A Golden Opportunity wasted.

 

I’m Very Disappointed!

A Golden Opportunity wasted.

 

For all of you waiting for my response to another writing question, I’m sorry, but I have to veer away for a bit. I believe integrity, moral actions and development for my fellow Canadians is too important to be ignored.

Canadian Coat of Arms

I’ll get back to “why the fence?” and “why fiction?” soon.

I’ve always considered myself as being a bit “right of center” which any reader should realize already. Partly because of what I write and partly because I believe, and have stated many times, that I believe the past is an integral, and the third most important part, of who we are after heredity and teaching and an important aspect of the other two.

Not that I would ever vote consistently for a political party. A party shouldn’t be governing people which is the concept touted by what is perceived as “communism” today, or can be more accurately described as “governance by committee” which is in turn governed by a cadre of up to a dozen or two considered to be the “head” of that committee.

(Sounds a lot like the mining, auto, petroleum company or bank you just invested in, doesn’t it?)

I not only don’t like the idea of people being governed by a “thing” and I found back in the 1960s that what often comes out of a party is a hangover.

I believe that people should be governed by people and those in the management (and ONLY management) position should be accountable to those they manage. As a result of that understanding (or development / teaching through my own history) I never vote for a party but for the approach professed by the candidates presented and asking for my support. Therefore, the ballots I have cast have been for what I believe was the best result for the country (province or community) at the time. In the50+ years I’ve been allowed to cast ballots I believe I voted conservative most times except for once for Jean Chretien and once for Paul Martin Jr.

Did some of them make mistakes? Sure, everyone one of them, no matter if I voted for them or not. Did some of them lie? Every one of them, and in some cases, particularly national security, it is mandatory!

During Canada’s last federal election, I was not particularly surprised that the governing party won again. I was looking forward to getting the bad taste out of my mouth from the previous ten years, but with little time to prepare and no real knowledge of many of the candidates, including Peirre Poilievre, the logical choice for me didn’t have much of a chance. I was not prepared however for the drubbing they actually did get because I didn’t realize how petrified the Canadian voter was of PP being --- as was actually expressed to me by others I thought conservative in nature --- “Trump Light”.

Personally, I don’t think any true Canadian could be as far, far, far right as what I believe to be a fascist, racist, immoral denier of science and fact as the present leader of the Donald Trump Party. (No, he’s no more a Republican than I am.) And PP has demonstrated himself to be a Canadian and has, in more than one interview, attempted to separate himself from the “Trump Faction” despite most Canadian media trying to put him there.

This is where my latest disappointment arises. PP missed a golden opportunity to raise, expand or even balloon his profile as a Canadian. When Canada was attacked, insulted and demands made to even change our identity, PP could have stood together with all Canadians and helped to expand existing trade channels and create new ones.

If you go in to buy a car, the salesman quotes you a price, you laugh then quote another price, you are into negotiations. If your wife says, “Isn’t that still too high”, negotiations continue. If your wife gets up and walks out or says, “That’s too low,” then negotiations are over and you lost.

And that’s what happened here with the Canadian trade negotiators facing US representatives who were flailing at them with lies and demands.

Royal Canadian Mounted POolice

I’m still not happy with the direction our country is going in regards to international trade and the expansion of the access to and sale of our natural resources. Yes, trade with our long standing and closest partner must / will continue but with statements made about the inequality of former agreements that are 180 degrees opposite of the facts, we can be guaranteed it will be a bad one for Canada --- but all of the previous ones, though not really bad, have not been good for Canada, ----------- so what’s new?

Having said that, if you go in to buy a new care and the salesman kicks you in the crotch, do you continue negotiations or do you look for another salesman? Or do you go to a different auto dealer? Or do you get some friends together and arrange for the crotch-kicker to go looking for a new job?

I see postings stating that in the past 80% of Canada’s trade has been with the US of A. That is unconscionable! Sure, it’s easy and local but is that good management? It definitely is not! At least three avenues of trade would be better insurance against the many problems we might find in the world, including the certifiably insane.

