Where to start? I have a BA in Writing, a cognate in Mathematics and an Associate in Science. I've worked as a technical writer over the past two decades for one of the top ten largest data processors in the world by invoked lines of code. Responses to Requests for Proposals, X12N Supplemental Implementation Guides, detailed technical and business system documentation throughout a project life cycle. ... It's a long list. I also moved into a business systems analyst position while maintaining the technical writing aspect of my job. How I arrived here is complicated. Over the years many people have said, "You should write a book!" Pfft, who would care? I'm no one. Through a combination of fortuitous circumstances over the course of seven years I developed a cyber-friendship with an established author who joined a closed group of Iditarod/Yukon Quest fans I founded in 2012. I didn't know she was a writer until last week. Because I sometimes enjoy throwing curve balls I gave her the overseas flight level view of my life and she said the same as everyone else. As it happens I've tinkered with the notion on and off through the years. I asked if she'd have a look and when she responded three days later with, "I liked it well enough to stay up and finish it. I think it’s well written and the story is captivating…" I decided to explore the idea further. So here I am. I hope to learn more about self-publishing, memoir norms and other pertinent subjects. Finding a group of serious writers I can trust to get feedback would be fantastic. Thanks in advance! ME
Aw thanks! But my writing companion would probably ingest such a sweet little thing. She's killed and eaten at least 50 rabbits in the last 9 years, not to mention the squirrels, possums, etc. I wouldn't want to see her with a kitten.
lol Is that a hint? When I first saw your image I thought it was a dolphin and was going to tell you about divers and dolphins. Then I saw it's a shark and figured you already know.
Her most recent kill was a domesticated rabbit the size of a small collie dog. In one of the more hilarious efforts at applied science I've yet seen, the people across the street released a couple dozen domestic rabbits intending that they breed with the native wild rabbit population to increase the size of the wild rabbit population. When my writing companion saw the first one, the gleam in her eye made it clear she thought she was seeing the avatar of all midday snacks. I told the neighbors that she would kill any and all of the released rabbits if any got into her fenced area. Their response was, "okay." Three days later a large white domesticated rabbit streaked down the fence line with my companion hot on its heels. When the rabbit hit the corner and flipped backwards it was all over but the screaming--literally. Rabbits make a terrible noise when being killed by dogs. I managed to get the carcass away from my companion before she could begin disemboweling it as I didn't want another $1,050 emergency vet bill. Once my companion was secured inside I went across the street to ask them to retrieve the carcass. I expected them to be angry. To my astonishment they not only retrieved the carcass with no ill will, they immediately skinned it and as best I can tell cooked it. Sometimes I wonder. ...
Some people breed rabbits to eat. Though it is rare to ever see it offered at the local grocer. Never had rabbit myself, but I hear it is not that good.
WC (stands for Writing Companion) absolutely loves rabbit. Even the Blue Buffalo Rabbit dry food, though she prefers her rabbit still squirming. The funny part of her last kill was their explanation for releasing the domestic rabbits. Think Clydesdale and Shetland Pony. Sooooo much wrong with that idea but as so many people fail to realize, theory doesn’t always apply 1-1 in the real world. I have a couple of recipes for rabbit and I’ve seen it a couple of times in the grocery but never tried it. Elk meat though? Oh yeah. Been more than two decades but I can still taste a perfectly marinated and roasted elk roast.
Elk is wonderful. The stringyness if marinated overnight is excellent for pulling apart. Although, I really just like listening to their call in the wild. Only seen it in person a few times. If you really want something great, try brown bear. Not black bear, those are trash bears, but brown. Perfect marbling of fat into the meat. Best steaks I ever had.
I lived in the Wet Mountain Valley and have seen herds of literally hundreds of elk, usually in autumn. Hitting one in a passenger vehicle is no fun at all. The general store I ran was a game check station. One guy lost two cow elk and a calf to the valley’s residents and got a fat fine to boot. Unlicensed kills. The rangers hung the carcasses from our veranda and anyone who wanted the meat was welcome to it. Are you using black bear as grizzly? If so I’ve heard that before. Never had an opportunity to try it though. Around here? I’ll never get an opportunity.
I'm originally from Minnesota. We have a real black bear problem because they are too accustomed to humans. They're always breaking into shops and eating landfill scraps. Bad meat. Grizzlies are rare, so we almost never have them around. The brown bears we had were smaller than Grizzlies, but much larger than the black bears. Like to be left alone. Dangerous to hunt, but the best meat. And sorry to go off on a tangent on your post. Welcome!
We had bears but I never saw anything but sign. Mountain lions are another matter. They had a trail about a quarter mile behind the store and liked to scream in the middle of the night just to wake me up. Are you kidding? I'm a geek! I adore (sec^2)x. (Sad. I had to check to make sure I had that right. It's been years since I did any real math and I probably couldn't do a triple integral without an hour for a quick refresher if my life depended on it.)
Oh geez, you might as well be doing physics or in depth marginal charts when you're getting that far down the integral chain! Oh the misery (and somewhat fun). Reminds me of work... Write any science fiction?
lol I loved all forms of mathematics past arithmetic. I'm one of those people who innately understand real mathematics but am also notorious for 2+2=5 which explains why hubby balances the check book. And physics? LOVED it. Never. I enjoy good scifi but it isn't in my imaginary realm KWIM? Hell, I'm still trying to figure out what genre I'm actually writing! Oh, my youngest is stationed at NBSD. Wave toward him for me would you? ETA: my husband keeps track of the weather in SD and he's pea green!
Sure will! I still go there from time to time, since they have free early movie screenings on base. Was stationed at Miramar myself, but still get to see the other bases from time to time. If you love physics, you would probably like my job. Work on transmission electron microscopes. Beam mechanics is all physics in the conversion of fourier transforms to visual modeling. Fun stuff. I get you on being lost with genre. Personally, I write whatever genre comes to mind. Think I've tried every fiction genre. Still not settled yet.
Thanks! That would be a dream job! Though I like what I do for the most part. I get a lot of variety from project to project though any project that requires outgoing documentation ends up on my plate. I took my daughter to the electron scanning 'scope at the university once and she accompanied me to my microbiology lab practicum. She was in elementary school at that time. When she entered high school she was despondent over the quality of all the science equipment. I created a monster. I really have only one story to tell. After that? Can't really say.
I thought you might get a chuckle out of this. When I lived in the Wet Mountain Valley my mother came to visit from the east coast. We drove about three hours from her pick up locale to the Valley and by the time we got home it was dark (and out there dark means dark, no streetlights for 20 miles in all directions.) The guy who lived upstairs had gone hunting that day and got a cow elk and a yearling mulie. In that part of the world one field dresses a kill, takes it down the mountain(s) and hangs it in a tree after skinning, usually for a month unless the weather goes berserk. So he hung the cow and yearling in the apple grove 15' from my kitchen window. All normal. My abode was connected to the store proper and I had to get up at 4am to meet the mail delivery from the nearest comparably large post office 59 miles away. I decided to let my mother sleep while I fired up the wood stove, sorted mail, all the stuff to get ready for the schoolkids and their parents. While sorting the mail I was shocked by a blood-curdling, Mike's-gonna-get-me scream from my place. I rushed over and found my mother standing at the sink looking out the window with her hand over her mouth. I'll admit the carcasses looked weird. The neighbor left the fell on the meat to protect it from frost and in the moonlight the two hanging carcasses did look strange. But my mother thought human beings were hung from the apple trees outside my kitchen window. The remainder of her stay she complained about the carcasses in the apple trees and nothing I said could convince her that it was absolutely normal.
