<![CDATA[MARK PAUL SMITH - Journal]]>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 19:27:52 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Two Famous Authors Getting Coffee]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:42:56 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/two-famous-authors-getting-coffee
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Angie O'Neill taught me how to water ski, "GROWING UP on the WEST SHORE of CLEAR LAKE," which is the title of her recently published memoir.  The book is superbly produced by Foster Design Collaborative, and contains a treasure trove of brilliantly-colored photographs. Angie details lake life at a time when coke was still a nickle and kids got to play in the woods and on the water all day. Now, after sixty years of friendship, we are able to promote each other's books.
]]><![CDATA[The Highway Diner]]>Thu, 22 Jun 2023 20:44:45 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/the-highway-dinerI just finished my fifth novel, The Highway Diner. The book began with a character. A person the universe would reveal in its own sweet time. After several months, my wife began to tease me at varioius locations by saying, "Is your character here?" Finally, my protagonist appeared. It was Labor Day. All the restaurants were closed, and we wanted to go out for dinner. Eventually, we settled on our only option, a truck stop diner. And there she was. Glowing in the dark even though ll the lights were on. A tall, young woman waiting tables. My wife saw the look in my eyes and said, "Don't just stand there, go interview her." I said, No way. Now that I know who I'm writing about, I'm going to make up everything about her." The character became Murray, although her mother still calls her Muriel. The two women are running a struggling truck stop after the death of Murray's father. He died young but not before he taught Murray how to drive an 18-wheeler and shoot a gun.]]><![CDATA[May 05th, 2023]]>Fri, 05 May 2023 18:59:16 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/may-05th-20238469091<![CDATA[May 05th, 2023]]>Fri, 05 May 2023 18:53:26 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/may-05th-2023<![CDATA[Intermittent Fasting]]>Sun, 08 Jan 2023 19:27:56 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/intermittent-fasting
I haven't had breakfast or lunch in fourteen months. Okay, maybe a scheduled slip or two each month when friends or family called. But mostly, I don't eat until 6 p.m. That's eighteen hours after the inevitable midnight snack.
After losing thirty pounds, I'm prone to self-congratulating statements like, "The human body was never meant to absorb the constant caloric onslaught of the modern food buffet."
And yes, I have more energy and brain power by not eating all day. I drink coffee and water until my teeth chatter.
But every evening at 6 p.m. I need a trench shovel to break my fast. And sugar is making a big comeback on the menu.
I know what Dr. Jason Fung would say.
]]><![CDATA[Ringo 2.0]]>Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:26:35 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/ringo-20 My wife, Jody, suggested we not give our new Collie the same name as his predecessor. "He needs his own identity," she said.
"He'll never know he's the second Ringo," I countered. "And this puppy feels like Ringo's back from doggy heaven with tons of energy."
"You and your Beatlemania," she said.
"No, it's not just Ringo Starr. It's that song Lorne Greene talked us all through in 1964:
'One day we rode the mountain crest
And I went east and he went west
I took to law and wore a star
While he spread terror near and far
With lead and blood he gained such fame
All through the West they feared the name
Of Ringo'"

]]><![CDATA[The Holidays, 2022]]>Wed, 07 Dec 2022 21:03:00 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/the-holidays-2022I'm fighting the "bah humbugs." At the tender age of seventy-two, I say things like, "You know what they say about the holidays?" Pause for effect. "The first seventy are fun."
I don't want to be that grumpy old man. I don't want to remember that terrible day in first grade when the kid behind me in lunch line said Santa wasn't real. I was stunned, knowing right away he was telling the terrible truth. Everything suddenly made sense. Like why Mom told me the toy soldiers were from Santa when I knew they came from Grandpa. And why Dad was so tired on Christmas morning when it was supposedly Santa who did all the work.
My mother never did come clean on the Santa thing. She always said Santa was the spirit of Christmas, which is the joy of giving. I kind of got that, but she totally lost me on the "more blessed to give than to receive." I knew for a fact that made no sense.
It took decades for me to understand how we only keep what we have by giving it away. That's what I have to keep remembering.
You can't fill the hole in your soul with fortune and fame or even with spiked eggnog. But don't despair. No need to make it difficult. All you need to give is a little bit of kindness. 


]]><![CDATA[5 Books]]>Mon, 19 Sep 2022 17:17:17 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/5-books
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Old faithful Apple laptop being replaced after writing five books!
]]><![CDATA[February 08th, 2022]]>Tue, 08 Feb 2022 20:49:46 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/february-08th-2022My fifth book would start with a character. I didn't know how old, what race or sex, rich or poor. Nothing. All I knew was the universe would show me that character in due time. So, I looked around and kept looking and didn't see the character. Until Labor Day, 2021, when Jody and I decided to go out for dinner. All the restaurants were closed so we ended up at the Fort Wayne Truck Plaza restaurant. And there she was. A tall, young woman waiting tables, glowing in the dark even though all the lights were on. I didn't talk to her or even watch her closely for very long. But I knew she was the one. Her name is now Muriel, but she goes by Murray. Her father died two years ago but not before he taught her how to drive an 18-wheel rig. I'm now 26,000 words into the book and, I swear, she talks to me, first thing in the morning, as I'm waking, and tells me where her story should go next. ]]><![CDATA[February 1, 2022]]>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:18:20 GMThttp://www.markpaulsmith.com/journal/february-1-2022Picture
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