A loud, noisy grateful shoutout to Ana P. Rose for the post idea. Thank you, Ana! 😊

• My first foray into writing was a poem I wrote when I was 15. I still have it.
• English was my favorite class.
• I dedicated my first novel, Honey Ko, to my High School and College English teachers. Mr. Grundy told me I could write, Mr. Karlin taught me how.
• My first book I recall reading was “I Wish That I had Duck Feet.”
• The second book was “Rin Tin Tin.”
• I loved the Raggedy Ann and Andy books, Pippi Longstocking, Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew.
• In elementary school, I was the kid reading biographies of great Americans while my buddies built rockets in Dad’s basement 😄
• I switched to Science Fiction in Junior High and High School. My favorite Sci-Fi writers were Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury. Jack Chalker, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, and Richard Matheson are other favorites.
• I served with Jerry Pournelle’s son aboard the USS Tripoli.
• All of this gave me a well-rounded foundation for the writer I wanted to be.
• It took years, but I finally wrote and self-published my novel, Honey Ko, this year.
• I have a tendency to be wordy. Writing poetry forces me to write tight, to say in few words what I might say in many sentences.
• Writing poetry is relaxing. I don’t write poetry as therapy although I often write it in response to things that rouse my emotions.
• I get irate when my poetry garners few likes on Facebook, but my other posts collect many. I wonder about people sometimes.
• I find Facebook frivolous, carefree.
• Twitter is selfish and angry.
• WordPress is happy.
• Instagram poetry is mostly sad (emotionally).
• Twitter’s algorithm erased one of my favorite writers, Pleasant Street, from my timeline.
• Probably because I use Twitter to promote my book instead of using it to post my poetry.
• I have relatively few followers on Twitter.
• I left Twitter for Parler this week. I may return when Twitter figures out what free speech means. But then I may not.
• I don’t read many genres. I’m mainly a straight up fiction reader. Literary fiction is my choice for the message, and the fine writing, that accompanies the story.
• I don’t like easy vulgarity in stories. You won’t find foul language in my writing.
• A well-done sex scene leaves the graphic parts to the reader’s imagination. I don’t need to describe every action for her.
• I like to begin my writing day before sunrise.
• My desk is positioned overlooking my lawn. Nature and my neighborhood’s daily activities inspire me. The sound of children screaming, laughing, and squealing while playing is music to my ears. Neighborhood noises are conducive to a good writing atmosphere.
• I don’t suffer writer’s block.
• If I am stuck for something to write, I write a letter to myself, letting the words flow free, like free verse, and jotting down anything that pops into my mind. Something almost always comes out that triggers a desire for in-depth writing.
• In general, I don’t listen to music when writing. However, I will play music if a passage requires a particular mood.
• If the writer doesn’t cry, the reader won’t cry.
• I write a lot about Susanna, my Spanish girlfriend while I was stationed in Spain with the Navy. She died of pneumonia. Her death left me devastated. I was 21. She was 25.
• Susanna is my muse.
• I love writing poetry about nature. If a reader comments that my poetry drew her in, then I feel validated as a poet.
• I’m afraid to submit my poetry for publication because I don’t feel it’s good enough.
• That goes for my writing too.
• I’m afraid of rejection.
• My novel was rejected by over one-hundred literary agents.
• The greatest feeling for me as a writer is when I get “in the zone,” that intense period of concentration when the words flow faster than I can write, with sentences bumping into each other while waiting impatiently to leap from pen to paper. Time has no meaning in the zone.
• My impatience often leads me to post writing before it’s ready. I often edit a published post several times.
• I wish merryfairy would post more. Her posts are uplifting and fill the world with smiles 🙂😊😅😂😁😃😄👏👌❤🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️
• I wonder where the blogger Victoria, went. She often wrote poetry in both English and Spanish and experimented with different forms. She introduced me to Haibun. I miss her.
• Another blogger who hasn’t posted in a while and whose work I can’t get enough of is anneother9766 from the Garden of Everyday Delight. She lives in Scotland and writes of the Scottish countryside. Her stories take me there.
• I’m sad when bloggers I like suddenly stop blogging. I hope they’re okay.
• I wish Ray would post less. (JK Just wanted to see if you read this 😂👍👊❤👌👏👏😁
• Ray is a fabulous writer with a fantabulous sense of humor.
• I have a “protege” whose poetry has grown from sad to joyful. She’s a wonderful writer and a fabulous English teacher. We’ve never met in person.
• Sometimes, I will leave a poem or story unfinished if I’m not pleased with it or find I’m hurrying it. A break refreshes me and lets me write with “new eyes” so to speak.
• I would leave my job in a heartbeat if I thought I could support myself through writing.
• Neither of my parents lived to see me write.
• Dad was a reader.
• Mom and I used to do the Sunday crossword puzzle together.
• Jeopardy was a fun evening in my family.
• Scrabble too.
• I’ve edited this post several times since pressing the publish button 😂

featured image from a web search and attributed to scatteredemoceans.wordpress.com