MediocreMan

My Second Sequel · 15 March 2025

I wrote a second sequel to a short story. And I think it works.

I am not much for sequels. Which does not mean that I do not watch movie sequels. I do. But rarely, does the sequel measure up to the original. Which is why I pretty much do not write sequels. Unless they just come to me.

That is what happened to Amongst the Beach Detritus and Again Amongst the Beach Detritus. I just had to write the sequels. They jumped right out of my mind and onto the page. Literally. Okay. Not literally. But it did just happen. I wrote the first story and the second popped into my head right away. Maybe the next day.

Well, lo and behold, the second sequel percolated in my mind and came out a couple weeks later. Or thereabouts. I could not get the notion out of my head that the ending of the sequel was wrong somehow. I mean c’mon. Squ… Wait. I do not want to give you a spoiler. So suffice it to say, that I was not satisfied with the ending of the sequel.

It is interesting because I was actually fine with the ending to the original story. But the sequel reared its ugly head and said, “Write me.” So I did. And like I said, the second sequel just kept bugging me until I finally wrote it. It did not so much say, “Write me,” like the sequel did. It was more like, “C’mon, you know you did not really like the other ending.” And, “Think about it, do you really want the sequel to end that way?” The second sequel kept nagging me and nagging me. So I finally relented and wrote it.

I am not sure that the second sequel works. I think it does. It is somewhat humorous. And yes, I will put it on my blog next week. Or maybe I already put it on my blog. I am not sure. After all, I am still writing this piece about my second sequel. Which, by the way, is entertaining. At least to me. Then again, maybe I need to say that. After all, a piece of writing is like a child. Whether it is your favorite piece or not, you need to give it time and attention as if it was the favorite. (I really do not have a favorite child. But I do have favorite pieces of writing. Which is not possible either since you can only have one favorite by definition. At any rate.)

Well, that is about it. I am not really much of a fan of sequels, but I have written a couple for one simple short story. And maybe they are so short that they are really one story that just did not get written all the way in one sitting. But it does not matter because when all is said and done, they are three pieces. An original and two sequels. I hope you like them all.

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Books and Blogs · 8 March 2025

Just because you have books out there, does not mean that anybody will buy them. Or maybe that is just me.

I have more than two dozen books out there on Amazon. And I would venture to guess that I have sold about that many books. Total. It is not discouraging or anything like that. It is just interesting. Well, I suppose not that interesting even. After all, I do not do that much promoting or anything like that. I can barely even tell people I have known forever that I have books out there. Okay. Maybe I tell them. But I just do not push myself on anybody.

I suppose that is the thing. In order to sell books, you need to tell people that you have books for them to buy. You need to be a self-promoter. Which is not me. I just do not know how to do it. It is not that I am humble or anything like that. (I try to be.) It is just that I do not know how to do the whole self-promotion thing.

“Hey, did you know that I wrote a book. Several, in fact.”
“That’s nice.”
“Wanna read one?”
“What’d you say?”

That actually sounds like a self-promotion conversation I would have. Even with myself. Still, if I am going to be a self-published author, I ought to at least do a little self-promotion.

I suppose that is what blogs are for. They are for writers to just get stuff out there. Show people that they have bodies of work. Or maybe that is just me. I suppose that I should promote my writing more with my blog. Maybe with posts like this one. (Hey! Did you know that I wrote some books?)

I also need to write and write and write because to not do so would be to deny the gift that God has given me. Even if nobody reads my stuff, I must write. Besides, writing is like breathing. Breathe in. Write. Breathe out. Write.

At any rate.

I had a nice thing happen at school the other day. The kids on the morning announcements promoted my book. Not my latest book, but perhaps one of my best books. (I am not sure since not that many people have read it.) The student held up the book (we have video announcements) and said that she was thankful (thankful Thursday) for talented staff who share their talents. Well, I may or may not be talented. That is for others to decide. All I do is write and publish. Others can decide whether what I have written is worth anything or not.

Well, I am not sure that I have said anything here. I may have just reiterated something I blogged about before. Which is that I am not much of a self-promoter. Or that I need to do a little promotion of my books on my blog. So here is my pitch.

I have lots of books out on Amazon. At least a couple people have reviewed a few of them. Maybe you should buy one too and give it a review. Ooh. Maybe that is an ad campaign.

“You should buy one too, and give it a review. You should buy one too, and give it a review.”

Nah. Too silly. And what does the “too” refer to.

Maybe it should be:

“You should buy one or two, and give them a review.”

Nah. That does not match the subject and object. One is plural and the other is singular. Ah well…

Well, I hope that I have not been too much of a self-promoter. But I do hope that you get a book or two of mine. And whether you like it or not, give it a review.

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Time Flies · 1 March 2025

Time flies. Whether or not you are having any fun.

It is not really an aha moment or anything like that, but time really does fly. When you are having fun. I know. The saying is supposed to give you a little perspective that when you are having fun, it seems that time is going so much faster than normal. Like you are in a time warp or something. One moment you are starting to do your fun thing. The next moment, it is time to be done. Bed time or suppertime or quitting time or something. You need to stop doing whatever fun thing it was that you were doing.

But even though it might seem like time drags when you are not doing something fun, it is really flying then too.

Think about it. No matter how much fun you are having doing anything, when you look at the clock, the second hand goes around at the same rate all the time. One… Second… At… A… Time… No matter what. That second hand keeps spinning and spinning and spinning. At the same rate. All the time. Just watch and see, if you do not believe me.

Of course, popular media would have you believe otherwise. I remember some movie or TV show where the clock ticked slower and slower and slower because the person watching was bored stiff. And it sure seems like time drags on when what you are doing is drudgery. But time marches ever onward. It flies.

I think that you get this perspective as you age. You realize that time is precious and that you should not waste it. Make every second count. Not that sitting and just looking at the sunset or watching your kids play or doing something relaxing is a waste of time. Quite the contrary, those moments are the ones that really matter. Often more than those times when you are supposedly being productive. When you are churning out the words for your next great novel. Or whatever your choice of productive time is. You do not need to fill every waking moment with something “productive” in the sense of work or even play. You can just be.

Maybe that is the key to slowing time down a little bit. I know. Not everybody wants to slow down time, but we do need to stop and smell the roses. We need to relax. We need to just be. Not always, but at times. Because we know that time does indeed fly. Faster than we ever imagined.

Yes. The saying is correct. Time does fly when you are having fun. But the deeper truth of the matter is that time just flies. Period.

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