Farewell to The Extreme!

I usually don't get crazy over celebrity deaths - it's a way of life for someone to pass away, even if we view the rich and famous as immortals among us mere mortals. But today, while scrolling through my news feed on Facebook, my emotions caught in my throat when I saw that Bill Paxton had passed away at the young age of 61.

My first reaction was that it was a hoax - it is fake news (Yeah, we've had enough mention of fake news lately). How many celebrities have been announced as deceased but it was wrong? Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for this particular actor.

I've been a fan of Bill Paxton since I was a kid. Tombstone, Apollo 13, Titanic, just to name a few. But the best movie where I completely fell in love with him was Twister - a cult classic, a movie that still gets watched by everyone and is familiar to most, despite it being over 20 years old. It is a tradition for me to watch it at the beginning of every storm season. This year, it will hold even more meaning to me.

As I sit here and listen to the Twister soundtrack, it makes me nostalgic for the times I have storm chased across Texas....(and Oklahoma and Kansas) And I'll be the first to admit that the movie gave me some inspiration to do it. I grew up on the plains of Texas where the weather is infamous for changing within seconds... from high winds, questionable winters, to mega thunderheads that pop up out of nowhere. It gets me excited just thinking about it. I'd like to thank Bill Paxton and the makers of Twister for heightening my interest in weather (I get that it's a fictional movie that really isn't realistic...) It still is somewhat responsible for giving me spring fever long before it's time to put up the sweaters and coats.

Godspeed, Bill Paxton. Thanks for your years of entertaining us! Dusty and The Extreme can chase together again!

GOING GREEN! GREENAGE! 

Island of Misfit Ideas

Recently, I've been going through some book ideas that I have worked on in the past. I have a couple of books that I've started on and sadly, the idea, for whatever reason, has fallen flat. I had an apocalyptic story revolving around fierce storms that I was deep into back in 2012 that I just sort of stopped writing on. Actually, now that I think about it, I remember exactly why I stopped writing on that one.... That year was a year that seemed like whatever I wrote in the story seemed to come true in storm systems across my area. Coincidence? Oh, I'm almost sure of it, but it was still enough for me to get a little wigged out about it. That year on April 29th, a tornadic storm ripped through my neighborhood, tearing up my car and my house. (I live in an active tornado area, but it was enough to hit that close to home to make me shy away.) I think that was the final straw in putting that story on hold, and sadly, I never went back to it. Now, almost two years later, I've dusted off that old file and have done some looking around on it. If I do a thorough read through on it, I think maybe the muse could come back and maybe I could complete it. Of course, storm season is right around the corner and gearing up, so should I? Hmmm, yeah, why the heck not?? Apocalyptic stories seem to do pretty well.

The story is titled "The Roaring Silence" and here is the probable cover that I was thinking about using. Keep in mind that this is just the preview and not the purchased background that I would use, hence the watermark over the middle of it. The final picture will not have that:

Another book on my mind is the very first self published book I ever wrote called Modern Day Drifter. I took that book down due to it needing some mega re-writes. What can I say? It was my first book and I was so naïve going into it all. I had EVERY intention of making it available again and gosh, I want to say it's been well over four years since I took it down off of the Amazon website. It was basically a general romance about an ex convict who found his way to a small town and began working on a ranch. He becomes a rodeo prodigy and finds something he is great at. It doesn't have as complex of a plot as my Troubled Heroes Series does, but it was good for a quick, romantic read. Maybe this summer I can do those re-writes and get it back out there as well.

Long story short - I need to start producing more stories at a quicker pace. With two half written books sitting on my shelf, the potential to produce more than a book a year is there... I just have to get the muse back for both of them. With storm season rolling in soon, maybe The Roaring Silence can really take off and I can have that out soon. I need to stop letting things fall flat and buckle down and finish!