writing

I am done with another story. I have been saving it to my flashdrive and computer as "Carrie" (named after the main character), but I really can't call it that because of a certain Stephen King novel, so I'll have to think of another name for it. I plan on starting another work soon and combining it with this and another story to form a trilogy. That's how I plan on publishing my work-in "3's."
I have started using Smashwords to get published. It's my "last resort" and "when all else fails" plan. After ironing out all the kinks, I did get something submitted and published there, and yes, it was a trilogy. I called it "3 Worlds Journey." The three stories are called "Squirrelman," "An Adventure in Adaven," and "The Marlon Haze." The first one is an idea I've had since I was a kid;the second is an extension of a story I wrote in creative writing class in college;and with the third, I had had the opening in mind for a long time. I finally got it down on paper several years ago, and managed to extend and expand it.
It pays to work in a university. A professor of creative writing critiqued those stories many years ago and offered some good advice. Unfortunately, he is now gone and is now president at another university. Fortunately, there is another professor here who can offer me advice on such things as editors and publishers. He is a creative writing professor and published novelist. I heard about Smashwords from a close family friend who got all of her degrees from UTD and used it to get published herself. In fact, my father directed her doctorate!
Wish me luck with my publishing and writing! You can look me up at www.smashwords.com. Thanks.

attempts

There are some people I have been talking to that I hope I can become better friends with. I frequently talk to the people in Kay's Jewelry store at Collin Creek Mall whenever they are not too busy. They seem to like me. The manager there used to go to college with me. There is a former female employee there who I have been trying to track down-unfortunately, I don't know her last name. Someone told it to me once, but it was difficult to remember (it wasn't Smith or Jones!) and not knowing it makes it difficult to find her, especially on something like google or facebook. There other girls are nice too-I gave one a card for her recent birthday.
I have also been trying to make friends with a female student in the UTD Library. Wish me luck. She seems nice. I have talked to her a couple times and seems to like me a little. The problem is that I frequently use the wrong approach in approaching women and/or trying to make friends and talking with them, but I am improving, and it looks like I haven't with her. The trick will be knowing when to read her signals and when to know when she wants to stop talking. I am hoping to become at least decent friends with her.
Things are going well at work. I am also making amendments to a manuscript I submitted to Smashwords. Wish me luck on that too-thanks!

^

I'm starting to feel like the world is passing me by. I saw someone I used to do chat rooms with just got married and had a baby. Other people I knew and used to be friends with are the same and really don't have time for me anymore. I'm finding it impossible to keep up with the latest technology. I am a reclusive person. I'm not sure what will happen if I don't get with it soon.
I need to get out there and make more friends. Any suggestions from anyone who reads this would be much appreciated. Thanks.
I have never owned any types of smartphone. I have always find myself wondering what might have been when it comes to having a love in my life. Fortunately, I have a few people I can talk to.

what i enjoy doing

I enjoy attending concerts. I keep my eye out for country music concerts, and this year I attended Lady Antebellum and Carrie Underwood concerts at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
However, I enjoy other shows too. I enjoy attending jazz band concerts (especially the one o'clock lab band from the University of North Texas) that my father has at UTD. We are also regulars at concerts that the Richardson Community Band gives during the summer. I attend an occassional show at the Eisemann Center in Richardson and the Symphony. And a security guard gives an "Elvis Show" at Tino's at Collin Creek Mall in Plano every other week-I'm a regular at those. He's great. I love those.
As an additional hobby, I am thinking about taking up birding. I love writing and photography.

CMA show

I watched the CMA Awards show the other night. It was a good show. Blake Shelton got Male Vocalist & Entertainer of the Year, and Miranda Lambert got Female Vocalist. I loved Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley's hosting-they were great as always.
Other things I loved-Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland was pregnant, and they gave a "skit" with Little Jimmy Dickens where they said that if she went into labor he would deliver it, and referred to a marriage performed on last year's show and Martina McBride's performance. I also enjoyed Little Big Town's performance of Pontoon.
My only disappointments:Garth Brooks was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and they only briefly mentioned it. They could have devoted a "scene" to it. I was also disappointed by Luke Bryan's performance.
But overall it was a great show. If anyone needs a copy...

