I Thimk

My baby sister drove all the way here from Dallas, just to spend a few hours with me. She is the only one of my original family to stay in close touch. She is the only person I could name, of those I have known a long time, that I have never observed being mean or petty to others. She filled me in on other relatives, including a number I have either not met or not seen since they were toddlers. I think she gets lonely at home, as the flow of others' lives have moved them away from her and there is no one there for her. She plans on moving to Oklahoma. Hers has been a rough road most of her life. She deserves to find a safe haven to finish out her years. I think she may do well with some of her relatives living around Muskogee.

When we bought me a wedding band, some years ago, the biggest size we could find was a thirteen. I had ruined the ones bought before that, by having them made bigger at a jewelry store. They were forever separating and bending out of shape. The one I have now is mostly kept in the original box, because I did not want to ruin it by resizing it. But, yesterday, my wife discovered a fourteen and it had one matching in her size. So we ordered them. They are a handsome design and I anticipate wearing this one wherever I go.

Summary so far:
I conceived Poppy Fields of Mars in September or October before last. The bulk of the writing was achieved during the November NaNoWriMo. At the end of the "contest" I had the framework completed, But there was a hole in the narrative near the ending. Plus, it was only 70,000 words long. I spent a whole year plus a few months patching it up and rewriting much of chapter one. I thought it was completed yesterday, aside from tidying up the manuscript. But, this morning, I discovered a hole in the story. To wit: He had a packet in his coat pocket, chapter one, but when he takes out that packet in a chapter far down the road, I forgot that the original jacket is long gone. He has in fact gone through more than a couple of changes. Fortunately, the source of said packet is not so far off and he should have opportunity to get another one. Aside from that and putting the package together neatly, it is finally done. Contemplating how to find a reputable agent.

As you probably already know, there are many sources out there. This one seems interesting because it's cost free.
http://info.dorrancepublishing.com/four-services?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=publishing&keyword=%2Bhow%20%2Bto%20%2Bget%20%2Ba%20%2Bbook%20%2Bpublish

Thanks, CI. But I am familiar with that company. They will publish anything for you. But they are not set up to promote a book's success. They will provide a promotional service for a fee, but most of their titles go nowhere.

I would prefer to have skipped yesterday. It was a period of mishaps, as at times will happen. Two instances: I poured out the old coffee. It hit a spoon and splashed out of the sink and on the floor. Worst incident of all was when I separated two packets of dishwasher soap that had gotten stuck together. The coating separated, creating an action that threw granules into the corner of my eye. I was fortunate that it missed the center. It has affected my vision this morning, but is not painful. I believe the flushing action I took was enough to clean it properly. I had moved some heavy boxes earlier, from my home to the Goodwill collection truck and began feeling sore. By bedtime I felt miserable enough to take an Aleve tablet. Today, as Scarlet O'Hara might have opined, is another day. If it ain't, I'm going back to bed.

It is amazing how my judgment changes, once I get to the point of offering my work to be viewed by professionals. As I go along tidying up the manuscript, I also keep altering sentences that seemed perfectly fine, before. I feel certain this will improve my chances or I wouldn't bother.

Yeah, I get that. Sometimes I embarrass myself when re-reading my 'deathless prose'.

We are not talking Shakespeare here, but I have to give it my best shot.

The editor sent me an editing summary for Dark Water. I confess I felt something akin to fear before I opened it. Turned out not so desperately bad as all that. They gave me two weeks to make a few alterations. Not a problem.

Excellent.

I had not realized the number of weak adjectives I used, some repeatedly.

I didn't get as far as you have, a matter you may remember our talking about (got a pretty good architectural publisher, at that moment in time, who said yes. I couldn't follow through because of changes in my life. I'm not all that sorry now, since my interest in piazzas wasn't about writing a book, but about learning about them and their effect on cities or towns large or small. Yes, ultimately a book possible, as when I looked online there was eh going on.

Far as I know, there is still not a major book, academically or otherwise, about piazzas.
I had 39 outlines...

I gave up when I moved north, as usual a financial decision. There I was quickly caught up in having a design business and art gallery business with a woman I knew as very capable. I was the one who paid for our getting the place. She was smarter re money.

I still have my data and a zillion books and my photos.
I prefer not to throw them out.

Maybe the bug will bite again, for you. It's good to preserve everything, always, and as orderly as possible.

I do have saved stuff.

Something similar happened recently, a guy making an exhibition of photos my father was head of, had photoed. Bikini bomb test photos. He was in the plane.. as the head of photo, with John Craig, the colonel who was the photographer.

I considered chasing it, even tried, as my ex would go to his exhibit in Los Angeles and talk with him, this now being art in a gallery. Alas, that was a day when giant rains happened, and ex couldn't get there.

So it goes..

The publisher had a program examine my manuscript to show which words I used the most, which adjectives, cliches. Words I may have used improperly is a hoot. It picks words commonly misused, without regard for how they are used. It had me questioning my use of the word principal, regarding the vice principal of a school. It questioned the use of "it's" in every instance, but showed no concern when I wrote "its." We all know both uses are subject to mistakes. But I have benefited, and I wish I had that program.

Would I be correct that you don't use MS Word? Word has a grammar checker built in that uses the Fogg Index as its basis for suggested correction.

I do use Word. I haven't discovered a function like the one I just described, although I do use the spelling and grammar check.

The moringa tree can be a real pain. For three years it has continued to grow and finally gotten some girth. It produced leaves nearly all winter. But the two day freeze we had a while back made it look dead. I have no doubt it will grow this year, but it likely will take up to half of the year getting established again.

mrs edgarblythe brought home a laser light today. I have seen cats chase the red dot, but Rocky is the first dog I saw do it. He's fast, but never manages to grab it.