Greetings everybody. I'll give you a quick SITREP on me. I am 56-years old. I was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida. Joined the USMC right after high school when I was 18 and never looked back. I served in my beloved Corps for 31 years. I've now been retired for about six years. My family is my life. I have 3 children. I have twin daughters who are 35 and a son whose 33. My one daughter is a high school English teacher whose married and has 2 kids. My other daughter is a stay-at-home mom whose married and has 4 children. My son is married and has 2 kids. He followed his old man and joined the Corps. He's been in for 15 years and is currently in his third tour in Afghanistan. I was married for 28 years to my first wife. She passed away in 2001. 5 years ago I met a beautiful and amazing woman by chance whose 20 years my junior (36). She's from Russia but has lived in the states since her early 20s. We just got married on 9/11 last year. The wedding and reception was great. We had an incredible honeymoon. I sold my baseball card collection and we went to Hawaii, Tokyo, Brussels and Rome. One of the best months of my life. Despite being 56, me and my wife are going to adopt a brother/sister pair hopefully sometime this year. She's always wanted children and we decided to go with adoption. Hopefully we'll have 2 new additions to our home by this Thanksgiving. I have many interests and hobbies but my absolute passion is distance and long range shooting. I've competed in over 30 major and minor tournaments. I currently fill my time reading history, working out, watching sports, listening to music, writing and watching news channels. I am blunt, often speaking my mind for better or for worse. I am an avid reader. Some of my favorite books are Shogun, Atlas Shrugged, Ender's Game, D'Artagnan Romances trilogy, Grapes of Wrath, The Alienist, A Passage To India, Rogue Warrior, Marine Sniper - 93 Confirmed Kills, The Art of War, The Prince, Gravity's Rainbow, The Adventures of Augie March, The Old Man and the Sea, Call It Sleep and many, many, many more. I love to write. Have wrote 2 novels (unpublished). The first was a PI/noir-style novel. The second was a sci-fi genre. I write for my enjoyment. It's a great feeling to create a world and people from scratch. Currently I am in the early research and planning stages of my third. It's going to be a trilogy. It's a gangster genre based in Boston involving Italian, Irish and Russian crime families. My all-time favorite author is Edgar Allen Poe. The Raven is my favorite poem. Shogun by James Clavell is my favorite novel ever written. I'm happy to be here and look forward to getting to know everyone. Semper Fi.
Welcome Gunny, love to see some of your work. I hope thinks goes well with the adoption, my fingers are crossed for you.
Hello Gunny, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Hi and welcome Gunny. It is great to have another member along who is happy to share his thoughts on life and writing. I have to admit I like the sound of your novel set in Boston. I'm from middle MA myself. Hope you enjoy yourself around here, and thank you for your service.
Thank you. Hey, Tessie. I don't know how old you are or how long you've lived in Boston but I'm looking for someone who is very knowledgable on the city with some insight to certain aspects of life on the streets of Boston in the 70s, 80s and present day. Maybe someone to also give me some events, parades, famous places and landmarks, etc... If you have some knowledge and don't mind me asking you a few questions that would be great.
Hi Gunny, I wish I was in Boston more often. I've probably visited three times in the past and that was to pick up visiting relatives from Logan Airport. There are a couple of historic places I want to visit. "The Freedom Trail" is a leisurely tour guide around Boston to view the landmarks, including Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House, and Christ Church. I don't have much more to offer, but if you type in "walking tours in Boston" "or landmarks in Boston" into Google you'll find some information you might find helpful. Best of luck with your novel.
I don't go into the city very often these days, but I lived in Back Bay (Commonwealth Ave and then Newbury Street) in the early 70s, and can still find my way around fairly well. Also, you can get a lot of local color from the Spencer books by Robert B Parker, and the Carlotta Carlyle books by Linda Barnes. Both authors know the area very well.
Oh thanks. I'll certainly check those out. I love Boston. I visit every now and then. It is hands down one of the 10 best cities in the country in regards to hostory and food. I love eating in Boston. So many different great nationalities of food. They have great Italian there. Especially the delis. Get a killer Italian sub there. Wash it down with an ice-cold bottle of Peroni and you're good to go.
I couldn't agree with you more. The place is a mixture of food, Fenway, and history, although the order of those depends on whether you're a sports nut or not. A brother in law is actually an executive chef for a restaurant on Boylston Street. So even though it's a big town, my family has a connection to it.
