Writing, Charlet, Cosmic Cat, Science Fiction

I've set my third book about the Adventures of Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat aside for the moment. I'm attempting to reread my full length science fiction novel, "Charlet." It's basically complete and has been edited. I'm just checked for passive sentences and phrases. It should be complete in the next few days. I'll start posting excerpts from it. I need to decide if I'll take scattered paragraphs or post a complete chapter a few paragraphs or page at a time. Anybody have a preference? Let me know. I'll be back on the Adventures book by the end of the week--if everything goes right.

Writing update.

I'm still working on rewriting a novel. It'll be done this week, hopefully. I'll then be able to get back to my Cosmic Cat series of books for adolescents. It needs the last chapter and about twenty illustrations. Anybody have a good book agent out there that would like a new client? I made the mistake of watching the Dallas football game today. I should have worked on my novel. The Vikings showed up and a group of other people wearing Dallas uniforms were there. It's about all that can be said about them--they were there. In any case everybody have a good day.

Update on writing

I've got to get to this more often. It's been almost a month since I've been on this. I've spent some time recently rereading a previously written science fiction novels. I probably shouldn't have. It's sort of like writing a poem. When is a poem done? It's done when you get tired of working on it. I think a book is very similar. I did find a few errors and some sections that needed to be restructured but it wasn't bad. Out of 120,000 words I probably changed less than a 1,000. I'll start putting short sections of it up for people to read. I'm tired and have a head ache I think I'll shut this thing down and rest. Have a good day.

New Book - A Visit to the Farm

I've returned to the third book in The Adventures of Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat. I need to get through the last section and get the drawings done. I'm about two months behind where I should be. Two months probably isn't too bad. I'm going to send the first three chapters of the science fiction book, "Charlet," off to agents this next week. In case any of you are interested I've inserted a short section of the third book about Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat below. If you want more let me know. I'll not put the entire book up but enough to give you a good idea of what's happening. Have fun.

“Remember when Cosmic Cat killed the chicken at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm when it was attacking Connie?” Curtis asked her.
“Yeah, I do, but I didn’t see him do it,” Mom answered.
“Well, the big red rooster got out of the chicken pen somehow. We haven’t been able to find out how,” Curtis said.
“I think he flew out,” Connie said.
“What happened? Did Cosmic Cat kill it?”
“No, he didn’t. That’s what made it so fantastic,” Curtis said.
“Cosmic Cat knocked it down,” Connie said.
“Yeah, the rooster was running across the yard like he wanted to get somewhere fast. Cosmic Cat shot out from the shade of the bush he was sitting under when you got onto Speckles. We tried to get him to ride the horse when we rode it but neither Speckles nor Cosmic Cat thought it was a good idea.”
“Yeah, I don’t think they like each other,” Connie said.
“So, are you going to tell me about the rooster or not?” Mom asked them.
“Yeah, it was neat. Every time the rooster started to run away from the chicken pen Cosmic Cat hit him hard and knocked him down,” Curtis said.
“Yeah, the first time was really interesting,” Connie said. “Cosmic Cat knocked the rooster’s legs out from under him. He was going at least a hundred miles an hour. The rooster turned head over heals. When he got up he was hit again,” as she talked she gestured with her arms and hands.
“I think Cosmic Cat remembers the last time they got together when he ended up hanging from the chicken wire around the chicken pen,” Curtis said. “He also learned from his time at the farm. The only time the chicken wasn’t knocked down was when he moved towards the chicken pen. After a while, he was walking back and forth in front of the gate trying to get back into the pen. Cosmic Cat was sitting a little ways away watching him. It was fantastic.”
“Yeah, I think we have a herding cat,” said Connie.
“I let the rooster back into the pen and Cosmic Cat moved back into the shade of the bush he was under earlier. He’s still there and seems to be watching the chicken pen,” Curtis said.
“I’d like to have had that on a movie camera. Oh, Curtis, did you know you can take short movies with your digital camera?” Mom asked him.
“No, I didn’t. How do you do it?”
“Come on let’s go back to the house and I’ll show you. We’ll find something to give Cosmic Cat as a special treat for his work. A herding cat, what will happen next?” she asked herself.

