Chapter 9 of News From Dead Mule Swamp

The West Side Gang is meeting tonight, and I wanted to have something new to take. The group is doing one thing for me that I had hoped: poking me with a stick.

I finished the next chapter (first draft of course) of News from Dead Mule Swamp. In it Ana Raven (the main character) meets Jerry Caulfield, the newspaper editor. Here's a sample:

As I sipped the wonderful coffee, Jerry placed a small white china plate with a black border and silver edge in front of me. The black border wasn’t plain, but was enhanced with a black-on-black intertwining of two Greek meanders. The butter knife he added was sterling silver, bearing the letter C. I was starting to feel inadequate again, just from the weight of the money in the room, but he grinned amiably and tossed a paper napkin on the plate.

6489 words so far, with the story maybe a third told- so I'll estimate 20K words for the book. That's about the length I was thinking- a short, fun mystery. Maybe that's too short- it works out to about 100 pages in print. Should I go for 150 pages?

Is anyone following this at all? Should I introduce Ana on the blog?

Product Review at Shared Reviews

Wrote up one more review for Shared Reviews. This brings my content count there to 558, and I'm solidly in first place for now!

This time I reviewed the Digital Concepts 51-in-1 Card Reader

Product Review at Shared Reviews

Today was a very busy day, but I managed to get one more review done for Shared Reviews, and it put me back into first place.

I reviewed the toddler book No T. Rex in the Library.

I don't anticipate having any time to write tomorrow. It's National Trails Day!

A New Month at Shared Reviews

I hope to step up my participation at Shared Reviews again this month. I'm back up to #2 in rank.

I wrote a new review today: Altec Lansing Speakers- Powerful but Awkward to Move

Ludington Daily News Column- May 2011

My monthly newspaper column was due today (although I think the office is closed for the holiday, I turned it in anyway).

Since I was out hiking last week, after giving a program, that's what I wrote about. The title is "Hiking South Otselic to North Pharsalia."

It begins:

“You’ve been hiking through a fantasy novel?” you might ask. No, these are real places separated by only a baker’s dozen trail miles. Actually, I hiked a total of 31 miles, but my true beginning location bears only the rather ordinary name of Cuyler Hill.

The most notable feature of Cuyler Hill, apart from a great view of cultivated New York hillsides, is that it’s where the Finger Lakes Trail and the North Country Trail part company.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords.

I'm nearly ready to format a second volume. This one will be humorous essays entitled Fall Off the Couch Laughing.

Succintly Yours- Flash Fiction

I'm going to play again. I should be doing more serious things, but O well... The "extra credit" word is "glisten," and this time I wrote 140 words with the inspiration coming from this picture:



Here's my story:

  “Hey Ma! Where did you go?”
  “I looked out and the rain was glistening on the road. It reminded me that I needed to buy glitter and glue for Alyssa’s Brownie crafts, so I went to the dollar store.”
  “Why are you walking in the middle of the road?”
  “That way I can see the water glisten all around me. It reminds me of the beach.”
  “Geez, Ma! That beach vacation was 18 years ago. Alyssa goes to the community college now.”
  “Oh, Brian, you are such a joker. The Brownies meet on Tuesday afternoon.”
  “I suppose they do. Hop on, Ma. I’ll take you home and Alyssa will fix you some nice warm tea.”
  “Do I know Alyssa?”
  “Yes, Ma. Alyssa’s my daughter. Be good and ride home with me.”
  “This is exciting. Good thing I wore my slacks.”

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The prompt came from Grandma's Goulash

Program and Book Sales

The week just flew by! Last Saturday I was the primary speaker at the Finger Lakes Trail Conference Spring Weekend in Cazenovia, NY. They loved the program, and learned a lot about the larger view of the North Country Trail. Over 300 miles of their trail is concurrent with the NCT.

My newest program is "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink." It's still a tiny bit too long- I need to somehow rip a few more slides out of it. Sigh.

I put out a short stack of "bump and dent" North Country Cache (those ones returned from Partners) at a reduced price, which all sold, and then also sold two more at full price. I kept some dented ones for another time.

Also sold one paper copy of Devotions for Hikers!