On the Road: A Short Trip to Greenville, S.C.

There are some cities and towns that fall under the radar and should be visited by curious travelers. Some folks refer to them as hidden gems. 

Occasionally my wife and I take long weekend trips to various areas within a reasonable driving distance and we discovered a gem in Greenville, S.C. The small city is about 365 miles from our home in Frankfort, Ky., about a six-hour drive depending on the route (we took the scenic route through eastern Kentucky, crossing parts of southwestern Virginia, and east Tennessee). 

Main Street 

While Greenville proper has a population of about 72,000, the metropolitan area has more than one million, making it the largest in South Carolina. It's the hub of the prosperous and growing Upstate South Carolina, an economic and cultural region of more than 1.5 million.

Greenville, founded in 1797, is located in the foothills of the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Falls Park on the Reedy

We focused our trip on activities in Greenville, although there are many things to do within a short driving distance such as Furman University, Paris Mountain State Park, and numerous golf courses and hiking trails.

We stayed downtown, close to tree-lined Main Street and the several places that attracted us to the city in the first place. 

The downtown is well-preserved and a pleasant place to walk to shops, restaurants, museums, and performing arts venues as well as unexpected outdoor sites. 

The Liberty Bridge 

 The Liberty Bridge, which crosses the Reedy River and waterfalls, was our first place to visit. The pedestrian bridge is about 345 feet long.  Falls Park on the Reedy was a bonus that we enjoyed, relaxing next to the falls on a warm August day in 2023.

Cancer Survivors Park

The Swamp Rabbit Trail, an old railroad corridor, snakes through the heart of the city for 28 miles. We saw about as many bicyclists as we did hikers. We walked along the path from the bridge for a little more than a mile to the charming Greenville Zoo. We stopped along the way at the inspirational Cancer Survivors Park.

Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum

If you're a baseball fan, Greenville is home to the Drive, a High A-East affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They play at Fluor Field, which has dimensions similar to Fenway Park in Boston.  Right next to the stadium is the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum. Be sure and check times for when it's open if you plan to visit. 

Check the official Greenville website for things to see and do. We got an excellent visitor's guide (it's free) in the mail that helped us find places to visit, eat, and stay. It even suggests a pleasant and informative self-guided walking tour of the city.  

Greenville, needless to say, is well worth the visit. 

Until the next time . . .

Unfocused in 2024

It's been a while since I've posted a blog. That's going to end today.

I'm unsure why there's been a drought since Dec. 7, 2023. It's been frustrating. I've had things to write about, especially travels to various places, but I haven't been inclined to put those trips down in words. Maybe it's a little laziness on my part. I plan to rectify that in the coming weeks.

I have been writing, though. I'm working on the seventh novel in my John Ross Boomer Lit series. I also post book reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and other sites. 

I also edit the monthly newsletter from Wings ePress. You can check it out here. I encourage you to subscribe, too! 

 I plan to get back to the writing here. I've even had a few folks ask me when I was going to start posting again. 

Well, I'm back!

Until the next time . . . 

Back to the Keyboard

 It's been quite a while since I've posted something here. My apology. 

I could use the excuse that sometimes life gets in the way, but that would be a cop-out. A writer should write, regardless. I have been writing, but not on this platform since last May.

First, I had the sixth book in my John Ross Boomer Lit series, Cradle of Conflict, published on Dec. 1. Anyone who has written a book knows that there's a lot of writing that goes into the final product, from drafts (I had seven), to edits, to rewrites. So that took up a lot of my time until I wrapped it up in early November with my editor and graphic artist. It's also available, in ebook and print, from Amazon.

In Madrid 

I also traveled to Spain, spending two marvelous weeks in September and October, starting in Madrid and ending in Barcelona. In between, there were stops in Seville, Granada. Valencia, and Ronda. My wife, Mary, and I even made a day trip to Gibraltar. More about marvelous Spain in a future post.

My wife and I also drove to Greenville, S.C., in August. It's always nice to discover wonderful places near home. I can see why Greenville is a hot destination in the American South. It's a walkable city (we're urban hikers) with lots to see and do, from baseball to museums. And more about Greenville in a future post.

Since November of last year, I've taken on the position of marketing director for Wings ePress. I put together a monthly newsletter and manage social media, trying to attract attention to a talented group of authors. Check out the newsletter here and subscribe.

I'll be getting back to regular posts, revisiting my trips, revealing future travel plans, and pontificating about music, photography, and writing. 

Until the next time... 

Alive and Well, and Writing

 I haven't posted a blog in about three months. That's a long time in cyberspace. It was my plan at the start to have a minimum of one post per week and usually exceeded that number.

 But sometimes life gets in the way of intentions. It's not like I've been in a vegetative state, even though I'm a vegetarian. 

