It strikes me, as distant lightning dully washes over me and its thunder is an afterthought of rumbling really more grumbling than rumbling, that my writing here, and my writing in the so-called "novel" might not convince anyone that there is even a germ of a kernel of a microdot of innate writing ability upon which to build even a modest lure to catch the unsuspecting reader.  Who after all has the time for amateurs these days?  There are days when I half-suspect that we are this close to hiring other people to live our lives for us at a more professional level.  Anyway, and as such, ahem, either to further convince or rather finally make the case whether it be for or nay regarding aforesaid writing ability or the lack thereof, I will add some links to other attempts -mostly essays it is true and one even penned under duress when still a government hack- of trying to spew up a little sense from the phlegm of deep feelings that seems to be much of the core of me.

Writing (?) Samples

“Climate Change and the Asia Pivot” Foreign Policy in Focus http://fpif.org/climate-change-asia-pivot/ 

“Foreign Policy in Blunderland” Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/25502-foreign-policy-in-blunderland

“Coming to America?” Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/op-ed/item/29979-coming-to-america

“Washington in the Rain”  Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/op-ed/item/30982-washington-in-the-rain

“The Arctic is the First and Possibly the Last Line of Defense Against a Climate Transition to an Uninhabitable Earth” Truthout  http://www.truth-out.org/op-ed/item/20463-the-arctic-is-the-first-and-possibly-last-line-of-defense-against-a-climate-transition-to-an-uninhabitable-earth

“Children at the Border” Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/op-ed/item/26765-children-at-the-border

“False Friends and Moral Hazards” Phayul

http://phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=31731&article=False+Friends+and+Moral+Hazards+by+Daniel+Garrett&t=1&c=4

“5 Minute Glass, What Our Government Sees When it Looks Out the Window” Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/op-ed/item/22596-five-minute-glass-what-our-government-sees-when-it-looks-out-the-window

“Letter from an Unapologetic Alarmist” OpenDemocracy

http://www.opendemocracy.net/daniel-h-garrett/letter-from-unapologetic-alarmist

"A View from the 9th Floor" Japan Focus http://apjjf.org/2013/11/40/D.H.-Garrett/4006/article.html

“Access to Safe Drinking Water is Key to Meeting Millennium Development Goals” U.S. Department of State DipNotes

http://blogs.state.gov/stories/2010/09/22/access-safe-drinking-water-key-meeting-millennium-development-goals