Roe Vs. Wade

Never has there been such a divisive dividing piece of legislation concocted by any legislature.

If you take the time to read the entire context of the syllabus and understand the history of the case, there can be only one conclusion.

The issue of division is not clear cut as one might think. The argument was bound to find its way up to the highest court in the land.

The reason the legislation is so divisive is this; they are debating emotions. Feelings are not substantive and cannot be legislated. We have them; they are part of what makes us ‘mankind.’

If the case were debated on facts alone, I think it would have never made it to the supreme court. The reality might be, do I have a right to kill my errant child at 2 years old? Most of America, not all, mind you, would say hell no.

The pivotal argument then becomes, when is it a human life?

To wrap abortion under the cloak of a woman’s health obfuscates the true meaning of the rule. We could argue that my errant child is driving me crazy; hence, it is a woman’s health. I should be allowed to take them out since I brought them into the world.

There are those that ‘feel’ that way and have killed their progeny for reasons that only they understand.

Regardless of your side, here is a challenge for you.

In the comments below, tell us which side you favor and then argue the other person’s side. I doubt many will do it, and here is why. We are married to how we feel. We can’t set aside our feelings for logic.

The problem with this inability is, as a Juror, you are manipulated by that inability to just look at the facts. Lawyers are actors in the truest sense of the word. They should have award shows just like those on the silver screen. To win a case, they must hook your emotions which will overpower your ability to disassociate facts from fiction.

If you follow any high-profile case, you will see them in action. Kyle Rittenhouse is the perfect example of emotions on trial. The jury found him innocent, but the public held him in contempt, and even though he was found innocent, his life would never be the same. The prosecuting lawyer was horrible, but the media had him convicted before it went to trial. They did the same thing to Nicholas Sandman. When you hear that the media is the enemy of the people, they are not wrong. What they do, they do for ratings that equal money.

While we could debate many facets of Roe vs. Wade, the decisions in 1973 and 2022, let’s focus on the issue.

• Pro-life or pro-abortion?
• Which way do you lean and why?
• Now, argue the other side. Use the same amount of energy that you used to come up with the way that you lean to make the argument why you are wrong.

Those of you who are so dogmatic that you cannot conceive that the other side is right are the people who need to dig a little deeper.

I believe that if more of us were not so inflexible in our views, we would be a much better country. Critical thinking is a lost art. We are too willing to call the other person out on how we feel. That, my friends, makes us easy targets for those who need us divided. If you split up the herd, we are easier to manipulate.

That is why the racist card is played so much in the media. That is also why they are working hard to call conservatives a cult, following a crazy man. I would make a wager that whoever decided to re-visit Roe Vs. Wade during the midterms did so to give the Democrats fodder to paint conservatives in a bad light. The timing is just too coincidental.

The DC establishment is deathly afraid of Trump. They have enjoyed a lifetime of raping and pillaging your tax dollars, and they don’t want that to end. There should be term limits in our government at all levels.

Want more proof? Look at the billions of dollars headed to Ukraine. I will be shocked if that isn’t a money laundering scheme of gigantic proportions.

If you want another conspiracy to think about, I believe that our own government killed JFK. Why? He was a populist like Trump. He believed that the government was there to serve the people… Silly man. He might have been the original MAGA.

I will end with an observation you should take to heart. I can go to a game, a public event, or even the shopping mall and have lovely conversations with almost anyone I meet. Their color, background, religion, etc., makes no difference. I constantly engage in conversation with people I fundamentally disagree with because I want to understand why they ‘feel’ the way they do. I would bet that you can and do as well.

I do this because what if I am wrong?

That is the purpose of this exercise. Set your feelings aside and see the facts as they are. What if you are wrong?

***

If you have not yet read Forensic Assassin, it is still on KDP.

Two alien races end up on the earth, BC. One race hunts the other to have total control over this new world. Melding with the humans, history is augmented by each faction, one for good and one for conquering the world.

Our heroin has powers that she grows into as the plot unwinds in modern times.

If you like the story, please review it for me. As an author, reviews go a long way.

Much Love -TW

Another year…PFFFT

Many of us are happy that 2021 is behind us. Some are thinking that the pandemic is about to end and life will magically return to normal.

Thanks to men playing God with Genomics RNA, the world has lost over 8 million people and two years’ time, not to mention those whose lives have been altered in ways that their quality of life will never be the same.

Megalomania is nothing new. Throughout history, starting with the early church to Vlad the Impaler, there are those who are that depraved; they feel as if they are God. The media is rife with barking bitches, spewing out lies that they themselves probably believe.

When you tell a lie often enough, eventually, people believe it.   

Too much power in any one person’s or government’s hands is a recipe for disaster of biblical proportions.

Those millions crossing our southern border are fleeing from such places, run by those who only care about their personal wealth and comfort. As long as there are a few slaves left to tend the livestock, fields, and so forth, it is all good.

