Friday, June 5, 2015

Major New Development...

I've had a major development in the progress of my current book project. Groundbreaking even. I have been working on this project for over three years now and feel like I am nearing the end. But just haven't been able to push myself over the finish line. I even have some good ideas about what I want the story to be. OK, enough whining and excuses. One of the central character(s) in the denouement is going to be the Texas Rangers. As I was thinking about this I recalled that one of my classmates from A&M is a retired Texas Ranger. I thought, you know, I should call him up and see if he would collaborate with me on this book. Not only would that be interesting and fun in itself, it would give my novel a sense of realism, adventure and excitement not otherwise possible. The lore of the Texas Rangers is something everyone likes to read about. These guys are real life excitement and adventure. They are the real deal.
So I email him and tell him a little about what I'm doing and ask if he would be interested in helping. He sends his cell number and says to give him a call. A couple of weeks pass and I finally get around to calling him. He says, I'm in Houston right now, why don't you stop by my hotel after work and we'll talk about it.
We haven't seen each other since we graduated from A&M thirty-nine years ago. Yes, we're old men now. We had a good visit, caught up a little without going into much detail then talked about the book project. I gave him a rundown on the project, what I'm doing and what I am planning to do and how me could help me. He's a very nice gentleman and was agreeable to helping with the project and collaborating with me. I believe his ideas and experiences with the Rangers will bring a dimension of realism and adventure to the story  that otherwise would never be possible. I think this will be the nudge that pushes this book over the edge from being a good story to being a great story. I am excited.
During our conversation he noticed my boots. Nothing special, just a pair of plain, black Justin Ropers. He said, if you're interested, there's another pair of boots you might want. He pulled out his cellphone and fingered through a few screens then showed me a photo. They were custom made boots by Justin, full quill ostrich with the Texas Ranger badge on the shaft. He said Justin offers them to the Rangers, one pair a year at about half what the same boots would cost in the stores. He said if I wanted I could have his allotment for this year. It took a while for this to sink in. Custom made Justin boots made specially for Texas Rangers. And I could get a pair. I am getting a pair. Oh yes, I'm definitely getting a pair.
I'm thinking this will provide the motivation I need to get this effort going again. I haven't made much progress in several months, frankly because I couldn't generate the ideas I needed. Kind of an extended writer's block I guess. But I think the spell is about to be broken. Now I can just put on my Texas Rangers boots and let the ideas flow.

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