Lot Of Stuff Going Down

I managed to stay in the shitter for the reminder of my "career" in the United States Air Force. Misdemeanors & Felonies: A Memoir is moving right along at a faster pace than even I anticipated, although I am a fairly speedy writer. I think the reason for this is that I have found that I don''t need to be so concerned with too much intimate detail in this, the first draft. It is, as I have said before, serving as a blueprint or outline for what comes next in the rewrite. I suppose all first drafts could be described in that way. Some writers say they just rush through the story the first time, leaving obvious errors and all kinds of problems with the story. It is the second draft, they maintain, that really matters. I agree to an extent, however I cannot for the life of me leave misspelled words and other errors I see, they must be corrected.

I have just been discharged (kicked out) of the Air Force in Chapter 27, the last chapter. I have decided in just these couple of years away from Taylor, Arkansas, that I am a badass. I wasn't one, but I struck the pose and talk the talk . . . Enough so that I could bluff my way through most situations. Oh, I wasn't afraid of a fight and could hold my own in most of them, but I was far from being a badass. I suppose it was eventual I would strive toward that dubious honor after I left Taylor. I had been so beaten down and formed so many fucking hangups concerning my relationships with people, that I would have been surprised if I hadn't went into the badass stance.

In Chapter 27 I have managed to go AWOL, get caught and locked up in Trinidad, Colorado and eventually brought back to Cheyenne to face court martial and discharged with a Bad Conduct Discharge. That discharge only accuntuated my psyche into thinking I was a tough guy. It would be many years before I would know what a tough guy was really all about and became one out of necessity. As of the time frame of the last chapter, however, I was play acting the part.

I have good memories of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and it is a wonder I never went back during my eventual ramblling across America. The closest I came to going there was Denver, about ninety miles away. Although Cheyenne was hwere I truly began my downward spirial insofar as my morals and consciouence goes, it was a place where I forever have regarded fondly, probably because of Dorothy Coninne, who I still see in my thoughts from time to time. But now I am on my way back to Arkansas after I have been discharged. For someone who was going to leave and never return, I'm not making too good on that empty promise and will never fulfill it compelety.

Chapter 28 coming . . .

My Novels:

Write To Murder . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/956621

Margaret and David: A Love Story . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/1072842

My Mother's Revenge . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/1132742