I dare say their education level is such they will undoubtedly vote the same way they did when their country was destroyed, thus dumbing down the votes of those who are educated.

On a micro-scale, we see a great migration from the Blue States who have run amuck. The middle class is shrinking as they support both the elite class and those who depend on the government for their supper. Those free meals and living expenses are not free; they are provided by the middle class, the same people who you thumb your noses at.

We willingly submit to a taxing authority that is responsible for taking from the wealthy and giving to the uber-rich. The uber-rich, in turn, decide how to spend some of your tax dollars to secure votes in the future so they can stay in power.

That is why the voting rights system is under assault by those same people. When they can figure out how to cheat by enough of a margin, they no longer need to buy votes; it will be more money in their own dynasties.

It amazes me to see them stand at a podium and say with a straight face that which is patently false.

Any ‘universal fee’ is yet another tax on people who can afford a service that seems to be a god-given right to those who don’t want to work or play by the rules. We call that socialism.

If healthcare is a right, then so is the repair of my roof or car. If I don’t want to spend my beer drinking money on shoes for the kids, then vendors should just give my kids shoes, as it is a right.. Pffft!

Socialism works in only two places, Heaven where they don’t need it, and Hell, where they already have it. -R Reagan  

You end up with this mindset by eliminating the lessons learned through history, by removing history from school. If you destroy statues erected as a reminder and burn books that describe in detail the agony people went through, you doom a new generation to repeating the same failures once again.

Did you know it was criminal to teach a slave to read? Why? Why in the world would that be a criminal offense? ‘An ignorant slave is easier to control.’ Today our education system sucks major big time. With this lockdown, it is even worse. An ignorant society is much easier to control and more likely to believe the lies.

I cannot imagine how corrupt a one-world government would be. When you see the corruption in local state governments, and of course those in DC, what would it be like to control the resources of the world?

Can you imagine a Pelosi or Schumer in charge of the world?

Power corrupts; that is a standard you can take to the bank. We worry about companies with too much control of an industry; what about a few people who controlled the entire global economy, not to mention the lives and fortunes of those that make things happen?

Capitalism works because people are not hindered from thinking creatively and trying something new. If you are trained to put widget A on Block B all day, what is the likely hood we will excel as a people on any given front?

BTW, do you think staying stoned makes you more or less likely to be controlled? Critical thinking is doomed with this logic.

The CCP has hopes of being the leader of the world. They are doing their best to strategize on where to put military bases and own certain governments by loaning them massive amounts of money they can never payback.

Communism will need to evolve in order to succeed. Unless shooting those that disagree with you is to be the standard, they would need to be open to ‘creative thinking.’

I don’t see that ever happening, as that would necessitate freedom of speech. That means, dear leaders, one could openly disagree with you and not fear a missile taking out you and your family. It also means we don’t find ourselves making shoes for some tennis shoe company at starvation wages. That would be the widget A on block B analogy for those of you who are not keeping up.

When free speech is under attack, look at who is attacking it. Those are the people who control you. Possibly it is a proxy group like the barking dogs in the media but, look who controls them.

2022 Needs to be better than 2021. Transparency with the truth would be a nice start.

If you think for a second that propaganda is not real, just search who owns the stations you listen to or the paper you read. Search the internet to learn where your source of news is coming from. You would be shocked at how many are owned by China.

When invading a country, you first destroy the methods of disseminating news. Burn the local paper and blow up the transmitting towers, and so on. That was WWII methodology. Today, you just buy them.

Ok, if you have read this far, Wow, you are a trooper!

Keep in mind that I am giving away Forensic Assassin on Kindle Unlimited until the end of February. Go check it out, and if you like it, please leave a review. Thanks

Much Love -TW

2022…And now what?

Have you ever asked yourself, “why?”

If you are like me, this time of year is depressing. I have put a lot of thought into this conundrum, and I think I know why.

Before I ruminate on this subject or dazzle you with my sheer genius, hit that follow button. Blogs are marketing tools, and I am a writer.

On to the reason for the blues.

Even with a normal Christmas, our lives have been upended for damned near two years. Truly, I get the idea this is all about big pharma getting rich at our expense. Yes, I know too many who have died from this horrible disease. I had it twice. Once when we were being told, it was nothing to worry about. There is nothing to see here; it is not transmissible from human to human, and so on. Yeah, I had it in early 2020.

I have the antibodies, and I am triply jabbed. Oh wait, this vaccine does not protect you from this new variant but get boosted anyway.

I heard them talking about the normal flu shot. It seems they missed it this year but, they still want you to get the flu shot, even though it will not work. “Why?”

When I was young, the only way to get something I really wanted was to wait for a birthday or Christmas. I suspect that is standard for many people. Our behavior becomes the standard for our reward. Do your chores, don’t hit your sister, take out the trash, and so on. We had Santa Jesus, and this generation has that elf on the shelf.

All of us were swallowing these lies completely.

