Humble beginings...

Les Brown says that "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream". While I learned a long time ago to never say never, I do appreciate Mr. Brown's sentiments.

My bucket list (things I hope to get done before I kick the bucket), by its very nature, consists of things I've never done before. At my age, I try not to add to much to the list at one time. A while back, I added "publish a book" to my list, and recently I was able to cross that item off of the list.

But on my bucket list, much as in life, one thing often leads to another. A couple of weeks ago, Tom Butters, who runs the Hagerstown Museum and The Arts Place, asked me if I would like to do a book signing one evening.


I was a little on the apprehensive side, remembering that one of my publishing mentors, Chuck Avery, had once said that one of the most humbling experiences a person could experience was to have a book signing in their hometown.

To my advantage, I've run for office as a Libertarian a few times, so I'm not totally unaccustomed to being humbled.

I'm happy to say that I was humbled, not because people didn't show up, but because so many of them did. Occasionally some of them even had to wait in line. We sold a lot of books, and signed even more. It's looking like a second printing might be on the horizon. I hope I'm not to old to set that as a goal, anyway.

If you're into first editions, Stinky Shorts is available at www.StinkyShorts.com and the locations listed on the site.

Something sold, something new...

When you get close to 60 years old, the chances of doing something you haven't done before get a little slimmer. And even if you find something you haven't done before, there's a good chance you won't have the energy to do it anyway.

Ive been writing for a long time. The first thing I ever had published was a poem in the Hagerstown Exponent in 1962. I was in the 5th grade at the time. I've had a lot of letters and articles printed since then.

The internet made it a lot easier to get what you write in front of a lot more people. People can write a blog, or participate in an online forum, or just make a comment about at article if you are so inclined. I do all of those from time to time. Sometimes people agree with what I write, and sometimes they don't. One time a reporter from Florida contacted me to let me know that a candidate down there was reposting my blog under his own name. I think the reporter thought I should be upset. Actually, at the time I was kind of flattered.

But getting back to doing things that you haven't done before, last Friday I picked up a bunch of copies of "Stinky Shorts". It's a book of short stories about my old buddy Stinky Wilmont and me that I've been putting together over the last few months.

Friday night I sold one of the books. It was the first time I've ever sold anything that I had written. It felt pretty good for the first time.

By the way, If you're interested, Stinky Shorts is currently available in Richmond at Augustin Printing, in Hagerstown at The Corner Oak and Nettle Creek Hardware, In Cambridge City at Building 125, and in New Castle at Bill's Diner.

Hopefully by later this week it will be available at www.StinkyShorts.com

Right now I'm going to look for something else that I've never done before.