I'm still working on the third rewrite of the sixth book in my "John Ross Boomer Lit Series." It hasn't come along as smoothly as the previous entries, but still, there's progress. I'd like to finish it in a few weeks to submit to my publisher for publication later this year. It might be wishful thinking on my part. I hope not, but we'll see.  

I've also taken on some responsibilities with my publisher, Wings ePress. The primary job is marketing coordinator. I promote the authors, books, and the publisher through Facebook, Twitter, website, and other venues.

 I also handle the monthly newsletter that made its debut in April. Check it out here, and if interested, subscribe. 

Also, query the executive editor at Wings at executive-editor@wingsepress.com if you have a complete or near-complete manuscript. You should visit the website to see various genres and submission guidelines. Tell them I sent you! 

That's it for now. I do hope to get back to posting on a semi-regular basis. 

Until the next time . . .

 

The Writing Life: Difficult Restart

A week ago I returned to a manuscript that had been in a file folder for nearly a year.  I had put it aside for various and sundry reasons. 

For those who don't follow my blog, I'm working  on the sixth book in the John Ross Boomer Lit series. 

I confess that it's been a rocky return to the manuscript. I work on a chapter each day with edits and rewrites. The problem is that I'm still not sure I like where the story is headed.

I originally thought I could build on the 40k words and finish the first draft in a couple months. Perhaps that'll happen once I get into a groove. 

My big concern is that I may be developing a case of writer's block with the manuscript. I've wondered if:

• Maybe I was away from the story for too long to get back into it? 
• I should simply put it away and come back when I can devote more time to it?
• I'm putting too much pressure on myself to complete the manuscript with my self-imposed deadline? 

The one solution I see right now is to quit fretting about rewriting, editing, and word count and simply read!

So that is what I plan to do. I'm going to re-read the manuscript, take a few notes along the way, and then get back into it with renewed energy and focus.

Don't you like reading thought processes of a writer? Kinda crazy, huh?

I'll let you know in a few days how things worked out.

Until the next time . . . 

The Writing Life: Back to the Keyboard

 It's been nearly a year since I saved the manuscript for my next novel on the hard-drive. I put it aside for reasons that I'll keep to myself. 

But on Feb. 1, I reopened it to begin work on the sixth book in my John Ross Boomer Lit series. It's my hope to have a complete draft finished in two months. 

I've written more than 41k words so my first task is to read what I've already written and go from there. So far it's been almost like going over another writer's words. That's good because I'm giving a reader's eye to the story.

I'll be making edits and rewrites along the way as the story comes back to life. Of course, I know the story in my head; just not the details from what a wrote a long time ago. I've put drafts aside in the past, but they were completed. I've never returned to a partial draft after almost a year. 

I've made mental notes and a few physical ones about the novel. I'm sure there will be more notations in the coming weeks. 

My editor at Wings ePress has reserved a spot to publish the book later in the year so I'm on somewhat of a deadline to get it to her in plenty of time for the edits, copy edits, proofreads and everything else entailed in transforming a manuscript into a novel.

Until the next time . . .

No More Thinking About the End

It may seem odd to many boomers and other old folks, but I don’t fear death.

Now in my mid-70s, I’ve reached many of the goals set many years ago. I never expected life to go on forever — and wouldn’t want it to. After so many trips around the Sun, it can get kinda boring.

But have you ever considered a few of the positives about kicking the proverbial bucket?

• No more filing state and federal income taxes. That means no longer have to keep track of everything you do during the previous years before filing.
• No more having to replace vehicles, appliances, and other devices.
• No more grieving over the passing of relatives, friends, and pets.
• No more visits to various doctors for whatever procedures to keep you from dying.
• No more telephone calls from spammers trying to sell you a car warranty, medicare supplement, or life insurance.
• No more worries about political polarization, climate change, and pollution.
• No more concerns about the price of gasoline, groceries, and prescriptions.
• No more reading about mass murders and senseless gun violence.
• No more worrying about getting rid of the clutter collected over the years.
• No more upgrading smartphones, computers, laptops, and tablets.
• No more having to deal with toxic people.
• No more seeing and reading about the atrocities of war.
• No more having to take your vehicles in to be serviced or repaired.
• No more thinking about home security.
• No more contending with those who have road rage.
• No more having to face rude, disrespectful, and pretentious people.
• No more answering the front door and seeing religious missionaries, political aspirants, or strangers collecting money for various fundraisers.
• No more deadlines because you’re finally dead.

There’s more I could add to the list, but you get the idea. I bet there are a lot of things you would include.

In the meantime, I’ll wake up each morning and do those things I find challenging, worthwhile, and fulfilling. And then go to bed each night, hoping I accomplished something. But I won’t lose sleep over it — unless it’s getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

Maybe death is a final blessing from the pain, the mundane, and the insane we’ve encountered throughout our lives.

Until the next time . . .

(This post originally appeared at Medium.com)