My brief hiatus from novel writing about to end

VALOIS, New York - Since the arrival of sons Dylan and Dustin - along with nephew Alex - to the Valois Point Yacht Club cottages, all work on the draft of the novel Jack's Boat ceased.

At the helm

It wasn't so much that I couldn't have carved out a little time to write here and there. But the hubbub has been waaaaay too much fun.

And amazingly, the weather turned out to be absolutely Seneca Lake perfect. That meant days of sailing the Crimson Tide and motoring about in the Spirit of Louise pontoon boat. The two kayaks were pressed into service along with the Captain's Gig rowboat, too.

All that fun is about to come to a crashing end Monday morning when it's back to the keyboard to write next Friday's Write On column for the Finger Lakes Times.

But equally important is to get back stacking paragraphs on the draft of Jack's Boat, where I left two characters rushing to the scene of a big fire in which it's possible loved ones have died. Have they perished? I won't know until I start typing and the story reveals itself.

When the draft of Jack's Boat is completed and sent off to the editor, I am playing with the idea of putting together a collection of my Finger Lakes Times columns in a book tentatively titled, Don Quixote At The Keyboard,  before tackling Fracking Evil, the third book in the fracking trilogy.

I just completed four years of newspaper columns - 208 consecutive columns. The book would have perhaps 50-75 with commentary about why I wrote what I did and notes on what I would write today on the same topic.

But that's Monday. And it's only Saturday.

Loosen the lines! Raise the sails! The wind is up!

A book signing with some cultural revelations

TRUMANSBURG, New York - The annual Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance is a cultural phenom here in the Finger Lakes, 25 years old this summer.

Great music and events lineup...

Now that I think about it, my wife Sylvia and I have been married exactly the same amount of time as Grassroots has been going on.

And for the first time in my 25 years of coming to Seneca Lake, we went to Grassroots for two of the four-day run of the festival. Part of our time was spent helping promote Gas Free Seneca, the other to promoting my two novels, The Fracking War and Fracking Justice. Both were successful.

I was struck by how many people are still - even at a progressive, environmentally conscious event like Grassroots - uninformed about the effects of hydrofracking for oil and natural gas.

I was also struck by how many people said they just don't have any time to read - way too busy. When I engaged them in conversation about television however, they could recite chapter and verse about the latest Suits episode.

I suggested she watch the film "Goldfinger"

Amazing music, amazing people, amazing food. Now that I have used three amazings in a row, I should not use a fourth, but I will.

I had my photo taken at the entrance with an amazing woman clad - and painted - all in silver. I wished she had been there dressed as Lady Justice. It would have made the photo even more interesting. She didn't speak at all, just made slow-motion gestures like a statue come alive.

In my case she blew me a kiss after we took the photo together.

I'll be writing my Finger Lakes Times newspaper column this week about Grassroots, including mention of three gas company employees - who swore they were not gas company employees - who asked all kinds of questions about Gas Free Seneca. The trio of beefy, somewhat glum characters claimed to be visiting from Vermont but stood out like proverbial sore thumbs among the throngs of smiling, happy people.

Most likely they hailed from Houston.

The plot continues to catch fire in 'Jack's Boat'

OAKLAND, Calif. - The drafting of Jack's Boat, a novel set in Oakland, California and the Pacific Coast of Mexico, has continued this week with the addition of about 5,000 words in the last two days.

This overachiever, daily word-count production is in part thanks to some totally crappy weather at Seneca Lake. Heavy rains yesterday. Today the rain cleared up but the wind is howling.

Not good weather for launching either my pontoon boat or sailboat.

Still, there are no complaints from this writer. Today's writing including another set of plot twists I had not completely anticipated, an untimely death (unless you didn't like the character - I didn't), a betrayal by a family member and finally, a tragic fire.

The fire started at the end of Chapter 22. I left two characters standing on an Oakland street corner watching the fire trucks roared by, headed to the blaze. I will pick them up tomorrow.

The first draft of Jack's Boat should be done by mid-August, I hope. Sooner if the weather continues to be more winter than summer. But that's an issue for tomorrow.

A breakthrough in the plot of 'Jack's Boat'

VALOIS, New York - Even with lawnmowers whirling and belching smoke outside my cottage window this morning, I was able to pound out close to 1,000 words on Jack's Boat, my summer novel that is more than half-completed.

Heinold's Saloon - Oakland, CA waterfront

It's more than half-completed because I am picking up a tale I started writing years ago.

But today's chapter musings resulted in a big leap in the plot, one I had not expected. For me that's one of the most fun elements of fiction writing. The characters frequently head off in directions that I didn't anticipate.

