7-30-05

This is the first blog of the rest of my life.

Huh?

Never mind. Anyway, I have been writing a blog/book over the last couple of months called The Old Man's Request. For those of you who have read about this book, skip on down a few paragraphs. For the rest of you, this is what the book is all about and how it came about.

Around the first of June, I read something about people using blogs to write books online. I thought about that for about ten minutes and decided that would be kind of fun.

So the next morning, I started off just winging a story about a man named Michael Hunt, about my age. He was a newspaper reporter in Tulsa, happily going about his normal life and routines.

A phone call early one morning from his mother changes everything for Michael. He has to return to the fictional town of Langford, Ok., to a life he spent many years trying to leave and forget. From that point, I moved forward with him coming back to Langford to a dying father and the circumstances that change his life forever.

There are a lot of chapters in the book, but they aren't that long. From day to day, I seldom know what I am going to write until I sit my fanny in the chair sometimes around 5 a.m.

It was good to get me writing again. Last year, I thought I had finished a book called One for the Ages, it was the first in a sport's series. I sent the book out to an agent, who quickly returned it as unworthy of being published.

I had spent around two years on the project and decided that was a waste of time. But over time, I came to realize that I was the one who messed up, not the agent. I was writing because I enjoyed it, in many ways it is my soul enema. The time I spend writing down my thoughts and observations, I forgot about life's trials and tribulations. I was alive.

I also decided that if nobody wants to publish any of my books, that I will do it myself online. I might never make any money from my writing, but that's okay. People can read it and comment back to me, telling me if it stinks or they like it, a comment that means as much and maybe more than money.

That was how that project got started. But since the start of my blog, many people have mentioned how much they like the book, but want to know more about my fascinating life and requested that I document my daily thoughts and deeds.

Okay, nobody has actually asked that or said it, but it sounded good, I guess.

So I will try to update this daily, telling what is happening in my life and some comments and observations that I have.

This is a Saturday, the one day I like more than any. I don't have anything planned, for a change, and look forward to relaxing a little. The other occupants of my house are still snoozing and it is nice and quiet.

We got out of work yesterday afternoon to play in a golf tournament for the Masons. Our team consisted of Ralph, Dusty, Van and myself. It was a little warm, but still better than being at work. We would up shooting 7 under in the scramble. Not a great score, but since nobody but Ralph golfs regularly, it wasn't bad.

After golfing, we had a dinner for the employees and spouses or friends of our little branch at Warehouse Willie's. All of our people showed up and seemed to have a good time.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.