Healthcare - Redneck Style

I've missed blogging so I'm dipping my toes into the water again with a post that might be helpful during these trying times - a kind of public service. Lately stories about the new healthcare laws and how insurers are scramblin' to cut - reinstate or adapt coverage have dominated the news. The problems have been particularly difficult here in some parts of the south because the medical terminology is so . . .  different. As a writer, decipherin' language is important, so with some help from the internet I'm gonna take a brief break from Pirates, GALLOWS POINT & general storytellin' to explain the lingo so y'all can cogitate on it a spell.  

Benign - What you be, after you be eight.
Artery - The study of paintings
Bacteria - Back door to the cafeteria
Barium - what doctors do when patients die
Cesarean section - a neighborhood in Rome
Cat scan - searching for kitty
Cauterize - made eye contact with her
Coma- a punctuation mark
D & C - Where Washington is
Dilate - to live long
Enema - Not a friend
Fester - quicker than someone else
Fibula - a small lie
GI series - world series of military baseball
Hangnail - what you hang your coat on
Impotent - distinguished, well-known
Labor pain - getting hurt at work
Medical staff - a doctor's cane
Morbid - a higher offer
Nitrates - cheaper than day rates
Node - I knew it
Outpatient - a person who has fainted
Pap Smear - A fatherhood test
Pelvis - second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative - a letter carrier
Recovery room - place to do upholstery
Rectum - darn near killed him
Secretion - hiding something
Seizure - a Roman emperor
Tablet - a small table
Terminal Illness - getting sick at the airport
Tumor - one plus one more
Urine - opposite of you're out
Varicose - nearby / close by



Redneck Ambulance on the way to the Clinic

 

You Don't Know Jack. . . . YET

6 months have passed since I last posted on this blog. Hmph!


We are back (finally) from our lengthy stint in South Florida & currently living full-time (*sigh of relief*) in our own home here in the nation's oldest city. My writing room renovation is almost finished (nautical theme - big surprise) & the push is on to get into the flow again on GALLOWS POINT, the 3rd book in The Jack Rackham Adventure series.

Sneak peak photo above - All of the pictures in my writing room were taken by Deb & mounted on canvas. The yacht shown is 'Enticer' built in 1934 sailing out of Rhode Island. It is very similar to FDR's Sequoia & is currently for sale for $3.3 million. This was taken in St Augustine during a visit from "The HMS Bounty".

Sorry - Back to the post: 

Unfortunately, blogging will continue to take a back seat for a bit longer. I totally understand the importance for writers to maintain a healthy internet presence, but spare time comes at such a premium & something's got to give. There is hope, however - a little anyway.

A few days ago I chatted about my dilemma with my good friend (& book character) 'Pop' while we enjoyed fine hand-rolled cigars a we lounged on the deck of RECKLESS ENDEAVOR, his luxurious multi-million dollar schooner moored just off the seawall near St Augustine's municipal pier. I mentioned some of the specific questions that I get from readers about Jack & the rest of the characters in the JRA books,  many  that even I can't answer & asked if he had any thoughts. This morning he called with a remedy.

Now he refuses to actually blog, though I imagine it could be very entertaining if he did, but it seems he invited one of his favorite authors (he never mentioned who & I know better than to ask) over to the mansion to interview his grandson Jack. Guess I could have done that myself but maybe it's better to get an outsider's perspective. In any case, this will give me some material to plug in for a couple of blog posts (since he agreed to let me use it all, word for word, if I want), & some Twitter linkage (which I still struggle with) &, as a bonus, I'll finally get some reader questions answered.

Well, we're just gonna have to see where this ends up. Could be interesting . . .  & I wonder who is doing the interview . . .  Do you have any questions?

Sunday Stroll - in the old town

It's been almost a month since I've written anything. More than 3 since my last post. Almost zero time online. Lots going on. Getting to the final stage of my project in Miami. Pushing hard. Tired.

Six weeks ago my doctor (Dr Butcher) said I looked like crap. He ought to see me now. Dark circles under the dark circles. Guess that happens when you try to cram the work of 6 months into 3. More design changes in the works. The days seem really long but the calendar pages are flipping by way too fast. Can't believe it's almost February. Two looooong years. 

This engraving of bat wings on each side of the hour glass means "time flies". It's a marble insert on the face of a St Augustine tomb where a Catholic Bishop was once buried. He "moved" home to Cuba  about 100 years ago, 40 years after his death. Hope I get home sooner than that! (And not in a box.)

  
Last week Deb suggested we take a little stress-relief walk around our haunted seaside hometown. First stop was an old cemetery. Maybe she was tryin' to make a not-so-subtle point.

Next we visited the old drugstore where we buy our loose tea & organic Florida honey - but no drugs.

Deb wanted to get a shot of the old city gates. It was a gray day, not great for photos, but she managed to get a picture without tourists in the scene. Across the street, in the background, is the Castillo de San Marcos. That was our next destination. These structures are built with coquina.  

                 The Castillo pictures - same day (within minutes) 2 angles. 