concert

I saw Carrie Underwood in concert at the American Airlines Center on October 24th. She was terrific! She opened with Good Girl, then with Undo It and several other of her big hits. She changed outfits several times during the show (something Reba McEntire frequently does-especially during awards shows), which I think was to attract the audience's interest. She started by walking thru a "door" onstage performing "Good Girl."
Hunter Hayes was her opening act, and he was pretty good. He's pretty new, so he had to keep the audience enthralled, which he did. He performed several songs, including his only big hit, "Wanted," which has hit #1. Carrie had him onstage for a song later.
Carrie was levetated over the stage by a "basket" and thru the audience which was in the "Nicholson seats" during the second half. We loved that part. (I was there with my father.) She performed a lot of songs from her new album Blown away. In fact, this is the "Blown Away" tour, and $1 from each ticket sold is being donated to the Red Cross in light of recent disasters.
Her closing sets were good as she performed lots of her big hits like "Jesus Take the Wheel," "Don't Forget to Remember Me," and "Cowboy Cassanova." She then left the stage, and then returned for an encore and performed "Blown Away," which featured the video on screens and glitter blowing around and a "tornado." If you saw the CMA show the other night, you might know what it was like. Overall, it was a great show.
This was the second great show we saw this year at the AAC. Lady Antebellum was the other.

travelling

One of my main passions is travelling. I have been all across the US and the world. I have been to several places in Europe as well as to Canada and Mexico, and my college graduation present was a trip to Australia and New Zealand. We have seen three of the 7 natural wonders of the world along the way:the Grand Canyon, Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock), and the Great Barrier Reef.
In the US, we have been to Baltimore a bunch of times(we have family there), Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Colorado, several places in Texas (we live in Dallas), Orlando, North Carolina, and lots of other places. I hope to travel to lots of other places in my lifetime, like other places in Australia and NZ, New Caledonia, Vancouver, and Nashville.

friendships/relationships

I have discussed before on stuff like Facebook and MySpace about my frustrations involving how I can never seem to form relationships and friendships, especially with women. Things people have said and done to me before have been harmful. A lecture my mother once gave me about how people notice me and how big I am was especially damaging, as it made me very self-conscious about the way people perceive me and how I can intimidate them by approaching them.
I have learned that some people have gotten married and/or engaged recently. I had been interested in them. I never get the chance to tell people how I feel. These songs sum up my feelings towards this.
http://youtu.be/tI9tfNx1M1E
http://youtu.be/HtDWKTq9-eM
You've felt this way, haven't you?
My biggest what might have beens come from high school and UTD. I met a girl in high school at PSHS and suddenly was talking to her every day during lunch and in between classes. At the end of the school year she moved to Houston, and ever since then I've never been able to prove that she even existed. I became friends with a girl at UTD, but she moved too and last I heard she was married. This song sums a lot of things up.
http://youtu.be/uEE3ycDH9_8
A few years ago I saw a movie where a guy has a curse placed on him-every girl he sleeps with meets Mr. Right immediately afterwards. For me, it's every girl I'm interested in finds Mr. Right.
I have been trying to meet new people and track down old friends (facebook, google, etc.) at the same time. Wish me luck. There are some people I am interested in, but the trend will probably continue.

life

Things people have said to me over the years have been a little hurtful. People have rubbed it into me about how big and noticeable I am, and that kind of makes me self concious, especially when it comes to approaching women. I have always asked other people (especially women in the professional front!) about how to approach them without having to worry about intimidating them. The way other people described it, it's like a football lineman approaching a petite lady. Any advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks.

This is my first post on blogger, so I'll keep it simple. My name is Matt Kratz. I live in Richardson, Texas, where I have lived since 1978. I am an aspiring writer and work in the service building at UT Dallas, where I got my Master's degress in Arts & Humanities in 2008. I also graduated from Plano Senior HS in 1990 and Midwestern State University in 1995. I have been trying to track down a girl I always used to talk to in high school with plenty of luck-all of it bad. I have also been trying to track down some UTD people with similar results. I have also been trying to track down some people I used to chat with online.
My favorite current shows are The Young & the Restless, The Big Bang Theory, and 2 Broke Girls. I am a huge country music fan but will also occasionally listen to jazz. My favorite authors are Stephen King and John Grisham. I am a regular at Richardson Community Band concerts and UTD events, especially jazz band concerts, and I like going to c&w concerts. We went to the Lady Antebellum concert earlier this year at the AAC and have tickets to the upcoming Carrie Underwood concert there. It should be fun.
Carrie Underwood, Sharon Case (Y&R), and actress Chelan Simmons are my main celebrity crushes, and I also like some people I have encountered and work with.
My favorite foods are spaghetti, Mexican, and Chinese.
For more information about me, check out my Facebook pages or email me at themattk@hotmail.com.