Stratford - The Outline is Done.

 Before I start a book I sit myself down on the couch, usually with a  cup of coffee and at least one dog. I write out the outline of the book by literally listing the events that I think will take place in chronological order, and I break them down somewhat into chapters in order to keep them in some semblance of order.

    Today, I did that with the book "Stratford," and I had two dogs and a fat cat by my side. If you can take those factors into the mix and quantify the book's beginning by the amount of animal involvement I had, this book promises to be good.

    It's October 12, 2024, and at 2:29 p.m., the Red River Rivalry is about to start in genuine. It's been going on for a while, but the game will be televised. I won't see it today because our antenna is out - but it's OK; I'll keep up with it online. There was a time I would have freaked out if I couldn't see every freaking play - those times are gone.

    It is now after 2:30 p.m., and I realize I haven't eaten anything. I didn't even make myself breakfast today. I need to get in that kitchen and drum up something. I have some chicken I can make a pulled chicken BBQ sandwich with, and I can rustle up some veggies or some yogurt with nuts and cranberries. I can do that. I need to do something before I fall through the cracks and die.

    "Stratford" is now on paper as an outline. It has 28 chapters and will be flushed to about 32, probably before the book is ended. It will be about 330 pages and will be finished by Thanksgiving. I'm not rushing it. I want to use AI to write it of course, to guide me, not actually write it - but I want to take the time to read through it more carefully so I catch more mistakes before I send it up -- I am now dealing with having to redo part of "Pinball" now that it's been out a year. I just picked it up and found more mistakes! UGH!!

    Writing can be the biggest headache, but then again, it's the best thing ever—so I do it. I haven't been jumping at the gate to do it lately, but I will enjoy writing this book. It will be a new way of using a creative tool that we have at our fingertips, so why not try it? I'll gain knowledge and be able to write better in the process. It's a win-win.

    Well, I need to get that food down me, and I guess I'll listen to the game online maybe - I may not, I may just check in on it from time to time -- I can't get over how I don't really care anymore. It only proves that time changes things -- maybe the folks in Stratford can figure that out for themselves.

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

    

STRATFORD -- The Book Cover (is done)

 Others may fuss and fight over what a book cover should look like, but I have a sort of sheer little idea from the second I decide to write a book. I think this one was even faster if that's possible. I knew I wanted to include something distinctly Oklahoman so that when people picked up the book, they wouldn't confuse Stratford, Oklahoma, with any other city by that name. 

    I included oilfields on the back of the book - and on the front, it's just a light sconce from some bank or some other art deco wall. It could be from any building, but it's clearly something you'd see in the 1930s. "Stratford" does take place in 1933 - sometime between July and December; it may creep into 1934 - I haven't written the book yet.  I won't know until I know.

    Right now, all of the characters are sleeping, rolling over, realizing that they're just about to be called upon to be the heroes and villains of my latest book. This book will be the 5th in the Nick Posh Thrillers and will be centered in a small town in the southern central part of Oklahoma. Stratford, Oklahoma, is a very real city with a very real history, and I intend to do my best to expose it - as much as possible. If that sounds really mean, nasty, rude, and unloving, you have not been to Stratford and been "welcomed" by some of their less-than-favorable residents. 

    I am 100% sure there are lovely, great, and fabulous people in the city, but they won't necessarily be the ones I focus on in the book. I don't have to; it's my book. It was my experience, and it will be my retelling -- in the most creative way I can. One of the nicest things about having my creative license renewed as often as I do is that I can say just about anything and everything I need or want to say to get my point across.

    It cost me about $11 in gas to go there and come back, but it cost me $718 in falsified and erroneously rigged charges (IN MY OPINION) that, when explained to me, seemed as if I was not the only person these people had preyed upon—nope, not even close. According to my sources at the Garvin County Courthouse and the Stratford Times newspaper, this Stratford has been cooking the books and pulling the wool for quite some time. 

    In my new book "Stratford," corruption took place on a daily basis and to the point that the Governor of the State, as well as the leaders of the Chickasaw Nation, have commissioned Detective Posh and Private Investigator Eoghan MacRae to expose it all - to take names, and reel in the bad guys!  It will be my pleasure to put a specific law officer and his cohorts at the city courthouse behind bars and in a pauper's grave after the lawman has been shunned by the city, its people, and the entire community he used for ill gain.  One less bad guy -- but he's not alone.

    Please read "Stratford" when it comes out. I think it will be finished and published by Thanksgiving. As with all of my books, the print edition comes out about three weeks before the Ebooks. Right now, I'm converting all the others. It takes a minute, but I don't have to do all the editing. Thank God!

Photo Credit: Me.

New Adventures - New Headaches !

 My excitement level is pretty high—I can't lie about that—but then again, I knew that setting up a new website would have its own tech problems that I wasn't looking forward to. I'm not a very tech-oriented person. I typically lose a few strands of hair over even the act of trying to fix or create something from nothing. If it doesn't have very clear step-by-step instructions (and even if it does), I can't do it.

    I set my mind to making it work, but that didn't stop all the frustration, glitches, problems, stumbling blocks, and things I couldn't understand. It was just nonsense to me. It was pretty easy to go to GoDaddy and register the new domain—it was next to free—but to keep it cost about $60, so it's not free—you need to know that.

