Firearms And Fools

Having been a firearms instructor in the military and in civilian life, and a lifelong gun owner, gun safety is always at the top of my mind anytime anyone is handling a weapon. So even though Terry and I both checked three times to make sure it was unloaded, and she was positioned off to the side, pointing a doubled barrel shotgun in my wife’s general direction (not at her) for the cover photo image of my next John Lee Quarrels book was not a comfortable thing to do. But the photo and cover did come out very well. Somebody asked me later why we didn’t use a camera on a tripod and a timer, and I honestly never thought of it.

Now I just have to get the darn book finished. Distraction from my back issues and then our month-long trip really disrupted my writing schedule. Normally I put out anywhere from four to six new books a year. This will be only my second book for the year, and this time around I will have to really get my butt in gear to manage four new releases. I am hoping Pucker Factor will be available by the end of July.

Somebody asked me where I came up with the title for this book. Anybody who has had a gun pointed at them, or worse yet, been shot at with one, knows the feeling very well.

Now that we’ve covered firearms let’s talk about fools. I get a lot of oddball questions from readers about RVing, my books, and self-publishing, and I know I may seem rude when I share the over-the-top requests I get from time to time, but there are times I just have to say something.

Someone I don’t know and have never heard of sent me a message the other day wanting me to review and plug her book in the blog and on Facebook. I get these requests every week, and unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to accommodate everybody. But this one stood out because she offered to send me a free copy of her book to review. All I have to do is pay the cost of shipping. So let me get this straight. We don’t know each other, we have never interacted in any way, and you want me to pay money to give you free publicity? Thanks, but no thanks.

Yesterday I may have gotten the strangest question yet. Somebody is going to be traveling to Alaska and will be stopping at several places along the way in Canada. He asked if I knew where he could get Canadian money here in the US because he heard it is hard to find up there. Huh? Really?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for my two-book Highway History and Back Road Mystery series, featuring oddball little stories we picked up in our travels across America as fulltime RVers, both books personally autographed to the winner.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – I have lived long enough to know that sometimes the things that sweep you off your feet leave a nasty head wound.