On The Way

NewBook I is on the way again…I emailed it to my agent yesterday and he got it (confirmation email, yay!)  so there’s that.  I took the rest of the afternoon off for a walk outside and horse chores. Today I opened NewBook II’s file.  You may recall that it is/was a little over 20K word, Read More…

Who Wants Small Government?

The GOP, especially its MAGA wing, will tell you government is too big, government “overreaches” by making and enforcing laws that restrict freedom (by their definition of freedom, which trust me, I WILL get to.)    They want SMALL GOVERNMENT.  LOCAL CONTROL.   INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.  FREEDOM.   That they also claim to be in favor of law & Read More…

If You Can’t Admit Failure….

….YOU CANNOT ACHIEVE SUCCESS. This is the lesson that Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, needs to learn.   He made the statement that although the DPS “made some mistakes” the agency as a whole “did not fail” the parents of children killed at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde.   “Did not fail” Read More…

And the Beat Goes On

The final buffing and polishing (final is an indefinite word since there’s always One More Tyop to find) is now done.   So yesterday morning, bright and early, Book II poked its head up out of the debris left over from Book I and said “So let’s get started.”  And I said “I need to clean Read More…

Of Purple Paint & Short Stories

Yesterday and today were spent, in part, with cans of Krylon ™  spray paint in the color designated by TX Parks & Wildlife as “NO HUNTING PURPLE”.   The idea is that instead of posting “No Hunting” signs (where they inevitably get stolen, shot up, mysteriously blown away) , you simply paint the top of your Read More…

Closer and Closer…

Progress is still coming and the book is still GROWING.  I didn’t ask it to grow past 150K, I swear.  But it swore back that I need another chapter of this, and two more chapters of that, and by the way I’d left an entire Very Important POV dangling. So.  Still growing.   New Stuff is Read More…

New Beginning In

NewBook’s new beginning has now been approved by two different first-readers (and many thanks to both of them!!!)  so Chapter 1 is now anchoring one end of the book and the Good Ending (which has no chapter number as yet because things are still fluid in the last third  and I need *uninterrupted* working sessions Read More…

Second Revision Draft

Second revision draft is now on chapter 22.   This book, thanks to the years of not writing and brain foggy stuff, may take more than one run through the “Construction Phase” to get things right, but every thing so far is willing to be nudged in the right direction.  My metaphors for the problems are Read More…

First Revision Draft

Done. But not dusted.  The miserable tooth abscess slowed me down and tomorrow will be all dental work with two different dentists.  It’s complicated.  You do not want to hear about it. The book however runs like a fox across country…and surprised ME with its ending, which is logical, crisp, definite, and yet…makes it clear Read More…

150,000+ And Fireworks

This afternoon, a particular sentence pushed the NewBook length to the approximate, estimated length for a Paksworld book, and I went seriously giddy, made a pan of brownies, and asked R- to go get us fried chicken for supper, and ice cream to go with the brownies. Snippet here: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… “By dark, he had achieved, Read More…