Michael Pickell

Song mood: In Too Deep by Genesis.
It’s been an Inspector Morse weekend.  I’m halfway through the original series.  I think I came upon an understanding.  If the show follows the book closely, it will say based on the book.  After the second season, the shows stopped following the books closely and then it says based off the characters.  Some of them say based off an idea by the author, which would indicate that the author collaborated with the producers for the screenplay.The other thing that I realized is that if they are going to follow the series, Chief Inspector Thursday won’t be in the new show for much longer.  Which this last season hinted at.
I expect to work on my own mystery this week.  It happens in Sandy, England.  My Inspector Trevor is surnamed after the Irish author, William Trevor.  Trevor is one of the biggest names in literature.  Or he was when I attended college for Creative Writing.  I’ve read a few of his short stories.  I think I should listen to a few of his nov…

Song mood: Major Tom (Coming Home) by Peter Shilling.The song that played in my head for months.I didn’t know the lyrics, the name, the song writer.But when it played on the radio, I knew it at once.
As my sister pointed out on social media, it’s my grandmother’s birthday.  Or, as I would like to say, the end of summer.  She was a phenomenal cook and fortune teller.  She was also a teacher as well.
Chadwick Boseman.  It was tragic that he died at such a young age.  It came as a shock to many.  For a guy as young and fit, to die of colon cancer in his early forties is a tragedy.  My father died of colon cancer when he was fifty-seven.  He weighed 360 pounds and had a tumor the size of a grapefruit.  He should have made regular doctor visits.I make doctor visits either once a year or every other year.  Because of my family history I have to get colonoscopies every five years.At any rate, it was terrible that Boseman died so young.  I rather enjoyed his movies.
Yesterday, I had an idea for …

Song mood: Disappear by INXS.
I was way tired this morning and for the whole on account of someone walking around the house in the wee hours of the morning.  Whatever.  Anyway.  So it was a rough ten hours of work today.On top of that the whole right of my head was a bit sore.  Like the eardrum was sore and burning up.  I had a sore throat, but on the right side.  I had a cluster headache above my right eye.  The right side of my skull feels a little sore when I run my hand across it.It’s a weird thing happening.  I think I will be going to bed early, but I probably won’t.
I think I may be taking a break from my main project.  I don’t know.  Sometimes when I take a break from a project, I don’t return until years later and with even more frustration for having not accomplished something.The whole problem with sci-fi/fantasy/horror is being able to describe something without losing the audience.  I admit that I don’t have the self confidence or confidence in my writing.  And yet I can re…

Song mood: Absolutely (Story of a Girl) by Nine Days.That song has been in my head for weeks now.And I could easily mistake Nine Days for Third Eye Blind.
Finished listening to Harrow the Ninth.  I will have to go back and reread the fifth and final act.  Gideon Nav returned.  She’s my ultimate favorite character of all time.  I will have to listen to it again before the years over, but I will read the last portion in the book.  So many things happened in the last bit.  It’s totally leading up to the third book.  I loved the book.  It made laugh just like the first one did.
The artist for the cover of Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell stated that this will be the series finally.  First I was shocked, shocked that I actually followed the artist who does the covers for the Witches of Lychford series on IG.  Then a bit saddened that this will be the last of them.  I loved that series.  It had a vicar.  The author had another popular series, that was supposed to be finished about now. …

Song mood: Just Like Heaven by the Cure.
Last night, I didn’t write a thousand words like I said I was going to.  Instead I worked on identifying works of art for my poems.  Fortunately some of the paintings had the artist’s name in gilt on the frame.  I was able to identify four paintings and I wrote four poems.
I am half way through Harrow the Nineth.  Just like the first, it is a masterpiece.  Last night I listen to a real exciting part.  Tomorrow, I suspect I will listen to a major event in the story.  The tension that had been building up between characters and things that have been plotted between characters.
There was a sale on Audible and so I bought Broken Angels by Richard Morgan.  The sequel of Altered Carbon.  Now I have a backlog of items to listen to.  Next up to listen to is: The Science Fictionof Edgar Allan Poe.  I suspect that will be followed up by Broken Angels.
Tonight, I wrote a thousand words in forty-five minutes.  I don’t know what it is about writing in second pe…

