What happened to the Honda???

"What happened to your Honda?" actual question I had to answer today...

The easy answer:
It's in for repairs.

The more detailed answer:
I told them it was the transmission, but they thought it was the front axle... then they thought it was the wheel bearing... then they figured out it was the transmission... (note: I will not be paying for the wheel barring or the axle). The upshot is that the car is in for repairs and it's taking longer than expected to fix it, but because they had so much trouble figuring it out they're comping the rental till they get the car fixed (behold the power of words... the writer (and no- car guy...) diagnosed the problem and is getting a discount...)

The long answer:
Ok, so there we were heading up Trail Creek to the secret Forever Mountain Publishing marksmanship training range (hey a security section's gotta train) when we were attacked by these ninja cows (note: most cows are not actually ninjas (but these were I tells ya))...dressed in all black...just at the edge of the shrubbery...

The car really is in for repairs and I can tell you the Civic that we have for a loaner isn't really my style... But it just fits in with the adventures...

Speaking of Other Adventures...
As I write this we're gearing up for yet another family reunion experience. Specifically Lisa is bombarding me with potential activities and I'm reassuring her that as long as I have a place to write and a soda I'm  fine...

I'm actually kind of looking forward to the family stuff but I'm also quite serious about the writing stuff (those who understand understand; those who don't understand stay away from my pen/paper/soda and nobody gets hurt ;-)  )

Also in the news we are apparently accepting tribute now...

One of the professors at ISU brought these to Lisa last week. It's actually funny, with everything going on we haven't had time to hunt for rocks. We definitely haven't had time to do anything with rocks. But... we still somehow end up with more rocks...

I also have some interesting research going on (as a writer/psychologist I can call just about anything 'research' and be at least partially accurate...)

but for some reason Lisa thinks guns and family reunions might not mix, so I'll save it for another post...

Speaking of writing (you know it had to be here somewhere...)
I'm actually fairly serious about that writing through the reunion thing... I've got an appointment for my book pitch on the 13th so I need to be ready. I also have the first draft I'm setting down to get ready for the pitch, next year's non fiction title, some short stories...

I would also like to point out to our single readers that it is a confirmed phenomenon writers attract members of the opposite sex (It's true, and if I repeat it enough I'll motivate Lisa to get her own new sidearm...). This can be a blessing or a curse... It's a blessing when it gets you something you want (like better service at a restaurant or dates for you single writers out there...) and a curse when you're stuck at a car dealership with an all out chatterbox...

Lisa reports she's got chapter three of her dissertation out for review and is well on her way to
re-reorganizing her committee so progress is being made...

I think that's it for this one...
Until next time...

beware the ninja cows!!!

Wee'reee Back!!!

Ok, so people may have noticed that we've missed a few posts here on the Adventures of Patrick and Lisa...

Well, May was an interesting month. Chainmail Bottle Carriers officially hit the market on May 4th (Yes, it was supposed to be April but the guys doing the e-book conversion didn't quite get the idea that captions belonged on the same page as the pictures...). After the e-book there was the Mother's Day shooting incident... (both of which were talked about in our last post).


Lots of wordy stuff:
Since then we have invested in a block of ISBN numbers (those weird little numbers you find on books that let you find the exact book and edition you're looking for) and filed paperwork for our own publishing label. So we are now operating as Forever Mountain Publishing! The first release under the Forever Mountain label is also Chainmail Bottle Carriers (the PDF version instead of the e-book (I hold the rights for it and they're considered different editions because they're a different kind of file...)). The PDF is available here. The e-book has much wider distribution thanks to Amazon and other sources.

About the same time the pitch for my next book, a novel called Johnson Farm, was read and critiqued live in a webinar. I have an appointment with some publishing people about the book next month, so I may be announcing a change in publishing plans before too long. In the meantime I'm fairly on track for Johnson Farm to come out in December.

I've also gotten started on the next novel... Started being the key word... I've got the first couple of  chapters in but I'm finding this one is more complicated than I expected and I'm giving myself more time to get everything worked out. This is also the book that several nieces and nephews asked if I would work their names into it... I've been working on that... That takes a bit of creativity too.
You can expect bits and pieces about this to show up in both blogs, but that's it for now...

Progress...
Lisa continues to move forward on her dissertation. She wanted to be farther than she is but it's a writing process and it takes time. She is also down to do two conferences this year and may be working on the inside of one of them.

