sometimes, I'm a writer and that's all - which is fine by me

It's about 10:30pm, and i just came home from the Florida Heritage Book Festival banquet, where not only did i get to rub shoulders with some outstanding authors, and Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, but got a free meal (like a $60 meal, woot!) AND a free book (Bob Newhart's memoir, double woot! As i LOVE me some Bob Newhart...)


Tomorrow, I'll be at Flagler College in St. Aug most of the day, my gig is from 2:30-3:30 (look, I'm somebody! And they listed me first because I'm so special, not because I'm alphabetical. Steve Berry had to suck up the humiliation at my last gig, too...) I'll be speaking about personalities. How to craft them. Or because I have so many. Or something like that.

Anyway, it's times like this i wish i could just write, and write, and write... I would love to get more traction on the Transitions project. But even if i didn't have that, i could do more editing on the second Saban book... or the series of young children's books i want to do... or that book of T-18 survivors, that i still think about...

But then there's the whole earning-a-living thing. Ah well.

As for tonight, i got to hear some ribald tales from Randy White (author of the 18 or so Doc Ford books) tell stories about him and Peter Matthiessen (who once turned in a 2000 page manuscript - and didn't get laughed at.) Actually, as a former sea captain, i would bet most of Randy White's tales are pretty risque. Some of them are probably even true.

It doesn't happen that much anymore, but tonight, i was really missing my dad. God, that man could tell some stories.

Some of them were even true, too.

Encounter Night, Sept 16th in Jax - plus, a ruined Rolling Stones song

PSA: On September 16, Journey Church (5941 Richard St, 32216) will be hosting a Transitions Global 'Encounter Night', regarding human trafficking.

"This evening will give you a chance to learn about the issue and how to be involved in making a difference. You'll be given action items throughout the night, so you just don't leave with a broken heart. 
You will be given tools to make an impact. 
You will be given options as easy as clicking a mouse...or going to the other side of the world."

If you're in Jacksonville, this is for you. It's not just about stroking a check, smiling and saying "good luck with that..." Everyone has gifts. There's a way to use yours. Don't be a slug.

In other news:

Its funny, the stuff that catches my attention now. I almost got upset the other day, listening to Lady Marmalade, thinking at the end Patti sings "Free your Lady Marmalade", but the words are actually "Creole...", not "Free your..." So it's not a trafficking song, though I still can't think of any girl that would grow up singing that thinking "Wow, they're so empowered! I hope I can grow up to be a prostitute some day!" But I digress...

So I'm listening to another song, and this time, after thinking about it, I look up the lyrics to The Rolling Stones "Brown Sugar". Now I know, as a man with three daughters, I should probably have abandoned the Stones after their misogynistic masterpiece "Under My Thumb", but where else can you listen to marimbas in such a kicking song? You would have to wait until Oingo Boingo put out "Grey Matter"... but I digress.

So, for the first time, I actually catch the lyrics to Brown Sugar. It opens up like this:

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in New Orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he's doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should...

And it kinda goes downhill from there.


New eyes. New ears. If ignorance is bliss, then awareness must really suck, and I'm feeling some proof of that. But I would rather not stick my head back in the sand.

Maybe I'll see some of you locals Friday night? Maybe...

An endorsement to get involved

So i was asked recently if i (along with a few others) could share any reasons as to WHY someone who wanted to get involved with trafficking, or Transitions Global... or ANYTHING, really. But about MY specific experience, i wrote this:

"I’m 47, and I’ve never been on a mission trip. Until now. Never wanted to go, until I went. You can talk about girls and victims and all that ‘til you’re blue in the face, until you’re in the face of one of these girls. Then you stop talking. And you start thinking: “What can I do?”

That’s not to say the trip was all work. I met some great people! Had some good laughs, shed a few tears, had some great conversations. None of that is why I went, but it was good. I went for one reason: I knew that until I saw what was going on, good and bad, it would be just too, too easy for me to walk away. I also knew if I went, I would probably have my heart broken. I sure didn’t want that! But you know, these girls have had their hearts, their bodies, their spirits broken…and they’re healing. They’re coming back, and they’re coming back strong. And if they have the guts to ENDURE what they’ve been through, I thought, then certainly I can muster enough backbone to be a simple witness. And maybe, just maybe, if I have one tenth the fortitude of one of these girls, I can make a difference.

If you’re a Christian, this is a chance to stop trying to spread the gospel, and BE the gospel. Stop trying. BE the hands and feet of Christ.

If you’re an Anything-Else, surely our greatest humanitarian duty is to those who have suffered the most at the hands of our fellow humans.

In either case, you can’t really put a face on it until you’ve seen the faces. Now that I’ve been there, I can see their faces. Frick, I can’t stop seeing their faces, nor do I want to. I see their faces. Do you? Will you?"

Writing this was what caused me to coin the word "crilliant", something that has an equal probability of being crap or brilliant. Maybe it's somewhere in between. 

On an unrelated note, I'm meeting with an friend/editor this evening to go over the first 100 pages of the second Saban book... Can't wait!

first entries are always lame

So I'll just get this one out of the way.

I'm a writer. Not full time, but fully committed. I've got one book and a produced screenplay under my belt, and am working on TWO projects:
1.) Most important: a non-fiction book on the survivors of sex trafficking, in conjunction with a group called Transitions Global, who is pioneering the field of aftercare and re-integration.
2.) Less important: the sequel to my first young adult novel, "Saban and The Ancient"

This blog will mostly be about me tipping my toes in the increasingly turbulent waters of modern-day abolition. My only hopes are also two:
1.) That I contribute to the awareness of, recovery from, and general demise of this reprehensible and rarely discussed industry.
2.) That I not suck at it.

I make no guarantees.