Page 1 of Mike Fak's writing

1. Saying So Long But Not Goodbye. It has been an interesting couple of years here at Searchwarp for me. Originally I wrote as a counterbalance to some of the other writing projects I was involved in. I used the space I was kindly allotted to look at and laugh at some of the zany... (posted by Mike 2 years 238 days ago.)

2. A Sense of Balance the Media Isn't Interested In. I'm sure either through my last posting or your own reading and viewing that you all know of the slayings of the family in Beason Illinois. There hasn't been anything new to report but that doesn't keep some outlets from running stories saying... (posted by Mike 2 years 241 days ago.)

3. Slayings In a Small Town Many of you have already read or watched something about the slaying of five family members in the small town of Beason Illinois. Last time I looked there were over 1,100 stories on the tragedy in the newsgroups. It has been on most television... (posted by Mike 2 years 245 days ago.)

4. It's Great When You Can Have Fun As An Old Timer. Tuesday I will start another creative writing class over at our local park district. I am really looking forward to this one because I know several of the folks who have signed up and they have skills. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually are... (posted by Mike 2 years 248 days ago.)

5. Piracy, Thievery and Skullduggery On the Internet I am getting really disgusted with all the new content sites that don't spend a moment of their time creating anything original. What they do instead is grab stories, news, blogs and anything else they can find to create pages that they can... (posted by Mike 2 years 252 days ago.)

6. How Did the Seasons Get Out of Whack? Now please don't think this is a thread to debate global warming because that isn't what I'm asking. What I'm asking is where you all live are your seasons all screwed up as much as they are in the Midwest. It used to be that March came in... (posted by Mike 2 years 255 days ago.)

7. Collecting My Inane and Goofy Thoughts. This past Labor Day weekend, my wife and son went up north to visit grandma. I stayed home to do some chores and to clean up some writing commitments. The weekend was drizzly so outside work got put off again but I did clean up what needed to be... (posted by Mike 2 years 258 days ago.)

8. Understanding Everyone Reads and Sees a Book Differently. I have been going over some notes for a class I will be teaching later this month. One of the points I will stress is something I don't think I have ever stressed with all you Warpies, so for whatever good it is I will do so now. I know I have... (posted by Mike 2 years 261 days ago.)

9. Digital Cameras Must Be Alien Technology I never was one to take pictures. I remember in the 50s when dad went and bought a movie camera to go with the old box one we had. Mom was beside herself with fury at the price for the camera, projector, screen and all that other stuff one needed... (posted by Mike 2 years 268 days ago.)

10. Living With the Goofiest of Addictions Hello, my name is Mike Fak and I am an addict. No, I don't take drugs or pills. I'm not talking about demon whiskey or smoking either. My name is Mike Fak and it has been five days since I have had a chicken wing. Now some of you might be... (posted by Mike 2 years 273 days ago.)

11. Just Call Me Professor Fak I had some fun today. Last week when I spoke at Kiwanis about the book project about the Mill, one of the Kiwanians asked me to come visit his creative arts class at the college. One of the topics in his class was the book world and he knew I have... (posted by Mike 2 years 276 days ago.)

12. The Absurdities One Finds In the Aftermath of a Tornado With all we had to cover locally this week, we had the added burden of covering another horrendous storm that came through central Illinois. As usual there were high winds and driving rain but although the city got soaked again, our county... (posted by Mike 2 years 280 days ago.)

13. Your Best Writing Comes When You Turn the Computer On: and Your Ego Off. This weekend I was asked if I would Emcee a town hall meeting. Over 100 good paying jobs are in jeopardy at our local prisons and the Chamber of Commerce is calling this meeting with a dozen or so state legislators and area officials giving a few... (posted by Mike 2 years 283 days ago.)

14. Newspapers Need To Understand the Evolution In News. The local county fair is over and it was a heck of an active week for the Lincoln Daily News. Besides some cute little stories we published 252 color pictures during the week. We can do that being an online paper. There is no way we could do... (posted by Mike 2 years 287 days ago.)

15. Bridezillas Television Show a Comedy of Stupid With running around at the fair, my hours got a little out of whack. The regular garbage I would have watched was over by the time I was ready to relax so I did some channel surfing. I can across a very strange show on the WE-TV channel called... (posted by Mike 2 years 290 days ago.)

16. Blundering through Renewing a Drivers License. Well with all the craziness what with covering the county fair, I had to take time to run over to the local driver's license facility to renew my license. The renewal sort of snuck up on me and since I have only had the renewal notice two... (posted by Mike 2 years 294 days ago.)

17. The County Fair Is All About People. Well this will be my second go-around at covering the local county fair. I learned a lot last year. The most important thing was that I couldn't be at both ends of the forty acre grounds at the same time. Learning a lesson I will have... (posted by Mike 2 years 297 days ago.)

18. A Fun Project: Working With Hundreds of Authors At the Same Time. I always have a good idea it seems. Of course those good ideas always get me involved in another thing that I don't know how I will make the time for. Somehow I always do figure out how to manage and then I add something else to the list and have... (posted by Mike 2 years 301 days ago.)

19. Ghost hunting 101: First you need a ghost. This weekend we had an 80 th anniversary of an old Route 66 iconic structure that a group of individuals is trying to save. If you look at a Route 66 website, and there are tens of thousands of them, you might see a blurb that when traveling... (posted by Mike 2 years 304 days ago.)

20. A Shooting In a Small Town Gives An Interesting Look Into Journalism. It was after 10:00 pm when I got the call at home. It was a friend and he said that something big was happening at a local park. "Every squad car in the county is out there." Under those circumstances, I got dressed, grabbed my camera and... (posted by Mike 2 years 308 days ago.)

21. I Ain't as Good as I Once Was. But It's Because I'm Dumber Not Weaker. The last few storms through the area did some real damage to my roof. 70 mile-an-hour winds tore off shingles and of course they couldn't be easy ones to get to on a three-story home. I knew I had lost a few shingles since they were lying in... (posted by Mike 2 years 311 days ago.)

22. This Big City Boy Won't Eat Country Foods. I love live radio. It is one of those things that can be a bunch of fun especially if you don't have an iota of regimen about what you are planning to talk about. My partner Jim and I we're talking about the Iowa State Fair officials being in... (posted by Mike 2 years 314 days ago.)

23. Books That Will Never Be Finished. I was looking through all the back pile of manuscripts I have. A few are from writers who have gone on hiatus or have probably given up their task of finishing their great American novel. I never admonish anyone for not finishing their... (posted by Mike 2 years 318 days ago.)

24. Giving a Cat Medicine Is Almost Impossible I have written several times about my relationship with Jackson, my cat. For those visiting me for the first time I will say in a nutshell that Jackson is the most loyal cat or dog I have ever head in my life. This week our friendship had a... (posted by Mike 2 years 322 days ago.)

25. Pains of Being Prominent On the Internet. Of course I make my living on the World Wide Web. Between writing clients, the paper and other miscellany, I am doing just fine but there are drawbacks. One is that whether you like it or not, if you live with the web you will get plastered... (posted by Mike 2 years 325 days ago.)