47 years on

Back when I was 12, I joined a Boy Scout Troop in Billerica, Massachusetts. I became patrol scribe, later earned the journalism merit badge - which I still have, sewed to a merit badge sash hanging in the closet with my old uniform.

That all essentially started me on my path as a writer. My scoutmaster at the time, Alfred J. Oxton, is still alive and living in AridZona (as he terms it) and I sent him a copy of "The Clock Struck None". recently.

I received an email from him.

Ave Lou,

Great storeys! Thank you for sending me your new book.

I enjoyed the storeys. Some more than others since certain ones touched
upon ideas or places close to me.

Well Done!

~ajo

As you can imagine, this is nostalgic, satisfying, and a little amazing. I'll take it.

Creative writing, novel update

I will be teaching my creative writing class again through the Continuing Education Department of Northeast Texas Community College starting Feb. 26 and running for six sessions through April 9.
This session will be held at the main campus.

Meanwhile I passed the 33,000 word mark this weekend on my retro-futurist alternate history novel, "1985".

Sasquan

Well, I bought my supporting membership for Sasquan. Couldn't make the WorldCon last year because the new owners of the newspaper where I worked at the time erased my two weeks accumulated vacation. I drove to WorldCon in 2013 since it was in San Antonio.

I should be able to make the WorldCon this year (and as I noted previously, I am on the program for the American Mensa annual gathering in Louisville, Kentucky.

For the record, I support the Washington. D.C. 2017 WorldCon bid.

Mensa presentation

With the goal of doing a little proselytizing while looking for different events to attend in 2015, I made a proposal for a program this year's Mensa Annual Gathering (what they call their annual convention).

I received confirmation of my program yesterday (Tuesday), so I will be presenting a program on "The Drive of Probability: The role of science, technology and prediction in literary science fiction" at the event.

The 2015 Mensa Annual Gathering is being held at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky, the week of July 1-5. The exact day and time of my program will be determined later.

Ravencon

I've added a new convention to my schedule for 2015, I will be a panelist at Ravencon in Richmond April 24-26. So far, this is my only convention outside Texas or Oklahoma, since I am already committed to ConDFW, SoonerCon and ApolloCon. Looking forward to it.

My mother is 83, ready to turn 84 in April and lives in Northern Virginia. During my visit at Christmas, it occurred to me to perhaps schedule more visits to the East Coast to see her more often. That, and the fact I see my publisher Ian Strock with Fantastic Books is going to be there, poked me to offer my services.

A reviewer who "gets it"

Authors know there are reviewers who "get" a story and then there are those who don't. This review completely "gets" my story that was published in Issue No. 2 of Sci-Phi Journal, "On the Spiritual Plain".

If you don't want to follow the link, here are his pertinent comments:

"Another story, among several that impressed me, was Lou Antonelli’s “On the Spiritual Plain” (issue 2), about a planet on which, because of its peculiar electro-magnetic characteristics, one’s ghost (soul ? spirit?) becomes visible after death. Here the protagonist is a Methodist minister who first encounters the phenomenon when a workman is killed in an accident, and the ghost visits him. The story poses more questions than it attempts to answer, as the Methodist minister with the help of an alien “shaman,” for want of a better word, shepherds “Joe McDonald’s” soul to a place where it can leave the planet and “dissipate.” The story does not attempt to make a statement about the afterlife, but is a poetic meditation on of the process of dealing with death. All of the stories have a “Food for Thought” section at the end, which draws one’s attention to the philosophical issues involved. I have not decided yet whether these are more limiting than helpful. A good story speaks for itself in ways which only stories can speak. I found this story more evocative than the “Food for Thought” section that followed."

Note: The italics are mine. I realize that at my age (I turned 58 on Jan. 6), this is something more on my mind than ever - especially since I have already outlived my best friend in college and my best friend in high school. These were two of the finest people I ever knew.

Dictating stories

One of the problems I have - since my day job as a newspaper editor involves typing and my second career as a fiction writer also involves typing - is a lot of wear and tear on my hands and wrists, and I've had to deal with painful flare-ups of carpal tunnel syndrome over the years.

Last spring I finally plunked down some money and went and bought Dragon voice recognition software and I started to use it. In fact that's what I'm using to do this post. I'm dictating into Dragon.

Apparently I dictate as fast as I type, which is about 1000 words an hour. But honestly, using Dragon is a lot less painful, and causes a lot less wear and tear on my wrists. The voice recognition software has been a big help.

The software only cost me $79 at the local Staples. It comes with a microphone and headset. I found it east to install and use. It has the option to update itself on the basis of your usage, and also by reading your documents.

I don't have the clearest of pronunciations, but it does a fine job of taking down my words, and when it goes wrong, it's usually my fault.

Since the software enters wherever the cursor rests, you can dictate anything. I've found it's great for simple tasks like email, and it really helps get out the first draft of a story; just re-read carefully in case it didn't quite put down what you said or meant.

The story I contributed to The World Fantasy Con anthology, "The Girl Who Couldn't Fly" , was written using the Dragon software.