March 24, 2007 by Karl.

Howdy Friend, A BIG TEXAS welcome to you.  I hope you enjoy your visit.

It’s March 23rd, 2007.  A RED LETTER DAY in the Boyd household.  Pull up an imaginary piece of God’s green earth and sit a while.  If you’re from up North, warm yourself at my fantasy campfire.  If from the South, cool your brow with my illusionary fan.  If you hail from the great State of Texas — Howdy, y’all!  Isn’t the weather wonderful?  No?  Wait five minutes – it’ll change.

It’s 11:38 p.m., and as usual, I can’t sleep.  My head is full of words, running over and spilling out; crying and shouting to be put to paper.  Relax and I’ll pour you a cup of elixir to help us celebrate.

As my wife, Carol, often states, “I go to bed with Karl, but seldom wake up with him.  He spends more time with that computer than he does with me.”  But her remarks are made with the love we’ve shared for nearly fifty years.  She knows me and my passion for writing.  I’m so thankful she’s my soul mate.

But, I digress.  Back to the reason for celebration.

“Author” – what a word.  Unless you’ve been there, you’ll never know the thrill and the unique satisfaction of seeing that magical, almost mystical title attached to your name.  It’s the culmination of years of hard, but loving work – to be experienced with joy, sorrow and anticipation.

Joy:  Exalting in the knowledge of finally achieving my lifelong goal. Pride in my accomplishments, yet humility in knowing it’s the work of a greater force, who grants me this ability.

Sorrow:  The sadness of knowing I’ll never work on this book again – it’s finished, off to perform to the stage of life, earning applause and recognition — hopefully achieving fame and fortune, on its own merits.  Yet it’s almost like losing your best friend; we’ve spent SO many hours together.  It’s hard to let go.  But fly it must, so I give it wings and watch it soar!

Anticipation:  Anxiously awaiting the next planting of the seed of a story, sprinkling it with a few choice adverbs and wiser adjectives, fertilizing it with prose, puns and realism, while omitting any manure.  (A delicious product such as this deserves more than foul phrases.)  Then nurturing it as it grows, I see the buds of wisdom and wit blossom.  Really “digging” it, I transplant it over and over again and watch it carefully until it reaches maturity and fruition as another novel, lovingly written, caringly harvested and then sent on its merry way to market, where it will hopefully warm the weary breasts of my readers and sustain them with its nourishment.

Today my fifth book I’ve written, but my first to be published,

“Signs of Our Times,” went to the desk of Sandra A. Baker at PublishAmerica.com.  Soon I’ll see my work formatted in book style for the first time.  Can you imagine and share my feelings?  I sincerely hope you can.

Almost one year ago, I felt the hand of God when I suffered a blinding headache.  My first reaction was “aneurysm”, and I was correct.  An MRI told me and my doctors it was a size nine.  (Five is considered dangerous.)  You’ll never know my overwhelming trepidation at the news.  I hope you never have to.

But it wasn’t my time to go.  With the miracle of modern medicine, the best brain surgeon in the world, Doctor Gurrian, and a little help from my Maker — I walked into the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio at 6:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, had my operation, strolled back out on my own at 10:30 a.m. two days later and drove myself home to Rockport.

I believe God has more work for me to do – there are stories to be written, tales to be told and new friends to meet and make through my writing.  So, here I am, back at it.  Thank you, Lord.  I’ll try to make it worth Your while and deserving of Your blessing.

It’s almost midnight and I’ll see if I can get some sleep now that I’ve emptied a few hundred more of these miracle gems called words from my brain’s massive and seemingly never-ending vault.  I think Carol might like seeing me by her side in the morning, instead of finding me pounding away here in my cubbyhole.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay and shared the thoughts I’ve tried to portray for you.

Stop in again, my good friend; bring your buddies, pals, wives, husbands and sweethearts with you.  I love to paint a picture with words and always enjoy a good chat.  Here, let me fill your glass one more time before you go, and we’ll make it one for the road.

Click on “Short Stories” and enjoy the sweet taste of “A Competitive Man.”  Browse carefully.

But as for me, it’s time to say, goodnight and sweet dreams.

Via Con Dias,

Karl  

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March 20, 2007 by Karl.

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