And this years Oscar for Greatest Potential Movie;

I would like to bring to your attention, I have been writing a fictional serial for some wonderful people. Every month I would send in a little story and they would read it, recommend a few edits, and we would work together to make it presentable. It was a lot of fun.

When they agreed to let me write the story they had no idea how hard it is for me to end something. I had no idea. But, I should have. Looking back at all the threads I've started here, only to leave them to die on the vine. It should have been a warning.

The motor for our time machine.

One day, they emailed me and asked how I was going to finish the story. 

Finish, heck, I'm just getting started, I thought. But, after more than a year it was time to bring that particular line of foolishness to a close. 

It almost killed me. I wrestled with the ending for two months. Two months of searching for a way to say goodbye to a world I had brought to life.* Characters, places, situations that only existed in my goofy imagination. 

Then one day, while driving to work, it hit me, kind of. I had the beginning of the end, and most of the end, and most of the end of the end. So I wrote it sent it off, and started casting about for the final piece. 

On the drive home that night it hit me. And I wrote it, edited it the next morning and sent it off. 

Jeff and Mark, from R and D.

So, for all of you people who think "yeah he can get into some pretty deep crap, but he can never find his way out again." Well, that isn't always true, sometimes, with an effort that is almost herculean in its self destructiveness I can.

Plus, it has cemented my desire to finish a novel, good or bad, finished, wrapped up and put behind me. At least until Hollywood comes calling. Man that will be so cool. I hope Hollywood has my phone number.

*Not really, it is where the seeds of my novel sprouted and grew. With new characters, more places, and animated wall paintings that help the protagonist through life (I'm not sure about the wall paintings, I love the idea, am crazy about the idea but am having real trouble with the execution).

One Note and the Evolution of Life Explained.

I would like to take a minute and explain something to all of the people on Google Plus who have missed me. Mom, are you listening? Just kidding, my mom is not on Google Plus. Anyway, I have been very busy.  Work has been filled with all sorts of work. I had to finish a story, a column and I am working on a novel.

One of the best parts about writing a novel is the chance to try new things. Or, old things, like One Note from Microsoft. I have been using One Note for the past several years. If you count installing it on all my devices as using it. But, I could never really figure out what to do with it. I loved having that icon, though.. 

Occasionally I would open it and try to add something. It was almost impossible to understand. I would have been better off using a puddle of blood, a pointed stick and tree bark. Since that is a clear violation of OSHA regulations I just kept the information in my head. A bad idea.

Since there is so much information in my head, and the operating system and all the hardware is outdated, and no longer under warranty I would get the most erratic results. It took a lot of time to go back through pages of my novel and find out where a character had been, and I got bogged down in the details.

Today, I was putzing around and found out how easy it was to manipulate and search data in One Note, I spent hours. Sure it isn't writing, but it was fun. And it reminded me of the song Red Angel Dragnet by the Clash "One of those days I'm going to get myself organizized."

Well, it won't be today. Because I am designing and drawing all the buildings that play a small part in my novel. You see, One Note has an exceptional ability to store pictures and I have a terrible weakness for goofing around with CAD programs. 

Pretty soon I am going to know everything there is to know about the fictional world I am creating, then I will just have to tell everybody about it, in book form. I can't wait.

He’s Back, oh heck no.

I have not been blogging much lately. For one thing work is crazy. Almost as if they don’t care about my blog. It is like a homicidal version of the holiday rush. But, it is good for business, and that makes it good for me. 

There is some good news, though, I am now a professional writer. I sold a story for ten dollars. Not a fortune, but they might as well have handed me the keys to the kingdom. It is not the first time someone paid me to write, though. Once, I stumbled across a site that paid $8.00 for blog posts. You had to write about products or services for companies. I wrote a post about oil changes, (I don’t know anything about oil changes, but a little research was all I needed) and after I fixed the errors POW, eight samoleans in my pay pal account. I was thrilled.

Next I chose Toyota Forklifts. I love my Toyota and I have driven a forklift before so it was a natural. I sent it off, making plans for my eight large, and they sent it back saying it was too filled with errors. I double checked it, actually bought an app to check sentence structure, spelling, grammar, verb and subject agreements. There were a few things I fixed and sent it back. And they said it was not good enough, and I could no longer write for them. I could have lived with “you just don’t know enough about forklifts,” or “you are too wordy, and self important,” but they said I just didn’t write well enough. But, I didn’t quit. I just quit getting paid.