Yes, now I’ll get back to more pleasant subjects like writing about writing.

I’d like comments but if not, here are some connections to entertainment.

Slide-shows with some dialogue at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 Look at some entertainment with a longer life at

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

 OR

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004V9WZVI

 A book should be good for at lest three reads over the years.

Or if you don’t have much of a memory, indefinitely.

The Downfall of a Great Little Town.

 The Downfall of a Small Town

Beyond Belief? It probably is!

No Proof? It's a fairy tale regardless that you Want to believe

Some things just don’t add up.

If you know someone in their late 20s who drives a gravel truck6 months of the year, spends the winters in exotic places, drives a new car every year and lives in a three bedroom house on a landscape acreage the smart thing to do is get as far away from that person as possible. Otherwise, when he is arrested for drug trafficking you could conceivable wind up in a cell right long side of him.

When you go into buy a car at the local Chrysler dealer and the junior salesman who invites you into his office starts telling you everyone in town likes him you MIGHT not get up and walk out but you should be thinking about it. He’s either lying or delusional. If he then says the product he represents is better than any other comparable auto, he’s delusional. If he says no other competitor can match his price then he’s a liar. In either case, you might as well leave.

But Hay, if you think you can be a greater sleaze-ball than him, go ahead and make the deal. Best of luck.

Let’s say you’re looking for a new house and there’s a new subdivision an agent has suggested. You find some people are saying that subdivision has some problems because last year was so very wet resulting in some foundation problems for all builds at that time. But your agent tells you that particular house you’re looking at was built during the only three dry weeks of the previous year.

That is a fairy tale. Get out of there!

Let’s say that same agent is running for mayor in your small town. He’s been in the community for more than a decade but no one remembers exactly when he arrived. Everyone does know that he’s been involved in several building and real-estate projects in the time he’s been around What is it, a decade or maybe two? He’s been very successful but everyone else in the business has either gone broke or left the area. He has other projects on the board and obviously, a real community builder.

And now he’s running for mayor, even though he has no background as an elected official.

But isn’t that what we need? A real businessman? He should be able to take the provincial grants and actually do something with them!

This real-estate agent, we’ll call him Karl, has some competition in this mayoral race. One is the town’s financial officer who has lived there is entire life, is 35 and worked in the town offices for 15 years. He’s also a member of the local Lions and Rotary. We’ll call him Gordon.

The third candidate is actually the most interesting contender to the public. He is popular with everyone and those who don’t know him know of him. He has been on town council for twenty years, is forty-five, considered the right hand of the previous retiring mayor and is a member of the Rotary, Elks and Freemasons. We’ll give this candidate the name Jack and explain that he owns the local meat processing plant, a local retail outlet and has meat supply contracts for outlets in a fifty-mile radius.

His little town has a history of slow but steady growth. A consistent record of infrastructure improvement, beautification through parks and rec and excellent recreation facilities, all the product of good management and a caring, united civic system.

Suddenly, in the months before the town election it is revealed that Jack is being sued by a female employee for parental support. Apparently, he has offspring that we don’t know about.

“Well, no, maybe only one.”

“Well, no, it’s just what we’ve all heard.”

“Have you heard about Gordon? They say there was grant money to pave that main street into the industrial area and anyone can see that wasn’t done.  

“You’ll notice Gordon and his family moved into that new hose. He’s gonna regret that; those houses in that sub-division all have foundation problems”

“Well, sure, I guess it would be alright if you could get it for free and sell your old house.”

That is exactly how a well-managed town can be destroyed. By believing the fairy tales about good people, good managers and community supporters and first allowing them to be destroyed. By believing lies from grifters, con-artists and frauds and ignoring their crimes because it’s embarrassing to realize you’ve been manipulated by a sleaze-ball.

