Success Stories, Writer Reference

Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules for writing a short story

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

When it came to giving advice to writers, Kurt Vonnegut had some great stuff.  He famously warned people away from the use of semicolons by describing them “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing.”

Eight years before his passing, Vonnegut published a collection of short stories titled “Bagombo Snuff Box.”  The book was made up of previously published short fiction from his early (and short) career from the 1950s writing for magazines.  These works did not appear in Vonnegut’s previous collection, “Welcome to the Monkey House.”

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National Forests

Prescribed burns planned for Mount Pinos Ranger District

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Firefighters in the Los Padres National Forest are launching a series of prescribed burns over the next several months to get rid of brush on the Mount Pinos Ranger District.

That area includes a small portion of Santa Barbara County.

Firefighters will be burning piles of brush that have already been cut down.

The prescribed burns could start as early as Monday.

The burns are taking place near the Pine Mountain Club, Frazier Park, and Lake of the Woods.

Offroading - General, State Parks

Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area General Plan Public Comments NEEDED

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

From the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs:

Thanks to all of you who attended the recent public open house meetings held in the East Bay Area to detail the Draft Preferred Concept for the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area General Plan (DPC). Draft Preferred Concept.

Members of extreme anti-OHV groups were also there to try to impose their closure agenda on the OHV community and DPC planning team. Over the last seven years, those closure advocates have worked with East Bay Regional Parks on a massive and fraudulent campaign to build political support for an outright ban of OHV use on the Tesla property. They have been making weekly, if not daily, visits to the offices of State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and Assemblymember Joan Buchanan demanding legislation to enact an outright ban of OHV use at Tesla.

It is critically important that we counter that smear campaign by sending comments to the SVRA planning team and the aforementioned legislators.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

2013-Winner-Facebook-ProfileAs a multi-year winner (including this year, he wrote, tooting his own horn), I always look forward to NaNoWriMo.  And Camp NaNoWriMo.  And I have fond memories of Scriptfrenzy, and hope they bring it back.

An article from the Examiner puts NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in perspective:

A day to remember for a lot of writers. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has officially come to an end. While a lot of authors have triumphed, writing 50,000 words in just one month, others gave it their best but didn’t quite make it. But that should hardly be the point.

A lot of people think the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in a single month is about completing that. It’s just a goal; a difficult goal. But the point of this goal is to learn how to squeeze every ounce of free time into your creativity: For writers to give it their best, grasp the concept of pumping out a rough draft without worrying about revisions, editing, or how a chapter flows.

Talk to any writer and most of them will tell you they have an abundance of ideas, and the hardest part is writing it out. This is the sole purpose of NaNoWriMo: get that idea out on paper and worry about refining when it’s finished! This could very well be a revolutionary idea in the realm of books.

You can read the whole article HERE.

If you’re a writer, you can find out more about NaNoWriMo HERE.

Jeep

2004 Jeep Gladiator Concept

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

If ever there was a perfect vehicle in the perfect color at the perfect time, the Jeep Gladiator was it.  The Comanche was out of production, Jeep was juuuuuust introducing the 2004 1/2 Wrangler Unlimited, and the Jeep public was primed and ready for a pickup truck.

Enter Dodge and Ram trucks, who said only THEY could make trucks under the Chrysler umbrella.  Let me tell you right here and now so that we’re all on the same page: Ram makes great trucks.  Really like the Laramie Long Horn.  But … well, because they killed this truck, I’m not a big fan of the division.  I’ll walk to another dealership to buy a Ford King Ranch because this rig didn’t go into production.  Thanks, Ram.

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