What I've Learned

For quite some time, I have had long drives. Music was good, talk radio was okay, audio books were entertaining, but when I stumbled upon podcasts, I was hooked. The media being named after a device which is no longer produced (meaning soon people will wonder where the name came from) is an odd piece of lagniappe that makes me truly love them.

I listened to every Car Talk episode for fifteen years. Mike Rowe’s podcast for the curious mine with a short attention span morphed into a long form but is still good. There is only one podcast I recommend more than Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. His Hardcore History Addendum is also exceptional. In my opinion, there are only three real journalists worth reading/listening to in the United States: John Archibald (two-time Pulitzer Winner), Dan Carlin, and the man that is the most recommended podcaster. A friend of mine suggested I listen to Tim Ferris’s podcast, where I was introduced to Cal Fussman—journalist, storyteller, and questioner extraordinaire. 

Besides being a journalist, Cal is a storyteller. And what stories there are. The stories he lived traveling the world without a home for ten years are phenomenal. Cal has a story about Mikhail Gorbachov. If you only hear one thing, listen to this. It shows Cal, the master-questioner, at the top of his game hitting in the heart to gain the head. He had an impossible task, a ten-minute block of time to glean insight normally needing at least ninety, and pulled it off. But Cal’s skills as a storyteller make it so that they don’t even have to be his stories for them to be incredible. Cal has told some Satchel Paige stories that were better than Satchel could have relayed. 

Because of his storytelling abilities, he was introduced to Larry King to help Larry write books. Ten years of sitting at the breakfast table with Larry helped him get introduced to Alex Banayan, who introduced Cal to Tim Ferris. 

After a couple of episodes, Tim turned over the reins of his podcast to Cal to interview Larry King. Larry was the King of interviewing. And he handed the baton to Cal on, in King’s words, The Fussman Files. Personally, I had never liked Larry King until that interview. Cal changed my opinion on many people with his interviews and it was predominantly because of his ability to ask questions.

Cal’s podcast, Big Questions with Cal Fussman, is a question asking display. It’s not about the questions, except that it is. Cal asks questions that aren’t the obvious ones. Asking questions that make people look up and think knocks people off their guard, but also makes them think of the deeper meaning to the answer. It gets to the heart. Once he’s gotten into their heart and their soul, they give him access to their heads. He doesn’t ask the obvious, but he still gets answers to those questions, too.

A lot of this skill, he honed on his trip around the world with no home. For ten years, he roamed, visited, and witnessed the world in all its curious glory. He would board the next train to wherever and walk down the aisle, looking for where to sit. The seat made all the difference. He had no money for hotels, so he had to engage the person he sat next to and get an invitation to stay with them. He didn’t sit next to a good-looking woman because that would end the trip. Sitting next to a grandmother, however, would earn a night and a good meal that started a party leading to a family member or friend saying, “come with me” and the next adventure. He later learned that he could connect with the good-looking women, too. Which would have helped them. But ultimately, he was right. The first time he engaged ended the journey as the future Mrs. Fussman brought him home.

The trip evolved, as a story does. The story got refined and better with time. Like a fine wine. Which brings us to the penultimate story. “Drinking at 1300 Feet.”

I put off reading the story for a long time. Then, when I finally prepared myself for it, I opened the article and still left it unread. I stirred it around and peered into the glass. I breathed deeply to experience the smells. I swished it around my mouth until I indulged. And what an indulgence it was. Worth every second of the wait, the sample, and the deep draught of words into my soul. 

Over the course of my time listening, I have heard the Gorbachev story evolve slightly. Hearing it live from the man himself was the greatest opportunity I have yet experienced in my own journey to become a better question-asking, storyteller. 

I have asked three questions of Cal that got the “look up” response. But they weren’t the heart-stabber questions. I learned that just getting the response is easy, it is still the content that matters. You can ask a question that hasn’t been asked, but it won’t always give you the heart. I have a fourth question to try when next we speak. It deals with the Dr. Dre scenario: How much time have you spent on a project without sleeping? It shows your level of passion and dedication to the task. My question, though, is whether that level of effort resulted in the best result? Did Dre’s 72 hours without sleeping give him the recognition, the fame, the money, the career? Did his effort create the thing for which he is most known, or simply the thing Dre most wants to be known for? 

You may take my recommendation and listen and not like him. You may listen to  him on Big Questions, or on Tim’s podcast, or any of the other shows I’ve found him on. You may not like his voice, his style, or you may not connect the way I have over the course of 8 years of listening. He may not be your glass of wine, but he is my friend and mentor for storytelling and for asking questions. I’m not where I need to be yet. But with Cal’s help, I will be.