Christmas and my birthday were ruined when I learned how to earn money. While I was never materialistic per, say I became affluent in little time, once I entered the work world. I had skills that were in demand.

When the phrase, I’ll be home for Christmas became germane is when I was spending my life in hotels, airports, and data centers. You haven’t lived until you have sat on the floor at a frozen airport for thirteen hours on Christmas Eve.

There is a price for affluence. The more it grows, the more complex and cumbersome your life becomes. I laugh every time I hear someone use the term white privilege. They have no fucking clue what they are talking about. It is a way to take a jab at a white person by calling them a racist using another term.

The holidays take on a whole new meaning as an adult. You go from “I want, to what can I get for…”

I get asked all the time what I want for Christmas or a birthday. I tell them, hug me like you mean it, and then spend some time with me.

I want to know what is going on in their lives. I truly want to keep that connection alive.

One of my friends gave me a coffee cup that had the first lines from some of the greatest books ever written.

That gift was special. She knows I am addicted to coffee, and, as a writer, I appreciate those types of things.

Speaking of cups, if any of my family or friends are reading this, I would really like a cup that holds at least 16 oz.

Yes, I could fill the cabinet with them but, each cup someone gets for me, I remember who gave it to me, and I think of them while I am sipping on my coffee.

I have some younger friends who have told me that they can hardly wait for Friday or the weekend.

I chuckle as I have been there. Usually, it was after a month of hotels in towns nobody ever visits, chasing a trail from someone who hacked into a mainframe and did a sloppy job of it.

Time is the great equalizer.

There are some horrible people in this world who have made their fortunes fucking everyone around them. Excuse the F-bombs but, they are prudent when talking about people like this.

They, like the rest of us, will die. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but there is no escape from it.

Imagine Jack Palance is sitting in front of you as I type this. He holds up one finger and tells you to just remember this one thing.

You ask him, “great, what is the one thing?”

He tells you that’s what you must figure out. Once you do and hold true to that one thing, nothing else means shit.

The lines and name Jack are from an older movie called City Slickers.

You say TW, what is that one thing?

Can you guess? I have alluded to it throughout this blog post. What is it I asked of people for a gift?

Time

Time is a precious commodity. It is, as Lincoln said, your stock in trade.

When your child or your parent spends time with you, it is precious. When you give of your time, it is also dear and should be appreciated.

I have spent time in ‘retirement homes’ with those who will soon breathe their last breath. Thanks to covid, I can no longer smell urine. There is a bright side to this scourge on humanity. These folks have many tales to tell, and I will make time for them. One of them loved a series of books I wrote. I went back to speak with him about the next one, and he was no more. He died that morning.

Will you be home for Christmas?

Will you be using zoom or some other technology to go over the river and through the woods?

Will you get what you always wanted, or have you matured enough to realize that things are not important? You can buy things. Can you buy love, happiness, hope for the future? Can you purchase the warmth of a hug that comes from the heart?

I am not telling you not to buy something for someone but, make sure what you buy comes from that intimate knowledge that you have of them, much like that coffee cup with the first lines on it. Did she get lucky or, did she give it thought?

What will you do?

Not to belabor the point, but these words to you are a gift from me to you. It takes time to write, edit and post such things, and I do this because I think you are worth it. I value each of you, especially those of you who write blogs and are not just trying to sell stuff.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and or Happy Holidays.

Much Love -TW

GeoThermalNuclearWar,

Would you like to play a game?

Only in the annals of fiction do we see something so idiotic.  Let’s play a game, shall we?  Um, I will send a thousand or so nuclear-tipped missiles at your country while you send a thousand or so at ours.  The rest of the nuclear world will get involved because, why not? It’s the only game in town.

China just lobbed a threat of Nuclear War against the US.  Why?  The Biden administration is being forced to ask the tough questions?  Where did the covid virus come from?

With emails from Fauci to the scientists at the lab recently surfaced, we now know that the likely source was the lab in Wuhan. 

Let’s put that into perspective.

3.69 million people have died because of this virus.  We need to have Nuremberg-style trials, and Fauci should be among the people to testify.  

It’s not just the US that wants answers; the rest of the civilized world wants to know where it came from, who authorized it, and how do we stop it from happening again.

This virus, unlike those viruses that target certain ethnicities knows no boundaries.  The folks that created it are just as vulnerable as those farmers in parts of the world that don’t even have electricity. 

Megalomaniacs need to be held to account. That is what a tribunal is for.  We don’t threaten our adversaries with nukes for asking questions. 

The game is high-stakes poker with no winners, should you make one mistake. 

Maybe some scientist like AOC could tell us how many nuclear explosions it would take to change the climate.  The squad seems to know everything about climate change but, perhaps they should bring in the other expert from England, Greta, you know, the girl with the deadly scowl. 

Even as our military seems focused on the correct clothing for pregnant officers and political correctness, I would not want to test them when it comes to who is offended by some woke bullshit.

