Hey there! I have to assume that you've abandoned Gather for more worthy pursuits - namely working on your next blockbuster! If you happen to see this, give me a shout and let me know what's happenin'. :-)
Hi, Geoffrey. It's me again, Jim Duggins. I'm new to this group, having discovered it only through your book; but I am interested in alliances with other writers, especially historical fiction.
One question: where do I find the expanded list of profile attributes such as yours. I didn't see one on my way in.
Are you writing anything at the moment ... I have completed THE POWER, the novel (part of a series of five novels in outline) and a sequel to it SLAVE STEALER. At the moment I'm writing a psychological thriller set in 1975, THE CHOIRBOY, the story of a young man who who is raised by his grandmother, an evangelical Christian who uses his religious upbringing to cleanse the sins of her daugher, his mother. He joins the marines after high school and is sent to Vietnam where he experiences Mylai sorts of tragedies. Returning to Santa Rosa California where he had lived before he enrolles at Sonoma State University, moves back in with his grandmother and as the old patterns of his childhood reappear he "wigs out" and goes on a spree of raping and beating his grandmother and his retired high school English teacher. The story is told by a psychiatrist in one of California's prisons for Violent Sex Offenders. I've been working on the book for a long long time.
As I mentioned, I am a retired professor (English and Education) from San Francisco State University and have waited until now to write fiction, historical fiction ... my English teaching subject at SFSU was American Colonial Literature (diaries and journals, hence the continued interest in history and fiction) ... all I can say is that is what I do, and I am literally wallowing in the time to do it.
Extra-curricular: I collect Mexican Folk Art and am currently renovating a house in Oaxaca, Mexico (about 200 miles south east of Mexico City).
Let me know more about your new book ... I know there has to be one. Regards, Jim
Geoff, great to hear from you. Vacation was a week-long cruise in the Caribbean. It was a great trip! Glad to hear things are warming up in Chicago. Things are warming up here as well. Loved your stories about your train trip out west. Sounded like a blast!
Geoff, Thanks for your kind words. Kind of feeling a little beat up right now. But I really think that once people play around with the features and get used to them that they will warm up to them.
