Wm J Whitney

Author / Publisher

[wmjwhitney]

Trail Report:  Huntsville to Midland, Texas

Trail Report: Huntsville to Midland    

I covered 820 comfortable miles in two days to get to Midland, arriving just in time to see my four-year-old grandson’s first T-ball practice.  Now that my friends, is a Gift of the Journey!  Graced with bountiful gifts: seeing smiles beam across the faces of both grandsons when they saw their Pappy; spending a full week with them seeing how much they have grown; constructing a kickwall for soccer and setting up a T-ball and net in the garage they use daily; playing their childs guitar while blew harp in the same key; the puppet show wearing an oversized Mardi Gras jester hat leaving them in stiches.  A priceless Gift of the Journey.

But there was more.  On this run, I took US190, try it.  Anyone riding a motorcycle, or driving a car for that matter, going east-west through Louisiana and Texas, do yourself a favor, take a deep breath, exhale, slide down away from I-10, and take a great ride along US190. I recommend it from just west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana all the way to Brady, Texas.  I can’t speak for the rest of it, but given the opportunity, I get back up on it … except going into Baton, Rouge.

So what if it takes a bit longer, you are graced with glimpses of American society!  Ride through areas of growth, and those reminiscing over better days gone by, with corresponding attitudes of the indigenes.  Rolling past expansive hilly country north and west of Houston, you observe wonderfully appointed ranches with well-maintained outbuildings and healthy livestock grazing on lush grass, green from recent rains.  Nearby oil gathering batteries makes you shake your head and wonder at the luck. Those without royalty rights were clearly the have-nots.  Out in Midland where the Permian Basin has a strong steady petroleum fueled pulse.  Rigs drilling, pump jacks bobbing up and down like chickens feeding on crumbs, and oilfield service companies wearing down the rubber on new tires.  

The speed limit along this well maintained scenic highway is generally 75 miles per hour, until you approach the small towns and hamlets you encounter, and the gradual speed breakdown until you slide through town at 30 or 35 miles per hour, past old historic sections of town, some still with classic pre-civil war court houses, antiquated stores and commercial buildings.  The grand mansions and decaying remnants of the influential, cascading down through cultural lineation to the double-wides and shacks at the edge of town.  

For much of the run it is two lanes each way with well-groomed shoulders.  In those sections where it was one lane each way, the shoulders are extra wide.  Not to worry.  The slower moving local drivers will typically slow down even further, and pull over partially on the shoulder to make passing easier.  I have not found this to be a custom anywhere else besides this part of Texas.  I probably need to get out more.  In some parts, the road is two-lanes, but with passing lanes spread out down the road so you’re not stuck behind a line of cars following a 1985 Winnebago.   For the most part, the law enforcement I passed was concentrated near the towns, and since I set my cruise control on the speed limit, I have nothing to worry about. I only saw one Texas State Trooper out on the highway writing a citation.  Not like on the interstates, but they are out there.

Spring time in the Texas Hill Country is special, as the wildflowers come out.  Hundreds of different species from the full color spectrum create a natural pallet that captures your attention, but not for too long!   At first, I came upon small patches of flowers, leading me to believe I had missed the season.  But, as the miles rolled by, more and more flowers graced the sides of the roads. Cars had pulled over to see acre+ fields of wild flowers under a sunny sky.   I still think I missed the height of the season, but was thankful I saw what I did.  Another Gift of the Journey.

Coming up to river crossings always interests the geologist in me.  They all tell different stories. Started this trip crossing the Mighty Mississippi, which we in the New Orleans area take for granted.   I crossed the straight-as-an-arrow Atchafalaya River, engineered and contained awkwardly by the Army Corp of Engineers.  And to think, if nature had been allowed its way, the Mississippi would have broken through and flowed down past Morgan City.   The swampy, lazy environs of the Sabine River, are so different than the vast flood plains of the Brazos and to a smaller extent the Pecos River, both carved out by melt of the last ice age.   One of the principle reasons I studied geology was that you could actually see things like the effect of erosion and the power of rivers.   Many more river crossings ahead.

