Writng a Murder Mystery

I have this insatiable urge to write a new blog each and every day. I need to, somehow, keep it fresh, interesting and entertaining. If I miss just one day, the evil blog goddess swoops down late at night and gobbles up a few thousand writing brain cells, and I awake in the morning only to discover I am not quite as sharp as the day before.

This may seem absurd to you, but when you understand I only have a few hundred thousand brain cells left of any kind, the seriousness of the situation becomes apparent. I have none to spare, having wasted billions of the little critters as a young man steeped in learning about life the hard way.

My blog writing addiction rivals any I have experienced in the past. Good, God, Claude....I should be working on my Evil in the Mirror murder mystery sequel, Day Stalker. But, no, here I am writing yet another blog. At the beginning of this piece, I could have simply said, "I'm not writing a blog today, because I need to work on my novel. It's my blog, and I won't write if I don't want to!" Yes, I could have said that, but one word leads to another, and then I think about losing more brain cells tonight and I give in one more time to my addiction....

I'm just saying,

Mittster

Chapel of the Holy Cross

For those of you who have read my murder mystery novel, Evil in the Mirror, and don't believe in the existence of the Atomic Crucifix that once adorned the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona, let there be no doubt.

The pictures posted on this blog do not do it justice. My memory of the crucifix is as vivid now as it was in 1962 when I first gazed up at the crucifix as a young man not yet twenty-one years of age. I wondered why Jesus looked like a black man? In my young mind, Jesus certainly wasn't black. He was a blond- haired, blue-eyed Caucasian! It wasn't until much later in life that I learned that because Jesus was Jewish, he probably had dark skin, brown hair and dark brown eyes. You think?


Why was Jesus' body stretched and elongated, looking like it was melting from some unseen flame? Jesus looked like he had been in an nuclear blast, thus the name, Atomic Christus.

Is the urban legend true about the mysterious disappearance of the Atomic Christ? I really don't know, all I know is that when I again visited the chapel, only the rusty metal used to attach the crucifix remained embedded in the large concrete cross that made up the south window wall and altar.

Personally, I wish the Atomic Christus was still where it belongs in the chapel. After all, it probably was a truer depiction of the crucified Christ than all the silly crucifixes I had seen before or since. Blond hair and blue eyes indeed! I wonder who thought up that one?

I'm just saying,

Mittster

Desert Sweat Lodge

I have found the perfect healing sweat lodge and it's free! All you have to do is visit me at our desert homestead in Quartzsite, Arizona, and help me do yard chores. I just got home from a visit weighing three pounds less and ten years older.

How hot was it? Well, I was able to turn a margarita glass upside down on my sweating arms and had an instant salt rim. That's how hot is was, and no, it wasn't a dry heat. The humidity was brutal.

Once a month I travel to Quartzsite in the summer to water trees and replace the three, five-gallon pails of water we keep in the motor home so that the cabinets won't dry, shrink and fall to the floor. Our motor home is in a carport, but what about the people who live there year round in motor homes and trailers with no covers? How do they do it? It's simple, they have been living there for so long that they are able to function on the two brain cells they have left that haven't yet fried.

Why do I brave the heat to keep our place from turning to dust? Because in the winter, Quartzsite, Arizona, turns into a warm, pleasant oasis. The only winter downside is a crazy book store owner who waits on customers and rides his bike around town wearing only a thong. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

I'm just saying,

Mittster

President Bashing

Don't you just hate this time of the year? The politicians are slinging mud mixed with feces, poisoned arrows and balloons filled with pee pee in every direction. I try and stay away from bashing anyone, let alone the president. So, in keeping with my anti-vocal side, I decided to talk about classic movies today instead of partaking in political tomfoolery.

Do you remember Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Now that was a classic Bogie movie.















And, what about Gone With the Wind. Man, that was a great one too.


Let's not forget The Wizard of OZ!

Do you remember Bonnie and Clyde? Now that was a gangster movie. I almost forgot The God Father. Holy crap, that was the king of gangster movies!



Did I mention The Wizard of Oz? Well, it's worth mentioning again.


OMG, I almost left out slapstick...The Three Stooges round out my choices for great classic movies.

If these pictures offend you, it's not my fault.
Someone sent them to me. You know who you are!

Write on,

Mittster

Tic, Tock, Tic, Tock

It's 12:00 p.m. and I finally have everything ready for my 1:05 p.m. radio broadcast on John Austin's Book Club program from WTAN, Clearwater, Florida. It has taken weeks to prepare for this 30-minute interview. The future of my new novel, Evil in the Mirror, could ride on my performance.

I had listened to every past interview I could find and studied what made an author sound good, and more importantly, what made them sound bad. I listened intently to John Austin's questions on each and every podcast because he refused to send me the questions in advanced. He didn't want the interview to sound like a info commercial. Crap, better that than me having a panic attack and forgetting my own name, let alone the names of the characters in the book.

