Well, sort of.  I’m trying to regain my stride after leaving the manuscript dormant for so long, so bare with me here.

Here it goes.  The long and overdue update entry that you have all been waiting for.  I have put it off for about as long as I can, and I can do so no longer.  Are you ready?  Here we go…

From my last update, I mentioned how I got to my second book,  The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: The School Years.  To update you on my progress, there really isn’t that much progress I have made from my last update.  To give you an idea, I have only gotten to his fifth (20th) birthday, and have made no progress since then.  I’ll discuss this in a little more detail, after I have dealt with side business that really needs to be addressed.

To keep things fair for all audiences involved, I would like to use this opportunity to let the new audience know the reason and purpose for the existence of this website.  If this is your first time ever viewing this page, I give you my most sincere welcome.  And in case you don’t have any idea what I am talking about, bare with me.  Everything will be explained in just a few brief lines…

“What is this Me & My Muse?  I see all these posts all over the place.  I don’t have any idea what he’s trying to do here…”  Again.  When I say bare with me, please bare with me…

“And what is this My PR Journey?  It looks good, but I haven’t seen any new updates…”  Again, all will be explained shortly…

“And what’s all this political stuff?  I go to his oldest entries and that’s all I see…”  *sigh*  Please be patient.  I’m about to explain everything.

Well,  you get the idea.  There’s a lot of information on this site but not everyone knows what it’s there for.

Let’s get to the core question that some of you just might be confused about.  What IS The Walker Estate?  Do I own some big stately mansion on some lush and pristine sprawling acreage using the inheritance left from my great grandparents?  It would make for a good story, but no.  I don’t own a stately mansion and my great grandparents didn’t leave me with any inheritance.  So why call it The Walker Estate?  It’s really for the kind of atmosphere that I wanted to evoke for those who come and visit this site.  A nice warm and inviting mansion that you can visit anytime.  And each “room” is cozy and you’re welcome to stay for as long as you want.

So what is the purpose of The Walker Estate.  The purpose is simply this.  To present my work in a way that is both open and honest.  There will always be critics and everything is open to scrutiny.  But this is a nice and warm area where I can retreat and write about what I want both openly and honestly.  If you take the time to browse this site and its more than 1200 posts, you will find numerous short stories, creative writing pieces, movie reviews and book reviews.

And if you look hard enough, you will notice a link that will take you to all the political ramblings that I used to write eons ago.  All this “political stuff” was Walker on Politics, a failed experiment that I will never implement again.  Depending on your political view, you will cringe when you read my old posts.  Walker on Politics was basically my attempt to critique politics, and that was it.  To put things more precisely, it was me critiquing Rush Limbaugh’s critique on politics.  Basically just recycling his fluff and turning it into a blog entry.  And to make things more unbelievable, this site’s name used to be Walker on Politics.  I’m so glad that I changed the name.  After a while, I didn’t like what I was writing so I stopped.  I wanted to move on to much better things…

Getting away from the past, I find it best that we move on.  There are three main things that are worth noting, and those are the following pages:

Think & Write

These “writing exercises” of mine were my attempt to break myself out of writer’s block once and for all.  Write a story a story for 10 minutes.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  Just start writing and don’t stop.  When you’re done, submit that as a post.  This did two things for me.  It – 1. Cured me of my writer’s block and 2. Gave me some material to post on my site daily.  In reviewing them, you will find that some of them would make really good ideas.  But all that glitters is not gold, as you will find some of them to be trash.  Some of them go really out there and are quite imaginative and some are weird, strange and totally bizarre.  If you manage to read all the way to Think & Write #100, you will find a “directory” which will have the first 100 Think and Writes indexed (For those interested, this can be found in the link called “Tower of Ideas”).  Over time, since I felt that I was completely cured of writer’s block, I decided to stop with these exercises.  With all that said, I recommend that you check them out.

Me & My Muse

This is an experiment more than two years in the making that is here to stay.  If you were to look anywhere on my site, this is the most prevalent thing that you will find.  Yes, it’s everywhere on my site and yes, there’s a reason to why I post these every day.

So why do I post them everyday?  As I said before, this was an experiment.  I wanted to see what would happen if I mixed journaling and creative writing together.  When I blog about my day, my Muse usually chimes in and interrupts.  Now this can mean different things to different people, but I find it entertaining in its own right.

“Okay, so you lost me at Muse.  What is this Muse you’re talking about?”  What I call my Muse is basically my creativity personified.  The foundation for her character can be found in a couple of the Think & Writes that I wrote. In the second Think & Write about my Muse, which I subtitled “Conversations with My Muse”, this explains who she is in more depth.  This led to my idea of creating a daily format for having “conversations with My Muse”.

But that is only the foundation of her character.  Who is she?  Her persona can pretty much vary depending on which 100 day cycle we’re talking about.  In the first one, she comes across as predictable and shallow.  This first version is the comic relief in this series and is very much out there because of her creative nature.  Although she thinks that she’s funny, that is her own Achilles Heel.  As you will very much see in the later posts, My Muse is a character with no boundaries.  She’s spontaneous, shallow, naive, immature and can be obnoxious at times.  But with her being creativity, she can’t be restrained or harnessed (unless she’s in the one safe place: my head).  But this Muse that I’m describing is just in the first 100 entries.  After Day 100, the truth is revealed before our very eyes.

In a number of these entries, you will find that she normally goes back inside my head, where she belongs.  In taking a good amount of time to fine tune this series, I feel that I have reached a product that I am satisfied with.  The first 100 entries were like day one:  Experimental.  But if you read beyond 100, you will find that they start to get really good.  In the later entries, you get a clear glimpse of where I am going with this concept.  And with me being at more than 800 entries and counting, my Muse’s character is solidly defined, and you know who she is at this point.