[wmjwhitney]

Let Another Quest Begin

Yesterday morning, my fully loaded K1600 GLT came to life and purred.  After the pre-ride check, I swung a leg through the saddle and climbed across the bike, feeling the smooth six inline cylinders murmuring beneath me.  A singular sensation pulsed rhythmically through my body as I nodded a final good-bye to my wife and rode off.  Leaving my New Orleans suburb, I headed over the Huey P. Long Bridge across Mississippi River on US90, and away from I-10.  A cool, freshing wind from the SE complimented the clearing skies and cast the sun’s colorful kiss, rising higher above the horizon.  

An illegal grin spread across my face thinking of what might lay ahead.  Following blacktop ribbons across the countryside, over forested hills, through valleys vibrant with crops, over bridges old and new in quest of adventure.  Slicing quietly into the local cultures found along the way in the towns, villages, and hamlets en route. Staying connected with American society  I feel a need somehow to reconnect with Americana as our identify as a nation seems threatened on so many different levels.

Part of the sense of excitement of this trip is attributed to the fact that I have sent a completed draft of A Cause Undone, the sequel to my first civil war historical fiction novel, off to my editor.  My goal is to work my editor Maxine Bringenberg, aka Maxine the Magnificent, and complete the editing process, and then publish while on this trip.  If any aspiring writers need a good editor with competitive rates and a genuine appetite to help with the edits, let me know and I can send you her email address.  The book cover art is in the can and ready to go.  More on that later.

Back to the trip.  People travel for countless reasons.  Some simply to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible.  They argue, that after all, the point is to get there, right?   No, seeing California is not the same as getting to and seeing California.  The constricted Point A to B mindset, which includes riding the Interstate Highway system, strips a traveler of the chance for a richly rewarding experience.  This includes offerings I call, Gifts of the Journey.  Gifts come in countless manifestations, always spiritual, yet often with a tangible reminder.  They can be anything from breaking cultural barriers that unlock the secret recipe for fried green tomatoes to the timely appearance of a hawk’s feather.  To discover such offerings, you must truly look inward to yourself, and outward with an open mind.  Of course, one must be wise enough to appreciate the message.

The first Gift of the Journey was the fact that yesterday rolling west down US190 through Louisiana, across the Sabine River into Texas, was 30 degrees cooler than when I came this same way last August.  A cool 79 was refreshingly delightful compared to the 109 my bike thermometer showed last summer.  Yesterday, the 340 miles in 8+ hours to Huntsville, Texas was quite comfortable.  Ran past thousands of acres of crawfish farms in Acadiana, and in every small town along the way, the tantilizing smell of crawfish boil in the air.  I’m back in BBQ brisket country !!  Tomorrow, the Texas Hill Coutnry with my nose pointed towards Midland, where my grandsons hold all kinds of Gifts in store.

[wmjwhitney]

The Writer’s Different Voices

Trying to get my arms around the indie publishing business challenges the skills I have, some I admit a bit rusty.  However, it also presents opportunities to learn new skills, to become a comfortable user with new platforms like Joomla, PhotoShop, Tumblr and Facebook, just to mention a few.   I now realize that my internet cultural skills had eroded with each passing year. Now, all I need to remind myself of my shortcomings is to see my two-year-old grandson, Mr. E, summarily hack into his grandmother’s phone and miraculously load up a movie from some altocumulus cloud.   We still don’t know how he did it!  The age old business acumen for businesses of “grow or perish” holds true with social media skills.  As soon as you quit learning something new, your already outdated skill sets commence to wither and eventually die.  Keeping skills sharp is a matter of use it or lose.  The same holds true with writing.  Authors love to spend time weaving plots, building characters that they love, hoping others do as well, but there are other types of writing the are compulsory requirements if you want to successfully self-publish.

I break writing into three categories: literature, social media and strategic.  

Literature:  To effectively write my stories, I need to cull out a two or three-hour period of time where I can focus without distraction, and get into my author’s literature voice. I need time to re-group my thoughts of the characters’ perspectives, and reaffirm where the story is headed.  If things are clicking, I seem to transport myself back into time.  It takes a few awkward starts before my fingers start to warm up, relax and then finally start a fox trot across the keyboard.  Hopefully, I get a flow going.   The more I write, the easier it is to overcome creative inertia, and to slip into a comfortable cadence.  Everybody is different.  I find my most productive hours for this kind of writing are before noon.  Others prefer writing in the late hours of the evening.  Granted, everyone’s circumstances are different, and we all use what we have available.