And now I hit the big time, ten dollars. 

It was a great story, too. But, the ending stunk. I submitted it to a lot of places and almost universally they said, “good story, weak ending.” I sent it to Smarty Pants, and they said. “You should make this the ending, it is really the climax, and add a line making a refernce to the opening.” And I did, and it was great.

Editors are amazing things. This story was transformed with one edit into something worth ten big ones. I write a monthly column  

for The Wild Word, (here is a link) and they have two editors. Sometimes I will send them a draft and they will send it back with notes and suggestions about what I should add. Once in a while it is almost scary. I will think, “Oh my God, they are looking right into me, they can see what I’m thinking.” But, they are always right, and it always turns out much better. I love editors.

Part of what has kept me away from my blog is my book. Most of you know, I am working on a book. And, if you didn’t know. I am working on a book. It is not the book I was working on last year. That is next, but a different book, and it was awful. Dead, wooden words staring with cold, lifeless eyes at me. And I said, this sucks. So I went back and started breathing a little life into the people, thinking about them as people, with a past and a future, things not even mentioned in the book. And, it got better. In one point a minor character, introduced briefly to explain a quirk in the protagonist loses his wife to cancer, and it was so sad, so heart breaking (to me, anyway) I almost cried. And I thought, wow this is good.

Working, Sort Of, If That Is What You Want To Call It.

Today is a big day, here at Life Explained. Today, we had two pieces of writing appear online.

My monthly column on The Wild Word (the mostly appropriately named, Head Above Water, sometimes I sink, a little further than comfortable) about the mysterious journey of being married. Or at least the mysterious journey of my marriage. I hope my wife appreciates her good fortune. Kids, don't try this at home, it is not for the meek, mild or irresolute. Well, thinking about this writer, yes, I guess it is.



And, a piece on on the Open Thought Vortex Magazine, describing my less than stellar history with guns. Having been on both sides of the issue I am am resolutely unconvinced of their glorious utility. I have heard all the arguments, and remain opposed to the unrestricted, irresponsible arming of America.

Despite my best efforts to predict the future I have no way of knowing what will happen to Tim Clark the writer, but you will see it here. Stay tuned.

And since it is Friday, let's end the day with some Rock and Roll.

Pardon our mess

We, here at Life Explained, have decided to remodel, in a way. I am taking several classes on writing over the next few weeks. Recently, the kind people at The Wild Word have agreed to let me write a column, and then they were nice enough to place it on the Huffington Post. Needless to say I was thrilled, I sent a link to my boss, who is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and certainly the most agreeable boss I have ever had. And I have had a lot of bosses. She shared it with the whole company. Needless to say, I was thrilled and thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

But, she also sent me this link from the Thurber House with several courses on being a better writer. Needless to say I was thrilled. Of course, she might be thinking “You need all the help you can get.” And, she may be right. It is ok, the first step in forming a solution is admitting you have a problem, that’s right, I’m addicted to typing, no, not really. I just want to be a better writer.

Anyway, my first class is “Developing Your Character From Inside Out.” A particularly exciting class. My writing has always been more situational, more anecdotal. When I add people they are silhouettes, more prop than participant. Ultimately all of the characters in anything I have ever written, are at some level me. I am admittedly fragmented, a little bit of everybody I ever met, or read about. Maybe this will make me a more complete person. But, we shouldn’t get carried away, I am really fond of all the people in me, they make me who I am.

The second class is “Self Editing.” This will be a boon. I have two editors inside. One can’t stop adding things. He loves everything so much he can’t help himself. He screams with delight, “that is

so good, we need to add a paragraph here, and elaborate a bit here, and add, and insert, and explain.” The other one is ashamed. He can never believe we write so much tripe. he always wants to delete everything, slash, burn, rebuild. “This stinks, on ice. Beyond repair, beneath defense, below average.” He fumes, and fusses, he is kind of a jerk, but he has our self esteem at heart, so you have to admire his motives. With a little guidance we might be able to get them together and have a slash and repair style, somewhere in the middle.

