In the past, I used to be a popular writer. Now, I’m certain that my closest friends or family do not read my work, even here in my home. I cheer and actively support them, so one would hope there would be some interest. Even feigned.
How do I expect to grow an audience for my future writing endeavors? Sad, but it could also bring freedom. I write for myself here, creating what ever strikes my fancy, knowing most of it will vanish into the void. That’s fine—writing is an introspective art that doesn’t need validation from others.
The struggle has been finding a clear direction. Spending years on a project no longer excites me. To balance this, I need to pursue what I’m passionate about and allow myself to finish things without committing to the epic novels in my head, or even a series. At this point, what am I passionate about? This struggle was mentioned earlier this week.
Since I am writing for myself currently, the goal for now is to make it as rewarding as possible.
While I was traveling through the Deep South, we drove over the Gulf of Mexico to arrive at Dauphin Island, the site of an old French fort (now called Fort Gaines) protecting Mobile Bay. While there, I was reminded of the geodetic survey markers that the United States Geological Survey has installed throughout the country. These are designed as fixed data points for all manner of uses. For our purposes, though, it is a game of hide-n-seek writ large.
Survey Markers
The USGS has a data map where you can see what is around you and provides all manner of data. We’re more interested in the GPS coordinates and then look on foot.
Basic Find-and-Catalog Game
Objective: Participants simply find and log US survey markers in a basic online or mobile catalog. They can take a photo and record basic details (location, date, any noticeable features).
How It Works:
• Find a marker.
• Take a picture.
• Log it (a journal or Google My Maps).
Screenshot of marker I added to Google My Maps
This gives people a fun excuse to get outdoors and notice things they’d usually walk past.
Personal Challenge or Goal
Make it a personal challenge—how many markers can you find in a month, or on a walk? You could challenge friends or yourself without leaderboards or complicated point systems.
How It Works:
Set a goal (find 5 markers this week or locate 3 markers in new places you’ve never visited). Share progress with a friend or a group. It adds a bit of gamification without being overwhelming or requiring major infrastructure.
Local Exploration
Focus on finding survey markers only in your local area. It doesn’t need to be a nationwide or competitive project—just a way for people to explore their immediate surroundings.
Historical Markers
The same can be done for those Historical Markers that we all whiz by at top speed and ignore. Find a few in your area with a web search and then make it a point to visit on your own time as opposed to whizzing by again. Read the history, absorb it and find a new appreciation for those surroundings. For example, I knew that Ponce de Leon had first explored Florida’s east coast but not the western section, and not too far from me either!
Screenshot of an historical marker 20 miles to the north of us. The year was 1513!
Why You Need a Road Trip Mascot: The Fun and Importance of Bringing One Along
When planning a road trip, we often think about the route, the playlists, and the snacks — but have you ever considered bringing along a road trip mascot? Whether it’s a stuffed animal, a figurine, or something that holds personal meaning, a road trip mascot can add a whole new layer of fun and memories to your adventure.
For the longest time, I had a pet alligator mascot named “Fred.” Fred and I met near Jacksonville, Florida and we went all over the country together. However, Fred and I parted ways somewhere in Oklahoma.
I picked up one of his relatives somewhere along the gulf coast of Mississippi recently. He’ll join me on the dashboard console for the next trips. I’m undecided on a few names but narrowed them down to “Algorithm” or “Gumbo”. I’m leaning towards “Algonquin Gatorade.” Don’t ask, you weren’t there on that road trip with me.
Anyway, here’s why you need one for your next journey:
1. It Adds Personality to Your Adventure
Think of a road trip mascot as an extension of your travel spirit. Whether you choose something cute, goofy, or downright odd, it adds personality to your trip. The mascot can take on its own “character” — a fun companion on the journey who always brings the good vibes. Naming your mascot and giving it a backstory can turn it into a fun member of the road trip crew.
2. Tradition & Continuity
Start a tradition by bringing your mascot along for every trip. Over time, it becomes a symbol of your adventures, collecting memories as it “travels” with you. You can document its journey through photos, videos, or even a travel journal dedicated to its adventures. Before long, your mascot will have its own legacy!
3. It’s a Great Icebreaker
People love unusual things, and a road trip mascot is no exception. At a rest stop or scenic overlook, don’t be surprised if fellow travelers strike up a conversation about your travel buddy. It can be an easy way to meet new people and hear interesting stories along the way.
4. Creates Unique Photo Opportunities
Forget selfies — your mascot is the star of the show! Capture fun and creative photos of your mascot in front of landmarks, strange roadside attractions, or perched on the dashboard while crossing state lines. These unique shots will add a playful twist to your trip photo collection, and they’ll make your social media feed stand out, too.
5. Mascots Help Relieve Stress
We’ve all experienced those frustrating moments on a road trip — whether it’s sitting in traffic, a detour, or an unexpected delay. That’s where your mascot can come to the rescue. Having something silly or lighthearted in the car can ease tension and bring laughter during stressful times, reminding you not to take things too seriously.
