It’s been a very good year…

Tags

memoir, Resolution

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but 2015 was an even better year than 2014. And 2014 was pretty darn good. I’m not one for making resolutions but I do set goals for achievement and this year the achievement was high.

I’ve cataloged my year in travel over on Science Traveler. A mix of city and nature took me overseas a few times, as well as into the Everglades and New Orleans delta. The prison cell of the Lincoln assassination conspirators inspired a visit to the Dry Tortugas by float plane. Boats took me up the Mississippi River and through the fjords of Norway. And then there were the waterfalls; more waterfalls than I ever could have imagined. My travels also took me to Paris a mere three weeks before the horrendous attacks, and to London where I was laid up most of the time with a swollen foot. Overall, it was a great year of travel.

It was also a great year for reading and writing (see next week for my reading recap). The biggest writing accomplishment was my new book on Thomas Edison. Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World is a follow up to my Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity book in the same style for the same publisher. Edison is scheduled for release by July 2016 while Tesla is not only still selling strong, it has been translated into Dutch and German editions (with more languages on the way).

But that wasn’t my only writing this year. I also published an e-book that bridges my interests in Lincoln and science. Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate went online at Amazon this summer, joining my earlier e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. In addition, I wrote an article for The Lincolnian newsletter called “Abraham Lincoln: The Majesty and the Math of Niagara Falls.” Add in my blogging schedule here on Hot White Snow, on Science Traveler, and The Dake Page and it adds up to a lot of time tapping on my keyboard.

The year had plenty of other highlights as well. I won a major award. I gave my first Abraham Lincoln presentation. And I met a lot of great new people.

So what is the outlook for next year? I found out in 2015 that plans could change dramatically (add Edison book deal, postpone a planned trip to China). I will get my Lincoln book contract…I will travel to several exotic new places…and I will plan to get out more with friends and family. The exact books, locations, and friends may change from time to time, but I’m adaptable. The one given is that it will be a very busy year.

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (Fall River Press) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book is about Thomas Edison, due in Barnes and Noble stores in 2016.

That we here highly resolve…

Tags

daily post, memoir, Resolution

I gave up writing New Years’ resolutions many years ago. It seemed I put more effort into making them than keeping them. That’s not to say that I don’t resolve to accomplish great things during the year; I do. And 2014 was a good year in that respect.

Among others, I resolved to travel more, and I did. The big event was an 18 day adventure in Argentina that included many kilometers driven on gravel roads, hikes into remote mountain lakes, and “up close and personal” with one of the world’s most iconic glaciers. Other travel took me back to my homeland, into some National Parks, to a coastal Canadian hideaway, and the bloodiest three-day battlefield in our nation’s history.

I also resolved to write more, and I did. My Tesla book returned to stores and to sales that surpassed even its first year, while a second Tesla book hit the electronic airwaves. A magazine feature, two articles on the Smithsonian Civil War studies site, and an article on Lincoln’s math skills in The Lincolnian all joined dozens of short articles on three separate blogs.

And yet there were unresolved resolutions as well. While I did travel, I wanted to travel more exotically. While I did write, I wanted to finish the Lincoln book proposal and have it in the hands of a publisher. While I did spend time with old friends and met new ones, I wanted to do more of both.

Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address called on all of us to “here highly resolve” to accomplish “the unfinished work” that remained. While certainly I can’t equate resolving to achieve my own unfinished work with the higher cause Lincoln extolled, “in a larger sense,” I can strive for “a new birth of freedom” to travel, to write, and to ensure that “the people” who mean the most to me don’t perish from my Earth.

© David J. Kent 2014

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time.

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