About Me

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I am a writer, poet, and free-lance editor. Author of Lawmen of the Old West: The Good Guys and Lawmen of the Old West: The Bad Guys. I've had poems and stories in di*verse*city, Blood and Thunder, West View, The Enigmatist, and others. I love poetry but enjoy all forms of writing and editing. I'm the author of two books of poetry, Songs on the Prairie Wind dealing with the people, land and history of the rural Southwest and Voices of Christmas, the traditional Christmas story in free verse persona poems. I do contract editing of other writer's manuscripts. I'm the worst guitar player in the Common Folk band at Trinity Episcopal Church. I'm an imperfect husband to the perfect wife (she might read this sometime), father (great grown kids) and grandfather (they're great kids, too)

Friday, August 01, 2014

Just Dreamin'



I have been thinking lately about my own shortcomings as a writer and, to a certain extent, as a person. This will be very much less about my strengths (I think I have some.) and mostly about my weaknesses and what I wish I was able to do. It will also be an open invitation not only for comment but to consider getting involved.

I am disorganized, unfocussed, lacking in technical expertise, and prone to procrastination. These are not good qualities for someone who would like very much to be involved in creating a journal of good (or at least, attractive to me) writing. On the other hand, I'm a good editor, I am passionate about writing, I have numerous contacts in the writing world, tremendous patience with beginners who want to learn, and the time to devote to the work.

I am a very fortunate man. Through the serendipity of love I found a life partner who fills most of the holes in my personality and temperament as far as the ordinary (and the extraordinary) parts of life but her artistic drives are in a different direction than mine. That isn't a problem for the most part but it leaves me with a dilemma. I need to find someone with my passion for sharing literature who fills the empty spaces in my skills in the literary world. They need to be someone I can like and work with, whose ideas of what is good in the written word are compatible with mine, and is good at details, record keeping, collaborative effort, and organization. They should be someone who cares enough about publishing that they don't mind if little or no money is ever made from it. Money would be nice but we need to be satisfied as long as we aren't spending a lot of our own to do this. Also nice would be if this person was more technically proficient than I am so that they could give me guidance on those sorts of issues.

Let me make this clear. There would be some start up money necessary to do what I would like but I'm not looking for a bankroll. It would. however, be necessary to share whatever monetary risk was involved. Would I object if someone with deep pockets said, "You do the artistic work and I'll handle the business end and fund the project. Spend whatever you need."? Don't be silly. Of course I wouldn't. Am I expecting someone like that to show up, or even exist? Of course, I don't.

Am I just daydreaming here? Probably. Few dreams ever come true but on the other hand, pretty much every great thing started with one.