Sins of Our Fathers | Author Blog

I love orchids. So much so that they play a part in my novel. To some degree part of that is an influence by [tippy title="Rex Stout,"]The great author of the Nero Wolfe series.[/tippy] whom I love to read.

Here’s a picture of one of my orchids in bloom that I snapped with my cell the other day.

So when I read this bit of information I just couldn’t help but smile: Orchids likely decorated dinosaur stomping grounds.

Julie Steenhuysen reports for Reuters:

Fossilized orchid pollen on the back of a bee preserved in amber has offered the first evidence that these delicate flowers existed around the time of the dinosaurs, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Biologists at Harvard University said the ancient pollen, found in a clump on a now-extinct worker bee, means orchids are much older than previously thought.

Of course most orchids aren’t really that delicate. They tend to be incredibly hardy plants. Those one of the reasons they’ve been around so long.

Also, it’s such a wonder to me, merriment even, to think about the creativity of Jesus in making all these wonderful and exotic plants. What an amazing Author!

When I read this I was flummoxed: Fox Show Bears Odd Resemblance to Book.

For me it’’s one of the worst case scenarios for a writer, particularly a writer of fiction.

Apparently this item revolves around a new series coming to the Fox Channel called, “New Amsterdam,” which bears a striking similarity to the work of fiction, Forever, by Pete Hamill written several years ago.

Though the name of the main character in the TV show and the character name in Hamill’s work are different, they bare suspiciously similar qualities and even descriptions.

The report says:

Although the show’s executive producer, David Manson, insists that John Amsterdam was created independent of Cormac O’Connor [This is the name of the main character in Hamill's book, "Forever."], Hamill and his fans aren’t quite convinced—although the author’s attitude leans more to resignation than litigation.

“To try and prove anything about this would take thousands and thousands of dollars, which I’d rather spend on my grandson,” Hamill said. “You’ve gotta laugh.”

That’s a sad statement of fact I suppose. But it’s good he can laugh about it.

I’m working on rewriting my book proposal for the format that Kregel desires. Which is to say that I had an eMail from the very nice acquisitions editor I was waiting upon.

Very cool. I think I should be able to rewrite it without to much difficulty. I think I like their format more than the one from which I had based my original, a book about writing proposals. Which is to say it would have saved me some time to have tried to find out what format they desired, but not having found it on their website I went with the book I was reading.

But looking back, I think it was good that I did the proposal the way I originally did it. It was a good exercise and it forced me to wait which I believe the Lord used to get me help from several more people in editing the manuscript – something it needed.

That said I was thinking of the way my synopsis begins and was thinking of rewriting it. Here’s what it looks like at the moment:

Conditions are right for more than just a hurricane. Pastor Jack Grayson and his small Florida church are about to undergo an evil maelstrom in the form of a serial killer.

This is what was [tippy title="rattling around"]A fact that meant I needed to write it down before I forgot it. Of course I failed to bring along a writing utensil, let alone something to write upon. So I happily typed it into my little cell phone.[/tippy] in my head yesterday:

When the storms of life come where do we shelter? And afterwards what is left of the landscape of our lives? When his wife was brutally murdered Pastor Jack Grayson in anger refused the shelter of God leaving behind a landscape bleak with destruction. Faced with another storm swallowing the lives of teenage girls in his church, this new storm threatens to leave behind a barren waste of his already bitter heart.

Where do we shelter when the storms of life come? And afterwards what is left of the landscape of our hearts? When his wife was brutally murdered Pastor Jack Grayson, in anger, refused the shelter of God leaving behind a landscape bleak with destruction. Faced with a new storm stealing the lives of the teenage girls in his church, this maelstrom threatens to leave behind a barren waste of Grayson’s already bitter heart.

So what do you, [tippy title="my reader"]I think there’s at least one of you.[/tippy], like the best? Which one hooks you?

I just completed an update to the WordPress software so I you come across some kind of bug let me know.

I have to say I am really like the WordPress blogging software. Updating has been pretty much without incident for me so far and I do like the number of inventive plug-ins so many creative software engineering-like folk are out there making stuff for it.

There’s some pretty slick stuff.

Here’s one I came across for you photo-blog folk that enables the ability to interact with your panoramic photos:

WP PTViewer or how to easily insert panoramic pictures in a post.

A little while ago I posted about my search for a good cheap Thesaurus software package. Well, I’ve been doing some research and I installed a program that I’ve been very happy with so far.

It’s Mobysaurus.

A very extensive Thesaurus at that and so far it’s given my creative word juices a boost.

It does require that you install Microsoft’s .Net software package. Which was a bit of a negative for me. So much a negative that I waited a week before installing it. I originally tried an earlier version of .Net for some forgotten program. That attempt resulted in digital headaches by the number.

But after a bit of digging, I discovered that Microsoft had a new version of .Net, Version 3. So I installed that, which took a bit of time, and then installed Mobysaurus and have been happy up to this point. We’ll see where things go from here.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention. It’s Free.

I’m thinking of dumping my current word processing software. I’ve used WordPerfect for years, but I’m playing with the idea of switching. Primarily because I’ve got the itch to change, but also because of conversion troubles to other formats.

So, with MSOffice way out of my writer’s wallet, I’m playing with OpenOffice.org. The trouble I’ve got so far with it, is that it doesn’t have a great Thesaurus built in.

So….

Can anyone recommend a good Thesaurus software package?

I want something that is available off-line.

Oh, and [tippy title="inexpensive"]Translation: CHEAP![/tippy] is a bonus.