7-16-10
We are on the downhill slide now. Yesterday it was only halfway through July, but now we are done for. Now, it’s past the middle of July; summer might as well end at midnight tonight. Okay, not really.
I brought Teacher Man up to the cabin to read again. I love that book, and I admire that man, Frank McCourt. I look up to him as a person and a writer. I want to write just like he does, but make it my own. Sounds contrary, doesn’t it, but when I read his words, my mind does happy flips. He had a gift; he wrote from the hip, and my eyes roll right over the words happy and satisfied to be taking them all in, impressed and content with the fact that this man knew how to write, knew how to put words and stories together in the most satisfying and entertaining ways. No wonder he earned a Pulitzer Prize. He was a master!
The greatest compliment I can give him is that his books make me want to do what I am doing right now, write.
I am a fledgling, though. What do I have to show for my writing? I have my golf diary, a continuing collection of drivel about golf and life, and how I have improved in golf, a selfish compilation that brags about birdies and eagles when I truly have not accomplished much (won major tournaments, become a "scratch" golfer, etc.) when it comes to golf either. Come to think of it, when it comes to golf and writing accomplishments, it’s about even-steven right now.
I have several articles published in a free quarterly magazine called Four Corners Golf Magazine. I have been paid $0.00 for each one, but I am happy to have done it, money or not. It gives me practice and exposure. I have one article awaiting approval from New Mexico Magazine, an article I never would have written if it weren’t for Dale’s suggestion. And I have an article (three short paragraphs) that will be published in the upcoming Talon. Whoopety-doo!
The difference would be stark if I were to become an excellent golfer, though, a golfer who wins every tournament he enters, a golfer admired for his incredible skills, a golfer who has done something, at least gotten down to a single digit handicap, but despite my better play recently, I remain stubbornly at a 16, the very definition of a bogey golfer.
The difference would be negligible if I were to become a "real" published writer, too, or at least a blogger who has thousands and thousands of followers, a professional blogger working daily on his blog, entertaining said thousands with his wit and his incredible use of the English language, a writer who continued to write selfishly about how his golf game is continuing to improve, if only bit by bit.
Until then, I’ll just continue to do what I like to do, play golf and write for the pure fun of it, play and write for the purpose of discovering what’s lurking up there in my brain, the undiscovered treasures waiting to be uncovered, polished, and then put out on display.
The summer edition of Four Corners Golf Magazine came out a couple of weeks ago. I had one article in it, the one about volunteerism at Hidden Valley. I should have brought the issue to recount exactly the mistakes that were made in the magazine this time. I’ll do my best to remember.
In the letter from the editor, D.K. actually acknowledges the typos that her magazine has had problems with. She has not paid me for my writing, but she did pay me for my editing skills for one issue, and she gave me credit as the copy editor for that issue, too. Ironically, when she talks about the mistakes, she makes even more. She spells wisdom wrong (widom), and she has a double letter in the word pointing (pointiing). It’s kind of funny to me, and I just don’t get it. Other magazines are able to put out final copies with maybe one mistake or, even better, none at all, but this magazine has a proofreading issue with every issue. She mentions spell check again, as if that is the cure-all for any and all mistakes, but it isn’t. *Please do not misunderstand me, though. I have great respect for D.K. and for Four Corners Golf Magazine. Her magazine has an incredibly high quality look and feel. Many people have complimented it for exactly that. I am honored to be a part of it, but I want to help her make each issue even better than it could be. In no way do I want this to appear that I am biting the hand that feeds me.
A big error appears in her letter from the editor about my name this time. I am not in the least upset about it, though. She spelled my last name wrong. It reads, “Patrick Slope returns in this issue…”
It was only a matter of time. Thankfully, the correct spelling appears above my article. In my opinion, it was an unintentional payback for when I accidentally spelled her name wrong in my first proposal/e-mail I sent her. I spelled her last name wrong after carefully editing my entire proposal, a proposal where I mentioned I was a professional proofreader. The funny thing is I know she did not do it on purpose to get me back. The name Swope has been slaughtered numerous times, especially when I was a student in elementary or junior high school. Teachers and students would come up with all kinds of different versions: Swoop, Sloop, Swopay, Soap, and yes, Slope, so I am less than surprised when it happened this time.
Seeing it spelled that way, though, gave me an idea for a new and different name for my blog. I could call it “The Swope of the Green.” Clever! The address could be changed to swopeofthegreen.blogspot.com. Much easier to remember, and also easier to say than my-golf-journal.com with those two dashes in there. That’s hard to say, “mydashgolfdashjournal. Or I could just change the address and keep the My Golf Journal for the title of the page. I’m new at this blog thing, but I like the idea that it has a permanent home on the internet. I can write about golf and forget about it, knowing that it’s always going to be there.
Looking for other blogs that are similar to mine was more difficult than I thought. Most golf blogs out there are about what’s happening in the professional world of golf. They write about Tiger Woods (of course), the most recent professional tournament coming up, or the one that just finished up. They write about equipment and books, but only a rare few write about their games and how their games are going.
I get it. I can understand how many people would think, “Who cares about how you birdied that hole, or how you won that tournament?” My eyes tend to glaze over, too, when I hear somebody talking to a friend about that great drive he had on hole # whatever. Blah, blah, blah.
If each post, however, had a “big tomato”, I could see how readers would be more willing to read it. I tend to ramble, so I would be better off if I focused on one aspect of what I am trying to get across. The blog is a great place for rambling, and it is my blog after all, but I can see where it would get tiresome. I like to read ramblings sometimes, but less often than I want to read something with a purpose behind it. My last post is a great example of rambling. I wrote about my round with Chris, his brother Tim, and Pat (last name). I could have just focused on the Star Wars head covers part, but I included Tim’s tantrums, my wanting to escape and play with Bruce and C.J., gimmes, Chris’s attempt to “sell” me on the Top Ten Video Lessons online, etc.
I am missing the Pinon Hills Classic this weekend, and I can’t believe it. First of all, and most of all, it’s due to money. We have had a number of unexpected, but necessary bills this spring and summer (vacuum, swamp cooler, garage door, screen door, sprinkler system), and some house improvements we chose to pay for as well (laundry room painting, red wood shade covering needing sanding and new Penofin, new tires for the van coming next week, and even more coming up that I won’t mention here), so I could not justify the $150.00 entry fee. It came down to choices again, and the choices were pretty easy when they were put in perspective.
Second of all, it comes down to family. I am here at the cabin with my family. We chose to spend two nights, last night and tonight. The tournament starts tomorrow, so I would not have been back in time for a morning tee time. I could have probably asked Ty for a later tee time, but like I just wrote, it’s more about the money and the choices made regarding where our money goes. Oh yes, and I read in church this coming Sunday, so I could have gotten a replacement, but I feel bad when I do that, and I could have asked Ty for a different tee time again, but what a pain and a bother!
When Guy comes out with his family for our family reunion near Grand Lake, we will want to go play golf together, and that is where it becomes a real no-brainer for me. Play in the Pinon Hills Classic or go play golf with Guy (and maybe Dad riding along in the cart again)? Easiest choice available. B and I could afford it all, but it would strap us more than we feel comfortable being strapped.
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