Is this a fairy tale? It certainly is but it could be a positive fairy tale unlike the fairy tales about previous town councilors or any official who HAS ALREADY PROVEN HIS OR HER WORTH, MORALITY AND INTEGRITTY.

There is a great deal of talk about what needs to be done to save our societies. Rescind restrictive laws, make new laws, enforce existing laws, much more stringent penalties for breaking existing laws. None of these will make much of a difference without first demanding integrity.

If integrity exists, progress can be achieved.

Without integrity, chaos and destruction WILL ensue

First, establish integrity.

Second, realize that integrity and the people with it are the bases of everything that matters.

David M. McGowan

Leave a comment or take a look at a few slide-shows with some dialogue at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 Look at some entertainment with a longer life at

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

 OR

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004V9WZVI

 A book should be good for at lest three reads over the years.

Or if you don’t have much of a memory, indefinitely.

Can I be a Writer

Almsot anyone CAN be a writer.

Should they? 

Question # 5. What advice would you give to someone writing their very first novel, especially when they have very limited resources? 

In answering this question I’m talking about fiction that is entertaining and strong enough for the reader to read several times and still be entertained. There is fiction that can be produced in a couple of months and upon publication excite some good revenue for a week or two and then dop off and disappear. A year later the same reader might not get all the way through it. Depending upon what you produce, you’ll always do better with an agent.

And that damn sure isn’t me!

 

But this is me.

If you want to receive some remuneration for your work, the artistic creation, the work or both, you will need an agent. Every reputable publishing house wants to deal through an agent. Traditional publishing houses have the distribution networks to sell your work.

Send out inquiries to every agent you can find listed and keep track of what you sent, to where, and any return you may --- pay attention here --- any return you MAY get.

If you wish to publish independently you will be doing your own editing, cover creation and distribution. Yes, you can find contractors to do all that for you but they charge a fee and none of them are cheap, including the ones that are ineffective. The good ones cost more.

https://books2read.com/GLW

All the covers on this posting were created by Samantha Zwicker

of  https://hojanueva.org/

First, plan on writing and re-writing at least 3 times. If you’re happy doing it 10 times, that’s up to you but you MUST do it 3 times.

After you’ve done your rewrites go though it again as an editor. EIDTIING AND READING ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

About this time, you can again send out inquiries to every agent you can find listed and keep track of what you sent, to where, and any return you may --- pay attention here --- any return you MAY get.

https://books2read.com/Homestead

If you’re happy at this point you can look toward publishing.

There are several publishers who will charge you a great deal to publish, somewhere between $1500.00 and $5000.00 plus a specific price for “author copies” of the book you’ve written which will vary by the number of pages requires. Some of them offer services that have already been mentioned such as editing and cover design. If the initial cost was low on the 15 to 50 scale I mentioned above then the editing might cost anywhere over a thousand dollars. In the case of covers, most of those I’ve seen, even for those charging five grand for their services, are about as attention grabbing as a rainy day.

About this time, you can again send out inquiries to every agent you can find listed and keep track of what you sent, to where, and any return you may --- pay attention here --- any return you MAY get.

 

https://books2read.com/BarkervillePartners

Publishers that I recommend, as long as you can find the other services, (which you can) are Amazon, (yeah, I know, a bully), Draft2Digital and Lulu. My sone uses Lulu and likes them but I know not a thing about them. For the other two it costs you close to nothing for digital (ebook) with an ISBN but print will cost you per book printed.

https://books2read.com/P-o-t-W

In all cases, with a traditional publisher or independent publishing, plan on reading over what is offered for at least a week before making any commitment. With the vanity publishing, those who charge an up-front fee, give it a lot more thought, such as a month.

If you plan on audio books, either simple narration, with a small cast or with a full blown “sound-track audio”, that’s a whole different subject.

Oh, yes. About this time, you can again send out inquiries to every agent you can find listed and keep track of what you sent, to where, and any return you may --- pay attention here --- any return you MAY get.

https://books2read.com/GTandL

If you don’t have an agent you probably won’t make much of a living from your writing, but then it depends, like many things, on what you expect. Even with an agent and without a film deal of some type you’ll be doing well to survive.

