“Crossword puzzles were used to send secret messages during World War II.”
This, apparently, would be one more good reason why I would make a lousy spy. As much as I adore words, my secret shame is that I can’t stand crossword puzzles. I know, you would think, being a write and all, it would be my life-blood. But no… I stare at those boxes and clues and feel downright disheartened. Which is not to say I don’t admire those brave souls who do tackle these tools of torture, I do! In fact, one of my best memories of my grandfather was watching him, pen in hand, glasses slipping down his nose, as he completed an entire crossword in half the time it would have taken me to watch an episode of Dynasty; what I certainly would have been doing while sitting with him. The gentleman at Starbucks who was working on his went on to tell his friend that he had taken up doing cross-words in order to help with his dyslexia. Since he can’t sound words out, he has to know them like a picture in order to use them. He also said that when he recognized the author of the crossword he would be able to get into his mind, understand how he thought, and complete the puzzle more easily. While the dyslexia comment makes absolute sense to me, the puzzle personality seems like adding one more layer to an already complicated mission. So now, not only do you have to figure out a 10 letter word meaning ‘crazy’ (btw – the answer is unbalanced, in case you ever run across this one,) I also have to know that one particular author likes to use a lot of 10 letter word clues. Really? Who has time for this? Apparently a lot of people. “According to Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, perhaps as many as 50 million people do crosswords just in America.” (courtesy of Oneacross.com; a great site for helping – e.g. cheating – the system:>) Still, I don’t see myself rushing out to grab the next NY Times crossword. I’d rather work on my grandfather’s other passion… the Rubix Cube.
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”I think they are laughing at me.” Of course the guys tossing around the football like they just finished an NFL game were laughing at me. I looked ridiculous. For the first time in my life I was attempting to kick a field goal and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It was late, Sunday afternoon; so fortunately there weren’t that many people to witness my humiliation. On the other hand, I guess I better get used to it… I have a long way to go. But let me explain. As you have probably heard by now, my new book, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, is being released February 13th. Yay!!! There are two main characters in the story… the heroine, a wedding ceremony coordinator for a church, and the hero, a widowed father of two who also happens to be a kicker for the Patriots Football team. So, in an effort to relate to the physical and mental strength required of Ryan, the hero, and because hey, it sounded like a fun New Year’s resolution, I decided to learn how to kick a field goal. The bonus for you is that I also decided to publish my humiliation in blog posts on the UNTANGLING THE KNOT, page of my website (link here for this first post and for all future posts.) I’d publish them as my regular blog except they won’t be overhears… unless you count an occasional swear word in that. Instead I want to document the journey I take figuring out how to do something that is completely outside my element. I am all about journeys… so I hope you take this one with me. Here is the first video so you can see what I am up against. Laugh all you want… by the end of the year I will be kicking it all the way through the goal posts (and from more than 10 feet away:>) |
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June 2020
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