Song mood: New Sensation by INXS.I figured it out this morning.  I figured out how the Traveler defeats the Dark Prince.  And on the same token, I figured out how Milo de Ford defeats the Dark Prince.It is in the realm potential.  The power of the Traveler, of Milo de Ford is in one of the realms of potential.  One realm is the realm of possibility, the other realm is the realm of probability.  The Traveler is able to trap the Dark Prince within the realm of potential, but in the act of doing it, traps himself.Milo de Ford without knowledge releases the both of them in the series.  In order to defeat the Dark Prince, Milo has to do something similar to what the Traveler did.
I didn’t get much accomplished in writing today.  Just figured something out for the rest of the series.  At the moment, I have my doubts but must soldier on.
I thought about the realms of probability and possibility.  I think I live too much in the world of potential.  Too afraid to move forward because the probabi…

Song mood: Melt With You by Modern English.
I started writing the second book.  I tried out the second person POV and liked it.  I know who is narrating the story.  So I spun out a thousand words easily.  I probably could have continued, but decided to go on a walk.  I decided to do double steps.  Now I just need to brainstorm what the rest of the story will be and do a quick outline.  I think this will go a little quicker than the previous story.What I do know is that I must make myself write, even if I just write a thousand words at a time.
I’m really loving Harrow the Ninth.  If you read the first one, then most of what you read doesn’t match what was in the first book.  So there is this mystery of what is really happening here.  It’s brilliant.
So the next few weeks will be trying to get more material finished.

So I did it.I talked with my bank for a personal loan.I talked to a dealership and I decided on a car.If all goes right and the car runs well, I will be buying a 2009 Nissan Cube.It’s a 6 speed manual.  The terms for the loan is for 3 years.  So once everything goes through, I will be super excited.  The monthly payments aren’t going to kill me greatly.  The car has fewer miles than what I have now.Now, that I have made decisions about my vehicle and am getting that all taken care of, I can let go of the worry I had before about not having something reliable to drive.  I can concentrate on writing a ghost story.

Song mood: I Like It Like That by Pete Rodriguez.Not sure why that song popped into my head.It reminds me of Havana by Camila Cabello.There has been this song in my head that I still haven’t figured out.I don’t quite remember any latching lyric.Something I can google and find out what it is.I know it’s from the 80’s.
I have more issues with my car.  Which is why I didn’t do much for my birthday.  And spending a night at a hotel watching The Office is just another expense.  The issues with my car are stressing me out as I think I may want to get another car.  Not a happy moment for me, but I will do what needs to be done.  I just wish the public transportation was better here.  I wouldn’t need a car.  But here, you more or less need a car.
Down to the last twenty pages of my birthday book: The Garden of Bewitchment by Catherine Cavendish.  It was terrible.  Dialogue is modern.  ‘The Victorians’ in this story are prudish about certain things that in the real time period they wouldn’t be. …

Song mood: Buddy Holly by Weezer.
Walked around the lake today.
Finished listening to Mexican Gothic.  Fantastic book.  It was well thought out, well written.  I was off on the monster.  That’s okay.  I loved the book.  There was a logic to the monster.
Started reading The Garden of Bewitchment.  From what I read, not that great.  And that’s okay too.  A writer learns from not so great books just as they learn from great books.  The thing I think about is how could I better present the story.There things about this novel, like the dialogue that don’t ring true for Victorian England.  Then there are parts that aren’t likely to happen in Victorian England.  The book should have been set in 1970’s England and that would ring more true.  Although I say that the 70’s tried to imitate Victorian England, it was still vastly different.A few years ago, I wrote a steampunk story.  I read it to a writer’s group.  Seventy five percent of the comments I received said that the dialogue was stilted.  O…

So I made some changes in plan for my birthday.I decided to get a room at Aksarben Suites.I’ll spend the day in Aksarben and pretend that I traveled.What I will have, I’ll decide tomorrow, although I suspect that it will be Pickleman’s pizza.I’ll read and chill.Maybe I’ll take a bus to the Dundee Dell.So many things I can do.For coffee, I’ll go to the Starbucks on 90th and Pacific.That one has the Verismo coffee machine makes an excellent cup of coffee.I can even take an early walk at the lake as I make my way to Aksarben.

