Rodney Dodig

After months of slacking off, I have finally started going back to the gym. I can tell I have lost some strength since I have to lower some of the weights I was working with in certain exercises. It feels great to go back though and after a week and a half I am already feeling better. My goal is to get back up to five days a week, at least two hours each day. I spend one hour on cardio and one hour on free weights, then, there’s the walk to and from the gym which adds a little extra. Check back in for progress updates. I also need to go to Sodimac (the Peruvian Version of Home Depot) and buy a scale to weigh myself. I can’t be ballooning up here, they DO NOT have clothes in my size and there are no Big and Tall stores that I know of.

Work progresses on the book. Larry and I met Monday and discussed the latest six chapters we had written and I made some revisions and edits after returning from the meeting. We assigned the next six and talked about the final twenty chapters or so and what needed to happen. Larry agreed to work on the short story I had started, it needs to be more of a mystery vs thriller if we are to submit it to the magazines I am considering for publication. We figured we would have the book finished by the end of April which brought up the discussion of when we want to start work on the second book. We’ll set this book aside for about a month before we start our first edit, so we figured we could whip out a few chapters on the new one before we dived into the first edit. I just never realized how much work was involved in writing a book and we haven’t even started in on the publishing side yet.

My fantabulous Sister has just returned from spending a week in Italy. They had a farmhouse in the Tuscan region, visited Venice and Florence, drank wine and generally had a great time. From the couple of photos I have seen, she was “stylin” while she was there. I imagine George had to keep an eye on her to keep all those lusty Italian men away from her. They went with a couple of their best friends, the Grants, who also enjoyed themselves immensely. She has been retired for several years now but since her husband retired, they have turned into globetrotting vacationers. I can’t wait to see where they go next.

Enough said for this entry. Once again, Happy Hump Day everyone. Hope you week is going as well as mine.

I get so wrapped up in writing the novel and my short stories that I forget about updating my web page. I started it as a way to let my friends and family keep up with what I was doing but with all the new social media available it has become a little redundant. That’s why I want to keep this as more of a journal on my progress as a writer and photographer with a few entries about what’s going on in other people’s lives also and my life here in Peru.

Larry and I met on Monday to talk about the book and its progress. It had been a couple weeks since we last met so we had a lot to go over. We reviewed chapters 86 through 97 and made a few suggestions for editing. Then we divided up the next 6 chapters all due before we meet this coming Monday. I also sent him a copy of the short story I am writing on our main character in the novel. I am over 5000 words on it already and am a little stuck on how to proceed to the end. It’s supposed to be a type of mystery but I am afraid that there is very little mystery involved. I have made it too obvious who the killer is. I am going to have my work cut out for me to fix the story.

Thursday found Larry, Victoria and I meeting to critique a short story by Victoria. It’s a nice piece with a surprise ending. For the first half hour of the meeting, they made me talk and listen in Spanish. An effort I truly appreciate since I have stopped taking lessons. I actually did fairly well and was able to respond and carry on a conversation for 30 minutes. Granted it was a bit simple but every little bit helps. For next week, I am going to cut an article out of a newspaper and we will discuss it for the first 30 minutes of our meeting. It should be interesting.

I hope anyone reading this had a great Valentine’s Day. Here in Peru it is more of a friendship day and friends use it to get together and go out to karaoke or have a meal. I went out with Steve to Texas Longhorn for steaks and a salad. Can’t say I cared too much for the meal but the company was good.

This week was my amazing Sister’s (Rita) birthday. She is celebrating it in Italy with her husband and a couple of friends. They have rented a farmhouse, will be touring the countryside in Tuscany, and will spend one night in Venice I think. I’m sure they will have a great time. My wonderful life here in Peru would not be possible without her help. I am so lucky to have a great relationship with her.

I need to get back to work on my chapters for this week. I have 1½ done and should easily complete the rest before Monday. As far as I’m concerned, the real work on the book will start when the first draft is finished and we have to edit it. My understanding is that 10% of the word count should be cut on the first edit. Ouch! Stephen King called it “Killing your babies,” and I think that’s a fitting description. Have a great weekend everyone.

When I retired I had decided that writing travel articles and taking photographs would be the intellectual challenge that would sustain me mentally. Although I have enjoyed it and continue to write articles for a Webzine here in Peru called “livinginperu.com,” it wasn’t enough. On 21 February this year, it will have been two years and other than a three-week trip to Thailand, I have spent most of my time here in Peru and other parts of South America. I thought, naively, that selling travel articles would be easy and it would be nice to have a little extra income. I must admit that I thought, foolishly, fame might come of it too.