Last, and most interesting is “Getting Ready to Write History.” I spend too much time in the past. It is a hobby, and an obsession. If you view today as one step in a journey, and the world as a place for everybody, and the human race as the family of man then history is the chronicle of our growth, a record of our achievements and a litany of our failures. There are no secrets, it is all there, over and over again. The rise and fall of empires, and the anger and hate and violence. It strikes me, this is why I wanted to start a blog in the first place.  To make the simple point, history leads to one conclusion (I got a little sidetracked, which is normal, maybe learning to edit is a good idea). The clouds are gathering on the horizon, and the past tells us what they bring. And we don’t care.

We have gone from Greek and Macedonian Phalanxes, to clouds of whistling Mongol arrows, French infantry swarming and swallowing nations to the doomsday machine we have constructed and continue to perfect today. We can’t figure out a way to forgive, to accept but we have become experts at the lethal art of nationalism. Or, “religious freedom” or “securing national interests” but we have been working on it for thousands of years. Just read, it is right there.

And soon, with a little training, it will be right here. And we can ignore it together.

The Awards Just Keep Piling Up, This Makes One!

Recently this blog was, and it's humble proprietor were nominated for an Award, the Book Fangirling Award. I am going to assume this is a compliment, and that the delightful, talented +Adele Archer  is not the type to toss trans Atlantic insults at an innocent, unassuming blogger.

The rules seem simple, which is good, because we be nothing but humble bloggers,

First. Thank the nominator, Thank you, Adele Archer, I am grateful you thought of me.

Second. Answer their book related questions. (see below)

Third. Nominate five bloggers, attempt to coerce them into answering the five book related questions you have created in the Fourth Rule. Further, try to convince them to nominate 5 bloggers (step 5) and asking each five book related questions they have developed in Step 6.

1: My least favourite book is ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’. If my bed was a little wonky, I would probably prop it up with that. Which book would you prop your bed up with?

'Plague Dogs" or "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. They were fantastic books, and I loved them completely. But, they were so depressing, so dark and terrible, they tore me to pieces, one wonderfully descriptive, beautifully written chapter at a time. And I probably wouldn't use them to prop up my bed, because of all the anguish they contain. I know this is not the type of least favorite book, but I am too flaky to finish a book I am not enjoying.

2: You’re only allowed eBooks OR real books for the rest of your life (now, don’t be pretentious), which would you choose?

I would take real books. I have never developed the ability to read on a screen. I haven't given up, but there is probably not much hope. I can't watch television shows on a smart phone or computer screen.

3: ‘Hunger Games’ or ‘Quiddich’, which is the suckiest sport?

I didn't read either book, but I don't think there is much wholesale death in Quiddich, so I would pick "Hunger Games."

4: If your life story was made into a biography, what chapter would you ask them to leave out?

The eighties, and the later parts of the seventies, which is ok, because I don't remember all that much about them.  But, if they would allow a little fiction it might be acceptable.

5: Bloggers are renowned for being a peaceful peoples, but which character from which book (other than Bella Swan from Twilight) would you most like to slap?

Fiction, I would choose Scheisskopf from "Catch 22" what a putz!  Non fiction it would be the Khwarazm Shah from any book about the conquests of Genghis Khan. Depending on the writer he may have almost single-handedly brought about the destruction of the Persian Empire. Though slapping him would have been suicide. So I choose fiction.

My choices are +Mike Raven  from the Blog of Thog, a blogger without equal, +Joy Fanning from Aspiring Joy,I know she loves books, and has a fantastic blog, and is one of my first blogging friends, and +Rachel Rennie  from Rachel's Blog, another book lover, and a blogger who can really write. While that is not the full contingent of nominees, it ain't bad. And, it is one more than +Adele Archer .

I wish you all luck, and offer my apologies.

My book related questions.

1. I have reread several books, just because I love them. Do you do that, if so which book have your read the most?

2. Is there a time you think Fiction, no Non-Fiction? Sometimes I have to read something real.

3. I love certain authors for the way they write, they way they can craft a sentence, a good sentence is wonderful. Do you have any books that you feel are just beautifully written, works of art?

4.  When I was young I bought a used book at a second hand store called "The Beast Regiment." it was great, and I haven't been able to find a copy since then. Do you have any ideas for me?

5. Writing is personal, reading is solitary. But sharing a great book is such a joy. Do you think books are the beauty that can save the world?