I carefully laid out typed cheat-sheets with the book's life history, along with mine, on the desk in front of my computer. All the sentences where triple spaced so I wouldn't get confused. I highlighted anything and everything that might be important to the interview. Each page was almost completely yellow.

At 12:30 p.m., I put the four dogs in their crates along with ample treats to keep them quiet. I pushed our evil parrot's cage into the master bath and closed the door. I taped warning signs on the front and rear doors that read: "IF YOU KNOCK ON THIS DOOR YOU WILL DIE!"

When I returned to my office, it was 12:45 p.m. I closed the door and listened for sounds. Our chihuahua Annie was still barking as usual, but I doubled her meds to calm her down. I could still hear Pickles screeching and wondered if I should have given him some of Annie's Prozac too.

It was now 12:50 p.m. as I sat down for the phone call that would start my first radio interview ever. I watched the computer clock refuse to move forward, but I could hear the wall clock go tick, tock, tick, tock....I now knew how the condemned felt while waiting for the sound of the Guillotine release just before they lost their heads! The way I felt was a sure sign I would lose mine.

Why won't that phone ring? Oh, my God, what if it doesn't ring? What if I miss the call? What if I dove off a bridge with no bungee? What if aliens landed? STOP! Quit worrying, Mitt. How bad could it be?

I just about croaked when the phone rang. I was so busy worrying that I forgot about the call. The minute the producer said hello and asked how I was doing, things calmed down and I immediately started a familiar line of BS with John Austin. Like Mom always said, "If bullshit were money, you could retire now and take care of you parents!"

Seems she was right,

Mittster

Hippocratic Oath

The hypocritical use of the Hippocratic Oath has now reached worldwide shame. If you click on the title of this blog and read the classical Hippocratic Oath, you will read much about sharing your wealth and resources with mankind. Don't worry about parts that refer to gods and goddesses, after all the Greeks had many gods. Yet, they could produce the Hippocratic Oath and many more philosophies of goodwill toward their citizens and indeed to the world.

I find it very interesting that they (the Greeks) had many gods, but we only have one God. Somehow that fact supposedly makes us better, but we treat our sick and injured with disdain and neglect, especially if it is discovered the inflicted person does not have health insurance. Greek doctors would be rolling over in their tombs if they knew how their oath is being prostituted each and every day in the civilized world with only one true God.

Some might think this blog is a statement for or against national health care. They would be wrong! This blog is about something much less complicated. This blog is about We The People taking back our own health destiny.

I realize that people who are critically ill or injured must become part of a system the Greeks could have never imagined, but the rest of us need not participate in that system. We are tied to the system through the drugs we take to supposedly maintain our health. No doctor visit, no scripts! It's just as simple as that. Whoa, what have we here? A conspiracy perhaps? The drug companies in cahoots with the doctors? No shit, Dick Tracy....

I'm not saying we should move to the jungles of South America and live on roots and berries. All I am saying is that we need to stand up to the doctors who would rule our lives with greed in mind. My doctor wanted me to submit to invasive examinations every six months. I said, "No, I will come in every year. Thank you very much." The doctor said, "Well, you are healthy enough, and your tests look good...." "See ya next year, doc." I left there empowered because I finally realized it was my life and that I am in control of my life, not anyone else on the planet!

It was just one little step to the realization that we indeed can have control over our lives. Don't be afraid to look your doctor straight in the eyes and express YOUR wishes. Now is the time. Did you know your doctor is caught up in the same recession as you? They can't afford to lose a patient any more than you can afford to lose your doctor. Touche!

I'm just saying,

Mittster

The Wisdom of our Age

Anyone can make it today if they have enough determination, drive, work ethic and character ethic! Opportunities in the 21st century are limitless. You can do and be whatever you want. You don't have to be rich to do it; all you have to be is determined to do it!

Follow your dream! No matter what that dream is. If you want to be a rock star, then be a rock star! Follow that dream, no matter who tells you that you cannot be successful at it. People say you can’t only because they can't be successful at it. They are living your life with their old failures! The main point is, don't listen to other people. Follow your dream; your inspiration, to the end. See it through.

What you are and what you feel speak louder than what you say. You project who and what you are long before you open your mouth and prove who and what you are.

Love your enemies; they will hate you for it. It does not mean you should love you enemies just so they will hate you. It means loving is better than hating. Hate is like acid, it only destroys the vessel it is contained in.

Humans are endowed with the capability of love and compassion for all creatures. We also have the power of imagination! We can imagine the future. We are not tied to our past or present. We can dream of things to come and change our destiny. No other creature has the capabilities of humankind. We can demonstrate the qualities of God! If we were not here, God would go unexpressed on this planet! What better explanation do we need for our existence on our small, blue planet in the middle of our huge, infinite universe? None that I can think of….

Write on,

Mittster