Norm Benson

Anthropology 101

I indulged my inner anthropologist over the weekend. It’s that time of year where we share our little southeastern shore of Clear Lake with—how shall I put this delicately?—morons. Wahoo! (This paroxysm of joy must be shouted to apprise everyone within 300 yards that the exclaimer is having a rapturous time.) Memorial Weekend kicked offContinue reading “Anthropology 101”

Editing my masterpiece

I trimmed 800 words from that 2100 word chapter. Literally, evaporated my carefully tended, sensitively considered, blah, blah, blah. Hot darn, 3 ½ pages sliced off like Van Gogh’s ear! And just about as painful. I hope it’s better (the story, not the ear). I know it’s shorter. And lastly, I know it’s the weekend,Continue reading “Editing my masterpiece”

How hard could it be?

How tough can it be to write a few pages? Easy peasy. In fact, I’ve already written it once: Chapter 8 of Timber beast. Two words describe it: preachy surplusage. Elmore Leonard says “[t]ry to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” So, as I turn Timber Beast into The God of Trees,Continue reading “How hard could it be?”

Trouble Brewing

I had planned to brew on Sunday. I say planned. Planning being the operative verb. I pulled out my equipment (kettle, fermenter, spoon, ingredient kit). My great plan fell apart in assembly. My fermenter is a bucket with a spigot near the bottom. The spigot needed to be attached. I put it on and threwContinue reading “Trouble Brewing”

The Bemused, A Triangle, a musical

Synopsis (first draft): Euclid and Penelope are star-crossed math lovers. They are from different worlds. They don’t speak the other’s language. She’s English. He’s American. Soon they learn that they have the common language, love—of mathematics—and it looks like a formula that equals love. But during a discussion of String Theory, Penelope discovers that EuclidContinue reading “The Bemused, A Triangle, a musical”

Somewhat Self-Indulgent

One of last month’s reviews on YouWriteOn.com accused my story of being a “somewhat self-indulgent piece…” I let a month go by to see if this review still rankled. It does. My feelings have festered. It seems that it’s time that I lanced this sucker and cleaned out the wound. As I understand “somewhat self-indulgent”Continue reading “Somewhat Self-Indulgent”

Writing about forestry II

We just got back from San Luis Obispo. I spoke at the student chapter of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) there. It may seem odd to drive my high-performance Swedish driving machine (with 180K on the odometer) fourteen hours, seven minutes, 800 miles (roundtrip), and spend $118.66 for gas (plus $ for food andContinue reading “Writing about forestry II”

Writing about forestry

On Wednesday, Mary, Peaches, and I will be zipping down to Cambria on the coast. It will be about six hours away. We have reservations for the Cambria Shores Inn, one of many inns in town that is pet-friendly. According to the front desk, they “not only allow dogs, they love them.” What’s not toContinue reading “Writing about forestry”

What could be better than books on TV?

It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, and you know what that means—Book TV. Yes, if you’re nerd enough to watch C-SPAN 2 (the second of three Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network feeds) you’ll know that it covers the US Senate during the week and devotes itself to non-fiction authors on the weekend. Mary andContinue reading “What could be better than books on TV?”

Volvos to the left of me, Volvos to the right, stuck in the middle

Yesterday, I looked at one of the three high performance Swedish driving machines that I own. The registration tag was out of date. Well, I’ll be, it is past March isn’t it? So, today I went to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. I know, I know, some people break out in hives if they setContinue reading “Volvos to the left of me, Volvos to the right, stuck in the middle”