Leave a comment or take a look at a few slide-shows with some dialogue at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 Look at some entertainment with a longer life at

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

 OR

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004V9WZVI

A book should be good for at lest three reads over the years.

Or if you don’t have much of a memory, indefinitely.

https://books2read.com/The-Fence

All the covers on this posting were created by Samantha Zwicker

of  https://hojanueva.org/

 

What's Your Best Book

 

Question #4. Which of your books are you personally most proud of, and why?

 

Works out to be the same as asking about your having a favorite child: the one I’m dealing with right at the time is my favorite.

I’m in the process of recording “The Making of Jake McTavish” for an audio version and I’m constantly coming to some phrase I’ve forgotten I used that I feel is “cute” or an “interesting mechanism” to develop some reaction in or from the reader.

I’ve been giving away recordings of my first published story, “The Great Liquor War” which I’ve always thought could have been a much longer story with a lot more historical information. However, in the process of checking the recording for things like volume, continuity and understanding, I was surprised by how well the story works to not only tell of the working lives of the time but some of the action around a large construction project.

Upper Fort Gary in 1879 --- it'll make sense ina minute

The fourth story in “People of the West: A short story timeline” is a story I created from “whole cloth” that I believe demonstrates, through the character “Janet” the tough, strong women who built the west. When I say “whole cloth” I mean I’ve never heard a similar story or do I know a Janet. Yes, I know many woman who have built, helped to build or expanded existing cattle operations and farms and those operations are the finished modern operations of today. Yes, most of those women work and act in a calm, controlled and productive manner through a variety of difficulties but when they decide to straighten things out, get THE HELL OUT OF THEIR WAY!

Catherine Schubert (nee O’Hare) was the only female member of a group of “Overlanders” who by horseback and Red River cart travelled from Fort Gary (Winnipeg) to the Thompson River. They then spent 6 weeks attempting to raft down to Kamloops where, before reaching that long time trading post, Catherine gave birth to her 4^th child. She and her family then walked to Barkerville and became part of the Cariboo gold rush, though at least 2 years too late for any of the early discoveries.

Barkerville main street cattle drive about 1869

Sheepshead Claim, Williams Creek

Those women are not confined to cattle operations either. They were of a variety of life styles and locations and where and important part, a seldom recognized part of what built the country, including the west.

I believe “Stealing Janet’s Cattle” not only depicts those women but is a tribute to their character and the children and institutions they developed.

Women welders at a Canadian munitians factory WW I

Yes, all the stories did what I wanted them to do and in answer to a specific question I might pick one over the others, but in general, as with kids, I like them all. Ask me about diverse characters learning to get along with each other? That would be “Partners”. Ask me about conforming to the letter of the law, well that would NOT be “Partners.”

Answering this question does lead to something else that is closely related. I’ve never published a manuscript that I thought was truly “finished.” There is always something that could be better or something else to be added.

That includes editing, for no matter how many times you go over it there is always something that needs repair. In my case it’s usually a typo although “where” and “were” are bound to be misplaced. More often than that it’ll be “though” when it should have been “thought”. “Thee” instead of “there”, “cone” instead of “done” and no matter how many times I read it over I miss them because my brain translates what is written to what should be.

Something else is the great love you build for the character you’ve created which results in a gargantuan need to fully explain him / her. “If I add this little anecdote in chapter x? the reader will understand why he mistreats women.”. “I could go back and add another ….”

NO!  Use all those ideas to start a new novel.

YOU ARE DONE WITH THIS ONE! MOVE ON!

Here are three "digital only" collections that are only $1.95 USD

https://books2read.com/Alaska-Highway

https://books2read.com/What-Matters

https://books2read.com/Janets-Cattle

 Leave a comment or take a look at a few slide-shows with some dialogue at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 Look at some entertainment with a longer life at

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

 OR

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004V9WZVI

because a book is good for at lest three reads over the years.

