Reading, Writing - Literacy

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

—Strother Martin, Cool Hand Luke

How many of you live in a world of miscommunication? If I only get a couple of people to admit it, I will realize that my audience is not completely truthful. Am I accusatory? Well, that's the way the world is now. And it pretty much has been since the beginning.

I believe this is one reason reading and writing are so essential to the culture of our great country, which could be much better! Unfortunately, writing has become a lost art in our schools, as has been reading. Of course, this is also the case with adults.

So where and why have we failed? I believe it is because the adults don't see the value and therefore they pass that on to their kids. Also, the schools have become so restrictive on the teachers to "teach to the test" that they just don't have time to go over books to read and stories to write.

I spent one year teaching and was extremely disappointed in most students' inability to write even the simplest of sentences. A lack of knowledge of just the subject and verb was rampant.

I was not an avid reader in my younger years, and I greatly regret that. But now I find there is nothing more captivating of my imagination and soul than a good book. Notice the emphasis on "good." There are many outstanding books just waiting to be read by you and your children. So what is holding us back?

A simple answer would be our phones, tablets, and computers. If you can't text a message with zero sentence structure and convoluted abbreviations, you're probably not going to write. Emails have gone out of style. Facebook and other social media have taken over the lives and minds of all Americans. The messages have to be short or no one will read them. Very sad!

But I must say the greatest reason for the decline in literacy is simply — LAZINESS!

I began writing my first book, There Are Wolves Out There, almost a year-and-a-half ago, and it is still in the process of being edited then published. That is out of my hands. But I know it will be in great shape and a good read when the experts are finished.

My desire is that the book will be entertaining, informative, and cause people to think. My greatest desire is to have a positive impact on the readers. Which is in line with my philosophy that such is the purpose of a book. Yes, they can be simply entertaining, but there has to be some cerebral and/or emotional effect to really be a top-notch work of literature. At least that's what I look for in books that I read.

So when I hear back about the progress on my manuscript, I will inform you without a doubt. Thanks to all of you who have been waiting. Patience is difficult for me at times in the wait, so I have written the manuscript for my second book, which is actually a follow-up, or sequel, to the first one. We will see how that one progresses down the road.

But for now, please be patient and get back in touch with me with any comments or suggestions you may have. I am open to all responses and will answer whatever questions I am able to.

Until then... Find a good book and turn off the TV.