EVERY LITTLE BEAT GOES ON

I had a cold recently. As a result I suffered with loose stools and crapped my Depends twice within a three day period. Once at home and once at a Yumm! restaurant. Yummy, eh?

See photographer here...

Now for some healthier news. My Memoir Of A Nobody is back on track. Three haiku will appear in the May issue of an online magazine Better Than Starbucks. Google a look if you'd like in May. An "Afterword" I wrote for Geoff Peterson's poetry book Archipelago is now available in his book at Amazon, Authorhouse or in any bookstore. Most bookstores will be glad to order books for you. Archipelago is a collection of  Peterson's earliest poetry. He wrote most of it before he entered the creative writing program at Eastern Washington University or during his early years there. My "Afterword" in Archipelago covers those early days and my arrival in Cheney Washington in April 1975 and our first encounters. We eventually both lived at Sutton Hall, the veteran's dorm at Eastern. He also became the poetry editor of Willow Springs Magazine that I co-founded with four other lit. majors. When I quit after a dispute over a couple of poems, he took over and—by the happy way—included the two disputed poems.

BOOMER'S SILENT NIGHTS IN OLD SPOKANE

My novel, Manning, has lain untouched for several days as Mertie and I have been in Spokane visiting family. We both have family here and our days are full as we try to touch base with as many as possible. We both have friends in the area, and we've only had time to make one or two contacts. Tomorrow, early, we'll drive back to Vancouver and back to our old haunts and routines. 

Good news for people who would rather hold a book in their hands than stare at an eye scorching bright screen. Books are holding their own against e-books which are showing flat sales recently.

Recently, I notice I enjoy reading the news in my newspaper much more than reading on the Internet. I admit my mind is unintentionally being biased by the fact that I follow up the shares of my Facebook friends and my incoming emails from the charities and political groups I contribute to. Without meaning to, I take in more news with a slant than without a slant. Over the Xmas holiday, I had a talk with a retired farmer and a Republican, one of my wife's family, and discovered that he and I agree on many things. There's a vast middle ground shared by Republicans and old Democrats like myself. It's only these hardline "True Believers" who are making all the noise and creating all the hatred, and we all know who they are.