Gemini Rising

July in a Nutshell

So I'm back......... ready to share some more ramblings. Enjoy!

I shared my good news -- Prairie Rose Press will re-publish "Journey of the Heart." I'm very excited about that. I re-read the story to refresh myself. It really is a heartwarming read. World War II is over and Rachel might lose her winery. James is a drifter looking for a purpose in his life. Can Rachel and James find happiness?

I have a lot to do as I've neglected my marketing (and writing) due to my scouting activities. I'm first going to work on my twitter presence and try to tweet a least once a day. I have to attend to my Facebook author page and then update my website and then get ready to start blogging again. As I begin to attend to my tasks I'll keep you updated.

I'm feeling inspired to write, but not quite sure where it's going to take me. I have a Green Rose prequel in mind and a couple of Sonia character driven shorts. All in due time.

WDC STUFF:

Gigie aka WebWitch and I are planning our August and Sept contests for the Bard's Hall. Sept will be our "Cop Shop" to celebrate Writing.com's 18th birthday. I always enjoy the Cop Shop. Right now, I'm trying to go through the Bard's Hall July entries. Hope to have some reviews posted soon.

SCOUTING STUFF:
9-14 JUL I went to Camp Josepho with my son. He earned the Movie-making, Theater, and Communications Merit Badges. It was an interesting time. There was only 1 cook so I helped out in the kitchen when I could. The food at Josepho was nice. I'm sharing an Old Newsreel about the camp dated 1944. Enjoy! The camp was founded in 1941 and is in the city limits of Los Angeles. Lots of history behind it that I can get into in future entries:



SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK
While the rest of California burns up, we visited the Sequoia National Park last week, 19-22 JUL. We drove up on Thursday night, and it took about 4 hours. SNP is on the south western side of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. I believe it is one of the lowest locations where the Sequoia Trees grow. We stayed at Lodgepole Camping area. They have over 200 spots but if you want to get one you have to set your internet for 6 months out and pray. After we arrived, we set up camp, hung out by the campfire and went to bed. I always take a cot when I car camp. I only take a "pad" when I go backpacking. The next day we took a 3 mile hike from the Sherman Tree to the Giant Forest Museum. We saw a deer just sitting next to a sequoia tree minding it's own business. The scouts did the Jr. Ranger program. In the afternoon, the scouts tried fishing in the local creek. The next day we visited a local cave and then the scouts went swimming and tried their hands at fishing again. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast and headed out, arriving home at 230. The scouts did the majority of the cooking and clean up. Friday night we saw a ranger program on night life which was interesting.

READING STUFF

I finished Stephanie Plum #21. Probably one of the better books recently. I have a bunch on the list to read though.I read "THE GREAT REVOLT" why people voted for Trump and why he won the election. I realize that politics these days can be very divisive, but I try to take the high road. I'm a Reagan Democrat and I'll leave it at that.

Currently, I'm reading QUEEN VICTORIA's MATCHMAKING which is interesting. It's how she tried to marry off her grandchild onto the thrones of Europe. And her Grandchildren were definitely colorful personalities.

I like to do book reviews, but unfortunately, time has not been accommodating.

MISC STUFF:
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephburkhart. I generally don't use Twitter a lot, but I see a lot of benefit in managing a tweet a day. Of course the big question is "WHAT to Tweet about???" I want to get the message out about my upcoming happenings with my writing, but I also want to stay current. That's a challenge because I'm not a "reality" person. I like feel good stories and quirky things that make me laugh. I like Grumpy Cat. That cat is so ugly, it's cute, but honestly, I don't do much in my "real" life that I think is interesting so why would others? I've tried tweeting more often in the past. In the past, I've used Tribeer to get my blogs out and support others, but hardly drove my marketing efforts. I guess I'll go back to the drawing board and plug away. You never know what Tweets become Magic.

I discovered we had access to Amazon Prime through our Apple TV so I found "Victoria" starting Jenna Coleman. It's about the early years of Queen Victoria's life. I have to admit Rufus Sewell is PERFECT for Lord Melbourne.

COMIC BOOKS
One of the scouts likes to collect comic books. I collected from 1980-1997, and then sporadically since then. I love the DC Teen Titans of the time, did Batman and the Outsiders and the Legion of Superheroes. I collected a lot of X-Men books at the time. I guess I'm spoiled on that area of comic books. I'm not a fan of all the changes in the DC universe. Marvel seems more steady to me. I do enjoy a good superhero movie though and I really enjoy'd DC's "Superman" with Henry Cavill, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. I thought Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ezra Miller as the Flash were inspired choices. Ezra Miller is a fantastic actor. Just rewatched Fantastic Beasts and was blown away by his Credence.

That's my July in a nutshell.