In the entries beyond 100, she takes on a new form for every 100-day cycle.  She can be rich, shy and evil, just to name a few.  Her older forms from past cycles become ghosts, with all of them sharing the same oneness with the current form.  Just like we as humans all have different qualities, those qualities all share a common oneness with ourselves.  That is the very thing that I am illustrating with my Muse.

So why is she really here then, besides being a source of entertainment?  Besides being part of an experiment that is more than two years in the making? Being the creative half of a daily journal?  Her qualities?  Her quirks?  Her multifaceted characteristics that change with every 100-day cycle?  Is it who she is?  Is it who she’s going to become?  Is it any of these things at all?  If so, then why?  To answer this question, I have another question for all of you.  Have you ever been in love?  And I mean truly in love.  I have not.  And this Muse of mine that I write about on a daily basis is supposed to be the woman that I’m supposed to meet someday.  Now I don’t know who she will be exactly, which is why I give her so many different traits.  Now I haven’t met the woman that I’m going to marry yet, but I’m hoping in every way that she far surpasses everything that is demonstrated in the qualities of my Muse.  And as to not run the risk of getting any more personal with matters tied to my own personal life, that reason for her existence will have to suffice.

So to summarize, my Muse is my companion.  If you are a Doctor Who fan, then you know what I am talking about.  If not, just know that we’re a duo.  Like Sonny and Cher, Abbott and Costello and Regis and Kathie Lee.  I am the straight person and and real side and she’s the comedy relief – the lighter and imaginary side.

And if this sparks your curiosity in reading any of my over 800 entries, they are all indexed in the “Tower of Muses” link.  Every 100 entries has a “directory”, along with my favorite entries for that series.  If you have a vested interest in reading daily creative blogs with somewhat witty material, I strongly recommend this series.  But to set the record straight, I write these more for my benefit than yours.  But if you take a liking to them, I appreciate the support.  I love how this series turned out and we are just getting started with her transformations.  The later ones will be quite exciting.

My PR Journey

If there is any more practical way to use my website, this would be it.  This brand new segment is my attempt to share quality content to everyone who wants to learn more about Public Relations and the Public Relations industry.  Being the novice that I am, I have a lot to learn about this industry.  And this new experiment of mine will help me share my journey with everyone.  You will find loads of research, case studies, my reviews and remarks on the latest trends and every thing else that I have learned while making my PR journey. With professionals in this industry, I am hoping to create a dialogue with new and old professionals alike, which will benefit newbies like me, students, and anyone else trying to get a job in the PR industry.

Now you may have noticed that I haven’t left any new updates in a while.  This is because I am in the process of trying to establish a format.  One that is consistent with my constantly changing work schedule.  When this is established, you will see more content.  Don’t worry.  I haven’t returned to the starting line.  I am still where I was before.  I’m just waiting to make my next move.  And with content being king,  I don’t want to rob any of you of the quality that I want to put into every one of these posts.  So if you’re ready, join me on my exciting journey yet.  My PR Journey.  I look forward to running with all of you.

 

So if you managed to read all of that, all of the above information is The Walker Estate in a nutshell.  With that covered, we will now revisit the purpose of this original post: to update you on my progress with The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: The School Years.

For those of you who are new to this site, you’re probably wondering what this book is about.  What is the Tale of Zachary Willowbrook?

The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook is a biographical sketch about a boy named Zachary.  For the longer version,  I talk about the book here.

Here’s the cliff notes version of Zachary Willowbrook.  He is a boy that was born on February 29th.  And for some bizarre reason that the book never explains, Zachary ages one year for every four years.  So in one year, he would only age three months.

So this story is about Zachary, and how he’s treated because of his gift.  His parents and family will treat him well, of course.  His brother, sister, mom, dad, relatives and friends.  But how will the world treat him?  With Zachary’s gift, he’ll be able to live four times longer than the average person.

While the story was originally intended to be one book, I made it into a trilogy since it was too long to be one book.

The first book, The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox is about Zachary’s earlier days, from birth to early childhood.  I will provide an update about this book after I contact the editor, as it is still in the process of being edited.

The second book, The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: The School Years is about Zachary’s experience at school from his early school years, all the way through his college years.  As I have mentioned above,  I am on Zachary’s fifth birthday.  He is still in preschool, but will be in kindergarten very soon.  Getting to school for him was an uphill battle, as you will see when this is published someday  (or if I decide to treat you to some excerpts in the meantime.  🙂 )

The third book has no working title yet, but it will cover Zachary’s adult years all the way to his death.  A working title for this would be something along the lines of “Leaping Forward”.

An interesting fact about this story that’s worth noting is that the idea to write this story actually came from a Think & Write (Think & Write #23) and it can be found here.

Why haven’t I continued on this until recently?  There are a couple of reasons.  The main one being that my life has gotten really busy recently.  With work and Toastmasters, it has been very difficult to find time to write anything.  Like My PR Journey, I am trying to find a structure and routine where I can fit everything together.  School is in session, and so is “School Years”.

I think that about covers it for updates.  Do you see why put this off for so long?  There is a lot to cover and a lot to discuss.  And with this update, I hope that I answered and addressed everything.

If you are new to this site, enjoy your stay.  Check out the different sections if you haven’t already.  If you’re a returning visitor, I am quite glad to see you here again.  You are always welcome back.  But whoever you are, just be sure to wipe your feet on the mat.

Follow me on Twitter to stay updated on the progress that I’m making on all of my writing projects.  Are you here for my stories?  Or a big Me & My Muse fan waiting for that next update?  Or, you could be here for my newest project:  My PR Journey. Whatever you’re here for, just follow me.  Also check out my facebook page and click the like button.

Other than that, just enjoy those cozy rooms and make yourself comfortable here.  You’re always welcome here at the Estate.