Busy day at the fort. On weekends they fire cannons every hour using "Spanish" soldiers in full uniform. A few years back we were in our boat (our boat really is named Laffin' Gaff), 10 yards away from the fort's seawall facing the inlet when that cannon went off. Though my engine blew up. That incident blossomed into a part of the story in BAD LATITUDE - the night Jack & Kai were fired upon by the ghost ship.

The Bridge of Lions. This bridge was recently taken apart & hauled away. A temporary bridge was built in its place. The original was completely restored, trucked back in sections & reassembled. THAT would have been an awesome project to run. In RECKLESS (book number 2), Pop does some showin' off, sailing through this very drawbridge in his restored schooner Reckless Endeavor as they leave port in search of the Rackham treasure. 

We need to run a contest to see who can figure out where the name of the bridge comes from. (Hint: Granite statues.) The inscription P de L 1513 stands for Ponce de Leon who founded the city in 1513, making St Augustine the oldest city in America & the very first Catholic mass in all of North America.   

Now drawbridges are fairly common, but how often do you see pirate ships crossing through 'em?  

                                 Or doors with this kind of hardware?   

Seeing pirates walking the streets is no big deal - happens all the time. Certainly my idea of using a dead pirate as a character couldn't have been influenced by the history of a haunted town, a town ready to celebrate its 500th year.

Hoping to get back home soon - where inspiration lurks at every corner . . .  & where I work best as The Haunted City Writer.

It's just after midnight - I'm going to write. Tonight. Finally.





  

What's In YOUR Attic?

You've spent countless hours crafting stories - tweaking, revising & rewriting. Maybe it's been your life's passion. Maybe it's a passion that's been kept secret. Your insecurity, maybe a fear of failure or criticism from a twenty-something-year-old literary agent, caused you to ignore the publishing options & you never put your work "out there" for the world to see. And all of those stories & manuscripts lie tucked away in boxes, maybe in the attic .....

Alas, your days come to an end & after a suitable mourning period, perhaps ten minutes following the funeral, family members rummage through your home disposing of anything they deem worthless - like boxes of meaningless old papers. And so it is - your stories are gone forever.

What if you had a chance to hit the rewind button? Would you take your shot? Let's assume so.

Your grandkids have grandkids. One day they find YOUR BOOKS, yellowed & battered as they may be, but there they are. You've left something of your passion behind.

                                                               GALLOWS POINT (in progress)

Imagine That

Over the years I've written a bazillion letters, emails & narratives related to the challenging business of construction management, otherwise known as "my big boy job". There's never been anything remotely creative about any of that correspondence, other than touches of biting sarcasm, something I often struggle (with limited success) to control. I've always been one to get to the point & making friends, in business at least, has never been a priority. With that bit of background on the table, ME writing books for kids is still something I can't wrap my brain around. The two worlds are so opposite.

Today we visited The Baliker Gallery in Palm Coast to check out the sculptures of the very talented Paul Baliker. His work is incredible, especially the way he uses driftwood, like this:

And this:

There's more on the website, all very click worthy - so check it out. But there was a bronze piece that caught my eye ... & would look great in my writing room. (Deb? It's only $4500!!!)

This is named "Once Upon A Time". The kid is obviously readng a book (very cool) & his imagination, as you will "see" below is in high gear.

All from the pages of a "book".

Out of the blue, in July 2007 to be exact, I started writing. It was totally unplanned. There were no goals & zero expectations. It wasn't something I had to do. Nothing inside was screaming to get out, like many writers claim (or like the movie "Alien"). It just happened. Four years & two books later, grabbing a reader's imagination - & squeezing it with both hands - is my new brass ring.... or maybe it's bronze. Actually, it feels pretty good - finally having a goal. Guess that means I'm getting serious. Imagine that.    

If you're a writer - what made you take the plunge? Oh ... and what's the brass ring you're reaching for?



 

Click The Link - Whaddya Think?

Greetings from Miami. How 'bout that - a picture of Miami minus the traffic! We travel a lot. In fact, we're mapping out a couple of new adventures in the upcoming weeks, though the mode of transportation, in one case, is under serious debate. First on the agenda is a trip to The Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles offshore from Key West. I want to go by seaplane - Deb's thinkin' that a boat's the way to go, since she's not a great fan of small planes, especially the ones that land in the ocean. Time to negotiate. The 2nd trip planned is a little further south to the Virgin Islands - by boat. For the record, taking off & landing in a seaplane is a total rush. So how 'bout helpin' me out with a strategy.

Now I get lots of emails askin' about the Rackhams & their lifestyle. It's true they're loaded, have a few awesome boats, including an 82' schooner named Reckless Endeavor, & they've recently built a second home in the Bahamas. In fact, here's a picture - taken from a seaplane I might add. It's much smaller than the house in St Augustine, but it's comfortable. 

