BEAT BEAT BEATING ON HAVEN'S DOOR

Didn't sleep well last night but hammered out the 3rd rewrite of Chapter -2- of Ghoul World today, this morning. That's all this dude has to report. About time for my walk in hazy Vancouver, surrounded by discouraging PNW fires. Tomorrow, at seven pm, as I've pointed out numerous times, I'll be the featured poet at Barnes and Noble in Vancouver. Looking forward to it. Nice of Rainy Knight and David Hill to invite me.

Got a nice rejection letter for a short story I submitted to a contest. Invited to submit again. Was it just a polite form letter or a special sort of rejection letter that was a real invite? Monetary concerns twist and distort all communications. I know the story is well done. I've worked it over a couple of dozen of times over the past decade. All I see nowadays in it are small quibbles with my language that aren't strong enough to change. They're the sort of quibbles that can go back and forth, endlessly.

DAVE HILL, RAINY KNIGHT, JOYCE COLSON, HURRAH!

photo source

The poet is doing better than the novelist. He's got two readings booked. Isn't that a nice word, booked? Thanks to moderators Poets Dave Hill and Rainy Knight, on August 25th, I'll be a featured reader at Barnes & Noble's "Last Tuesday" poetry group. Lots popping at the store this July month too. On the third Wednesday, September 16th, by invitation of moderator, Poet Joyce Colson, l'll be the featured poet at Tiger Talk Open Mic at the Paper Tiger Coffee Roasters on Grand. One of the nice parts of that venue is that for one month, I believe, my poetry will be on display and for sale at Paper Tiger Coffee Roasters. Hope to see a few people there.

I don't know if anyone is noticing what's happening here in the Pacific Northwest. Day after day of 90 plus degree temps. Maybe I'm in Arizona and don't know it. A pal of mine down there reports temps of 107 and higher. Whew! Good thing I like to write in coffee shops. Most usually have "conditioned air". Yesterday, Mertie and I ventured to the coast for the day. Cooler there by 10 degrees, but still warm in late afternoon.

REWRITING, REWRITING & REWRITING

Two interesting events, coming up for me later this year. August 25th, I'll be a featured poet at Barnes & Noble's "Last Tuesday" poetry event, hosted by David Hill. I'll be reading material from my more modest book, Tenderfoot, created from my poetry thesis. Then June 20th, a Saturday, I'll be selling both my poetry books at a Book Fair at Gallery 360 in Vancouver. Their gallery is right on the edge of the the Farmers Market and gets some spill over on Saturdays from the market.  

Today, Easter Sunday, I finished page 311 of final rewrite of about 400 pages. Spent 3 hours to rewrite 5 or 6 pages today. It was a big transition scene. PI Charley Manning meets up with Doctor Cable Christiansen at the Biotric Research facility in the nation of ___________ . Leaving it blank as I don't want to tell readers too much. Ran into the old memory problem. That's why I took so long to make so few pages of progress today. The two ghouls had to exchange a lot of information as they were strangers to each other. This necessitated a long chapter with lots of details. Found I'd put in the same detail in several different ways so had to go over and over and condense, cut and paste, but, by gosh and by golly, I'm getting near the end.