THANKS FOR READING MY CRAP

IT’S ALL A BLUR

Vacations From Home was started in 2009 and it serves a dual purpose.

For me it satisfies the urge to write. I’m a failed fiction writer. My two self-published novels have earned me enough money to buy a couple of cases of beer and a bag of peanuts. I never successfully had a short story published.

Writing for money is a tough chore, especially fiction. First you need to convince yourself you have talent and have a viable story to tell. THEN, you sequester yourself from the world and tap away until you emerge thinking you’ve completed something. THEN, you need to find someone to read your chicken scratches and HOPE they get the gist of what you’ve written enough to: a) Finish reading it and, b) Like it enough to give you money. 

I never had the tenacity or evidently the talent to pursue a career in writing.

Yet, despite my failures, writing about my travels at Vacations From Home satisfies this need I have to write. I do it merely for the pleasure of chronicling stories from the road. I absolutely love to travel, I love to explore, I love to see where that highway leads to and though I fear many of my entries are just so much crap, at least I’m being productive and hopefully some people like to read my crap. If you do honor me with reading my crap, I greatly appreciate it.

A BLUR

Yet, I mainly keep this blog for us. Janet and I travel quite a bit and the second purpose of Vacations From Home is keeping track of where we’ve been. Without this blog it might just be impossible to remember all the places we’ve been or what we’ve done. Without VFH the past would be a blur, fleeting images of promontories and steeples and pubs, everything coalescing into a gelatinous mess.

EARNING

The novels I mentioned earlier are still available for purchase, in case you’re wondering. They too serve a dual purpose.

Hi, How Are You? - Xlibris   

My first self-published novel is a black comedy pseudo-science fiction, written in a series of short stories about two central characters who are homeless people living on the streets of New York City. I like to think of it as an homage to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, but it’s not nearly as good as his writing. 

Available at Xlibris the book is very good for leveling out your wobbly kitchen table, although you might have to pull out a couple of pages to get it right.

HI, HOW ARE YOU? - XLIBRIS 

The Music Made Me Cry - Amazon

This self-published novel is about two middle-aged friends from New Jersey who decide to take a long weekend road trip to Texas to see a musician they adored in their youth. I know it sounds boring; I’ve been told this many times; but the book also works as kindling for these cold winter nights. 

The best part is you can read all but the last four chapters at: 

THE MUSIC MADE ME CRY (FREE) and if you’re interested in reading the rest it can be purchased as an e-book from Amazon for just .99 cents. In case you didn’t know that’s two bits for each chapter.

If you need the deluxe fire starter kit (the whole novel) go here:

THE MUSIC MADE ME CRY - AMAZON

I also sell T-shirts of my own design. I have them reasonably priced and I make about a dollar’s profit on each one sold. Think of them as very decorative towels to clean your car. See the link on the pc version of the blog.

Thanks for reading, seriously.

© 2025 by Gregory Dunaj