Thursday, August 9, 2012

Whew, another projected completed. It took me over 1 1/2 years to research and write my latest book (Kindle E-book) and it is now for sale on Amazon.com. Here is a little information about Woody Guthrie: His Life, Music and Myth:

I plan to take a few days off from any concentrated writing. There is a big list of honey-do jobs waiting for me, and a change of pace is what I need for a while.

However, about September 1st my plan is to saddle back up and get serious about E-book # 8. That one is about 25 percent done already, and it does not require the painstaking research required for my Woody Guthrie E-book. I can't spill the beans about this one quite yet, but I really see it as also having a big-time marketing possibility both as an E-book and as a printed book. I hope to have that one finished by December, but I will be trying to find a publisher for the traditional printed book version.

After that, I go on to E-book # 9. And that will be followed by . . . , well you get the idea. My current list of "books-to-consider-writing" numbers about 30 of 'em. I figure, if the good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, I'll complete my last book when I am about 106 years young. But, hey, I'm ready to go whenever the Lord gives the signal. The thing is, like most writers, I just hope my life ends after I complete the book I'm working on . . . and not in the middle of an uncompleted manuscript. Funny how writers think, huh?

Well, as my cowboy friends say, I'm burnin' daylight. So I'll get on to . . . relaxing. Maybe.

--Stan

Saturday, June 30, 2012

It has been hotter'n . . . Texas . . . here in Oklahoma the last couple of weeks. Almost no rain, and none in sight. So our water bill and electric bill will take a big spike the next time.

I have been running hither and yon like crazy the last two months. I finished another e-book, this one titled Dr. Guy Logsdon: Oklahoma's Award-winning Folklorist. It is now for sale on Amazon.com. Guy is one of the leading authorities on the life and music of fellow-Oklahoman Woody Guthrie, as well as being quite a musicologist in the area of old-time cowboy music and Western swing music. He is quite a guy, and Peggy and I are glad to call he and his wife Phyllis long-time friends.

At the moment, I'm wrapping up my next e-book. Stimulating by my discussions with Guy Logsdon, I have been researching and writing an e-book on Woody Guthrie. During the 1940s and early 1950s he was one of the big-time leaders of writing, performing and promoting folk music. He wrote such diverse songs as "This Land Is Your Land," "Oklahoma Hills," "Philadelphia Lawyer," "Vigilante Man," "Union Maid," "Grand Coulee Dam," "Sinking of the Reuben James," and nearly 3,000 more. I hope to have it finished and posted to Amazon.com sometime in August. That has been my most ambitious research project to date.

Well, besides those two major writing project, Peggy and I celebrated our 50th anniversary by taking a 17-day tour of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France (one day in Paris). The best advice I could give to anyone planning to tour in that part of the world is this: (1) take a good pair of already-broken-in walking shoes; (2) take a fairly good-sized umbrella which covers more than your head, maybe one of those which is clear and you can see through it; (3) take a bus tour so you may avoid having to drive in the many congested areas and the narrow, twisting country "highways"; (4) understand that very often you will not get good (or even any) photos because of the glare on the bus windows, the bouncing of the bus on rough roads and the fact you may not have as much time as you would like at a given location; (5) periodically take a deep breath, then relax and go with the flow--understanding that you are in a culture other than your own, so don't be a proverbial "ugly American" demanding things be done the way it was back home; and (6) remember: you are simply in an area where it is often either raining or overcast and/or windy and cold, so don't go anywhere without your trusty umbrella and a medium-weight coat.

I have to say it rained on us during at least part of the day on about 14 of the 17 days we were on tour. Often it was hard to get a good photo because there was no sunshine to brighten the colors. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our tour--and that includes the 24 or so other tour members, the Irish tour director and the congenial bus driver. We especially fell in love with Ireland--though it is the wettest country in Europe--because of the lush, green countryside, the friendly people and the fact that it is the Paregien homeland (we just don't know yet what city or county).

Here we are inside the walls of the famous Tower of London

Here we are at ancient Stonehenge. Hmmm.
Ancient meets ancient.

St
Patricks

This was taken at one side of St. Patrick's Catholic Church
in Dublin, Ireland.

Ah, yes, lifting a pint of Guinness in Killarney, Ireland.

Eiffle Tower

Peggy & Stan in front of the bigger-than-you thought
Eiffel Tower in Paris.

I have posted a large number of our photos and movies from this trip on my FLICKR account. You may easily view all of them and my other photos (some 4,000 at last count) at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cowboystan/ . Mosey on over and take a look.

Please stop by the "Products" page, in the menu below, and check out all the Kindle E-books I currently have available on Amazon.Com, or just go to www.Amazon.com and do a search by my last name.

Best wishes to one and all.

--Stan Paregien Sr

stanparegien*@gmail.*com
*see note, above

The rest of the menu is still under construction.
Thanks for your understanding.

Going shopping soon?

Ask for "Made in USA"