The more things change.

This is the third month of "the new tim" regimen.  In many ways it is going so much better than I had hoped, in others not so brightly.

Physically, I am thrilled with my progress, and effort.  This is the start of my third month of exercise.  And each week I push myself a little harder, and I feel so much better.  Part of it is, probably, the healthier diet, vegetables and fruit with almost every meal, and the addition of a multi-vitamin as part of my evening pill popping adventure, which has now reached 4, and sometimes 5, if I take Ibuprofen (only sometimes).

I need that discipline in other areas of my life, I am still not dedicated enough to writing, and researching.  Research is almost lackadaisical, ad-hoc, inconsistent, built around the things I want to study.  To expedite this, and build good habits, I have started a new blog, located here,

It will be a jumping off point for all of my research into the past to support a novel I have decided to write, about a scientist, time travel, ancient, and future armies, the potential destruction of a treasured national landmark, and several small towns in Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota.

My cousin Mike has a Facebook page about a book he is writing, and I may try that, I don't know.  I have enough trouble with focus, and one more thing to update would probably be too distracting.

Sitting here, thinking about this, the question that keeps hammering away, pounding, and burning "why?"  Who knows, maybe it is the new Urban Armor case for the Surface Pro 3 (a wonderful computer, and a fantastic cover) it makes sense, trying to justify that purchase, almost $70.00 ($69.99).  Maybe it is the new iPhone app, TextExtractor, which is fantastic, and free, it can scan text and save it as text, which seems like it should be easy, apparently it is not, though.

Maybe it is a midlife crisis, I love my wife, my car and my kids, so I need to do something to prove I am not old.

Maybe it is a natural phenomenon, a longing for recognition, seeking a small amount of immortality, some dream of not being forgotten.  Maybe this is not unique, at all, maybe everybody wants these things. Well, they can start their own blog, this one is mine.

Or better yet, they can write guest posts for my new blog, located here.  It is now accepting guest posts about historic battles, armies or conquests.  If you have a post you would like to add, email me at tc.add3@gmail.com.  It should be accurate, and focus mostly on tactics, strategy, weaponry, and leadership.  The human costs were terrible, and the suffering was immense, but I would rather not cover that part.

It is time for a change, I really mean it this time, really.

Inclement weather caused schools to be cancelled for two days last week.  Since the gym where the miracle is scheduled to be performed is in a school building the physical section of the transformation of Tim will begin this week.

For those of you keeping score at home, the writing portion of the transformation has already begun.  It is subtle, admittedly, but each time I put fingers to keyboard a conscious effort is made to add more, to change patterns, to bring more details to life.  To those who have noticed, thanks, to those who haven't, well that is too bad, there will be a quiz, and that may spell big trouble.  But, don't be too concerned, there is still time to repent.

Not going to the gym for the last week has given me the opportunity to research the use of various equipment.  My wife asked if I were ready, and found an article for me to read, it was titled "Don't overdo it, and come home complaining because you are sore and aching."  And it was written by my wife.  Just kidding.

It was actually very helpful.  It talked about using the various machines, and the benefits, and potential pitfalls of each.  It was kind of eye opening, in that it was written for people over 50, which I am, and it made me realize that I am a complete dunderhead, (noun, informal; stupid person) when it came to all of these machines.  They have all of these buttons, knobs, and gizmos (noun, informal; word used by dunderhead to describe a device he will never understand), none of which make sense.  Some of them look like the cockpit on the space shuttle.

So, I have carefully researched my options, and am a much better informed consumer of gym services than I was at this time last week.  I will walk into the gym this afternoon, head held high, and ask the attendant, who my wife assures me is a very nice young man, and is not likely to ridicule me (which means my wife probably briefed him, and he is prepared), how to operate the least intimidating looking machine I see.  Eventually, the plan is to build a rapport with the attendant and have him show me how to operate all of the machines, and become a seasoned workout professional, rippling with sinewy muscle, exuding strength, and self confidence.  But, that will take a while.

So, tomorrow, will be the first edition of the Great Transformation of Tim Newsletter!   Don't forget to subscribe, you won't regret it, at least not very much.  Hey, let me know if you have a workout resolution, or any self improvement goals for 2015.  I would love to expand the newsletter.