Time to Get Back to Writing

I've spent so much time writing music the last couple years, I regret having spent less time writing my novels. I am regularly revising by five prior published novels with the aspiration of having them published again. But to my dismay, I have two unfinished novels at this time. One of which is the third installment of my Killer series. I had started it and maybe it's about one quarter through the storyline. It's supposed to be the final story of Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. It will be a wrap in that series. And I still intend to complete it. But the other one is a middle grade novel. I was inspired to write that one, well, because I'm a middle grade teacher. For thirty years I've been teaching middle school level kids and now I'm actually teaching K - 8 kids. It's a blast really. So I figured a book about kids that age might be something fun to write. And I'm about one quarter through that one, too. I will get back to them and finish both. But I will also continue with my music. I have found that of all the things I do, whether it is art, drawing, painting, or sculpture, writing books, sports, or whatever, it is composing music that provides me with the most satisfaction. I suppose it's because I write the music, I also write the lyrics, and I record it and then I produce it like a producer would. My full discograghy (Volumes 1 - 14) is on SoundCloud at this time. And Volumes 1 - 6 are on other platforms as well. It's the full deal with my music, and that is fully satisfying as far as being creative is concerned.

New Year Brings New Decisions

I had contemplated retiring at the conclusion of the current school year. Forty-two years teaching seemed to be enough. Eight years at San Jose Job Corps, four years at a Catholic school, and 30 years teaching in the Public School system here in California. And so retirement is what everyone is telling me I should do. And I thought for a moment, that they were right. But one thing remained at the forefront of my mind. The kids. I am blessed in so many ways. First, to have the love of a woman who loves me more than any woman has loved a man. Second, to have two sons who love their dad as much as any person has loved a parent. And third, to have students who love their teacher as much as any teacher has ever been loved. So I ask myself, how can you walk away from all that love? You don't. As long as I am healthy, and as long as I love my job, which I do, I will NOT retire. That's it.

Songs Now on YouTube, Spotify...etc...

I have Volumes 1 - 6 now released on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, and some other sites that I never even heard of. I paid ten bucks or so, and they put them up. I would like to have all 14 of my albums out there, but I really have one more song I want to re-sing before I do. And that song might just be my best song of all 145 songs that I have written and recorded. It's Dream. On Volume 7 - Rockin' the Dream. I have declared that that song is a masterpiece, and yet it remains the one song that I have not re-sung since I originally recorded it. I want to re-sing it like I did for most of my other songs on the other 13 albums, but I ran out of time last summer which I had dedicated to re-singing Volume 12 and Volume 13. So once I re-sing Dream, I will then put it up on the other platforms along with the entirety of Volumes 7 - 14, after which I will continue work on Volume 15. By the way, all 14 of my albums are released on SoundCloud, which you can access on the right margin of this blog.

Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos

I was so pleased with the results of re-singing all the songs on my Volume 13 album, I decided I had just enough time before school resumes to re-sing the songs on my Volume 12 album as well. And that was a particularly difficult album to resing. But I had to do it. Because Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos is arguably my best album of all 14. Well, the case could be made that any of the 14 is the best of them all. But Vol. 12 was my first concept album. That is to say it tells the story of an astronaut in outerspace on a mission from earth. And I am pleased to say that yesterday I got it done. It's a great album with great songs and great lyrics. You may remember the two great outerspace songs, Space Oddity by David Bowie and Rocketman by Elton John. My Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos is similar to those two songs insofar as the outerspace theme, but it's an entire album of ten songs, not just a single song like each of theirs. And one of my most popular songs is on there, which was also true for Volume 13. Check it out in the margin to the right. But you'll have to scroll down a bit. Back to work tomorrow, though. The new and possibly final school year for me is about to begin.

Volume 13 - Rockin' the Afterlife

I talked about re-singing songs on my Volume 13, and now I am glad to say that I have completed re-singing every song on there. That's ten total songs. And I must say, all of those songs are great. They always have been. It's just that my singing wasn't so great. It's still not, but I can say that it's a lot better now. It's what happens when you dont give up. You don't quit. You keep trying. You keep practicing. And now every song on Rockin the Afterlife is a hundred times better than before. It's almost like I can't believe I wrote those songs, they're so great. But I did. And I wrote the lyrics which are great too. Check it out on the margin to the right, but you will need to scroll down a bit.

