It doesn’t look like the tree caused damage to the house, but I guess I won’t know until I get it down.
My last blog post discussed what was happening with my book Documenting America: Making The Constitution. On Monday, after writing my blog post, I made major progress on publishing tasks. I won’t list what I did. Suffice to say by the end of the day I was further along on all three versions (Kindle, Smashwords, and print) than I expected to be.
The Monday evening happened. A short but intense thunderstorm hit, with winds of 70 mph. Power went out at 10:30 p.m. and was off for just short of 48 hours. A large tree blew over from the wooded lot next to us on the north and is resting on the house. a second, larger tree also blew over but rested against another tree that kept it from hitting the house. Neither one seems to have damaged the house, but I’m going to need a professional service to clear the trees away. So, I’m dealing with all of that and have not doing anything more on Documenting America.
It’s hard to see in this photo, but it shows the two leaning trees. Both are pretty big, at least 12 and maybe 16 inches diameter.
What I did instead was more intensive editing of my Bible study, Acts Of Faith. When the power went out, I was through Chapter 5 with the second round of edits and also with the Leader’s Guide. Reading and editing the printed manuscript was something I could do during the day, even without power. So I stretched out on the floor, the notebook between me and the glass doors to the deck, and read and marked with red pen. I set aside work on the Leader’s Guide as I need to have the Bible study published by September 15. The Leader’s Guide can follow it by a month or so.
My first view of it didn’t look so bad. This is looking up from below it. The main problem will be how to control it as you cut it out. That’s why I need a pro.
By the end of yesterday I had edited all but one chapter. I will finish it today and be ready to type. In fact, I may type those edits before I go back to Documenting America. Acts Of Faith is out with two beta readers, one of whom I’m sure will give me comments. I’m going to send one more chapter to my critique group for comments between meetings.
Then I’ll be enmeshed in dealing with trees and insurance and other aspects of Monday’s storm. I’m not sure yet what my new publishing schedule will be.
I finished writing Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition in mid-June. I let it sit a little, then began the editing process. The editing took a while as I didn’t go overly fast. Plus, in late June I finally decided I should write and publish my Bible study, Acts Of Faith, and so pulled off DA for a while. I meant to have it published in August. Alas, with only nine days left in the month, I think that’s unlikely to happen.
But where do I stand with it? I have completed all passes of edits. On Wednesday I ran Chapter 5 through our critique group, and have a few comments to go over and perhaps make changes. I’ll do that today. The next step will be the cover, which I’ll do myself using G.I.M.P. I already have the series theme, so all I have to do is change the title and use a new center image, which I already have picked out. I may need to load G.I.M.P. onto this computer. Doing all that is a tomorrow task.
That cover work, of course, is for the e-book cover. Before I can do the print book cover I have to format the print book so I know the thickness. The interior formatting will be the next step. I might do the e-book formattings (one for Kindle, one for Smashwords) on Sunday, or it might slip to Monday. At that point I may upload the e-book to the platforms, thus getting it published in August. Then I’ll tackle the print book formatting. That always takes longer, and I’ll have to dedicate a day or two to that. I hope I get it done before the end of the month so that I can order a proof copy.
So, when will the next Documenting America be published, you ask? With any luck and sufficient diligence on my part, before the end of August for the e-book, and before September 15 for the print book. Stay tuned. I’ll announce it here. I’m working simultaneously on the leader’s guide to AOF, so we’ll have to see how the time goes.
Eight of the fourteen bookcases in The Dungeon. Just a fraction of what we have. How am I ever going to get through all of these?
As I write this, I’m nearing the end of two books I’m reading, and am about halfway through a book I’m re-reading. It won’t be long before I’m ready to choose something else to read. But what will it be?
The books I’m just about finishing are:
Jews, God and History by Mix I. Dimont; down to the last 20 pages
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford; about 120 pages to go in this 610 page book
The book I’m re-reading is:
The Inklings of Oxford: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Their Friends by Harry Lee Poe and James Ray Veneman; 60 pages into this 102 page book, reading on my smart phone.
While I’m pleased to have a number of C.S. Lewis books, I don’t have enough. May more purchases be in my future? These three are definitely on my sooner-than-later reading list.
So, again I ask myself, what’s next? I should shift to fiction, as most of my reading this year, or maybe all of it, has been non-fiction. I’d like to get back to the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Alas, I don’t have the next one in the series and I’d really like to read them in order. I should just bit the bullet and order it on my Amazon gift card or go to Barnes & Noble and buy it. I have so many books already in the house, though, I hate to bring another book in.
Other fiction I could read is try to get through some of JRR Tolkien’s works. I read the first book of The Lord Of The Rings, but struggled with it and am not anxious to try again. I also have the prequel to that, The Silmarillion, but, again, I find Tolkien hard to get through.