There are no winners in this game.  Only losers.

Stoking the flames of racism as a distraction for what is happening in this world only goes so far. People are watching actions and not the news; they know it is propaganda for the woke bullshit.

They see that their paycheck does not go as far, and Gas is right back to pre covid prices even though many are still not driving. Why did someone kill our energy independence and give it to Russia and the Emirates again?  Why Joe?  Why weaken the US at the expense of strengthening our adversaries?

Do you think that the American people are that stupid as not to notice, or are more race wars your answers to the distractions?  There are many useful idiots out there that can occupy any city you like for a price.

Speaking of Race, did you know that the Tulsa Race Massacre was perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, democratic society for the advancement of whites. Yes, the Democrats were behind the massacre, and yet Biden foolishly shined a light on it, I would guess in hopes that nobody would figure it out.  

Many believe the Civil War was between the north and the south, but not so.  Democrats loved their slaves and did not like Lincoln and his ilk trying to say that the Black man was equal to the White man, which he is.  Can you imagine being so full of yourself that you think your skin color makes you better than anyone else? I cannot.

The Civil war was between the ideals of Democrats vs. Republicans. 

It took a war to sort out the facts from fiction, costing Lincoln his life in the process.

As recent as LBJ (Democrat) who famously said, I’ll have those N**** voting Democrat for the next 200 years.  Care to bet if he knew any KKK members?

Biden admired Byrd a famous KKK leader.  True story.

Snopes and others try to downplay it, saying there is little evidence of it but, there is a video of him saying it.  Nice Try Snopes.  BTW Snopes is run by democrats, biased much?

Why racism?

Our emotions control us, and everyone that is in power knows this.  That is why just about every news blip you see on your phone has an emotional hook in it. 

If we wanted to stop racism, we would stop talking about it. I know of nobody that judges someone by how much melanin they have in their skin.

Knowledge is power, and education is the key to a successful life.  Hate will shorten your life.  Hate only hurts you.  BTW, I would go to the library for your knowledge as the internet is constantly scrubbed of things that liberal-leaning folks don’t like.   Much like Facebook, google, youtube and Twitter, it will never see the light of day if it does not fit the narrative.  

When they shut down Parlor, anyone who is the least bit fair-minded should have gone ape shit bonkers. Much like the Robin Hood app pulling the plug when the GameStop fiasco began.  Those that were bidding were playing by their rules, and someone in control stopped them.  IS the stock market fair? Not for thee, only for them.

Paper books from the time are more reliable than anything you read on the internet.

As far as nuclear war… Well, that would take care of all of the hate in the world as the cockroaches would be the only creatures to survive it. Radioactive fallout, much like the coronavirus, knows no boundaries either.  Your best bet would be to learn where the targets would be and go there before the first blinding light occurs.  Better to go out quickly than die a miserable lingering death of radiation sickness. No, there are no safe places on this planet if anyone is that stupid, demented, or just crazy.

I was speaking with a friend of mine about current events when we touched on the UFO stuff that is supposed to be released.  I said, “I hope there are aliens, it would be nice to have some intelligent life to speak with.”

Obviously, I was overstating things but the point is, if you read the news blips and dare, I say it, watch the news you too might conclude that we have gone bonkers as a people.  Who in their right mind pulls a gun on cops?

If China created this virus, which it looks like they did, someone needs to be held to account.

It’s not the people, it’s the government who gave their blessings.

If Fauci was involved, he too needs to be held to account.

Those are my thoughts for today, I hope you all are well.

Assuming China was saber rattling to clatter the bones of a rather geriatric basement dwelling executive who often is not sure what day it is, I will continue writing my latest thriller.

Told from the eyes of an unreliable narrator, with some paranormal activities, it should be a good read.

Much Love -TW

Diamond Joe

Who is Diamond Joe?

Diamond Joe

Buried in her work as a professor, Donna creates a ‘new normal’ after her husband dies unexpectedly. Hiring a horse trainer, Donna’s world turns upside down when Samantha plays to one of her wildest fantasies. Forbidden love captivates both of them. Accepting Sam’s love was only the beginning of the social disaster confronting them.

Here we have the classic story of Cinderella, well, no, we don’t.  This book is nothing like that fairy tale.

You know, speaking one on one, I must tell you, I was thrilled when Hallmark mentioned they would start making movies including a more diverse culture.

When you read this novel, you will get why that is important.  I know there are so many who only judge a lifestyle by some outrageous performance in the street.  Some judge a race solely by the actions they see on the late news.

Not all black people loot, kick white people when they are down, or push white folks in front of an oncoming subway train.

This, these actions are what many see in their living room.

They hear about the shootings in Chicago every weekend, and it is black on black. They don’t see the good that they do, and that is a problem we need to fix.

Conversely, not all white folks think black folks are ignorant.

This novel is not so much about race as it is forbidden, love.

