Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, December 15, 2018, 9:31 p.m. Earlier today, I came across a quote from the great Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who once walked out to the mound to counsel an ineffective Ross Grimsley. "If you know how to cheat, now's the time," Weaver is alleged to have said. I remember Weaver, …
Author: wastedpilgrim
I'm a writer.
Blogs. Novels. Journalism. Songs.
It's all I know how to do well.
Anger Cuts Either Way
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, December 13, 2018, 10:44 a.m. I was on the way to the Laurens Commission of Public Works meeting and thought it was going to make me late. I am obsessively punctual and often fret about being late for meetings, so much so that invariably I wind up being there 20 minutes …
The Will to Win
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, December 8, 2018, 7:47 p.m. I love the Army-Navy Game. It doesn’t matter if both teams have losing records (which Army doesn’t this year). It’s always hardfought. It always comes down to the end. Navy won 14 in a row, and now Army has won three straight. My late Uncle Cas …
‘Happy Thanksgiving from the Fam-uhhhh-leeeeee’
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, November 23, 2018, 8:46 a.m. When Ray Phillips was a child, he realized that Betty Dutton’s oyster dressing was a national treasure, not to mention a rare and precious thing. Ray is my nephew. Betty is my mother and his grandmother. Ginger Sacarrere is his mother and my sister. For two …
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How the Checkered Flag Fell at the Beauty Pageant
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, November 18, 11:57 a.m. New assignments abound. For twenty years, most of my time was spent writing about race cars. I started writing books. I taught myself to play guitar and found I had “a handy knack for rhyming,” which led to songs. I started writing novels. I never wrote about …
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Stop the World and Let Me Off
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, November 8, 2018, 1:14 p.m. So much is going on that I can’t decide what to write. I’m suffering from information overload. I’m drowning. Either that or I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. It’s impossible to keep up. With politics. With technology. With violence. With anger. Do this. Don’t do …
Things that Are Close and Things that Are Far Away
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, November 2, 2018, 9:56 a.m. Election Day is Tuesday, and I can’t remember the last time I ate a McRibs. I don’t think there is any relation between elections and McRibs except that both are being enthusiastically advertised. The best meal I’ve had in the week to date was a hamburger …
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Style and Sox and Storms, Etc.
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 1:57 p.m. One consequence of working for a news website while writing fiction at the same time is the constant clash of styles. I even have a style for this blog. If this was on GoLaurens.com, “South Carolina” would have been “S.C.” and “October” would have been “Oct.” …
‘Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics’
Clinton, South Carolina, Sunday, September 23, 2018, 10:45 a.m. I fell asleep with the TV on last night, which is not unusual, and it awakened me this morning, when I wanted to sleep longer, because, in a semi-conscious state, I got irritated. Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and …
What do jury duty, a broken tooth, a peanut butter shake and Lindsey Wilson have in common? Me!
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, September 20, 2018, 11:40 a.m. I had jury duty but wasn’t selected. Since every day, I put together arrest reports and talk to law enforcement officers about various crimes, I suppose this is hardly a surprise. In this part of the state, Florence, which hit the Carolinas coast as a hurricane …
Nightrider's Lament 