What has changed?

Do you remember any history?

The pictures that will appear with this posting apart from representing transportation in various eras, have another connection with the subject. Any idea what that connection is?

I’ll explain later.                                                         A "Brake" --- yesterdays pick-up truck 

A buggy

If you made it through school, you did read some history. Did you remember any of it? Did you find all those facts and dates boring? Have you ever made a mistake and realized, “I should have known that wouldn’t work”?

I believe that is part of the answer to the third question about writing.

 Question #3. How do you balance historical accuracy with creating an engaging story?

To my mind this question is answered within itself. I you’re writing a story then engaging or entertaining are the primary concern. If you’re writing history, then history is the primary concern.

However, if that concept is acceptable then extending the question it becomes, why write “historical fiction”? The primary response for me is that a small percentage of those who read will read history and few of those will remember what they read. For those who believe either that we, collectively and singularly, are the product of history, or that it is important to learn from that history and not repeat it, we have to first remember it. We also learn from that same source, history, that memory can be aided by including entertainment with the history.

1908 Rolls Royce  Silver Ghost

1920 Nash truck

My primary requirement then is entertainment. I attempt then to create a story that may be remembered. The secondary objective then becomes the historic accuracy, but if veering from the actual event destroys the story or its entertainment value, then a follow-up with the particulars of the historical recounting should not only supply the required accuracy but strengthen the memory.

1930 L-80 Chrysler Imperial Roadster

1932 Pontiac 8 Sport Coupe

For example, in “Homesteader: Finding Sharon” I recount a stage robbery that took place outside of Calgary which helps to demonstrate how two of my characters have been forced to demonstrate their true characters as immoral, narcissistic and evil, that they are still in the country and may be involved in other crime. This is undoubtedly true for the two individuals who actually DID commit the crime in the area depicted and with details depicted. However, in the story the holdup took place in 1887 but it really happened August 23, 1886 and the discovery of “Clinker” Scott’s body (also part of my story) a few days later.

This information is recounted in the “Author’s Note” at the end of the novel, a feature I try to include in one form or another in everything I write. Usually this is at the end in the “Author’s Note” as mentioned, but in the case of the short story collection, “People of the West: A short story timeline” it’s part of the introduction the piece in question.

1969 Ford Mustang

1987 Mercedes - Benz 560 SL

The short answer to all the questions at the start of this piece are that history is, like most things, about people. Not the date but what the people did that affected the country next door or the people ten years later or the people of today.

If you read about how an assassination in Sarajevo, July 28^th, 1914 led to the death of perhaps 22 million in the following 4 years you may immediately think the people of the time were stupid. However, if you understood their attitudes of the time, the fear and misunderstanding of others and desperate attempts to protect kith and kin from the unknown you would realize, not stupid but ignorant.

We’re doing it again: making decisions about people of which we know nothing based on misinformation --- ignorance --- of others.

 

What are the connections of the pictures included here? There was a time when each method of individual transport could excite men of that era and of a certain age. Most of the time a bicycle would be far more practical. Yes many things changed about transportation in 200 years --- or it could be communication, or farming practices or dozens of other things  --- but the people of then and now all had and have the same wants, needs and motivations.

 

Leave a comment or take a look at a few slide-shows with some dialogue at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 Look at some entertainment with a longer life at

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

 OR

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B004V9WZVI

because a book is good for at lest three reads over the years.

Health, Money or Living?

 

 

Bear Flats west of the Alaska Highway on the road to Hudson's Hope sometime in the 1990s. No, it has nothing to do with the question and answer just a picture of great country.

Are you writing for your Health, the Money or to make a living?

Question #2. 

Was there ever a moment when you seriously considered giving up writing? If so, what kept you going?