Not all that long ago, interracial romances were not something tolerated by society.  When Sidney Portiere played John Prentice, a black doctor who came to dinner; the movie was groundbreaking.  This was 1967. 

I was a child of the sixties, and I never had an issue with race anything, and I was raised in the south.

Gay, that was a tough one because of my exposure to Levitical teaching.

It wasn’t until I had a deep dive into biology and science that I understood where man screwed things up.

While I never had an issue with the person, it took this ‘enlightenment’ to be ok with their actions.

I won’t belabor the points here because I go into detail in the novel. 

It took me writing about it, developing the characters, and having them interact did I become ok with who they are.

Who is Diamond Joe?

In short, for our story, he is a horse.  Not just any horse.  The story takes on a wild journey through the trials and tribulations of training a racehorse.

I think Diamond Joe is probably one of my favorite books that I have written.  I haven’t read it in a while I might have to reread it.

If Hallmark wanted to make a movie with female lovers, this would be one to consider.  My writing style was more dialogue so, it would be easy to make into a film.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Diamond Joe.  If you like it consider leaving me a review. 

I would love to hear what you thought of it either way.  Use the web portal on the contact page to contact me directly.  www.authortwscott.com

I respond to emails that are not about getting more traffic or auto insurance.

Much Love -TW

I’m Blind!

Ok, not blind but certainly seeing red.

So, here is a serious question.  Can you affect any change in this country’s political atmosphere by bitching about it on social media?  Then Stop.

If you are a writer like I am, the last thing you want to be is an activist. One of my favorite journalists was Walter Cronkite.  Why?  Other than he loved cats, he told it like it was.  No spin, just the facts.

It makes little difference what Trump or Biden said or did. You are going to change nothing by whining about it and, you will piss off half your readers.

That goes for actors and anyone in the public spotlight.  What you do for a living makes you/us more reserved in our decrying foul. 

Under your pen name as an author, your politics should not enter into the picture.

I have one friend who is a writer.  His public displays of venom are so entrenched in his social media post he will never publish.  Why?

So here is the truth of it.

Let’s say you have a desire to be traditionally published.

Everyone thinks they can write and, after NANOWRIMO, the agent’s inboxes are flooded with shit.  No, it is shit for the most part; why? 

A good writer knows to put their baby in a drawer somewhere and start on something else.  After they finish that draft, they pull their baby out and mature it, and so on.

Many of my published works should have stayed in the drawer.  The truth of it is, I needed feedback from you or people like you.  Self-publishing, making mistakes, and learning is how I chose to mature as an author. Now let’s take that to the next level.

I am currently working on a trilogy with magic and gods and witches and all of the things YA love. While my beta readers are looking it over, I am working on it and other things.

Recent events have screwed with my creative eye, so to speak.

My friend, who is spewing venom on social media, is a good writer.  When he queries an agent guess what they are going to do if they like his writing?

Yep, search social media.

When they find his hatred for millions of Americans, how far do you think they will pursue representing him?

I usually don’t swear to swear.  When I do, it is for a reason.  The reason is I want to drive the point home. Don’t fucking share your political shit on social media!

Did it work?

There are some actors that I enjoyed over the years that I can no longer stomach.  They are ugly ass people inside.  If and when I see them on TV, I think of who they really are and switch them off.

That is why they should never use the soapbox to preach to us peons about how we should feel or vote.  They are by far some of the stupidest people who ever walked the earth by what they say.  They are only worth watching because of writers like you and me.  They can remember a script and emote—big damned deal.

They spend their lives delivering line after line on the silver screen, and we fall in love with them.  When we meet them or listen to their take on life living in their ivory towers, I wouldn’t walk across the street to save them from getting hit by a streetcar.

Who you love is the writer or writers that created that dialogue for them.

If you want the world thinking that of you as a writer, go ahead.  Tell the world how you feel.  Then retire and hope you have enough saved up to survive.

Just because you listen entirely to Fox or CNN does not make your point of view any more important than mine or your neighbors.

We have lost the ability to respect differing opinions. It is best to keep your damned mouth shut.

I mean this is the most loving of ways.  I wish my friend would listen as he is a good writer.  He is merely acting like an asshole.

The sun will rise, and it will set.

Those who control the politicians will reign them in, and life will go on.

Read my novel Presidential Assassins if you want to know how it all works.  I bet I am close to accurate.

TATA, for now, Happy 2021.

As 2021 tells 2020 to hold my beer and watch this, buckle up, the ride has just begun.

Much love- TW

The Write Stuff

Yes, I know, I love clever.

Nano went off well for me. How about you?  Did you partake in NANO this year?

People ask me how I have managed to crank out so many novels. I don’t watch TV, and I don’t play video games.

Years ago, I complained I didn’t have time enough in the day to do those things that made me happy.  From the time we get up in the morning, we rush here and there to get ready for work. It doesn’t start at daybreak and end with the proverbial Fred Flintstone whistle in my work. Time clock jobs are meant for entry-level employment or factory work of some kind. Personally ‘in my opinion’ those folks will live longer.

