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!