BEAT BOOMER SILENTLY THINKS HE'S OLDER THAN CERVANTES

Chapter Sixteen rewrite of Angie's Choice still not finished. By Friday, I'll be back to one chapter a week schedule. Truth is I'm flailing the air. Mornings I awake groggy, and words are snakes that slither across the page without rhyme or reason. I rearrange them on the page and desperately try to make them hold still. The haze doesn't leave till afternoon when I take my walk. It's an old age thing...or allergies. Can't distinguish between them and that discourages me also. Wife Mertie suggests I take my walk first thing in the morning. I'm considering that.

I'm filled with second and third thoughts these days. They go like this: "Seventy-five. Christ, man, it's time to let go this madness called writing." Of course, I've always thought that way. Long ago, I surpassed Lampedusa who finished The Leopard at age 60 in 1956 and Cervantes whose Don Quixote was published in 1605 when he was 68. Of course, I'm stupidly comparing myself to legendary writers whereas my humble goal is to get one novel published by someone other than myself before I die. Even a Harlequin romance if I could see how to write one. A 95 year old, one-handed, one-eyed masturbator ought to be able to achieve that. [Why doesn't blogspot's spell check recognize the word masturbator or masturbater, I wonder.] 

My immediate goal remains to get Angie's Choice finally polished so I'll have one thing to send around (as finished as I can make it) while I think what next to do. My state of mind wasn't helped when I received the following over the past weekend:

Dear Author,
Thanks for writing me.  I apologize for the form letter, but the volume of query letters I receive makes it impossible to send personal responses to every writer. Unfortunately, I must pass on your material.  I realize it is difficult to judge your potential from a query alone, but please know that I give serious attention to every letter and writing sample I receive.
Best of luck with your agent search,
Cameron McClure     Donald Maass Literary Agency

And so it goes. And, yes, I'm currently reading a Vonnegut bio.