    Then, after I got the domain JudeStringfellow.com, I wanted to create a website to go with it. At the top of the domain page was a button directing me to set up my free website - but then again, you MUST KNOW it is not free. After I set it up, worked it, used it, kept it, and improved it, I had to pay $119 or $9.99 a month - charged annually. It's not a bad price, and I'm not complaining about that, but they should tell you that instead of trying to say it's free, it's free if you don't ever want to use it!

    FINE!! After I created it, I wanted to be able to go to www.judestringfellow.com and see my website where I sell my books and offer links to things like my blog, a way to ask me questions about the books, and so on. The real-life problem was that somehow, I managed to buy two Go Daddy products and/or sites, and they wouldn't speak to each other! I had to call the support team and worked with them for over two hours to get it all straightened out - - two hours! They should tell you in the first place that when you click on this new button, it will take you to a separate page where you can't combine whatever you do with the page you currently OWN!

    I had to redo much of what I had already created, but it was worth it. I have the site I want, and I can now say I did it without begging others to help me. I even watched a few videos! I figured it out, and there you go! I'm better at tech than I thought I was -- sort of. I don't really like it. I think you have to like it to be truly good at it. I fuddle - I muddle. I survive. At least now you can go to the site and see the books I'm selling, read the blogs (even this one), and think about talking to me if you have a question for me!

    I'm still working out the final details, and I bet I'll tweak them as I go.  I have to add books, and I may add a page here and there - when it warrants doing so. Thanks so much for visiting my new site. I mean that!! I do really mean that. THANK YOU.

I Got a Rock (I got a few)

 If you know me, you know I love rocks. I don't care about whether it's quartz, citrine, or diamond. In fact, I would probably prefer Jasper and Lapis over a diamond anyway. I'm a little odd. Those little rocks don't interest me as much as the bigger, more common stones do.  To be honest, I'm very impressed with some of the most common rocks in the world. God really knew what He was doing when He made stones.

    I can't tell you how old I was when I first became interested in rocks, but I know I had a few growing up. Our preacher taught and preached that if a rock speaks, we are not praising God as we should. He said (and I clearly remember it) that if you were all by yourself in the woods or at the lake, and suddenly, out of nowhere, you hear a rock speaking, it would be praising God, and it would be there to remind you that you didn't do what you knew you were supposed to do!

    Well, I didn't have a lot of smarts, I suppose, not at the age of five or six, but I picked up a rock, and I held it in my hands. I told it straight out that it was to keep quiet! I never wanted to hear it, but if it did decide to talk, it would be our secret. Then, lo and behold, when I turned 10 years old, the whole pet rock craze came about, and people gave me several of them; different people who all knew I loved rocks! Pet rocks weren't really rocks. I think they were cement or concrete, but it's the thought that counts.

    Over the years, the many, many years that followed, I have ventured into nature stores to pick up a polished rock or two to add to my ever-growing collection. I have a good-sized collection, not to brag or anything.  I have polished stones and rough stones. I have rocks I've picked up outside from almost every place I've been. I pray with a very special rock, but it's not the one I prayed with for over 28 years. I lost that one somehow - - and my heart is broken because of it. Still, it will show up again; God will bring it to Heaven, I'm sure, and I'll keep it forever. I'm sure of it.

    Today, I received my first "box of rocks" from Amazon. I bought a box of rocks, a tumbler, grit, and polishing foam. I will tumble rocks for the heck of it, and see what they look like around my birthday. It's October 2 now, I'll start on October 6 and stop the machine on my birthday, November 22. If I need to do more, I'll do more. I'll put in a few now and then a few more after that. I plan on doing this for a while -- why not? It's a good hobby, and it's permanent! Rocks are meant to last the test of time.

There are many times in the Bible when rocks are mentioned and used. The gates of Heaven are made of 12 specific stones. These same stones are on the breastplates of the high priests.  Moses struck a rock, Jesus was crucified on one - they were used for alters, cairns, reminders, and more. They are permanent; they will be here when we are gone! Rocks are a gift - and they are too precious to just ignore or throw away. The random rock you throw into the ocean probably took two million years to get to the spot where you found it!

    Did you know that rocks are all the same age? Don't let people fool you into believing something else. I'm not talking about the carbonized diamond - - I'm talking about the rocks that are in the ground, the ones that make up the granite mountains, and those that are on the ocean and sea floors -- you know, rock rocks! They were all made on the same day! You don't have to believe it, but I do. 

    Rocks are not crystals and I don't think people should use them for healing. If, in fact, they have healing powers, it's because God Himself put it in them. I don't worship rocks or use them to bring attention to myself or anyone else - but if one actually talks -- we know why! I never, and I mean NEVER want to hear a rock speak -- not until we're all up in Heaven together, singing and praising with the water, the air, the flowers, the bugs, and everything else - - rocks don't have knees, so they can't bow, but according to the Word, they must have the ability to speak - - so they will confess one day that Jesus is in fact, Lord of lords, King of kings, and He is God!

    Ever wonder why God decided to write the Ten Commandments in stone? Think about it. 

Photo Credit: Me