6. Road Trip Games and Challenges
Turn your mascot into the focus of a road trip game. Challenge yourself or your travel mates to take a picture of the mascot in as many different places as possible, or have the mascot “collect” something from each stop, like postcards or trinkets. You could even create a mascot scavenger hunt, where certain types of locations or landmarks have to be found and “visited” by your travel buddy.
7. A Symbol of the Journey
Sometimes, a road trip mascot represents more than just a fun object. It can symbolize the essence of your journey. If your trip is about self-discovery or exploring new places, your mascot can be a physical reminder to embrace those themes. It’s a way to stay connected to the meaning behind your adventure, even in the most unexpected moments.
8. Perfect for Group Bonding
If you’re traveling with friends or family, a mascot can bring everyone together. Assign someone to be the “caretaker” of the mascot for each leg of the journey, creating a fun, shared responsibility. Your mascot can be a source of inside jokes, games, and collective memories as the group creates fun stories around it.
9. It Becomes a Cherished Memento
When the trip is over, the mascot serves as a physical reminder of your adventure. It’s more than just a souvenir — it carries the spirit of the trip with it. Every time you see it on your shelf or in your car, you’ll be reminded of the memories you made along the way.
10. Mascots Make Stories
You can create fun, fictional stories about your mascot’s “journey” alongside yours. Perhaps it’s on a secret mission, or maybe it’s a “traveler” from a far-off land. Use your imagination to add a creative narrative that ties into the places you visit. This makes each stop on your trip feel like part of a bigger adventure for you and your mascot.
How to Choose Your Mascot
• Pick something meaningful: Choose an item that reflects your personality, values, or sense of adventure.
• Consider size: Make sure your mascot is easy to carry around and won’t take up too much space.
• Get creative: The more unique and odd your mascot is, the more fun you’ll have with it.
Whether it’s an old childhood toy, a handmade creation, or something you picked up along the way, having a mascot on your road trip can turn any ordinary journey into something extraordinary. It’s the little things that make the experience more memorable — so why not let a tiny companion join in on the fun?
This idea was inspired by our recent road trip and will be included in the Explore More book, brought to you by the Denbow Modern Classics publishing house.
Tip: Stop at any hotel, small motels, inns, BnBs, etc, and critique the strange, bland, or hilariously bad art that often graces the walls.
Task: Make up elaborate backstories for each piece, imagining who the artist was, their emotional state, and what profound meaning they were trying to convey. Share your critiques in an ironic blog post or social media series titled something like “Art from Room 204.”
Rothko WannabeRequests of IndependenceContemplation Of Distorted Flame BeachStained Depression
There is something about travel that inspires me to write. I must have generated hours worth of material to sort through and organize for my book, Explore More today.
I was attempting to bulk send the novel draft to my Kindle for a read-through and somehow/someway I am missing four chapters. Gone. Attempting to recover if possible.
**Update** Crisis averted after relocating buried chapters.
Times have changed, because now, for me, the sole purpose of this website is to be a repository for my thoughts and I am in fact, a curator. An archivist.
Back in 2018, I signed up for NaNoWriMo with the intention of writing a 50,000-word novel that failed spectacularly.
In the past year, however, something clicked. Whereas now I have about 35 good stories to tell and have been slowly plugging away at some of them lately.
So for the month of November, I’ll type away to hit that 50K word goal, if nothing else other than pride and a sense of accomplishment.
Spent the better part of the day sorting and organizing text for the Angkor draft, all while there was a slight draft outside thanks to Hurricane Helene.
I almost had a major catastrophe- not hurricane related- due to me sorting chapters around when they disappeared. All of it!
Whew, all the chapters were relocated into the “Author’s Notes” section of the software.
Since the early 1990’s I have had a fascination with the ancient Khmer Empire in modern day Cambodia. There is a story there waiting to be told. Over the years, I have researched and tried to keep up with the archeological news. Four years ago I offered a hypothesis regarding the Angkor Wat temple complex and another temple in the mountains to the north. I haven’t read or heard anything related to it so I still make my claim here.
In the meantime, I have decided to do a re-write on a story I started years ago regarding this area and its hidden secrets. The original ideas were too grandiose in my head and it was a challenge to sort it all out. I’ve kept some main ideas but simplified it somewhat. Also made it more relatable and relevant.
When wrapping up a chapter in my writing software (Ulysses), I noticed a feature that allows me to publish in various formats. “What the hell” I thought, so I exported my draft (NOT a final release) in the e.Pub format and figured why not, and sent it to my Kindle.
Moments later I was reading my own writing on an e-book reader!
This was a fun discovery and encourages me to keep going, press publish and read in its entirety. Someday.
We all know the benefits of regular exercise for our bodies—strengthening muscles, improving endurance, and boosting overall health. But what about our minds? Just like our bodies need a good workout to stay in shape, our minds crave daily activity to stay sharp and creative. That’s where “Write Out” comes in. Think of it as a mental workout, a daily exercise routine that strengthens your writing muscles, sharpens your thinking, and enhances your creativity. Whether you’re jotting down a few thoughts or crafting a full essay, each day you write is a step toward a healthier, more agile mind.
