One of the well-known "Sketches of Tommy's Life" cards by soldier/artist F. Mackain.

This one is from the "Out on Rest" series. Others were "In Training," "At the Base," and "Up the Line," each including ten unique cards.

I recently had the opportunity to study a collection of German World War One postcards and photos owned by a new friend. (Thank you!) And, since I also own several British WWI cards now, I thought I'd share some of these images. Hoping they may be of use or interest to other Great War writers and enthusiasts.

I'm not into reality TV, or talent shows, or voting on TV shows. But Ashleigh and Pudsey, you're one of the most amazing canine-human teams I've seen. Your win is well deserved. Good job out there and congratulations.

It opened the London Australian Film Festival in 2011, became the biggest box office hit of the year in Australia, and, at last, Red Dog has trotted into a cinema near you.

I got to see it for my Leap Day celebration and I'm glad to report that Red Dog is actually very good . . . for a dog movie. This may not mean much since most modern dog films are cliché ridden, poorly written, silly things without detectable redeeming value. But this dog was still a pretty good film when not compared to its peers.


Red Dog is based on a novella by Louis de Bernières, best known for Captain Corelli's Mandolin. The novella is, in turn, based on a legend which is based on a true story of a stray dog who brought a community together and became famous for trekking across Australia by himself.

A startlingly good—even funny—screenplay and a visually beautiful film of red dirt, burning landscapes, and impeccable closeups on the Red Cloud Kelpie, Koko, make up for a few moments of less than dazzling acting and some canine clichés that no dog movie seems able to live without. As an added bonus, it is wonderful to see a new dog film that is not made just for children. There aren't even any child characters in it. Red Dog would be appropriate for about 10 and up, but certainly not young kids.

Happy Leap Day!

It's been another month on the road. Strange in the sense that it seems like both a year and a single second have burst through my life during the month of December. Two road trips in one year is one too many unless you're the restless spirit type who can throw a toothbrush, a change of underwear, sunglasses, and a bottle of water in a backpack and hit the road. I travel heavier than that.

Now it's taken me by surprise to realize this is the last day of the year: something I didn't truly notice until three people on the street wished me a happy New Year this morning. Oh, yeah. Wow. Almost forgot about that.

The most memorable, most stunning New Year's Eve I have ever spent. Yet almost unnoticed at the beginning. An irony of the road.

The day started with a walk up Lexington Avenue, then 2nd Avenue, to Buttercup Bake Shop. When in New York one must eat cupcakes.


A red velvet and a vanilla.


A beady-eyed someone wouldn't have minded a couple cupcakes of her own.

Then a walk through Central Park and, for me, a dream come true. For as long as I can remember—back to six or seven years old—I have longed to see the Balto statue in Central Park. Long before the movie, long before The Cruelest Miles, the story of these incredible dogs and men who saved a town from disaster has pulled me to visit the memorial to them.


Then, there he was: standing tall on a great stone and bronze monument built just for him, gazing north, head up, ears pricked, eyes alert, ready to be away with his team. People and dogs who could have been forgotten heroes of 1925 have thankfully been immortalized in breathtaking bronze.


Beautiful.


Posing for her side-by-side bronze.

Then out of the park and a visit to Times Square to see the pre-New Year's cheer well underway. Seeing in-person where the midnight ball drops but clearing out before dark is the closest I will come to being part of the Times Square New Year's party and dinner. It's dark now in New York and the ball has been raised, but I'm happily ensconced in a hotel room for the night. Only a trip outside to let the dogs pee will wrap up my New Year's Eve adventure.

Two notes about New York before we sign out of 2011:

First, if you haven't seen it, you can't get it. I had researched New York City for writing, but I was mistaken to think I could write it without meeting it. NYC is a being, a soul, a character of its own.

Second, the people here are some of the most nice, pleasant, friendly people I have ever encountered. Certainly the friendliest I've ever run across in a city setting. Happy to give directions, apologizing if they bump you, smiling and glad to meet you. The niceness is startling. I wasn't expecting nice.

Best wishes and happy travels for all in 2012.

( See more photos from New Year's Eve. . . . )

NaNo people post strange things that lead to strange writing tests and unanswered questions.

Latest is the Mary-Sue test for characters. I had never heard of such a thing and am unfamiliar with "Mary-Sue." Apparently, it's been around for a while and is something related to fanfiction and characters who are . . . something. (I've also never read/written fanfiction so this may be the cause of confusion.) It seems that a Mary-Sue is a person who is exceptional. Like, really coolly totally awesome. Still fuzzy on it.

So I did the Mary-Sue Litmus Test for two main characters from my pre-NaNo novel. The first guy got a score of 2. Scoring starts at 0 and goes to 71+. So 2 is basically as low as it goes. I think low is supposed to be a good thing.

Then I did the test for the second MC in the same novel and he got -19. That threw me. How can you have a test that goes from 0 to 71+ and let someone score negative 19?

There's not even an explanation on the results page since it only covers down to 0. So what is -19? I need to read more about the test now because I want to know what -19 is supposed to mean about my character. That he's not very coolly awesome is what I'm supposing. More like 3-D loser.