Where the Rackham tale is somewhat embellished in Reckless is the part about Nan being totally comfortable island hopping in a seaplane. Now the Rackhams have some very good friends, Eb & Flo, who own & operate The Last Resort - a secluded getaway in the middle of the islands. Flo pilots a yellow seaplane, 'cause it's easier & more fun to get around. In the story, Nan gets a kick out of cruising with Flo above the turquoise seas. In "real life" that's not quite true. The other day Flo sent Pop a picture of her new plane & he forwarded it to me to use for this post. (Sadly, the one in the book crashed in the Everglades, but at least it was insured.)

This plane's a real beauty, dontcha think? Congrats, Flo! Can you think of any reason NOT to wanna fly in one of these babies? So back to my dilemma. How do I convince Deb to forget the boat n' give the seaplane a shot?

Sidebar - I really like reader comments. This one was posted on my FB by Matt Keever from Houston:

Your book made me want to start talking like a pirate. The dialogue for Calico Jack is absolutely PERFECT.
I actually read all of it aloud, which made me laugh harder than I have in quite some time.
I'll write a short review of the book and put it on Amazon soon. Thanks for the great read, Dave.

(Thanks, Matt.)    

Okay - now about the seaplane .....  Click the link -  Dry Tortugas - Whaddya think???

A NEW POST - FINALLY!!!

Someday I'll grow up - but what's the hurry? My grandson Jack is convinced I'm a real pirate. Have no idea why he would think such a thing. Do you? As usual, he spent his birthday (last week) with 'Pop' & 'Nan' here in St Augustine. That's me n' Jackman in the picture below. The beard is real - grown specifically for this shot. Of course, Deb wasn't thrilled with it during the weeks leading up to this photo, so the beard was neatly trimmed to its normal length about an hour after this picture was taken.

Of course, we were well prepared for the kids' visit.

Say hello to Isabel. Everyone will get a better chance to know her once SPANKY AND THE SPECKLED BUTTER BEAN comes out. She's our lil' princess.

Okay, so I've been really busy & haven't posted for a coupla months. Have barely managed to visit & comment on my usual blog stops. But the kids returned to Pennsylvania & things are settlin' down. Well, not completely but I'm gettin' back into my writing projects & thinkin' it might be a good idea to start doin' some promotion on RECKLESS. (Ya think?)

So, you ask, what else is up? Okay, you didn't ask. Well, there are 3 more stores now carrying my books, including a really busy touristy spot in Key West! Hint: Ever hear of the famous Conch Train Tours? I also received some great feedback on RECKLESS from a terrific author.

Author & columnist Mark LaFlamme posted an awesome review of RECKLESS ENDEAVOR on Amazon. Kinda made me wanna read the book myself. I'll post his kind words here.

5.0 out of 5 stars A high-seas page turner, July 15, 2011

By Mark Laflamme (Maine) - This review is from: Reckless Endeavor A Jack Rackham Adventure

David Ebright knows sailing. He knows the value of young friendships and he sure as hell knows adventure.

In Reckless Endeavor all three are vital to the lives of Jack Rackham and his circle of friends. The adventure in particular is not slow to come. As he did with Bad Latitude, the first in the Jack Rackham line, Ebright gets right to it. He doesn't mess around with intricate knots or long looks at the weather forecast, he sails his readers right into the eye of the storm.

It starts with some history, a pair of pirates brutalized in wretched prisons hundreds of years back. In short order, that history will collide with modern day where Jack Rackham is just beginning a new adventure.

After rescuing a homeless teenager from a knife-wielding lunatic and uncovering the secret of Mary, the spirit of a thief trapped in St. Augustine's Old Jail for one hundred years, Jack Rackham puts to sea with his friends in search of another lost treasture, this time aboard the magnificent schooner, Reckless Endeavor. As a reader, I made the same mistake I made when I began Bad Latitude - I assumed it was a book written largely for young people and that it would be short on grown-up chills. Again, I was wrong. The Hardy Boys, I'm afraid, would not last a night with Jack Rackham and his friends. In addition to high seas spooks - freak whirlpools and long-dead pirates rising from the mist - there are adult themes all over the place. Homelessness, loyalty, betrayal, love and greed are among them. Ebright weaves them into his story without steering away from the action, and the result is a high-seas page turner.

Ebright spins an impressive piece of fiction, but there is also a good bit of history to be found here. One of its main characters, after all, is Calico Jack, an English pirate who designed the Jolly Roger flag and who made a career out of plundering across the Bahamas in the early 18th century. In Reckless Endeavor, Ebright brings Calico Jack back to life and introduces him to young Jack Rackham, who bears a suspicious resemblance to the legendary pirate. The meeting might leave Jack Rackham and his friends fabulously wealthy or it could turn them into so much chum for the sharks. There's only one way to find out, bilge rats. Batten down the hatches, beat to quarters and take some Dramamine if you have to. Reckless Endeavor is one wild adventure.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks, Mark. So there you have it. RECKLESS is a high seas page turner - as opposed to a run of the mill page turner!

Now for one more picture from last week which will show how, in our family anyway, the inability to properly enter adulthood with dignity is being passed along to the next generation. Here's my oldest son Mike (Jack's dad) at 6 feet & 180 pounds makin' my poor grandson tote him around on his new bike. Ol' Jack's got some strong legs.

See y'all again soon - promise.