Writing, as in fitness, benefits from consistency. Even on days I don’t feel like it, I will get out to the gym and do it. Even on days I don’t feel like it, I’ll sit down and crank something out. Not every day, but enough to build habits.
I feel a need, or have a desire to sit down and write on one of my short stories, or that pesky novel I’ve been stewing on for decades. Typing for 15-30 minutes a day should do it. Crap or no crap, it’ll get done. As Hemingway put it: “Write drunk, edit sober.”
Just as a daily workout builds a stronger body, “Writing Out” could be a path to a more resilient and creative mind. It’s not about perfection or waiting for inspiration to strike; it’s about showing up, putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), and committing to the process.
For digital documents you want to keep for a long time, I suggest the Three P’s:
Plain text
PDFs
Printouts
While in college in the mid 1990’s, and prior to purchasing my first computer, I utilized a word processor. Think manual typewriter but with a 3.5″ floppy disk for storage. I wish I had known enough to preserve all of my writings. The floppy disks were formatted for the word processor but not the computer. It wiped everything off the disk to make room for the Windows formatting. The lesson here is to preserve your work and prepare by future-proofing formats. It was a hard learned lesson. All of my personal writing, studies and papers gone.
I was reminded of all of this when I read about how Hemingway’s early notes and the beginning of a novel disappeared. His wife had gathered his works and left Paris by train to Switzerland to meet him and a publisher and somehow, the suitcase went missing from the train platform and they were devastated.
My loss was due to ignorance and in no way as significant as Hemingway’s loss. But the pain was there.
My revamped workflow process is:
Write and edit drafts in Ulysses (saved to cloud, backed up onto my file server)
Publish from Ulysses to my website (saved to cloud)
Copy/Paste to my own database in plain text format (cloud, file server)
Migrate all of my work into the database in plain text, organize.
Print to .pdf by year (saved to cloud and file server)
Print to paper by year (saved to a dedicated yearly file folder or binder)
Interesting enough, while walking through the library’s “read and return” section, the word “Hemingway” ended up in my peripheral vision.
I usually don’t give them a glance but the paper spine was attractive. The fiction novel title is “The Hemingway Thief” and how the aforementioned luggage was lost. I haven’t read it yet, but it seems to be a good yarn with a few secrets and twists. Looking forward to reading it as soon as possible.
When I was in college, I had an opportunity to take a break from the stress of a new marriage and my studies. My step-father swung by my home on the way up to his lake cabin for the weekend and asked me to come along. I was hesitant at first, but my wife insisted. I am grateful for the invitation and the encouragement on both their parts.
It was a literal breath of fresh air, in that I could escape my stresses and enjoy a relaxing, distraction-free weekend. While there, I perused the bookshelf and came across a vintage copy of “For Whom The Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway. After a few hours of reading, I think I was ready to finally go to sleep. But I didn’t sleep on the instant appreciation for where I was and what I had just read. Until the weekend was up and it was back to reality. And burrowed, in the back of my brain, was the spirit of Hemingway.
Not too many people can experience what he had experienced or live his lifestyle, but that doesn’t stop me from aspiring to. Years after that weekend at the lake cabin, I picked up a copy of “The Sun Also Rises” and that long forgotten spirit of Hemingway was renewed and inspired me again after it was read.
So, I’ve decided to do a deep study into the man and his influence when I set myself up to my digital typewriter. Hell, I want my old mechanical typewriter back just for the romance and nostalgia.
While living and working in Cuba, he set himself up in a fine home that was called Finca Vigia, or “Lookout Farm.” While doing research, I came across the letterhead of his stationary and thought to myself, I will have the same for myself as soon as possible. I used to have personalized stationary, complete with a custom seal press that read “From the Library of Chris Denbow.” Damn, why did I lose that? Why did I sell or trade off my entire library?
Letter by E.H. From Finca Vigia
So, from henceforth until I leave this place, I am designating my new home in Florida as Coral del Cabo (Spanish). Eventually, the stationary will be printed and used. I have decided that while text and FaceTime are beneficial, nothing beats a handwritten or typed letter in the mail.
I could go on all night about the details and influences that Hemingway offers, but, as I finish my three fingers of Cutty Sark, I realize it is late. Perhaps I will dream about those short stories and unwritten novels and once again call on E.H. For inspiration.
I like to take on writing challenges for myself. Stop me if you’ve read this about me before, but every now and then I’ll finish a challenge. It’s rare. So why have I committed the month of August to writing a blog post for every day of the month?
For the hell of it of course. I have various interests and a lot to say about even more various topics. Thirty-one days- maybe I should be committed, so to speak.
How will I be able to publish something daily? No idea but it will be fun.
Anyway, welcome to August Blaugust, and check back daily for something new and hopefully interesting.
