Successful Program in Marquette

Marquette is a beautiful city. And they have a lot of beautiful miles of North Country Trail.

On Tuesday I hiked 8 miles with a trail group that was visiting the area. It was fun seeing some miles that I hadn't hiked for several years.

That evening about 30 people came to the Peter White Library to see "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink." Most of them were already trail folks, and I hope that I was able to give them more of a vision for the whole trail. They do a great job of keeping their section in good condition.

I sold six copies of North Country Cache! I was actually surprised, because the Marquette area is where I have sold more books than any other place. I'm not complaining!

Working on New Media

This coming week is just crazy-nuts. I drive to Marquette tomorrow (7-8 hours). I'll be hiking with a group on Tuesday and giving my primary program, "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink" at the Peter White Library in the evening. On Wednesday I'll drive home.

On Thursday evening, I have to have a new media program done that focuses just on Michigan. I worked on it all afternoon. Of course, I have this new computer. So Windows Movie Maker is still free, but it's an all-new version, and I have to figure out how to do all the things that I previously understood pretty well. Oh yes, before I could do that I had to redownload my software to convert MOV files to WMV, and that turned out to be a test. I had to work really hard to recover my license number because I had archived those emails. Well, I've now noted that information somewhere else!

I'm in pretty good shape with it, but the BIG QUESTION is whether I will have work assignments from my part-time job this week. If I do, I'll almost have to do them on Thursday, leaving me no time to work more on the program. I am supposed to be given assignments on Fridays, but in practice, that doesn't always happen.

Hope I can get everything done on time!

If you want to see my program schedule, just click on the "Program Schedule" tab.

Two Done for North Star

Better late than never? This has been my motto for life, I think. I finally got the second article done for North Star, the magazine of the North Country Trail Association.

It's about the practice of stealth camping (illegal camping), and why it's a bad idea, even though it may seem like it hurts no one.

Here's an excerpt:

Bragging about stealth camping to our friends should not result in smirks and knowing nods in commiseration of the difficulty, at this point in time, of backpacking along the entire NCT. It should result in worried looks and admonitions. People who are friends of the North Country Trail for the future will not stealth camp, or encourage it in others.

I won't tell you how many other things I'm behind on!

One Done for North Star

I have two articles due tomorrow for North Star, the magazine of the North Country Trail Association. The longest one is about the recent conference in Dayton, Ohio. I have that done, and am starting on the second one.

Finally back to some writing.

Textbroker Assignment

I haven't written for Textbroker in months. They want things too perfect for too little money. However, I just got a direct order, and since I get a slightly better price on those, I agreed to do it.

At least I hope I have an assignment. The client sent me a message about it, and I said I'd do it, but he hasn't actually put the order in the system in a way that commits me to write it and him to pay for it.

Do I trust that he really will do that, and start doing the research? I'm not interesting in spending the time on this and then have the client say he changed his mind or something stupid.

Ah, well. I guess I'd better stop griping and start working on it.

Ludington Daily News Column- August 2011

Here's a hint. It's not a great idea to completely change your mind as to what you are going to write about twelve hours before it's due. Never fear... I lay awake re-writing it in my head and then finished this morning.

A couple of phone calls to check some facts, a fast hunt through the pictures on my SD card, and, whew! another column turned in on time.

This one is much more factual than some columns are, so don't be anticipating humor this time.

The title is "Aspiring to be Dayton?" Here's an excerpt:

Now, Dayton boasts an interconnected network of multi-use trails. In fact, Dayton was declared a bike-friendly city by the League of American Bicyclists in 2010, the only Ohio city to be so honored. This past week, I saw why this honor is deserved. A group of us biked, leisurely, from Eastside Park to Wegerzyn Gardens in about 30 minutes. A bus ride later between those locations took considerably longer.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords. Use coupon code JX87H until December 30 to buy it for only 99 cents!

Short Story Contest Submission

OK, I did it. The short story submission in on its way. I can't say anything else about it, because I don't want to identify the contest in any way at this point.

I will say that I used a couple of adverbs... currently a big "no-no" in literary circles. Sigh. I'm not willing to throw all adverbs out of the English language. The story will be good enough, or not.

If anyone reading this would like to know more and possibly submit something, leave a comment and your email and I'll get you the info.