Music Revisions

So I've been waiting for the summer vacation to revise my songs. But not really revise them. What I've been wanting to do since last summer was re-SiNG some of the songs. I got a lot of that done last summer. But I wasn't quite done. I had started with Volume 1 and worked my way up through Volume 11 re-singing the songs at which I believed I could do a better job. And then school started again, and, being a music and art teacher, I had to dedicate my time to that. But here we are with another suumer and I am picking up where I left off. But instead of Volume 12, I skippped to Volume 13 because I think there were two songs there that needed re-singing most of all. Looking Back and Time in the Sun. It just so happens that Time in the Sun seems to be the most popular of ALL my songs, since it's received more "listens" than any of my other songs. Although I'm glad people like it, I was always wary of my singing voice on that song and wanted to re-sing it. Unfotunately, it's another very difficult song for me to sing. But on my second day of trying, (today) I got a version that is at least acceptable. I even improved the lyrics somewhat since I had the chance to do that. I figure it's like my novels. If you can improve any portion of it, go for it and I did. So I hope those of you have liked that song, will give it another listen. And I also hope that you agree that it's now a better version. (But I'm still no Frank Sinatra. Far from it. Very far.)

Finally Making Submissions

After grinding revisions to The Vase and John Dunn: Heart of a Zulu, I am finally submitting both for publication. Hopefully, I can land better publishers this time. Since both books are better written at this point, they certainly do deserve better publishers. And I must say, both stories are simply great. I know there's a lot of great books out there, but these two can hold their own in any collection of books, stories, or what-have-you. I am now revising Second Chance. It's a great story too. So keep on grinding. Never give up. Never surrender. Where have I heard that before? Let's go!

Happy Birthday to an Old Friend

I am working diligently on revising my novel, The Vase, so as to resubmit it for publication, this time with an independent press. I am confident that once my latest revisions are done, it will be worthy, once again, for publication. But as I paused to consider this day, I remembered that this day, March 28th, is the birthday of an old friend. A friend I had lost contact with long ago. Actually, it's the childhood friend I had when we used to play the Black Sabbath songs. I had posted once that I would play the Black Sabbath songs on the piano, and he would sing the lyrics. No, he wasn't a singer. What he was, was a drummer. But he sang the songs in tune, and hit every note. Those were enjoyable times for me. Because, at the time, Black Sabbath was my favorite rock band. Flash forward years later, to now: I have written my own music, and as I had posted before, it was when I remembered that this childhood friend was singing the Sabbath songs well enough, even though he wasn't a singer, that I too could sing songs, especially when those songs were my own songs that I had written! So hats off to this old friend, because it was those memories that convinced me that I could sing my own songs which I do now, and you and anyone else can listen to one or all of them by clicking on any of the links to the right of this post that feature the 14 albums of original songs I have written over the years. And yes, I plan on dropping my fifteenth album this coming summer.

The New Year and What it will Bring

So 2025 is well underway. And the new year brings a great prospect of change for the better. I will remain a teacher, sure, as it brings a great deal of contentment and satisfaction knowing that I am contributing to society in a great way. But I would like to believe that I can contribute to society in another way. Sure, raising two great sons who are now in their twenties was a great task. Especially since they too are contributing to society in the health and fitness field. But my contributions, I would like to believe, also contribute in the artistic way. That being in art, music, and literature. I will continue to revise and improve both my music and my novels. I have already begun writing songs for what would be my fifteenth album. I began last summer, but it took a pause when I decided to improve the songs I had already published. And I did. And I will continue to do. And I will continue to improve the novels. My goal is to see the novels republished this summer and to finish my fifteenth album of music this summer as well. It's a tall order. But it's what I do.

