If a Tree Falls, Who Hears It, and in the End, Does it Matter?

OK. A lot of jagged little pills in the road to literary fame this week, but I managed a few key things:

First off, finished my nephew's book for Christmas. Janet edited it, and I made the changes, having to modify the ending. It's still pretty cute, though, but at least now it's more technically accurate - that is, if you understand Pokemon physiology. Janet finished the cover. The whole thing came out pretty nice (see prior entry for more details) - on screen at least. I used www.lulu.com to package it as a paperback book. Problem was, minimum page count for the binding is 100pp, and the book was only 52 (big font, small pages). At Herself's suggestion, I added extra pages to the end with lines so Sean can write his own story after. Ordered a printed copy of Sean and Ash vs The Robot!, now we wait....

Finished the 3rd draft of "Ray Gun" today at lunch. Still a bit long, though. About 5300 words. Need to trim it down, but I've got about 4 or 5 more drafts to do it so still in good shape.

I'm late, however, with another bit of writing. My son Andrew reminded me my 3 weeks are up to write my part of a multi-author round robin story written by me, my sister Ellen, her friend Joyce, Andrew and my mom (Marilyn). I'm going to have to apologize profusely to everyone, but I should really finish Ray Gun more before switching gears. Makes my brain hurt. The story - called "Dues ex Machina" is coming along quite nicely. Mom threw us a curve in her last entry, but I know what I'm going to write, though. Just have to do it....

Oh, and I got my author copies of the Italian edition of Solomon's Grave (il Segreto di Salomone). Hardcover, full color cover embossed. Nice looking book. Don't know how it came out, since I don't read Italian, but, still.... it's a good start. Life can be interesting. I wonder if anyone's reviewed it?...

One country down....

...one more coming soon. Germany - but looks like it might be another week or so until I can make the official announcement (unless they do on their site, then all bets are off). There were some valid contract issues which have been brought up and corrected and are being sent back to Italy, then to me in the US for Ye 'Ol Initials... we have time, though. Patience, young padawan.

My yard has a lot of trees that have fallen. It'll take time to clean them up, use them for something productive, like warming the house. They fall every now and then. Sometimes we hear them, sometimes we don't. The woods are full of surprises, but if it's where you live, you handle it. And we will. One tree, one branch at a time. Now that winter's coming, having enough firewood is important, having enough heat to sit back together and enjoy each other's company is important. Probably the most important thing in the world. There are five of us. There has to be enough wood for all of us. And there is, or there will be, once we tackle some more of those trees....

We watched a couple of movies recently. The Red Violin - watched over a few nights - excellent, excellent film. Not sure if it's foreign or not, I think so, French, but there's also English, German, Italian.... definitely turn on subtitles for this one, the languages change pretty quickly. The only "name" in the movie is a very refined Samuel L Jackson, and though he was quite good in the overall story arc, everyone was brilliant. In flashbacks, it details the history of a particular violin through generations. Brilliant Film.

Also - Janet got me a set of Film Noir movies for our anniversary in October (our 18th, if you're curious). This weekend we watched The Long Night starring Henry Fonda. 1947. Another great movie. Usually dark, murky films in B&W can be hard to watch late at night when you have three kids and need to go to bed soon, but this kept our interest. Another flashback film, but well acted, and great sets. Highly recommended.

On the telly, Heroes continues to amuse us, intelligent if a bit left-field, but fun, especially the tale surrounding Hiro, the time-bending Japanese gentleman and his buddy. "Save the cheerleader, Save the world....". And of course, The Dead Zone continues to be well-written and acted, very King-ish, and fun to watch (Netflix, season 2 currently). We're hoping come 2007 that Lost gets its act together. The brilliant series has been floundering a bit lately. Maybe if they didn't kill off so many of the best characters this season it would have a chance... still, lots of talent remaining who've been all but ignored this season.... it's such a great show, it's worth doing, just use them, folks, use them....

Time to go. No karate tomorrow. Now that the high school religion class I teach (and Andrew attends, though he has a different teacher) is done until February, he can go to the Monday ha-yah classes... nice to be able to sleep in tomorrow.... still, lots to do, lots to do... how's that line go? Miles to go before I sleep.... miles to go....