waste, and yet, I am not meeting goals. I want to finish this damned novel, Nita, the third in the Bonita series. The world needs me to finish it, else they will never know what happened to my beloved Bonita’s daughter. And they do need to know. Action cures fear and procrastination.

So, Lord, or whoever, is in charge, At least I got me post for the day done. That’s one goal met, anyhow.

Help me to get at least three single-spaced pages typed today.

Will let you [meaning me, myself, and I] know how I do.

[maybe even fix the toilet?]

A THANK YOU NOTE TO AARON

Okay, let’s start with this. Appropriate because I’ve been trying to bring it off for 6 months or so. It’s a homage to Aaron Davidman and his words at the Peter Foley tribute/celebration of life gathering in June. Aaron gave one of his wonderful end-of life tributes at the event (“Don’t know if it’s a welcome distinction to be noted for eulogies,” he said at one point.) He had some nice things to say about me, and our relationship over the years. It took me a long time to come up with what’s below, but I think it’s the best I’m going to be able to do, so here goes:

Words are a struggle

sometimes

they pour forth

sometimes

they heal

sometimes

take us soaring beyond ourselves

for always they are more

than what is seen

or heard

or understood

in the mind

or even the heart

and

sometimes

they fly away

sometimes

fly back

sometimes

emerge

sometimes

merge

in the soul

of whoever hears speaks reads them

and live on

Peter Foley and wife Kate Chisolm. Kate is spearheading the effort to raise funds for the “Peter Foley” project, dedicated to preserving and promoting Peter’s music. The web page s only a click away:

https://www.peterfoleymusic.org/about-peter

A while back I wrote a book called You Can’t Keep Her. It is a sequel to Bonita, the coming of age tale of twelve-year-old girl who wends her way through enormous trials and tribulations to become a woman of character and means.

I think it’s a heck of a book, but with my customary poor marketing and other circumstances, It didn’t sell worth a damn. I’ve still got a number of virgin copies I can send you if you submit a postage paid envelope. But the struggle is not over yet.

What if God had given up on Day 5? We’d be without water or elephants or redwoods or who knows what. Something important, that’s for sure. So I’m developing a new plan. By the end of next month, I should have, if all goes as promised, five novels up and ready to go. As revealed in an earlier blog,

The Three-Volume Maxwell Family Saga:

The Maxwell Vendetta

The Second Vendetta

and

BRAND NEW

Swindle in Sawtooth Valley.

Then comes the aforementioned Bonita

The Yellow Rose (Co-authored with Bob Stewart)

But wait, there’s more. You may have noticed I haven”t mentioned You Can’t Keep Her. That’s because I’m not keeping You Can‘t Keep her. Never fear, I’m not dumping the book, just the title.

I was never fond of that title anyhow, so with a new printing and such a small audience out there who might be familiar with it already, I figure it’s time for a change. So in the unrelenting search for the perfect name for this baby, will it be

[drum roll]

HER GREAT SEARCH

THE LOST PARENTS

BONITA’S GREATEST QUEST

BONITA’S GRAND QUEST

AND FINALLY,

HERE IT IS :

BONITA’S QUEST

SEQUEL TO BONITA (1)

I’m going to live with these for a while, probably choose one of them in the end, but a new inspiration may appear. As my wife’s aunt used to say, “If you can’t rip, you can’t sew.” And it you can’t “kill your darlings”, Faulkner is purported to have said, you can’t write.

Now, after sleeping on it, I haven’t found the title I was searching for, have I? I think maybe I’ll go for a walk and try to hunt up an inspiration.

Stay tuned.

Time for a comeback even at this late (80) age. I have had symptoms sort o like PTSD, except this is what you might call PTCOVIDS–Post Traumatic Covid Syndrome. Seeking isolation yet also hating it–feeling trapped. But here I come. New books, new marketing strategies. It’s all the on the way.

Did JJ go through something like this?

Worse. So quit whining