How to tell when a novel captivates you: I woke up at 7 a.m. yesterday and decided to read more of a manuscript on my iPad before getting up. Until 8 a.m., I told myself. When I next checked the clock it was nearly 9 a.m. and I kept reading until nearly 10:00. Yes, it was that good.
I can’t say I’m surprised by the Casey Anthony verdict. I found the prosecution case confusing and lacking the knockout punch it needed to meet reasonable doubt. Do I think she’s guilty? Probably, but I can understand why the jury went the way they did. I don’t see this as being similar to the OJ case, where the jury was presented compelling evidence and chose to ignore it. Here there was reasonable doubt, I think. The prosecution did the best they could with what they had, and would probably have never had anything more to add to the case given the way things happened. That’s the way it goes, sometimes.
I produced several more revisions of the short story I’ve been working on for the past week and submitted it to the market yesterday morning. Final length was about 4600 words. Then I went through my submission log and found markets for four short stories that have been in limbo for a while. Only one of them went to a market I’d submitted to in the past. The other three were to places I’ve never tried before. One of them is super-fast apparently. My submission went in at noon and I had a rejection letter from them by 5 p.m. Not a form rejection, either. So I sent them something else this morning and got that rejected story off to another market.
Started working on my Cemetery Dance column. It’s been nearly a year since I wrote one. Hope to have it done by Friday so I can then switch gears and do the research I need for my next Screem essay. That’s not due until mid-August, but I’m trying to clear the slate so I can get to work on the really big project that I’ve just signed on for.
We’re getting near the end of season four of Six Feet Under. Last night we finished with #9, Grinding the Corn. I’m getting really good at predicting the causes of death at the beginning of the episodes. From the moment the camera lingered on the umbrella in the lobby and then showed a strange man at the elevator, I called what was going to happen. I totally blew the one about the couple drinking and frolicking in the hot tub, though.