My job doesn’t end at five or six or sometimes much later. Since I left the corporate world, where I put in an average of 70 hours a week on salary, now it is for me.  I am a bitch to work for…J

Nobody drives me harder than I do.  I thrive on it. On the rare occasion that the TV is on and I manage to see it, my attention span is there for just a few seconds when I know why I gave it up.

We write because we lack something. I don’t write to sell books, I wish they would sell more than what they do, but that is not why I write. I write because I escape that world or this realm and sneak into mine.

In my world, I can be a button-down person, or I can be a whore.  Think about it. In your novel or your short story, you can be something you are not. What is it like to be a serial killer?  What about a madam?

Picture yourself in the role of a madam. You are holding a crop, and your boss is now your bitch. The fool wanted to be punished for his abuse of women, and he found you.  What would his or her ass look like when you finish?

Maybe you are the naughty boss and require a little over the lap action to set you straight. It is your world; you can be what you want.

In one of my novels, I took a childhood fantasy and wrote it as part of the plot.  I have always wanted to go back in time and have a do-over. While I doubt I will use the phrase hindsight is 2020 much longer, I would do many things differently.

For one, I would value time much more highly than I did.

In my novel Saga of the Starduster, I find myself in the body of a fifty-year-old man.  An astronaut on the ISS.  Out of the blue (or black), a mammoth-sized space ship hovers over them. Sucking the whole thing up into a cargo bay.

Don, my main character, gets probed so to speak but more importantly, through a series of events, he gets to go back to his third-grade class and have a do-over.  Don, unlike what would probably occur, has all of his memories and his education.  He gets to see his mother again after she had passed from cancer. Does he change history?  Does the timeline change?

The novel is a roller coaster of emotions and time travel and aliens, yes, aliens.  

The Saga of the Starduster has the Right Stuff.  It is my best seller.

Nano has seen the birth of another TWScott original.  This novel is 108K words, and unlike anything, I have written to date.  Magic and Mayhem is a young adult coming of age story. Of course, it involves magic and witches and goddesses, and even Fae.

I have parts of it with Beta Readers, and I will be sending it off to the editor soon enough.

Covid Update.

I am still pretending it is Groundhog Day.  My nights and days are screwed up. I am on a first-name basis with UPS, FedX, the Mail delivery person, and even the Amazon guy.  A salesperson happened by the other day, and instead of pretending I was not home, I stepped out and chatted with them for over an hour. Hey, door to door salespeople’s lives matter… I think I did brighten their day. We are friends on social media now.  How strange is that?

The recycle is full of little boxes with smiles on them, as I am making Jeff Bezos even more money than he currently has.

I do have a mystery for you to puzzle.  If I stick a box on the floor, at least one cat will jump into it.  What is the deal with cats and boxes? Even if the package is too small, they will attempt it.

I love to hear your thoughts, what you are working on, and how you are coping.  I am sick of zoom or the virtual world, but I guess it will have to do in lew of hugs and kisses.

Much Love -TW  

A Book Review

Book review of Where the Forest Meets the Stars

I don’t do this near enough.  Like Kennedy, I believe a rising tide lifts all ships.  As a writer, author, and business person, I also make time to read.  As a writer, you must.

As writers, we tend to fall in love with our characters.  When I open a book, if I am not intrigued by the character by the end of the first chapter, I am done.

I don’t want to quote her opening lines, but I will tell you the hook was brilliant.

Three characters, all broken, needing something.

I relate to her MC, as that is much like my life.

I relate to Ersa as I have said before, I was abused as a child.  Her pain and everything she was going through hit home with me.

I related to Gabriel as he, too, was abused and again messed up.

In fairness, I knew how it was going to end.  As a writer, I was able to guess where everything was going to happen and when.  Still, I did not want to put the book down.  Even though I knew where the trouble would start, I was part of her world.

Authors, this is what we strive for.  We want to bring our readers into our world with just enough information that they can paint the picture in their minds.

With everything going on today, I don’t watch TV, too damned depressing.  I know we are being lied to by just about every media outlet out there.  With an election, they can’t help themselves.  The commercials are awful.  There must be a better way. 

Much like Ersa, I leave this world through my books or the stories provided by other authors.

So Glendy, thanks for the four hours of mental vacation.  You had me crying, laughing, and even upset about a fictional dog. 

I look forward to whatever you turn out next, and I hope you do.  I need to see what an Indigo Bunting is.

Much love -TW

Why Write?

Greetings to you fellow bloggers, readers, writers and friends.

There are days I feel like that ‘primal scream’ is going to come out when I least expect it.  If you know anything about the Myers Briggs model, I am what they call an INFJ  … I need people like fish need water.  I am a social creature.