Song mood: Fix You by Coldplay.  I should really make a list of bands that I would like to see.  Then look them up to see if they are still doing concerts.  It’s been one of those lazy Saturdays where adulting is tough.
Last night I watched Blow the Man Down.  The advertising for it said it had a 99% fresh tomato rating.  I’m beginning to think that rating is crap.  The movie wasn’t real terrible, but it wasn’t that great either.  Twenty minutes in this movie, I thought this was terrible and then it picked up a bit.  It had a Twin Peaks kind of feel to it.
All summer, Harrow the Ninth wasn’t showing up for Audible.  The formats were just hardcover and ebook.  Today, it did show up and I got the audio version, which is over 19 hours long.  Now, I’m going back to the book I bought for my birthday book: The Garden of Bewitchment by Catherine Cavendish.  A gothic horror at 229 pages.  I can finish that one in a week.
The issue I had with the car has been resolved.  I changed oil, I knew it h…

Song mood: Girl All the Bad Boys Want by Bowling for Soup.  Not sure if this accurate.
I can’t really elaborate.  I might think it’s okay to say that I like a certain type of woman, but really it’s easy for me to dig myself in a hole.  So needless to say whoever I find attractive is the most beautiful woman ever.  I think all my life I have been looking for a Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.  Someone I could bounce ideas off of.  Someone who will work with me and I work with her on artistic projects.  Mary Shelley would seem as someone who is plain looking, but I think her attractive.  She wrote Frankenstein after all.  She was quite smart.  Cleverness is what I find most attractive in a woman.
So Saturday.  I’m still having issues with my car.  I’m not really ready to give up on it.  I would need advice.  But before that, I will do some tune ups and one thing I didn’t think to do because I’m not a mechanic, calibrate the sensor.  On one of the parts that I bought to fix the problem said th…

Song mood: All These Things I’ve Done by the Killers.
I replaced the part on my car.  It was easy.  It took me less than five minutes.  It took me longer to find the right socket.  I’m glad I didn’t follow the instruction that came with the part.  I just looked at the old part and put in the new part to match the way the old was in.  The part came with a piece that was not on the old part, so I took that piece off and installed the new part.
I should be thinking of getting a new car.  I would like to buy a jeep that has a stick shift.  The only thing is that I’m trying to save.  To build myself up so that when these little messes happen, I’m more prepared for them.  At the moment, I have four month’s wages in my savings.
I always remember the saying, that if you buy a woman a ring, it should be 6 months wages.  I don’t know if that still applies.  People pick out rings because they like them.  Back in the olden days, the dowery and the engagement ring were meant to support the woman in c…

Song mood: Just like Heaven by the Cure.
Last night was about getting caught up with sleep and I went to bed early.  I walked in place for a while listening to Dervla McTiernan’s The Roommate, a Cormac Reilly novella.  I listened to McTiernan’s The Sisters while I traveled from London to Paris and finished the book on my way back from Paris.  Her stories take place in Dublin.  I may yet listen to a Cormac Reilly novel.
On que for listening is Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.  Followed by The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, which is a collection of short stories and essays Poe wrote that deal with science fiction.
One more long day and two more short ones, and then I’m on vacation or whatever it is I’m calling it.
The new auto part is coming tomorrow.  This time I talked with a live person.  It turns out that the part I got before, not only did it not fit, but was not even the part that needed to be replaced.  There are two sensors, one the crankshaft position sensor and the oth…

Song mood: Hazy Shade of Winter by the Bangles.
This weekend is one of those where I just go with the flow.  If anyone would have predicted that I would spend it binge watching the Umbrella Academy season two with my cousins, would have been right on target.  I watched half of season two today with my cousins.  I love that show.  I want to write something like it.
I drove to the local Hyvee, a little bit further than Walmart.  The check engine light that has been on for the last few day is now off.  So it seems to be okay, I still haven’t replaced the part.  But the car still idles low.  Anyway, it’s going to be let’s see what happens.
Sometimes it is a good thing to just binge watch a show and read books.  I’m currently reading In an Absent Dream by Seanan MacGuire.  This is better than the previous two books by far.  Not as good as the first.  This book has more scenes than the previous two books and I’m only on page 68.
I got the email from Barnes-N-Noble that my book has arrived.  Har…