MARK PAUL SMITH

Intermittent Fasting

1/8/2023

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.

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Ringo 2.0

12/13/2022

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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'"

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The Holidays, 2022

12/7/2022

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I'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.

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5 Books

9/19/2022

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Old faithful Apple laptop being replaced after writing five books!

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February 08th, 2022

2/8/2022

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My 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.

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February 1, 2022

2/1/2022

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Mark Paul Smith Shares Rock and Roll Voodoo

2/25/2020

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During the 1970s on a magic mushroom harvesting adventure in the Bayou, a young, aspiring rock and roll musician discovers the voice of Voodoo, which not only alters his life, but the life of his band, the Divebomberz.
When the band is on the verge of making it big, tragedy strikes and Jesse is confronted with the hard truth that life is often a spiritual obstacle course designed to see if you can get over yourself.
A book for rock and rollers of all ages and for restless souls who have chased a dream only to discover that what they really needed was with them all along.

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Rock and Roll Voodoo signing and reading

4/2/2019

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The signing and reading will be part of the Spring Splendor Art Show at Castle Gallery Fine Art, Friday, April 5, 5-10 p.m. Here's the fun part: the book is based on real people from 40 years ago, and four characters from the book will be at the reading. Butch, the guitar player is coming in from Laporte; Paul, the banjo player, from Roanoke; Casey, the law student, now retired attorney Robert Brown Wright, will be there; and Amy, my wife Jody, will attend but will not speak under any circumstances.

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First Reading, Rock and Roll Voodoo

12/18/2018

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The Advanced Reading Copy of Rock and Roll Voodoo arrived. Nothing beats reading your own book for the first time. Thank you, BQB Publishing!

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Honey and Leonard to BQB

9/16/2018

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BQB Publishing has picked up Honey and Leonard for re-release in November of 2019. An excerpt from Honey and Leonard will appear in the back of Rock and Roll Voodoo, scheduled for release in Spring of 2019. Honey and Leonard will be re-edited and re-covered as part of BQB's process. My secret plan is to add scenes and story lines to the book. You know what they say about editing: That which does not kill me makes me a better book.

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