Coming…soon?

Writing a book is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it a quick endeavor. It takes time, usually more time than anticipated. And if it’s to be done right, even more time and the support of loved ones who wonder ‘what in hell are you doing up there’?

Uhhh, writing?

It’s a solitary pursuit. Of course, one is not shut away from the world, but it does help sometimes. It’s not as if one disappears into the attic to magically reappear some time later with a finished manuscript in hand. If only. There are those who can pull that off. I can’t. I need to be in the company of others from time to time. It helps me to remember just what are social graces.

So, this is the first new post in quite some time. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been writing and researching. Boy, have I been writing? Though I’m quite deep into the first draft, I’m not done yet with the research. It underscores the cliche, “The more I learn, the less I know.”

What am I researching? In no particular order and of which I knew nothing, geology, archaeology, and linguistics, for a start. And I haven’t even started on cryptography.

Why?

My new book, a thriller, embraces all of those and takes place all over the globe. I hope to share more with you before too long. 

In the meantime, you might want to look up the Tibetan word, Tenzin.

What is a friend?

It’s a word bandied about rather loosely without the true meaning attached to it. We receive “Friend” requests on Facebook, yet a “friend” on that site connotes something more than it actually is. Used that way, the word is becoming meaningless

The Oxford Language definition of friend is this: a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations. Do we really have that bond with our social media friends? Ehhh, I don’t think so. Nor can we. We are too far removed because of social media to have a genuine connection.

While it’s true many us have lots of “friends”, how many of those could we rely on should the need arise? Do we need that many friends? And how many of them really share our values, ideologies, positions, even our taste in ice cream? How important is that? You decide.

We are too quick to make new “friends” that we miss the value in the real ones who don’t need or maybe even want to know where we had dinner last night. Or why they weren’t there with us. A true friend respects our needs and asks nothing more than the same from us.

Finally, are we true friends to others? Hopefully, yes. Otherwise, we’re just acquaintances.