Greatest Athlete Ever

We can argue about the greatest athlete ever, but unless you said Jim Thorpe, you’d be wrong.

From https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CvOeN39bzWk/YQQGHySMd6I/AAAAAAAEKxU/Rqpw-Bxu8hMDD06lXqWJMXtz_8HKIsZuACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/jim-thorpe.jpg

Jim Thorpe was simply the best. Whatever he saw you do, he could do better. And he did. In 1912 he went to the Olympics in Sweden and won. The King of Sweden handed him his gold medals and told him that he was the greatest athlete ever. Humble Jim Thorpe said, “Thanks, King.”

Before one day of racing he reached into his bag and his shoes were missing. Depending on the source, it may have been just one, maybe both. Someone found one (or two) shoes in the trash can. The shoes he wore didn’t match. One was too big so he wore an extra sock. He won. With mismatched, incorrectly sized shoes. Jim Thorpe didn’t just beat the competition (no one ran faster than him until 1948—we had to fight 2 world wars before anyone could do it faster), he beat the competition in someone else’s shoes.

Then, in 1913, it came out that Jim had played semi-professional baseball. Semi. Not full on, semi. In a sport that was not an Olympic sport at the time. Jim had played for the sake of playing not the money, but the Olympic committee striped his medals because he was not an amateur but a semi-professional.

This error was not corrected until nearly 30 years after Jim’s death.

Thirty years. Semi-pro baseball. Greatest Athlete Ever.

Fast forward. US Olympic basketball team in 2024 has made $4.7 Billion. And “won” a gold medal in the sport that pays them so well.

I hope every one of them chipped a tooth when they posed for the picture on the medal stand.

Just One More

Well I beat my previous record today. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it might be. The first novel I finished took me 33 years from start to end. There were (obviously) a lot of hiccups along the way but Seafood Capital of the World, a historical fiction novel set in the Prohibition Era in Biloxi is finished. No success yet in querying it for a publisher, but it’s out there.

Novel number two was blisteringly faster at a mere 25 years. The Island War is a military thriller for the common soldier. One beta reader called it Blackhawk Down meets Jack Reacher. Their words, not mine, because my hero is a lowly Specialist just trying to make it through the deployment that turns into a war with absolutely zero plans to re-enlist. I finished it in November of 2023 and it felt good. It also has yet to have any takers in the querying process, but again, it is out there.

Now, number three is the bombdiggity bomb. I started the first chapter as a short story for Deceit, the anthology my writing group, Transcendent Authors, put out in Nov. It was sitting around the 8k mark until last December. Then I went to town. This morning (30 Apr 2024) I typed the final scene of the first draft. It needs some polishing, some developmental editing, and I’m still waiting on some research from the National Archives to arrive, but this historical fiction story is one that really, really tickled my fancy.

The story tells the tale of a Wehrmacht Major at the end of World War II who went to find an American tanker and enlist his help in defending some VIP prisoners that had been held in a castle in Austria. It is one of only two times that the Germans and Americans conducted joint operations against the Waffen SS. It happened in May of 1945 after the little Austrian corporal offed himself but before the Germans surrendered. It is a fantastic story worthy of the effort, and I can’t wait for someone to read it.

I’m tossing around titles and have settled on three possibilities: Just One More Man; One More Man; and Just One More. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Been a Long Time

While I haven’t forgotten about my old blog here, I haven’t written much in it either. I can blame being busy with other things, like going to the hardest military school I’ve ever attended or moving back across the Atlantic again, those are reasons and not excuses. The one thing that has maintained is my desire to write.

In just under a month, my anthology group, Transcendent Authors, will be releasing our next tome. This one is Deceit. They all vetoed my idea of printing the cover upside down, changing author’s names on stories, and just having blank pages. More than likely they were spot on. I’ll post more on what we did decide to do soon.

But this post is just something from the last year I haven’t really talked about much. I use Facebook as an online storage tool for my travel pictures and videos. Their recent change to only allow Livestreams to exist for a month notwithstanding. Having an unlimited amount of storage online is awesome, but one of the greatest features is that every day I can check my memories and see what I was doing on this day in past years. Today’s memory featured this gem about reading. It tickled me when I wrote it, It tickled me when I read it. So I thought I’d share it here. For context, last year I watched the Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix which inspired me to read every Michael Connelly book in less than six months. This was how it went:

After watching The Lincoln Lawyer (LL) on Netflix I watched the movie then started reading the books. knowing there was the Bosch series as well indecoded to just them as they came. Sure enough after LL2, it said read Bosch (B) 14.

So I read on. Kept going. Then hit a Bosch book that was Renee Ballard (RB) 3. Couldn’t find RB 1, so I went with RB 2 where she met Bosch, meaning RB 1 was just her.

