Decades ago, I was
in a car, playing the alphabet game.
You know it…
“…I’m going on a
picnic and I’m bringing A apple, B banana, C cookies, D…”
Borders a bit on
educational. Since it always involves kids, it’s more an attempt
at distraction. And, until those kids become obsessed with it
to a point that every time the car starts a new round of the
game is requested, it’s an easy way to get them invested in
something beyond a complete assault on your sanity.
(Look, almost all
of us know the game. And, almost all of us know kids that can
turn the game into a maddening exercise. It happens. No good
deed and all that. Back to the decades ago part…)
At some point, for
reasons I don’t recall, someone had been assigned the letter
D and in a mad scramble they said it: Dumb Old Bob.
It stuck.
In glorious, humbling,
pride raising fashion, it stuck. From that moment on, any time
we went on a road trip game to the zoo, on a picnic, away for
a vacation, or more, Dumb Old Bob was along for the journey.
Now that name is
moving into something new for In My Backpack.
We are in the testing
phase of material that will ultimately be getting released as
a podcast. It’s a lot of work so far. Fun, thrilling work. Still,
work. Lots to consider, develop, learn and debate. Plenty of
things to excited about. Plenty of things to look over from
a variety of angles, only to ultimately put off to the side.
Thoughts are being
given to a variety of possibilities. As an example, many of
you know that for several years I have been presenting a workshop
of sorts about writing called You may never get published
(Horror stories and thoughts to help you try anyway). That
program led to some groundwork for a book about writing and
publishing, which would work nicely as a podcast thought.
For now, many of
those ideas are off to the side. Some more likely than others
to be looked into more thoroughly and moved along later. What
is nearing its first episode…
Dumb Old Bob:
The Essays
At the center of
things, we’ll be using some of my older, published and posted
material. Much like an audiobook, an essay will be read. Then,
I’ll likely go into a little bit of depth about it, based on
what inspired the effort and potentially areas that I think
might be interesting to share.
In a few weeks…
exact date hasn’t been selected, but April into May is the likely
window for a debut… the first episode should be ready to go.
We’ll have details about places where you can find it, ongoing
release plans and more, as we move the process closer to finished
material that’s ready to put out there. Very excited about sharing
this work with you soon.
Speaking about sharing
work soon…
…the new book…
A
Parkside View: Volumes 7 & 8
Happy to tell you
that the Kindle edition is available for pre-order NOW. You
can head over to Amazon, or start your Kindle, and set things
up in advance so that it will be added to your Kindle library
on release day.
In addition to Kindle,
the print version of the book is also ready to go. Both are
being published on March 26, 2024.
Which brings us
to a Special
Offer…
Between March 22nd
and March 26th, the Kindle editions of three books will be available
for free.
Yes. Free.
- 
- 
We’re celebrating
the anniversary of the In My Backpack site this month,
along with the release of my fifteenth book. Thirty Days
in November, Conversations and Title Town
(and other tangents) are the books involved in this offer.
Please note, this is only going to be for a limited time. (And
that clock begins tomorrow, March 22nd.)
“Not
for nothing”