That happened twice today with one sad event but with the clear promise of wonderful things ahead.

Jack's Boat is on track - actually a little ahead of schedule. I had anticipated getting back into the writing saddle July 1 (today!), but actually started days ago revamping the already written segment of the book. Now I am four chapters into the second half.

The book takes place in Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland - and parts of coastal Mexico.

I wonder if these characters have any interest in Tonga? Perhaps they will let me know tomorrow.

Yelapa, Mexico - the village

A change-of-pace novel in the works this month

WATKINS GLEN, New York - As Fracking Justice continues to get placed in bookstores, wineries, restaurants - and lots of other Finger Lakes locations - I picked up the draft of a novella I penned back in the 1990s, but never published. It was in a drawer with several other works-in-progress.

I was three chapters into rereading my draft of Jack's Boat when realized it would make a good contrast/project for me to tinker with for the next month or two while I continue my research for Fracking Evil, the third book in the trilogy of fracking novels that started with The Fracking War.

Jack London

I posted a detailed explanation about that novella-soon-to-be novel titled "The challenge of reviving a novel drafted years ago" on this website, LINK: Writing For Money.

For readers of The Fracking War and Fracking Justice, Jack's Boat has nothing to do with Jack Stafford, the columnist/publisher in those novels. The Jack in the title of the novella is late American author Jack London. The boat is one of many that London had in his lifetime living in Oakland, San Francisco and the Sonoma County hills overlooking San Pablo Bay.

Jack London's writing and life had a profound influence on me when I was a teenager. His love of sailing, ocean adventuring, journalism - and writing novels - provided a hazy blueprint for me growing up.

Maybe it still does.

Look for Jack's Boat sometime this fall. And Fracking Evil in the spring of 2016.

Fracking Evil cover concept art. Scary enough?

Lesson learned: Always have a speech ready to go

GROLIER CLUB, 60th St., Manhattan - I should have known better. Really.

After more than 40 years in the news business and attending countless awards ceremonies, dinners, graduations and fetes of every imaginable kind, I know that anyone even remotely connected to the event should have a finely crafted speech in their pocket.

And be ready to give it on the spot.

But for some inexplicable reason (even to myself), I didn't prepare a real speech of any kind for the Green Book Festival awards reception. Nada, zip, zilch.

And for Godsakes, I was an honoree - first place in the General Fiction category.

I can't explain it, exactly. But there was a lesson learned. Oh yes there was...

Mercifully enough, I didn't speak first. I went second. But had I gone, oh, eight people later, I think my short talk would have been a little more, um, coherent? It worked out all right. Several of the audience members even commented that they enjoyed my off-beat sense of humor. Off-beat, that's what they said. And I'm taking it as a complete compliment and running with it as fast as I can.

The award was for The Fracking War (2014), not the just-published Fracking Justice.

General Fiction - the award (and me...)

While I'll take credit for spinning a good yarn in The Fracking War, the credit for landing this first place Green Book Festival honor really goes to Sylvia Fox for tracking down the contest, getting the book entered on time, and then convincing me - after I learned that I had won - to get my author butt down to New York City to collect it.

It was worth every bit of nail-biting NYC traffic.

As I sat and listened to the award winners give their speeches/talks (some very well-organized, others seemed to subscribe to my just-wing-it style), I realized how much I want to get back to drafting the third novel in the fracking trilogy, Fracking Evil.

I am anxious to fire up the novel-writing machine partly to round out the series, but also so I can jump on the next book after that, a book I've had percolating for several years.

More on that book another time. Right now, I need to put together a quick set of talking points for a speech - just in case I'm asked to give one on short notice.

An afternoon listening about government corruption

ITHACA, New York - An early summer Saturday afternoon lecture on corruption in government is usually as deadly as, well, an early summer Saturday afternoon lecture on corruption in government.

Me, Fracking Justice and Zephyr Teachout

Except when the lecture/talk is given by Zephyr Rain Teachout, a gubernatorial candidate who took on incumbent NY Gov. Mario Cuomo in the the primary election last year.

In that race she was honest, refreshing, and pulled an amazing number of votes against a candidate tied to big money and big politics.

She is still as honest and refreshing as she was.

And now her message is the same, thumping on the need for good, non-corrupt government. And she is likely to run for office again. And maybe soon.

My conversation with her was short - it was midway between her talk and a reception with the Tompkins County (NY) Democrats. But she answered every question more straightforward than most politicos would have.

And because she is not in public office, she was happy to accept a copy of Fracking Justice.

If I get lucky, she will like the book and write a review. If I get really lucky, it will be a favorable review!