Whatever. Finished Lincoln Lawyer books, then Ballard books and went for Bosch books.

They started in 92. After B 1, I read B 3, then B 2. Don’t do that but I’m on track. Yesterday I finished B 6 and started B 7 to find out it’s Terry McCaleb (TM) 2. What?

So I found a used bookstore and picked up TM 1, Jack McEvoy 1 (no clue who he is but he’s probably coming in sooner or later), an unrelated Michael Connelly book, and Bosch 8.

Or, in more succinct language, TL, DR: found a used bookstore in Huntsville.

The Most Jeanette Thing to Do

Earlier in the day (3 Feb) I contemplated the news of three years prior when my father passed away. I thought about sharing the eulogy I had written for him and spoke at his service a few days later. It remains one of the most read things I have ever posted on my website. But life gets in the way and I proceeded on to think of him but not write.

Until about 2300, or 11 pm for those not comfortable with the 24-hour clock. Ginger called to tell me that her mother had passed. Three years to the day and at nearly the same time of day. Even though her relationship with us was estranged, emotions roll, thoughts collide, and actions stall. Phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp messages and calls, Facebook Messenger messages and calls, FaceTime calls, the communication methods go on and on. It boils down to calls, texts, and messages galore.

The upcoming autopsy will reveal she died of hate and maliciousness. Meanwhile, Ginger will tell me my filter isn’t on because I said that out loud.

I recall a time back in the mid-80s when several relatives passed away at the same time of year. Mama Kay and Mama Byrd passed on 30 Nov of 83 and 84, respectively. It made my Mom dread National Holiday Month for many years. I do not believe I will have a similar reaction to this event, but only time will tell. As I relayed the news to Lizi that her Grandmother passed on the three-year anniversary of Pawpaw’s passing, she made the quote of the day. It was a very Jeanette thing for her to try to steal his day.

Winter is Coming But Not a GRRM Reference

The season will be here soon, as evidenced by the cooler mornings even down here in sunny Alabama. But the title is more about the release of the next Transcendent Author short story anthology.

Winter: An End and a Promise is available for pre-order on Amazon here.

As we have in the past, there will be a live Meet the Author event. It will be on 29 October at 1100 CDT. If you would like to attend you will need to register. In advance is best, but you can also register while the event is going on. To register, click here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

I hope to see you there.


The Thermostat

Every time an author finishes a story, they think it is the best one they have written so far. And they’re probably right. This third anthology (Spring—The Unexpected) contains two of my best works ever: The Quilt, and The Thermostat.

As a part of that, I have also recorded a short video of me reading an excerpt. Take a watch and let me know what you think.

If you go to my YouTube channel there are other readings, or you can go to the Transcendent Author webpage for more on the anthologies, the group, or just readings from the other stories.

Meet the Transcendent Authors Event

Tomorrow morning, 2 Apr 2022 at 1100 CDT, we are having a Zoom meeting to celebrate the publishing of our third anthology, Spring—The Unexpected.

After each of the first two books we had similar events and they only grow in size and popularity. There will be prizes for attendees as well as brief interview questions of the authors with a chance for questions from attendees, too.

Registration is required, though if you want you can put it off until right before you log in.

The link to register and to join the Zoom is: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvdu-sqzMpGNHKskeZ93eQPKS5xN39ziH9

Hope to see you there!

Spring has sprung!

Spring has sprung,

The Grass has ris.

I wonder where the flowers is.

And in other news, Spring—The Unexpected has launched.

My two stories for this one are The Quilt and The Thermostat. I believe that they are two of the best short stories I have ever written.

The Quilt: A handmade quilt made of a patchwork of materials becomes a treasured object full of memories and meaning as a young couple grows into a family. The pieces of life are woven into a blanket of love with a twist.

The Thermostat: Thermometers, thermostats, and Alzheimer’s. In any given setting the temperature can be told by thermometers or changed by the thermostat. One man’s attempt at change burns through the fog of memory loss at the end of life.

Almost Here

Last week we ran into unexpected issues with the cover for our new anthology of short stories. For several days I believed we would have to delay the launch of the new book, but after a hectic round of emails, nasty notes, and confusing discussions on fonts and colors we are back on track for a launch date of Thursday 31 March 2022.

Like any author, I’m proud of the stories I have written. The two I have in this volume are two of the best I’ve ever written. One is called The Quilt, about a trusty bed covering that was more about when and where it was than what it was. The second is The Thermostat about someone close to the end and struggling with Alzheimer’s. There is joy, heartbreak, and warmth all rolled up into the frequently crazy temperature changes.

There will be more news here soon. There will be a launch party (or two) and a Meet the Author session soon. For now though, I’m just happy to know it’s still on track.