Book Blog and Music Blog

As I reflect on this blog and its contents, I'm reminded that I started it as a writing blog. That was because I had begun to write some novels, and fancied myself a writer. It wasn't any hubris on my part. It was prompted by my San Jose State University professors who were mentoring me during the two years I spent in the Teaching Credential Program over there. Often, it was required to write reports of varioius kinds. Actually more than often. More like it was constant. And then some years later when I was in the Master's Degree program majoring in Education, report writing again was constant. And both times the professors were telling me that I was a good writer. (Which probably explains why I was getting straight As throughout those programs.) So I had been only a moderate reader during my life, but I liked the idea of writing some novels about things in which I had an interest: Martial Arts heroes, Football heroes, along with a story about The Vase, and another interesting topic about which I had learned which was the true story of a historical character named John Dunn. And after some moderate success which saw all five novels published, I returned to an original interest wich was music. I had always been a musician, and I loved music as much as the next guy, but I also had a knack for writing original tunes. I would dabble on the piano during my spare time and write my own songs. I was never too serious about it, because I never envisioned myself becoming a professional musician or song writer. Nevertheless, I found myself writing new songs, one after another as if I were a conveyer belt putting out new songs by the tons. In a couple years, had written enough music to fill 13 conventional albums. And after a failed attempt to find a singer, I ended up being the singer. There were two reasons for this. I had briefly played with a band, all of whom wrote their own songs. I didn't want to play their songs. I wanted them to sing my songs. But they insisted that anyone who writes a song must sing his own song. And then I remembered an old friend who would sing some of our favorite songs while I played on the piano. Now that guy wasn't a singer, but he actually did sing the songs in key and he hit every note. So I thought if he could do it, why can't I? So I did. And like books, revising took place. And more revising. And yes even more revising and then writiing more songs for a 14th album. And now I am content that even though I still don't consider myself a singer, (like my friend wasn't) the singing is still in key and I am still hitting every note, and the songs are complete with a full band in accompaniment, and the vocals in place. And this blog can now be about both... the books and the music. It's on... (One caveat. This blog does not allow paragraphs. I have five paragraphs formatted in the draft I just wrote, but when I publish the draft all of those paragraphs disappear into one giant piece. Maybe I'm missing some formatting thing.)

Okay Back to the Books

As I indicated, I have revised and/or re-sung a lot of my songs, which can now be heard, not only on SoundCloud (Volumes 1 - 14), but on Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, and many other platforms, (Volumes 1 - 5). Yes, I still want to revise and/or re-sing some more songs on albums 6 - 13, but that will have to wait. For now I want to get back to my books. I had revised the heck out of all five books already, but as I revisited The Vase, sure enough, I found more prose to revise. And so that means the same thing must be true for all of them. Which I will do. So, here we go again. Starting with The Vase, which I still hope to republish one day.

Revised Albums 1, 2, 4, and 8 too

I talked about revising albums 9 and 11, but I also said I was going to keep at it, and I have. I have revised other songs on other albums, too. Mostly I'm resinging the songs, since my singing can only get better each time, and it has. But I've made some minor adjustments as well, mostly toning down some of the volumes, and rearranging some of the instrumentation. So, yeah, with that in mind, writing music isn't so much different than writing novels. Revise, revise, and revise, and the end result is a better work of art. I suppose it's true for everything. At least in the art world. Glad I'm an artist.

Revising Albums 9 and 11

I figure I've revised the hell out of my five books. I'm sure there are more improvements I can make and I will. But I have spent the last two weeks improving my music during this summer break. I've resung many songs on Volumes 9 and 11. I have always conceded that I'm not a singer. But that doesn't mean I can't try and make efforts to improve. I believe I have. The songs on Volumes 9 and 11 are great songs, and when I listen to them I'm amazed that I'm the one who wrote them. And now, with the improved vocals, they're even better. I will keep it up. It's what I do.

Finished Revising The Vase

I know. For the umpteenth time. The writing is as polished as can be. I originally wrote this story more than ten years ago. It was well written then, but like anything, the more you do something the better it gets. And the better you get at doing it. So after all these years of revising, polishing and making the story catch up to the times, the manuscript is ready to go. Now if only an agent would request to read it, I am confident said agent will be impressed. It's an uplifting story. It features a topical issue, and has a lot of conflict. But it has a happy ending. And when finished reading it, the reader will feel good about the world. That's what I wanted and that's what I achieved.

