Kenn Ghannon: Blog

I'm still among the living. The pandemic has hit my family hard. My 57 year old cousin and his entire family got it. An uncle got it - after getting the first of two vaccine shots. My aunt was fully vaccinated and got it. Another uncle got it - again after getting the first of two vaccine shots - and he died from it.

I've been extraordinarily lucky and it has so far passed me by. I have a few vacations planned this summer (one I've already taken) so I'm hoping it continues to pass me by. I liken it to drowning - and that is probably one of the most horrible deaths I can imagine.

I've started writing again - just today, as a matter of fact. I cleaned up a HUGE, multi-chapter error that no one caught in 'Runesward: Tome 1'. I plan on reading through that again in the coming weeks to correct a few more errors or irregularities I found. Nothing I've found - including the huge error - really changes the story at all, but I'm a bit anal about making things right. I'll post the changes in a few weeks - probably/hopefully, right before I send Tome 2 to the editors.

I re-wrote two very important pieces of 'Runesward: Tome 2'; they'd caused me to box myself in in the chapter I was writing but I thought of a way out and needed to re-write a bit. I've also expanded a key fight I was unhappy with, adding to it in both material and points of view. It reads much smoother now and I'm optimistic I'll continue to think so during my frequent re-reads

I also fixed my timeline - it was a bit messed up, with people taking weeks for a journey which should have taken days, people taking days for things that should take far longer and so on. The main problem, honestly, was I moved one part a bit too fast when the state of their 'conveyances' were such that it couldn't happen the way I wrote it. That's been fixed and almost everything now makes sense. There's still one timing thing I'm not completely happy about but it's not too far out of the temporal boundaries so I'm leaving it (for now).

I finished chapter 19 today - but I may go back and re-write/prettify a bit with added detail. It's a common thing I do - I get the points out there, get the conversation like I need it to be and then go back and add details to make it more involved. I've started chapter 20 but I'm not happy with the beginning and may change it. I anticipate no more than 10 more chapters but I might be able to pine that down to four or five. It depends on some of the sub-plots and how much I need them to set up Tome 3.

Anyway, there's my update. I hope you all are dealing with Covid better than my family has.

First, I want to apologize to all of the people who have written me e-mails - I've responded to very few. This is not my normal modus operandi - I sincerely try to answer every single e-mail sent to me - but...

There is a war being fought in my mailbox - and I'm curious which side is going to win. I've received e-mails across the entire spectrum - from people who don't believe COVID-19 exists (after all, it managed to completely kill the old flu virus we've seen pop up every year!), to people who hate me because by not wearing a mask I'm killing them, and everywhere in between. Where my beliefs fall in that spectrum is purely philosophical because I'm going to do whatever I need to do to keep myself and my family safe.

Does the government have the Constitutional power to force us to wear a mask. On the one hand, they have the power to force us to wear clothing (because otherwise I'd have become a practicing nudist long ago). On the other, a mask interferes with our ability to breathe, forcing us to inhale unhealthy levels of carbon dioxide.

So, do they have the power? I don't believe they do. I don't believe they have the power to dictate how I breathe as breathing is a fundamental right (unlike the right to healthcare - anything which another person provides is NOT a right, it's a service).

I can hear a part of my mail spectrum now - '...but they have the power and responsibility to make sure other people are safe!'. I disagree most vehemently. If I'm stupid enough to risk my health by not wearing a mask, that's on me. My not wearing a mask, whether sick and contagious or not, has no bearing on your ability to wear a mask and avoid me; by LIVING you assume the responsibility of keeping yourself safe. How you do that is your right - something I consider 'common sense' which, I fear, is not so common anymore - so long as you don't impinge on me or my rights. It is NOT the government's responsibility to keep me safe; they are not my parent. It is the government's job to defend our borders and provide me the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's it. That's all I want them to do. If I want to jump out of an airplane without a parachute, I don't expect the government to stop me. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ME.

If I want to have a 10,000 person meeting in my backyard (other than having to stack people up like cordwood to make them fit) and not wear a mask - that is my right to risk getting ill. As long as I didn't kidnap them, it is the right of those 10,000 people to meet in my backyard assuming risk of infection on their own. We each are responsible for ourselves (and, obviously, for our children until they reach an age to be responsible for themselves).

I *KNOW* this is going to get me much hate mail. However, I think I've taken this topic as far as I'm going to. I will read every single hate mail you send me - I read every single mail anyone sends me - but I'm not going to argue the point any further. I may respond but I might not.

I'm here to tell stories - hopefully good stories that people will enjoy. I'm not here to tell you how to think. Maybe some of what I write will educate you - maybe it won't and you'll send me e-mail to educate me. THAT'S what I like about this site. Learning, living and growing.

Thank you for your time. I hope you - the collective 'all of you' - along with all of your families stay healthy, safe and prosperous. I give you all my familiar birthday greeting - 'May the worst of the days in front of you be better than the best of the days behind you'.