Lisa's also been knitting up a storm and interacting in her knitting community. She's officially hitting the point where she's modifying patterns and confident enough about it that she's actually talking to people about the mods (she can talk more about that later...).

Firepower!
I actually have to tell on one of my good friends just a little bit. I picked up a new .357 snub nosed revolver a couple of weeks ago. This one is not a snap decision it's the end of a process of finding the right piece of equipment for our needs.

Well, a friend of mine (who is a shooter but not experienced with the type of weapon in question) went with me for the first run shooting it (still working on breaking it in...). Initially I don't think he was really impressed. He brought his .40 automatic which holds three times the rounds and has a longer barrel and better sights.

Initially he would have been right. The first 20 rounds or so were .38 specials; fairly mild, but good enough (not as powerful as his .40s). Then, when we switched guns for a round or two, he realized I'm actually a lot better shot than people might think...

Those .38s are a milder load but can do the job if you put them in the right place.

Then I loaded up with the .357s... Naturally I didn't hit anything on the first go with them (have to adapt to the heavier recoil and a little different trajectory), but they definitely got his attention! I mean genuine startle reaction time.

I checked a book when I got home and the .357s I was shooting had about three times the energy of the .38s and one and a half times the energy of his .40s... I may have made a new .357 fan...

Summing up...
So that's about it for now. Some projects are complete. Others are moving forward. And a few new ones are coming on line. We're looking forward to seeing some of the family and sharing some adventures with them.

Hopefully Lisa gets a chance to post next week. In the mean time there are words to be written and projects to be done.
What's this month going to look like?
Maybe...


Thanks to DocJackz for the video. Yes I'm aware that The Doctor doesn't carry a gun and James Bonds is a PPK. I'm not claiming to be entirely like either one...

Thanks for reading see you next week.

There and back again... again!

Last week Lisa told the tale of our trip to California. Normally we love going on trips and find them energizing and relaxing in interesting ways, but not that trip...

There were a lot of things going on and a lot to get done after we got home.

In the last week we officially got my first book of the year out (after having to explain to the publisher that captions actually need to be with the pictures and that the captions didn't have to be repeated more than once). I started writing text for my latest book project (due out in 2017). Lisa got chapter 1 of her dissertation to her advisor....

And then there were the things that weren't writing related. Two Sundays ago (the one before Mothers
Day) Lisa got her new choir director and got the choir to meet for the first time in our new ward (and the stake wants them to sing in stake conference next month...). I had a bunch of clerks office stuff to do including pushing to get my new membership clerk (who knows when that is going to happen...) and explaining to someone who really should have known better that as a clerk I do not in fact have the authority to perform marriages for the dead (talk about a looong story). And a whole series of other adventures better left to another time and place.

Somewhere in all of this I mentioned to Lisa that I didn't think the typical ward Mother's Day thing was going to be very good for either one of us at the moment. Lisa quickly found that with some club points we could get a really good price at a nice hotel in Salt Lake.

And then this happened...


Video courtesy of PandoricaGallifrey ...

In all seriousness we did get away for the weekend, and it really was what we needed. We got the relaxation and stress relief we didn't get on the last trip. Speaking of that stress relief...

I know it's a weird Mother's Day activity but we had a good time "bustin' caps" at a local shooting range. Lisa did pretty good for her first time with a pistol. No, the grouping on my target in the picture ain't the best, but considering it was a range gun not mine and this was my first clip with it... I'm not complaining. They got better after that.

Later in the day we went to a really good Brazilian steak house for a nice dinner.

I actually woke up both nights of the trip with ideas about the new book. So, Lisa kindly ignored a lot of rambling on my part...

So my tip to everyone is... If you really need to get a way for a day or two, find a way to do it once in a while...

It really helps.

Here are a few other lessons learned on this trip

1: Fancy hotel manager types get worried when they see a guy with crazy hair wandering into their hotel restaurant....

2: Those same managers get really embarrassed and defensive on the second day of the trip, when they come up to you in the hotel restaurant; see that you're writing in a notebook; and then read your t-shirt that says "Please don't annoy the writer he may put you in a book and kill you" (Thanks to Lisa's mom, Marisa, and company)... Yeah, the service got a lot better after that...

3: Lisa really prefers revolvers to semi automatics. Revolvers don't throw hot brass at you...

4: There is absolutely no point in me not taking a notebook into a restaurant... I only end up writing on the napkins!

Well, that's it for today...
Until next time...
Remember, your mind is your greatest weapon,
Keep it sharp and loaded!