So, to expand my range of writing skills, last May I entered into an agreement with my friend Larry Pitman to co-write a novel. At first, it was just to be an exercise of sorts. I would write one chapter, he would write the next and so on. After the first 20 chapters, we decided that it was turning out to be good and we should take it more seriously. This has led to an increase in short stories by me for the writers group I formed and a serious look into how to improve my writing skills. I have read the books “Writing Fiction for Dummies,” “On Writing” (by Stephen King), “Writing a Thriller” (by Andre Jute) and “The Elements of Style” (by E. B. White). All are excellent but I particularly enjoyed the book by Stephen King. The Elements of Style is a necessity for any writer and should always be close.

The most important thing that I gleaned from all that reading is that you should write as many days as possible every week. Set a goal and accomplish it. For example, mine is now 1,000 words a day that will hopefully be increased to 3000 by the end of the year. As I learn more not only from reading but by writing and trying to be published, I will share it all with you here.

This past month I have been walking around a lot and taking photos of flowers here in Lima. Not only in the parks but in people’s yards and gardens. I placed some of the photos in this article to ease your eyes with some beauty as you read.

Enough time has passed that I feel I should update the page again. I had a very productive week writing. I finished four more chapters for the novel and was able to add 2,500 words to a short story I am working on. Larry was sick again this week and so we didn’t have our usual Monday meeting to discuss our work. I am hoping he is well enough to make it to our writers’ group meeting tomorrow. A magazine here in Peru that publishes 6 times a year has contacted me to publish some of the short stories we have on our blog. We will be discussing that tomorrow. The publication is put out by ACAP, the American Canadian Association of Peru. It’s all about getting your name and writing out there. I hope that this will help when it comes time to publish the novel.

I had a great lunch this past Monday with my friend Katrina and her parents. They were visiting her from Minnesota for 10 days. Since they had been to Peru before, they spent their time in the city of Lima visiting all the wonderful things here. They joined me on the patio behind Madre Natura where we had a long talk about all manner of topics, from farming to life in the big city. I really liked her folks; they are friendly, intelligent and well read. My friend, the parrot came out to join the lunch crowd. He was as energetic and talkative as always. He actually says a few words in both English and Spanish. In the end, they headed off to Huaca Pucllana and I came home to add a few more words to my short story.

I haven’t studied or practiced my Spanish since I stopped taking lessons last October. I am starting to feel really bad about it. I sit here with my Rosetta Stone, two books of lessons, and all kinds of free stuff on the internet; doing nothing. I realize how important it is for me to learn this language. Social conversations are extremely important. I do manage with the cab drivers, the store keepers and things I need for basic living but I want more. Maybe writing about it will help me to focus on starting to study again.

I’ve also discovered that bad habits I was trying to leave behind in the US have followed me here to Peru. I haven’t been to the gym in months and instead of reading in the evenings, I am watching stupid shows on television. I am getting in my walks but now that the full heat and humidity of summer are in full swing, they are not enjoyable.

Keeping in touch with friends I have made all over the world has been easier than I thought. With all the social media available these days, this website, Skype and E-mails you have many choices. I had never used Facebook, Skype or Twitter until I moved to Peru. Now, I am on them almost every day.

Mis amigos, tengan una buena semana. Yo espero que tengan mucho diversión esta semana.

Welcome to the new and improved blog. I have finally decided to treat this web page the way it was designed to be. From this point on, I will post on my usual schedule but each entry will be individual and not a compilation of a month’s activities as it was in the past. Hopefully that will make it easier for those of you reading this web site to follow my life here in Lima, Peru.

The past few days have been full of rushed activity on my part as I made the last few trips to Immigration to get my Rentista Visa. The first trip, I was two blocks away in a taxi when I realized I had left my passport back in the apartment. Since Immigration closes at noon, it was pointless for me to try and return to get it. The next day I remembered the passport and finally found out that my application was approved. Then it was a five hour trial of lines and more lines, waiting and more waiting while they finished up the paperwork, took my photo, took my fingerprints and made my carnet (the Rentista Visa). Now, I have it and it never expires.

Today (Friday), I met my friend Kathy for a long chat. We had a nice time again covering all sorts of topics. Then it was off to Punta Hermosa and Sarritas for lunch with Steve and Antonio to celebrate getting my Visa. I love the drive out to the beach and if you follow me at all here, you know I love the Tamals there.

Not much else to say this entry except, “Yo espero que tengan un buen fin de semana.” I promise there will be photos with my next entry.