Welcome New Blogger, Jay Waggoner
Hello world of The Net, and a thank you to Casey Daniels, Don Bruns and Jeffrey Marks for inviting me to be a part of The Little Blog of Murder.
My name is Jay Waggoner and I’m an educator. Well, actually I’m a retired math teacher who is still plying the requisites of my trade. I read. I write. I ‘rithmetic.
I read, collect, and sell books. I’ve been a reviewer and contributor to George Easter’s quarterly mystery/thriller publication Deadly Pleasures for over ten years. As the years of reviewing and article writing have progressed George has asked me to read and review more and more historical mysteries and, as a result, that’s the major direction both my reading and collecting have gone.
I write reviews and articles, but I also write books. I suppose technically speaking that should read that I have written several manuscripts (some with fellow educator Matt Lora) of which one has been published as a book. Eight manuscripts are currently on the nether-world of publishers’ desks throughout the U. S. The book that is currently available is Puzzle It , Pre-Algebra Riddles which has been published by Incentive Publications. From what I submitted to what actually came forth in the book is amazing. “Incentive” did a wonderful job. I wish I could say the same for the other publishers that I’ve submitted works to, but that’s fodder for a good rant in about April when we’re all kind of ticked off in the first place.
I ‘rithmetic. Since I taught math for nearly forty years in the Lima Shawnee School System, and that’s my major area of expertise, 7 of the 8 manuscripts involve math – math puzzles, math activities, math teaching strategies, and math philosophies. A goal (resolution?) is not only to get kids from 8 to 18 to learn as well as like math, but also to get adults from 18 to 108 to review and appreciate the nuances of math. There is math in an adult world, well worth learning, beyond the Sudoku Puzzle.
The eighth manuscript is my beginning attempt at getting a world of readers hooked on the mystery/thriller genre. I want students, teachers, and readers to have fun reading. Students will return to reading if they are given the opportunity to read something they like. My manuscript offers a suggestion – actually 101 of them. Adults may be harder to please, but within the mystery/thriller genre, I contend there’s something to please everyone. Wednesday I’ll be giving my first of 12 suggestions for the year 2009. Who knows? . . . maybe by 2010 I’ll have a book of ‘em