While the business has slowed way down, I have used my time wisely.  I make a point to spend at least fifteen minutes a day in the sunshine.  I talk with friends and family on the phone and now video chat so you can see another face.  I stopped watching most of the news as most of it is just ‘el Toro de caca.’ {shit of the bull}. 

In the US, where I am currently, the media used to have value.  We would read the paper because it provided something of value.  I stopped taking it because most of the stories are creations of a biased journalist (using that word loosely) spun, not to report the news, but to make it.

In some countries, the news is so flagrantly created by a fiction writer, that it might as well start with ‘once upon a time.’  That is why you can discard it; it has no value.

I can say with almost certainty that all of you who read this have more in common than not.  If we were all in one room, we would agree with each other on almost everything.  Using a Venn diagram, if we put all of our wants and needs in different circles and allowed the ones in common to overlap, we would learn no matter your race, religion, gender, or country of origin, we would have more in common than not.  They, the purveyors of politics and power, create strife, hate, and racial tension to keep us divided, so they can control us using our emotions.  It is merely social engineering to control the herds.

Why control us? Power and greed. If you are convinced to vote for the devil, they will spend a fortune to get your vote so they can then be bought or sell their vote to big business like insurance companies, big pharma or other chemical companies. They make the laws that you must follow and they control what a business can and cannot do.

If the business wants to make more money they simply buy off someone on the committee. That is why someone will spend 19 million dollars of their own money for a job that pays $150K a year.

You would do best to ignore the news, turn it off and don’t read or watch it.  If a station like CNN has to pay every airport in the world to only have their station on, you know that is absolute brainwashing.

They are bought and paid for as well. The rich and powerful control what you read, hear and see. Even social media is bought and paid for, censoring your tweets, post on Facebook and alike.

The only thing missing in this day and age is Soma.  Yes, the blue pill that makes you a mental midget.  Oh, but wait, there is more. 

If you elect the most corrupt among the candidates, they will legalize pot, which will do what??? C’mon think.  SOMA….  Kill some more brain cells so you will be compliant. Yes they are screwing you but you wont care… Isn’t that nice?

Yes, there is a fringe element in all societies that would not fit into your Venn diagram at all.  Those are the ones that need to grow as a human and stop with the ‘poor me’ mentality. They hang on to wounds from hundreds of years ago because it relieves them of the responsibility to grow up.

Why do we write?

Let’s change that to why do people read what we write?  We provide something of value to them.  Whether it is an academic paper or a novel about wizardry, there is something of value in it for them, a reward for the reader.

As fiction writers, we make promises.  We then must keep them.  We mention a wand or perhaps a villain in an early part of the novel, and then we must do something with it.  That is the payoff.  We reward our readers and encourage them to keep reading.

I think one of the best compliments I ever received is an e-mail I got from someone reading Saga of the Starduster.

They were upset because they started reading it before bedtime on a Sunday night.  They had to turn the next page and the next.  Before they were aware of it, the time had passed by while they were in my world.  They ended up sleeping in on Monday after calling in sick… LOL 

They were rewarded to the point of shooting themselves in the foot, but, it was a compliment to me, your humble author.

If you are like me, locked down… not up… but sheltering in place, take time for yourself.  Learn yoga, find a park with few folks in it, and walk.  Use the time to talk with relatives and friends who are also ‘flattening the curve.’

Speaking of the curve, the outbreak two weeks to the day of the riots is not from opening up the country.  The media is lying to you once again to protect their inept, feckless, fiction writing, journalist.  The spread of the virus through the mobs is why we are experiencing this.  You will notice that even the news makes it seem more general like, the outbreak in Georgia instead of Atlanta specific, which is where the riots were.  Technically correct, it is Yellow Journalism.

Ok, I am off to do what I do, which will take all of about an hour and then I will be back to creating my latest novel. 

The story is about a witch coming into her own.  All the things that happen to her as she grows into her powers.

To keep this novel from being too ‘tropey’, my writing has to be ever so much cleverer than in the past.   Stay tuned for more on release dates.  Follow @authortwscott and, of course, follow me here on WordPress. 

Thanks as always, and have a blessed day.

Much Love -TW

World Building 101

I am taking a break from the world of the virus to talk about our world.  No, not the one with the virus, the one that we have in our minds.

I critique a fair amount of writing for peers, friends, and yes, even some family members.  A CP or critique partner is a two-way street and is invaluable to a writer.

One of the things I see most often is a flat world.  What do I mean by that?

I think examples go far beyond talking about them, much like showing instead of telling.  I am going to world build for you.  The first example is flat….

David followed the carnage throughout his realm. It was easy to tell where they had been by the sacked villages in their wake.  From the burned out buildings to toppled statues, whoever was doing this had complete disdain for the locals.

In this paragraph, we are introduced to David.  Who he is or his relevance to the story is anyone’s guess.  We can assume he is after the people doing this to the locals, but again we don’t know.  I do give you a clue to the hate by the toppled statues.  Burning their villages is one thing, but toppling statues shows us that there was more than purpose to the destruction.