The Vase - a novel of suspense in Nazareth

This blog is named after my second novel. The Vase. It has nothing to do with my first novel. Killer of Killers. My third novel, Killer Eyes, is the sequel to Killer of Killers. But The Vase is the novel I expect to hit the big time. And for many reasons. Like all five of my novels, it's excellently written. Even more so since I've revised it time and again even after it's original publication. The same is true for all the five novels I've written. But The Vase has a topical premise. Which is the conflict that is happening right now in Israel. I wrote the book way before the current conflict. That doesn't matter. The conflict in Israel has been ongoing since 1948. And it seems to be a conflict that will never be resolved. I wrote the story because the premise of ancient recordings being viewed in modern times was a premise that had never been done before. Only in my book, The Vase, has this premise been explored. Still, it takes more that an original premise to make a great novel. It takes great writing, and great characters, and a great storyline. Well, forgive me for saying so, but The Vase checks all of those elements. The story is great. The characters are great. And the writing, espcecially after all the revising, is outstanding. I still believe in this book. As soon as it gets published again, it should be marketed correctly this time, because I'm shooting for mainstream publishers. And then...it will make a splash. And once it does, then back to my music. Can't wait to resume the writing of Volume 15. (Yet to be named.) I've written four songs on it so far, but right now I'm focused on republishing The Vase. Hopefully an agent will see in it what I see. We'll see.

The Beekeeper puts John Wick to Shame

Just saw the latest Jason Statham movie. The Beekeeper. My reaction? Move over John Wick. Adam Clay takes over. And move over Keanu Reeves. Jason Statham isn't just an actor like you. Jason Statham is the real deal. Look, I had already posted about how disappointed I was with the last two John Wick movies. Sure the first two had me buying in. But the last two, well, the last two plain sucked. John Wick became a pussy. Anyone could be a John Wick. But only Jason Statham can be an Adam Clay. The movie even had a female Beekeeper, hired to kill the original Beekeeper. And like in real life, the man prevailed, and it was no contest. And hey, I am not a sexist or a misogynist. I am a realist. Sure there are some women out there who can beat up some men out there. But when it comes to the BEST male fighters versus the BEST female fighters, it's not going to be a contest. And in this movie, that's the way it was. Adam Clay had no problem taking out the female Beekeeper. So, like in the John Wick movies, it's a world-building premise. In the John Wick movies, you had the fictional assassins in their fictional world with their codes of conduct and the markers and the Continental, et al. Beekeepers are a fictional society above the law, used when the law doesn't work. And that means these guys are the top of the top of the top in regards to fighting ability. And that's my cup of tea. Like my own character from Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. The top fighter in the world is Trent Smith. In The Beekeeper, the Beekeepers are the best. The one flaw in this movie was that the female Beekeeper seemed to be a loose cannon type of character. Firing a minigun at anything moving in her effort to kill the other Beekeeper (which included responding policemen) was over the top. Nevertheless, Adam Clay took her out, and in great fashion. Now I don't want to give the wrong impression. To avoid any misunderstands, I have said it over and over again, there is such a thing as STRONG female characters. But to prove you are a strong character doesn't mean you have to go around beating people up, or killing dozens of people, whether they deserve it or not. As a matter of indisputable fact, there is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Mike Tyson. All right? There is no woman in the world who can win a fight against Brock Lesnar, all right? All right. Bottom line? The Beekeeper is the best movie I've seen in a long time. Thank you Jason Statham.

The Vase - Revising to keep up with the times

I had originally written The Vase almost twenty years ago. I had used the electronic devices in the story that I was most familiar with at the time. Like iPods, earbuds, phonographs, and cameras that took traditional photos. But the years have passed and now I have a familiarity with the devices of today. Intead of iPods, it's all about iPhones. Instead of earbuds, it's all about AirPods. Instead of phonographs, it all about online listening platforms. (SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, etc...) Instead of traditional photos, it's all about apps on your laptop computer. So... I had a lot of revisions to do. I have to keep up with the times. But the story still holds. It's a great story.