There have been many of those moments, particularly when I was still working a “day job.”  “I just don’t have time right now,” which may have been true but without the catharses (or whatever else you want to call it) of creating, your personality changes, sometimes becoming someone you don’t like.

 Sorry, you have to haul that person around with you, so you better do something about your attitude.

Better write a story, that’ll help.

Perhaps I wrote something, went back to look at it a week later and decided it was trash and I have no business being involved in writing. Perhaps, but what kind of a mood was I in when I wrote that? Perhaps I shouldn’t have been writing at that time.

There have also been instances when I was despondent because something I wrote wasn’t being accepted as I thought it should be and, again because I had another source of income at the time, I was writing very little. More than one instance of my return to writing happened because I bought a novel, or read something written by an “oft mentioned” writer that I found to be depressing, lacking entertainment value or not up to their usual standards.

“Hell, if he can sell that crap, I have no business being worried about anything I’ve written, whether it sells or not.”

In those instances, it all goes back to what I wrote in my answer to Question #1; It sold because it was well marketed and distributed, not because it was good work.

Which has led me to another conclusion:

The quality of a piece of writing has very little to do with its initial sale and has everything to do with its long-term life.

Which is also connected to, …..

Much of what is created today, both through AI and real writers, is for fast consumption and quick turnover and will be meaningless drivel in two weeks or two years.

If it, by some accident, ever has any meaning.

That’s because publishing, as with most other industries, forces producers or writers to create something that sells. Is it entertaining? Does it demonstrate personal development or support the creation of empathy? Does it teach something?

All of those things will be acceptable two years from now. But MOST of the “industry” doesn’t care about any of that. They want to know one thing.

Will it sell RIGHT NOW?

Take a look at story excerpts and pictures from the past at

https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

 

Or the many platforms where can be found digital / print and audible versions

www.Books2Read.com/DM-McGowan

Why did you write that story?

Because there isn’t enough bragging about this great country.

The following isn’t Question #2 as I warned was coming, but it covers perhaps a half dozen questions I have been asked. But #2 WILL be along soon.

Lake Ohara, British Columbia, Canada

I believe that Canada is one of the best countries in the world. I believe that many of those operations, occurrences or pioneers that went into making it are in the top ten using any method of comparison and a few are unsurpassed on the globe.

 

The beauty of some areas of the country, such as the Rocky Mountains, their foothills, the Yukon, the Canadian Shield and the Maritime Provinces, in my view, cannot be outdone and is no more than equaled in other parts of the world.

Aeriel view of Bear Flats West of Fort St. John BC, Peace River to the left and looking west taken in the 1990s

Similarly, the development carried out and discoveries made in Canada in all fields of endeavor, from primary industry, through medicine to aerospace has contributed to improvement for those living around the world.

 

However, much of what has been created in Canada is ignored or attributed to people or industries that had nothing to do with the original or actual discovery or development.

Yes, there are many great countries but it’s time they all acknowledged the contribution made to their development by the country and the people of Canada. And the acknowledgement of those contributions CAN be entertaining. If it isn’t entertaining it will soon be forgotten along with the Majestic Beauty of the Rocky Mountains, their foothills, the Yukon, the Canadian Shield and the Maritime Provinces and all those great things that make up North America.

Northern Lights and early dreams

Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Pacific Railroad

What made Canada what it is today had very little to do with John Cabot, Samual de Champlain, John A. McDonald or Wilfrid Laurier. It’s the story of the farmer, the logger, the railroad agent, the mother, the freighter, the rancher or the engineer.

Those are the pioneer Canadians I write about. In some cases, I mention how the events you have heard about affected them. There are several such short stories in “People of the West: A short story timeline” available in digital, print and audio at https://books2read.com/P-o-t-W

 And / or

https://www.amazon.ca/People-West-short-story-timeline-ebook/dp/B0CRLQZVK7/ref

There are several audio / visuals to give you an idea of what your in for at https://www.youtube.com/@davemcgowan6231

D. M. McGowan

The Three Sisters from Canmore