Ok, let’s try again; this time, let’s show a little bit more.

Sir David left the castle in response to news from his realm.  Invaders had moved in from the West, showing total contempt for him, his kingdom, and his kind.

The scents of the pines were quickly replaced by the acrid stench of burnt wood, animals, and people alike.  The skies turned dark, the closer he came to the first village.  Once the pride of his kingdom, not one structure was left.  Even the sculpture, honoring his mother the Queen, lay in ruins with the head, smashed into a fine powder.  Charred remains of his people smoldered in piles of ashes of what used to be their homes.  Viewing the ruins through angry prisms of tears, he pressed on.

You will notice that both paragraphs relay the same information about the scene.  Except now in the second one, we learn who David is, who that statue was of, why it was so meaningful, and we learn more of the hate of David’s mother.  We still don’t know who the enemy is or why they hate his mother, but, we would turn the page to find out.

When world-building, you are a god.  This is your world.  You have the divine power to create as you see fit and destroy as you will.  If you want readers to be interested in your writings, remember to use as many of the senses as you can.

In painting, if you look carefully, you will see that white is not white.  If I am painting a lady in a white blouse or dress, you will find multiple colors in the fabric.  If it is a warm shadow, there will be warm colors, and conversely, a cold shadow will have more violets blues and so on.  Not only will there be many different colors but many different values.

When I write, I try to grab the reader by the …yes that.  I want to draw the reader in so they can smell the burnt flesh, or perhaps the aroma of the rose.

Much like the art, I paint my paintings and scenes with the same passion, and that means I use composition.  In a painting, I seek to draw the eye of the beholder in toward the center and have their eyes go more or less in circles as they see all that is.  How do we do that with our words?

We paint with our words.  All of the values and colors must be represented by our words.

Here is a trick that you might wish to use.  In your mind, when you are writing, you have an idea of what the scene looks like.  Many, even some of the great authors, do not do this justice.  Here is the trick.  By the way, if you want more of these hints, tips or tricks, hit that follow button.

The trick is to go out on Pixabay or just google a scene like you are trying to write and post it where you can see it.  Now, as you world build, paint that scene with words. Don’t forget the temperature, time of day, and for God’s sake, add smell or scent or odor in the painting.

One of the most powerful senses we have is the power of smell.  Unlike a painting, with my words, I can incorporate smell.  The sense of smell is one hell of a kick in the memory department.  If I mention the scent of toll house cookies in the oven, the odds are good you will dredge up some memory, hopefully, a happy one involving toll house cookies.  You might even remember eating the raw dough when your mother told you no.

If I mention biting into a lemon with the bittersweet taste, your saliva glands will more than likely respond, just by the mere mention of it.

When we write erotica or racy things, yes, in both men and women, things respond not only anatomically, but in your brain, chemicals are released.  That is what we are going for in our art, whether it be words or oils.

When you world-build or tell your stories, trigger those reactions that you want in your reader, so they become part of the story.  We wish to have them feel empathy toward your David.  Have them ride along with him experiencing all the disgust and scorn that he does.    Just maybe your David is riding on a dragon.  Maybe your David can shoot fire from his fingertips.  It is your world.  You are the God of your universe.

One last bit of advice I would leave you with during this blog entry is this.

Enjoy what you are doing.  Live in this world that you are creating.  Feel the cold air on your cheeks as you take flight on your magical beast.  See the forest below you, and notice the smoke in the distance.  Plan your strategy for taking on the vermin that dare to come into your realm.

Yes, I just made all this stuff up in about ten minutes or so.  I write about one novel every three months, give or take, and that includes holding down a full-time job.

Currently, I am 36K words into my newest novel, which is about a young lady who discovers through a vision that not only is she blessed with magical powers, but she is about to be forced into a confrontation with a government skunkworks program.  It would seem that the government is using genetically modified food to promote a unique genetic change in the minds of children to encourage telekinesis. They are unaware that what they are doing will turn an army of people lose on the world with powers the likes of which they have never imagined.  Bethany, my main character, is a witch that will soon be pressed in to service against a human-made evil.

The audience for this novel is the Harry Potter, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and the Spirited Away crowd, with a bit of Stranger Things added for spice.    I think the book will be about 80K words give or take, with options for more if the story takes off.

Follow me here for updates, as I work every day on this novel.  Unlike my other thirty-odd books on Amazon and Smashwords; I am going to attempt the Query process once again.  I will not make a job out of it, however.  Each letter takes no less than four hours, and that is at least a chapter in a new novel for me.  If, by chance, you are in this industry, and like the concept, save me the query process for a leg up on representing this novel.

Much love to you, my faithful followers.  BTW, I have taken the time to visit many of your blogs, I have commented on a few of them.  Hang in there world; things will get better.  –TW