I'm a guest at Cate Master's

I'm in the spotlight, here is the site:


http://catemasters.blogspot.com/2010/06/jh-bogran-in-author-spotlight.html

Come and participate. Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of Treasure Hunt.

My Boy Scout adventures

The Boy Scout movement in Honduras during the 80’s was a good experience for me. The moral values combined with the hands-on learning activities were a milestone in my education.

The motto of “be prepared” is ingrained so much that to this day I still carry a pocket knife, a pen, a lighter (ok, used to be matches). I dispensed the comb because, well, a comb won’t do anything to my hair; it was a waste of space.

Nowadays, I must leave my trusted Victorinox at home when I travel. But I take comfort thinking that I do it to “be prepared” for easy pass-through airport security. J

My first camping experience was in the mountains near Siguatepeque (central area of

Honduras). We arrived mid-morning, set camp within an hour and enjoyed the afternoon with horse-playing typical of an alfa-male group.

Along with the sunset, came the first rain drops. An hour later, the hard rain flooded the camp and we had to flee to higher ground while the noisy thunders scared a few of the younger members. We found an abandoned shed, apparently it had belonged to a saw mill, but the shed had no roof.

We spent the night sitting with our backs against a fallen tree trunk and covered our heads with the tent’s nylon.

It was an adventure.

It was the only time we had to set up camp twice during the same trip.

Honestly, I can’t remember another time when I had so much fun!

So here’s to the Boy Scout movement!

Trivia: I took the following text from the fact page of Boy Scouts of America. I read the story in the official manual years ago. The story is a fascinating example of faith, or destiny or whatever you want to call life-changing events. The link is here:

In 1909, Chicago publisher William D. Boyce lost his way in a dense London fog. A boy came to his aid and, after guiding the man, refused a tip, explaining that as a Scout he would not take a tip for doing a Good Turn. This gesture by an unknown Scout inspired a meeting with Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder of the Boy Scouts. As a result, William Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.

Here is the link to the Scouts in Honduras.

Now on Twitter

I just added the "follow me" button on the right column.

Let the music play

What do you listen to when you’re writing? Besides the muse, I mean.

Is it pop, rock & roll, rhythm and blues? How about some heavy metal? Bohemian Rhapsody can do wonders for an action sequence.

Music is an integral part of my life. I listen to music while I’m driving, while I’m writing, I pay attention to score in most movies, etc. Actually, just recently I explained how I think my life feels like a movie, soundtrack included.

My personal music collection is just as varied as can be: from Beethoven to Bon Jovi, from The Doors to Lady Gaga, from Elvis to Michael Bublé. And Frank, of course, plenty of Frank.

I used to write while listening to pop singers, 70’s and 80’s most commonly, however, in recent days I’ve realized my preferences have moved towards classical melodies. Why the change?

I’m not sure. Easily, I could blame it on the fact that I’m nearing 40; but that’d be the easy way out. More than once I caught myself humming a song while, liked it or not, my fingers tapped away the lyrics. So, after repeated deletions of “Ice, ice, Baby”, “I want to hold your hand,” or “mamma mia,” I figured classical was the way to go.

What are your music-hearing habits?

Interviewed at Lindy's Lair

Fellow WCP author John Lindermuth cornered me with a in-depth Q&A.

Read it here:

http://jrlindermuth.blogspot.com/

Thank you John, it was fun.