I overheard someone complaining about going out on an unsuccessful errand run. “Came up with only feathers, no chickens” is the quaint phrase they used to describe the frustrating experience. I thought: I need to write that down. Could come in handy sometime.
I did a pen-and-paper edit of “The Vengeance” last night, keyed in my changes this morning and made another editing pass through the manuscript. Managed to whittle away 100 words in the process. It seems I often reach a point where I see how some of the building blocks can be rearranged to produce a better structure. Often this involves combining or re-ordering a couple of paragraphs here and there. Once the language has been improved, clumsy construction stands out, I guess. That’s what happened in today’s editing session. It’s not a huge difference to the story, and someone reading both versions might not even notice the change from one to the next, but to me it’s a matter of creating a more logical, smooth flow within a scene. I’ll read it over again tonight and if I’m happy with everything I’ll find a market to send it to tomorrow.
Most of the models for Tropical Depression #3, which is still out in the Atlantic near the Bahamas, have it coming ashore near the Houston/Louisiana border at the end of the weekend. Of course, anything could happen between now and then. Some models have it increasing all the way to a hurricane while others keep it as an un-named depression. (Are they depressed because they aren’t important enough to rate a name?)
Did a little work on a book review last night while watching Big Brother. I’m reminded of Bruce Campbell’s soundbite from the opening credits to Burn Notice: bunch of bitchy little girls. Still waiting for someone with a real personality to emerge from the background. My money is on Kristen, but she might stay a floater.