Revising The Vase (Again)

With the horrid events of the current times, I believe The Vase is a more apt story than ever before. I seek no fortune and no fame, but it's a story that has everything to do with what is happening in Israel at the moment. For those of you who do not know, the story in The Vase, as it explains above is about the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I may not be an Israeli, and I may not be a Palestinian, but that doesn't mean I can't write. I can. And I can come up with a very interesting story, which I have. The Vase. I will finish revising it, to make it a better-written book, and maybe, just maybe, I can get another agent. Years ago, when I had an agent, she was unwilling to work with a story that involved terrorists. Hopefully that's not the mindset of all agents. Let's see.

John Wick Gets a Flat Tire and Runs Out of Gas

So I finally saw John Wick Chapter Four. I was very happy that Halle Berry had no part in it, but that didn't save it. Not for me. Because it was really just the same ol', same ol' all over again. And again. And again. And again. I mean how many fight scenes and over-the-top killings from start to finish can a person tolerate? I mean, talk about overkill. Literally AND figuratively. Killing, killing, and more killing. It was too much. And this is coming from a guy who wrote a book called Killer of Killers along with a sequel called Killer Eyes. (That would be me.)

So someone might ask, "Hey dude. Since you wrote a book called Killer of Killers, and it's about a dude who kills, how come you're criticizing a movie that features another dude who kills. Well, I might answer, "Because in my book, Killer of Killers, and in its sequel, Killer Eyes, there was a lot more than just non-stop scenes with non-stop killing going on. My books had plots, and a message, and morals, and love interests, which means romance, and strong friendships, and back-stories that tied everything together to forge a strong story-line, with several strong three dimensional characters.

Look. I really liked the first two John Wick movies. I was even a fan. But then, starting with Chapter 3, which they called John Wick Parabellum, and included the aforementioned Halle Berry, it was getting to be too much. Another word for it is gratuitous. Yes. Gratuitous violence, and gratuitous killing. It was just too much. It glutted the senses. It was as if it made killing to be ho hum and even boring. I already wrote that Halle Berry playing the part of a female John Wick reduced the significance of the John Wick character. He was no longer special. It was as if anyone, even a five foot two inch 110 pound, middle-aged woman could be a John Wick, which meant that ANYONE could be a John Wick. And that meant the John Wick Character was just another person that anyone could be.

In my books Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes, it was cleary demonstrated that the main character, Trent Smith, was the greatest martial artist in the world. And only one person can be the greatest something in the world. Plain and simple. And he only killed people who had already proven themselves to be murderers. In John Wick, the dude killed for "markers" and that meant he killed innocent people.

Nevertheless, I liked the first two movies. It should have ended with the third installment, without a Halle Berry role, and it should have been written in a way that satisfied the story, the premice and the characters. But they got a flat tire in the 3rd movie, and then in the 4th movie they plain ran out of gas. Oh well. It was fun, like I said, at first. But then, it wasn't anymore.

Revised Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side

Now that I have a distributor to place my music on the online platforms, I decided to redo my least favorite album. Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side. It was my least favorite only because I felt that my singing on that album sucked more than any other album of mine. So I decided to go ahead and try to re-sing the songs. Every single one. I had done that before for Volume 3 - Rockin' the Hard Road. It had always been one of my favorites, but I just felt I could sing it better and I did. I had also revised some of the songs, as I had noted earlier on this blog. But with Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side, it was only the singing that needed redoing. And while I was at it, I also revised some of the lyrics. But once I was in front of the mic, I had to sing some of those songs up to fifty times before I got a take that sounded right. Can you imagine that? As many as fifty times before I got a take that met my satisfaction. That's a lot of singing. The same song over and over again. And ten total songs. I wouldn't quit, though, because I really believe those songs are fantastic.

And with the success of Volume 10, I can proceed to put more albums onto TuneCore for distribution. I had noted earlier that I only have Volumes 1 - 4 on there. Pretty soon I'll put up 5 - 10. I may want to re-sing Volumes 11 - 13. But it might not be possible because on some of those songs I hit notes that I can no longer hit. It's a shame. It takes a lot of effort for me to be able to sing some of my own songs. Sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't. It remains to be seen. As for now, however, I can be content with Volume 10. It's on SounCloud and sounds great. Check it out.