Several months ago, MagicalMichelle posted a question asking what other books about letterboxing existed besides The Letterboxer’s Companion and my letterboxing memoir Adventures in Letterboxing, which prompted a few other books to be added to the list. I would now like to add one more to that list.

I have just published a book called Letterboxing 101. You can read the description on Amazon, but basically it’s a novel about twin boys taking a college course about letterboxing and their resulting adventures.
Just as I did for my first book, I have placed a letterbox with the same name as the book: Letterboxing 101 letterbox. The clues can be found within the book and the stamp image can be downloaded if you live too far away to visit the box.

I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing my first novel!
Silver Eagle

It’s a little confusing with LTCs sometimes because some people have it as “Receive By” and some have it as “Send By” which has really tripped me up in the past, and this whole postmark situation has made it even more frustrating. I think you’re right and it’s best to just default to “receive by.”

Also, as a host I have also received envelopes of cards with no cancellation (regular 6x9 Kraft envelopes too, not just taped/reusable) or postmark. It’s just the nature of the post office these days it seems.

I feel for the workers. You know they’re the ones who are gonna get yelled at or harassed about it. I took gift cards to the ladies at my station for Christmas and told them how much I appreciated them and I swear one of them was about to cry.

So this begs the questions: is this book autobiographical? And are you and your letterboxing brother twins in real life?

Congratulations on your new book!

The book is not strictly autobiographical, though the twin brothers in the book do have similar personalities to myself (John) and Baby Bear (Sam), even if slightly mixed. We are not twins, in fact we are separated by 9 years, but we might as well be when it comes to letterboxing.
A few of the events have been experienced by us or people we know, but mostly I just imagined what kind of mischief we would have gotten into if we started letterboxing in college.
Thanks for your interest!

Wow, that is so cool! Having met you in person and getting a hint of your personality, I imagine that it's a great read - it's on my list!

I'm also jealous... I wish I had the time to write. Congratulations and lots of success to you.

This is so cool! Will you sign it at TALE for me??? 😉

Yes, I will sign and stamp it.
Thanks!

I ordered mine : ) and will also bring to TALE for you to sign and stamp- how fun!

Shelly

Thanks for the kind words and I hope the book lives up to your expectations.


It does require quite a bit of time and I had to dedicate at least two or three hours a day writing over about three months. But this was during the holidays so I had many other commitments that interfered with that schedule. As my wife would tell you, even if I wasn't actually writing I was thinking about it most of the time and would try to jot down thoughts whenever they occurred. As was the case when I was working and had a programming problem, I would get some of my best inspirations while exercising, then have to try and remember them until I got done. I would even wake up in the middle of the night and have thoughts I hoped I would remember in the morning.

Writing this novel was much harder than writing my non-fiction book since I had to make up all the names and plot. I did use real places that I was familiar with to ease some of the burden, which also showcased parts of Texas for others to explore. One of the most amazing things that happened was in the middle of the process I watched the movie "The Man Who Invented Christmas" which shows what Charles Dickens went through to write "A Christmas Carol". He used real-life inspirations along with imagination to bring his characters to life, and I realized I was doing the same thing! Now I'm not comparing myself to him or my book to his, but the process was similar and I suspect it would be to anyone attempting to write a creative work.

Anyway, long story short, even though it was maddening at times I'm really glad I persevered if for no other reason than the appreciation I gained for other authors. All this is to say, if you have a desire to write, do it even if you have to wait until you retire!

Thank you for all of that. I, too, find it interesting to find out what is going through the mind of writer. Movies about authors is one of my favorite genres. (Even fictional ones - hello Secret Window! ha ha.) So thank you for sharing your process.

I saw an interview once with Aaron Sorkin. He explained how, when writing 'A Few Good Men' (the original play) he was working as a waiter and in between serving patrons he would jot down notes on napkins and transcribe them when he got home. Very inspiring but I'm not sure I have that dedication.

So I continue to dream. Congrats again, it's a huge undertaking and an accomplishment to be proud of!

DZ

This is awesome!!! I will definitely have to get a signed copy!

I was looking over some very old geocaching logs and stumbled across this entry...

The coordinates are N 36° 58.585 W 122° 07.099. It was/is in Wilder Ranch State Park just outside of Santa Cruz, CA.

Any sleuths out there that can track this one down from a 14 year old cache log?

Here's a direct link to that cache location.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KVjsQyHMrr9imSns9

Are you looking for a letterbox there or a geocach there?

Sorry, just making sure which one I'm researching.

thanks,
condo

Letterbox

Edited to add: given the description, the letterbox would have been further east (uphill) than the coordinates I posted.

Perhaps it is this one?

https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?boxId=39869

Lucy is described as being in a “many trunked bay tree”.

I have not personally looked for this series, but it seems like it would be in that general area.

yeah, that is another one I was thinking about.

Hmm... You might be right. It might be worth a look next time I'm that way. Pretty vague clues tho...

🙃

Thanks for looking that up!

Is there a way to print the backpacks in Clue Tracker? The backpacks have been created and I'd like to print them out but don't see a way to do it.
I know how to print from AQ but to print from the 24 backpacks would be lovely as it's around 160 clues and they are already organized there.

Unfortunately, Clue Tracker does not allow you to print clues. You can share your lists with another Clue Tracker user or with yourself (to copy a list to a second device).

I'm not familiar enough with Clue Tracker but worse case scenario you could screen capture them and print them.. laborious as that may be, it would work.

Actually, thinking about it, if I screenshot text I can copy and paste from photos (my phone allows me to convert pics of text to actual text). Just store them all on a WordDoc or TextEdit and print that way.

I'm sure there's an easier way in CT, though.

Thank you. Was looking for a shortcut and wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

Thank you.
I just printed off 160 clues on AQ and am now cataloging them into their appropriate piles. And nope it’s not tedious, got my helper Coconut 🐈‍⬛ who is expediting the process 🌪️ and making it fun!

One of the many, many things I love about Clue Tracker is I rarely print clues anymore. Unless the clue is exceptionally long or I need to collect a lot of info, I just use my phone. All the clues are there in the order that I want, and I feel less likely to draw attention to myself looking at my phone versus a piece of paper.

Woohoo!!! It arrived!

Same, I rarely ever print clues except when we know cell coverage will be minimal.
Printed clues are helpful then.

Yay for Coconut! 🧡

But that’s one of the great things about Clue Tracker. You don’t need cell coverage if you’ve saved the clues to the app.

I did not know that.
Alrighty then. I gave up sorting the printed clues a couple of hours ago and kind of felt bad. But not anymore!
Thank you for the heads up!

We have already heard the description of Letterboxing 101.

I looked up Blog Post Mortem. It appears to have a similar plot device as Word Processor of the Gods. It was made into an episode of Tales from the Darkside.

I may have seen this episode, but I'm pretty sure I haven't read the Stephen King story. Nevertheless, I have read or seen this story somewhere else.