Most Sincerely,
Kenn Ghannon

First, I want to thank everyone who wrote about my previous blog (The Masks We Wear). I apologize I can't respond to everyone individually - there were just TOO MANY replies! It was not my intention to stir up a hornet's nest or make people angry. I was expressing the facts as I understood them and my own personal philosophy.

Many - perhaps even MOST - of the replies were, more or less, that it was rude of me to NOT wear a mask (with various and differing levels of indignation, righteous anger and so forth). The name-calling was a bit much (you know who you are) but I get that this topic is highly galvanizing.

As I wrote in one of my few individual replies, I'm not against masks. I wear them, even when I don't have to, because it erroneously makes me feel safe. I am against the affront to our civil liberties that the mask mandates (and quarantining) make.

The science supports masks help stop infected people from infecting others. The science supports that you can be symptom-free and still be infected. The part of this thing I have a problem with is the disregard for the rights of healthy people. Mask mandates weren't directed at people who have the virus. Quarantining wasn't directed at people who have the virus. It was applied to everyone indiscriminately - thus abridging our individual rights. If the focus had been on testing and then applying distancing and mask mandates against the infected, I would have no issue - philosophically or morally - with it.

A right, once given up, will never be returned - no matter which political party is in power. The government now knows it can force us to wear whatever it wants for the common good. It will be used again - and against us. Maybe not immediately - but it will. There is now precedent.

The plan to force us to be vaccinated, if enacted, will further erode our personal liberties. Once this is done, the government will have developed the right to make medical decisions for us. It is a right they will not give up. It will be used again - and against us. Maybe not immediately - but it will. We just don't know how far it will go.

I don't think I've ever been above admitting when I was wrong. So, I will admit I was wrong about masks. A nice reader (whom I won't identify because I didn't ask for their permission to identify them) explained things to me and changed my opinion. I still don't agree with 'mask mandates' - but it's on a philosophical point and not a scientific one.

The COVID-19 virus is about 0.125 microns in size. An N95 mask - which most of the population DON'T have, but we'll talk about the 'best' masks we can find - can block particulates down to about 0.3 microns. That is a large window and one which the virus can easily get through.

So my science was right - at least, I still believe my science was right - as far as it goes. I, however, was wrong.

As I've been made to understand it, the issue is that the mask works to 'break the breath' of the wearer. So, although the virus can get through the mask, it isn't propelled with as much strength beyond the mask, thus - with proper social distancing - it poses a far less significant threat to the surrounding population.

So, I'm glad I still choose to wear a mask in public buildings and when I can't stay far enough a way from strangers. However, I'm happy that - at least right now - it's my choice to do so. :)

I live in Texas. My state just opened itself fully with no mask mandates. Finally, we're being treated like adults. It's a refreshing change.

I still wear a mask in stores and when I can't help but be near 'strangers' - the difference is it's my choice. It's a pre-caution, really, since there's scientific proof even an N95 mask does not protect against something so small as the COVID virus/Wuhan Flu (yes, I'm one of those). Still, it looks like we've conquered the normal flu with these masks, so it's potentially worth it.

I've not written a single word in months. I had good intentions, but work has been crazy, I've been worried about elderly relatives who've had various illnesses (not all COVID related) and, of course, the unending drama within my own family (I'm a staunch conservative while my eldest daughter, who believes she knows everything since she graduated/was indoctrinated by her university, has been brainwashed to liberalism and all that entails). I've tried and failed. After dealing with everything, there just hasn't been any creativity left.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Work has slowed a bit, Texas is mask-free, my elderly relatives have started to heal - family drama still exists, but three out of four ain't bad. Plus, we have some trips lined up in the coming months that should bring rest and relaxation.

I'm going to read through Runesward Tome 1 and the chapters I've written on Runesward Tome 2 today to prep myself for continuing that saga (yes, I wrote it and took copious notes, but some of the minutiae isn't fresh in mind). When it's completed, I'll start looking for an editor or two to check grammar, spelling, and continuity - but that won't be for a while.

I wrote the opening scene for InCAPable but it needs to be brushed up. I've got some refinements locked in my head and I need to think my way through them carefully. I also have taken some notes about plot threads and the like and I feel it is in a good place for now.

I've written 19.5 chapters of Runesward, Tome 2, starting with Chapter 30 and I'm in the middle of chapter 49. I need to re-do parts of chapter 48 and polish it some. For those interested in statistics, that's 211 Microsoft Word pages (I write in MS Word) composed of nearly 106,000 words. The intention had been for this Tome to be 25 chapters (more or less) but I fear I'm going to overshoot that mark. There are threads from Tome 1 I need to work with and I've introduced some new sub-plots in Tome 2 I think will really help the story line. I've not revised my chapters since I began, but I've updated my plot-lines as I've worked with them (mostly, anyway). I'm going to say this Tome might come in between 25 and 35 chapters, depending on when I stop.

Anyway, I hope you and yours are getting through the pandemic carefully and safely. I'll try to blog more as more comes to me.

Sincerely,
Kenn Ghannon