Charlet, a Science Fiction Novel

Thought I'd get back to writing on my blog. I've been busy writing on the third episode of The Adventures of Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat. I have to cut it in half and make two books out of it. I didn't want to break it into two but the story line commands it. I'm also doing the final rewrite on a full length science fiction novel about a young woman with significant paranormal powers that out of desperation drags humanity into space. She has to find a place that she can live and fights Earth for the moon. A short excerpt from the first few chapters:

Chandra didn’t take very much with her when she left. She had to call on all of her resolve. She was only a nine-year-old girl and weighed about fifty pounds. She took a small backpack, a change of clothes, a little bit of money she had squirreled away, some snacks and her gold locket and left. Her most prized possession was the small locket. She turned right at the end of the walkway and went seven blocks until she got to the city bus stop where she waited patiently for the bus. She got on the bus and told the driver to ignore her. She moved into a seat directly behind him and waited for a few minutes until the rest of the passengers left the bus. Looking at the back of the bus driver’s head she said, “Mister, listen to me and understand what I say, you won’t remember me when I get off but for the next few minutes you and I will talk. I gave you a twenty dollar bill when I got on, I need my change and directions to the bus station where I can get a bus out of town.” She didn’t like doing this but she needed to have some more money with her and felt this would be a good time to get some.
“Yes, miss, here’s your change,” the bus driver said as he pulled some money out of his wallet and some out of a change receptacle and handed it over to her. “This bus doesn’t go to the bus station you need. You will need to get off at the next bus stop and catch bus number 201 to get to the main bus station. Be careful it’s getting late in the afternoon and it’s not safe for a little girl like you to be out alone.”
“Thanks, I’ll be careful, but don’t worry about me. Now, when I step off the bus you will forget you ever saw me. I don’t exist.”
From this point on Chandra Letty Parker disappeared for a long number of years, as far as John Fario and the rest of the world were concerned. She just walked out of the foster home and vanished. He spent a number of days and fruitless telephone calls trying to find her but to no avail. She couldn’t be found. He fretted over this for many weeks, when the weeks dragged into months and nobody asked about her he quit being concerned and moved on with his life. At least he tried to.

New Book - A Vist to Dad's

Just thought I'd give you another sample from the third book. I hope you like it. I've got two more chapters or sections to write then I'll go back through it and flesh it up a bit. As I'm doing it I may rearrange it a little bit as some of the sections are a little too tame.

The bear reared up on its hind legs and growled at them. Curtis told Connie not to move. The bear would chase them if they ran. The bear continued to stand on his hind legs and growled. Connie and Curtis stood where they were and watched the bear. They didn’t know what to do.
“Connie, hand me the string of fish. Do it slowly,” Curtis whispered.
“Here,” Connie said as she placed the string in Curtis left hand he had stretched back to her. When he got the string of fish, he slowly pulled it up where he could hold the string just a little ways above the fish with his right hand.
“If this works we’re going to turn around and climb up on top of one of these big rocks. Be ready when I say go,” Curtis said.
Curtis, without making too quick of a motion, flung the fish at the bear. The bear caught them in his mouth. At the very same moment, that the bear caught the fish, Cosmic Cat leapt off a tall rock beside the bear and landed on the bear’s head. The bear let out a tremendous roar, lowered his front paws to the ground and ran forward over Curtis and Connie with Cosmic Cat still on his head.

A Visit to Dad's

I thought that I'd start giving some short blups from the new book, "A Visit to Dad's, The Adventures of Curtis, Connie, and Cosmic Cat." As those of you that are following my work you know that this is the third book in the adventures. It may end up being called, "The Logging Camp." I'm not sure yet.

“Lunch will be in an hour or so,” Mom said. “Our clothes are together and washing. You all need to go outside and check the place over. Look around and make certain everything is in good shape—if you find something needs to be fixed or repaired do whatever needs to be done to correct it. Don’t leave anything to do later. While you’re at it make certain that all of the animals are in good condition, and ride Speckles. You’ve all been ignoring the horse for too long.”
They spent the rest of the day scurrying around and trying to decide what they could bring, staying out of Mom’s way when they could, and doing things Mom wanted done when they couldn’t. The kids each started to accumulate a pile of stuff that would prevent the other kids from taking anything. It took most of the day for them to decide what they absolutely had to have. This followed a lot of input from Mom, not always welcome, before they managed to reduce their piles to a reasonable size. When they had winnowed it down to what each of them thought was the bare minimum, Mom stepped in and pulled some things out to make room for their clothes. Only Connie and, with her help, Curtis had added more than the bare minimum of clothes to their pile.