Rodney, or “Hot Rod of the Slopes” as he was sometimes known as, was eager for the snow to come to western Washington. It was his time to shine. He was no longer “the” king of the slopes from the University of Washington, but there were many people, both women and men who wanted to learn more about the slopes . . . and Rodney was still a regular during the snow season at Snoqualmie Summit and happy to teach those who had some skills and money.
The problem was that people with money, generally already had learned some skills, that were perhaps not quite up to Rodney’s level, but were close enough to not need him any more. A little practice was all they needed.
After three cold snowy days with zero money coming in, he was ready to return to Lakewood and reality. Driving back became a problem with traffic. He was always in a hurry. It came down pretty much to a crawl. Once he got moving, he took a short cut via Sumner and Puyallup. In downtown Puyallup he stopped at the first open restaurant he came to. He sat down at a table. When the waitress came to his table, he asked if there was any local newspapers to read. She smiled and said, “Yes. I’ve got an old one that I really love. I’ll bring it right over.”
The paper that Rodney read about was information on the Puyallup Tribe that was expanding their reach and helping clean up the local water ways and more. He also enjoyed a section about their rowing and flying all over the south Puget Sound area. When the waitress came back he looked past her beauty, a rare-rare thing from Rodney. “Do you think the Puyallup Tribe would be interested in learning more about snow and getting about in snow and icy weather . . . and maybe skiing?” For the first time Rodney, took time to look at the waitress. She smiled and said “Oh, yes . . . I’m afraid of snow and icy weather. You never know where it will lead.”
Rodney smiled and said, “What’s your name and how late are you working?
The waitress smiled and said, “I’m Jackie . . . and we are well past closing time.”
I can’t begin to tell you both how relieved I was when you recently *finally* credited the tortured artwork accompanying your stories two or three times a week! Neither of you painted those unpleasant pictures!
Dr. Johnny Wow certainly has a recognizable style. Do you Domans write your story to describe Dr. Johnny Wow’s pictured character? Or do you two (or one — and if one, then which one?) send Dr. Johnny Wow your story draft, inviting him to illustrate it with a painting? Do you pay Dr. Johnny Wow for the use of his art? (Does he even know you’re using/publishing his works?)
Speaking of your story draft: why do you never seem to get beyond a rough draft, full of typos, awkward constructions, and grammatical errors? You two claim to be “professional writers.”
What is your mission, your intention? What are you trying to accomplish? How many more of these “stories” do you have up your sleeves? WHY?
Mary:
I can’t begin to tell you both how relieved I was when you recently *finally* credited the tortured artwork accompanying your stories two or three times a week! Neither of you painted those unpleasant pictures!
Don and Peg: I’ve known Dr Johnny Wow since he joined the same book group I was in and still take part every once in a while. I love his work. He calls himself a “face thief.” In Seattle his loved walking his dog or dogs and then going into a coffee shop and sketched the people he saw. – https://drjohnnywow.info/
Mary: Dr. Johnny Wow certainly has a recognizable style. Do you Domans write your story to describe Dr. Johnny Wow’s pictured character? Or do you two (or one — and if one, then which one?) send Dr. Johnny Wow your story draft, inviting him to illustrate it with a painting? Do you pay Dr. Johnny Wow for the use of his art? (Does he even know you’re using/publishing his works?)
Don: Peg and I look at the images that Dr Johnny Wow created. Originally Peg and I and my cousin, a play producer from Detroit looked over Dr Johnny Wow’s creations and took 300-400 of them home. He was preparing to enlarge his bathroom, which would cut out part of his art room. I was an art major at UPS, which is where Dr Johnny first created his art before going to the University of Washington.
Mary: Speaking of your story draft: why do you never seem to get beyond a rough draft, full of typos, awkward constructions, and grammatical errors? You two claim to be “professional writers.”
Don: I don’t know what you are looking at. But it doesn’t fit in. I write first and then Peg recreates or updates and looks for any errors. We have written three books that all sold well. One was on video production, one was on entrepreneurship, and the last one was about Market Research. In addition Peg has helped a number of people write their own books. The last one was about the use of money for a large successful Seattle firm.
Mary: What is your mission, your intention? What are you trying to accomplish? How many more of these “stories” do you have up your sleeves? WHY?
Don: We like people and we like to entertain. We used to have our own television studio in downtown Tacoma. We had a program on real estate and homes for sale. We also produced our own TV show that brought in well known entertainers as well as the latest local sports stars.
We just finished capturing about fifty images from a sketch book from Dr Johnny Wow and will return the book soon and trade for another. We get numerous comments about our stories. We like making people happy,