Social Media:  For those interested in publishing in any manner, either self-publishing or taking the traditional route by contracting with agents and publishing houses, the social media requirements imposed on the author are much the same.  

AXIOM:  If you want to sell books, the author necessarily must become active in social media to get your brand out.  

If you are naturally shy or timid, have no fear, all is not lost.  A solution to your success might make it necessary to create an alter-internet-ego of sorts.  It can be done.  Look at the famous Latina singer Shakira.  I read once that in her private life, she is naturally shy.  But, put her on stage, or in front of the camera, and she transforms into a totally different, magnetic, sensual artist.  You can do the same; well sort of anyhow.  I am not suggesting you try to be Shakira.  Given you will be “out there”, and if successful, most of your readers would not know your private side.  Think of it as wearing a mask down in the French Quarter on Fat Tuesday … Mardi Gras, where for that one day you can step out of character and become that person you have, deep down, always wanted to be.  If you simply cannot compel yourself to do that, well, then keep writing and enjoy it for the sake of writing, or perhaps to leave a little something behind as a legacy.  Just don’t be disappointed if you never his Amazon’s Top-10 list.

You will need a webpage interlinked with a dedicated Facebook page.   Another firm will have to host your webpage, and don’t forget your Twitter Account!  Each of these vehicles will require you to post writings or blogs.  While I am unaware of an official, or unofficial format for blogging, the writing style / voice is different from that used to spawn your literature  that you now hope to market successfully.  Each media platform may require subtle adaptations in style to meld into those respective communities.  Twitter burst are different that blogs.  I have a piece of paper tapped to my desk that says, “REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE”.

Strategic:  This is again, a totally different beast.  The voice is more business-like.  It became obvious early on that for me to get any measure of control over all the balls, and flaming knives, being juggled in the air, I needed to create a master strategy document.  One day, after compiling a sufficient body of knowledge infused within the strategy document, I may decide to formalize a half-day course on lessons learned.  Until then, it is my Survival Guide, my sanity check.  It has a section on Market Identification that I use to capture information about my market audience: readers of historical fiction and civil war enthusiasts.  It contains entries about my contacts with reenactment groups and historical societies that I reach out to, and what becomes of those attempted connections.  I “follow” civil war publications, with a standing goal of getting something published to expand my readership.   Market Strategy has a separate section where I develop the concept of things like publishing articles on the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation, and attend major reenactments like at Gettysburg.  I periodically review market feedback from book sales, enabling adjustments to the pricing and other promotional ideas. Facebook requires regular postings such as this, and my website, www.wmjwhitney.com houses the blog.  The notes in the Strategy capture the goals and provides measurements of success. One day, perhaps in conjunction with developing the course suggested above, I suspect it will have a summary. As a living document, the master strategy will grow over time.

All three require different voices, however each demands a disciplined approach.  As something comes up, I categorize the writing requirement into one of these classes.  I refer the literature portion as Class Alpha, or Class A; the social media component as Class Delta or Class Δ (as social media makes a difference!); and Class Phi or Class Φ.   Why the Greek you ask?  For the fun of it, after all, aren’t we supposed to be enjoying the journey?  As noted above, I need a block of time, preferably in the morning to write dialogue and prose for a story.  I also need the same kind of time allotment for strategic writing.  Accordingly, I alternate mornings working on new material for my next book, A Cause Undone, and working on the strategic side of the business.   Given the insatiable needs of social media marketing, for the time being, I try to address that each day in the early afternoon, and save the balance of the day for hands on training in platforms such as Joomla and PhotoShop.  Time to go back to school!  Not everyone is wired the way I am, so I will not stand on this box and tell you that you must also become, OK … anal, about structuring your time, but I could not possibly hope to get a handle on all this without structure.

In summary, it is a personal best practice to identify the type of writing required, and use a structured approach to prioritize my writing.  Hope this helps.

William Whitney                February 20, 2017

[wmjwhitney]

Tiers of War Launched

It only took a brazilian years, but I have finally published my Civil War historical fiction piece in eBook format on Amazon / Kindle.  Thanks in advance to those who purchase the book.  I would ask that after reading the first four chapters, that you get back with me using the CONTACT page, and let me know which character you liked best and why.  Also, 5-Star reviews are extremely helpful in getting the word out about this story, so anything you can do in that regard would also be genuinely appreciated.