Apologies for my silence here, lately. There were complications of a pretty harsh sort toward the end of the Italy trip, then the journey home, then jetlag, then my deadline for Blood of Ambrose, more or less jumbled up on top of each other.
Now, at least, I’m home, typing on my beloved but ailing eMac. The jetlag is fading–and I miss it a little, because it’s one of the few things (apart from some sort of narcotic) which enable me to sleep eight hours a night. However, like a narcotic, it has tendency to screw with the clarity of my speech and thought, so I’m probably better off without it. Probably.
Also, I just sent the final text of Blood of Ambrose off to my editor. As synchronicity would have it, Thelonious Monk’s version of “Nice Work If You Can Get It” was playing on iTunes as I hit the “send” button. (But maybe “Don’t Quit Your Day-Job” is the phrase I should be keeping in mind.)
And now off for a celebratory chili dog.
sorry the end of the trip was spoiled. 🙁
Very glad you finished the novel. Congrats!
Thanks. The end of the trip wasn’t all bad, though it did have a certain quality of “Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
Thanks for the congrats, also. It was very hard to send off the final text, for some reason I’m having trouble verbalizing. (Fodder for a future post, maybe.) But having sent the text was a great feeling.
Bravo e complimenti! Ben tornato!
Mille grazie!
My Italian is still pretty bad, but apparently there’s some quality about it that no longer suggests American English. Most frequent guesses by my conversational partners about my nationality: French, German, and Australian.
Sounds like you’re on your way to greatness, then! I repeat: Bravo!
Welcome back, and congrats on finishing this phase of the novel.
“Taking Care of Business” was one of my favorites when I was a business owner. It hasn’t carried over into writing, though. Now it’s usually unintelligible symphonic metal or something classical sung in a language not my own.
–Jeff Stehman
Thanks, Jeff.
Re “Taking Care of Business”–BTO or Sonny Rollins (or…)? I like them both but usually can’t listen to lyrics while I write (like you, I think).
A metal band I like (because they have no lyrics at all!) is Turing Machine.
BTO. You’re correct about lyrics, but now that I think about it, “Taking Care of Business” would make a good mood setter for the stories I’ve been writing lately. The protagonist is a blue collar kinda guy working in a swords & sorcery business.
Turning Machine, huh? Sounds like a band that would only use two chords, but could play an infinitely long time.
Hmm. Based on my one sample, I seem to have hit pretty close to the mark. 🙂
–Jeff Stehman