Editor for North Country Quest

This has been a crazy busy week. Barely time to get necessary things done, so writing of any kind took a big hit.

However, today I spent the day with my hiking/biking/writing buddy, Ellen. She confirmed that she will help edit North Country Quest, and urged me to get busy on it.

I also re-read a couple of my short stories. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I still think they are pretty good. All but one is being published at some point through Twin Trinity Books. So that leaves one story hanging out by itself. If I could get my act together, I should write some others to go with it and put it out in an ebook, right?

West Side Gang- Writers' Group

Tuesday night was a meeting of the West Side Gang- They liked chapter 9 of News from Dead Mule Swamp a lot, and most of their suggestions were small changes for clarity, not any problems with the story.

I came home and re-read everything I had done to date. Found one small thing I needed to change to keep geographic consistency in the town I've created, and did some other clean-up. It's really invigorating when other people like what you write and want to hear more.

The man who is handling the Public Poetry Project wasn't there, so I don't know if my poem "Memory of Life" was accepted or not. Last night was an "extra" meeting (not the regular date), so we will meet again next Tuesday, and he should be there, so I hope I'll get an answer.

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.