If I stick with non-fiction, I have a number of things to choose from. For one, I should really finish The Federalist Papers. I spot-read this as research for Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. The last few I read held my interest, so I’m thinking I should try it again and get it read. That’s a major commitment due to length, so I don’t know.
I should also go back and re-read some of John Locke’s Treatises on Government, since I read them in a distracted, less-than-optimal state. Or, I should read some of the things he referenced. It’s quite possible that the next book I write in the Documenting America series will be Run-up to Revolution, in which case I need to be reading what the Founders were reading. That’s research, however, and I’m really thinking of pleasure reading.
If I were to shift to poetry, I should read some of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems. I have two compilations of hers. Or, I should get back to Robert Frost or Wallace Stevens, both of whom I started reading but didn’t finish. But, I’m not sure I’m ready to read poetry right now. It makes me too anxious to then write poetry, as my Sidelines Syndrome kicks in, and all I need is another distraction from my prose writing.
Then again, I haven’t read any letters for a while. Still on my work table is volume 1 of The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis. It’s 1024 pages, so I sure wouldn’t read it cover-to-cover without a break. I’m thinking I’ll read it in a few key areas, concerning Lewis’ conversion first to theism then to Christianity. Or, I could get back to Thomas Carlyle’s letters, though that would be on-line reading. I also have a couple of C.S. Lewis compilations yet to read. They are scholarly essays, and I think I would enjoy them.
Thinking of fiction again, I have Lewis’ space trilogy at hand. Hmmm, maybe I should read the first of that and see how I like it. Or, I have a thousand novels in the house, either picked up from sales or passed on to me from my mother. I could grab any of them off the shelf and easily fill a couple of weeks of pleasure reading, finding out if these are any good by modern standards.
So many books, so little time. I haven’t talked myself into any of these yet, but will have to make a decision soon. Perhaps I’ll report back here.
In my last post, I told about the de cluttering effort my wife and I are in. I spoke specifically about the multiple stamp collections I’m dealing with, as well as a few other de-cluttering activities.
The stock book I worked on. I still have a few stragglers to add to it (which fell out before my work commenced), plus perhaps some re-distribution.
This weekend, while de-cluttering is still high on the priority list, so is what I call simply “getting things done.” It began on Friday, where I worked in The Dungeon for a good part of the day, doing my normal writing and stock trading tasks. In the evening I finally finished putting loose stamps into that stock book I mentioned in the last post, and on Saturday I gathered all the stamps in one place, while on Saturday and Sunday I put them all in a larger box and into their designated place in the storeroom. Check one item off the to-do list.
Our newer minivan was overdue for servicing. I finally called on that on Friday afternoon, learned they had appointments on Saturday, and took an early one. I learned of a sensor that’s gone bad; it will be replaced later this week under warranty. I also took that van to a nearby body shop for an estimate on fixing the rear tailgate after the fender-bender I caused in June. Ah, me. Much money to be spend fixing that small folly.
Friday and Saturday remained productive for the whole days. Let’s see what I checked off the list.
Elliptical and walking for Friday and Saturday.
Work on Acts of Faith each day.
Work on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition each day.
Clean up in the front yard, along with weekend weeding and deadfall pick up in the back yard on Saturday.
Seeing about accommodations for a trip we will soon be taking.
Making a haircut appointment. (I hate using the phone for things like that and always put off making such appointments, so when I do it it feels like a major accomplishment.)
Helping the wife make an omelet Saturday noon.
Household budgeting on Friday; balancing the checkbook on Saturday; catch up on trading accounting on Saturday.
Dusting the high corners near the ceilings.
Preparing to teach Life Group on Sunday.
Working on organizing the stamp collections, in place for better storage or, perhaps, selling within a couple of years.
I found time each day to just sit and read in the sunroom, and nap there one day.
I could probably add a few more things to the list, but I’d be getting into minutia if I did. Suffice to say the weekend was full, productive, enjoyable, and, if you can believe it, restful. Yes, I had time to watch TV (while working on the stamps and crossword puzzles), to sit in the sunroom and read, to get full nights’ sleep, and to gather with God’s people in worship and study on Sunday.
Whether every weekend will be so enjoyable and productive remains to be seen. This one was, and I thank God for it.
This post marks the 1,200th post on this blog. I guess that’s somewhat of a mini-milestone. That’s not actually how many blog posts I’ve written, however.
I hope someday The Dungeon will be a neater place than this. The best I can say it was messier on Saturday before I cleaned up a bit.
I started blogging in December 2007 on the Blogger [a.k.a. blogspot] platform, naming that blog “An Arrow Through the Air”, a phrase used by John Wesley that I really liked. I posted there until June 2011 when, with the help of my son, I set up this website with a blog. I ported over from AATTA all the posts there, however many it was at the time.
I kept blogging at both places for a while. This one was to be about my writing life, the other more general or personal in subject. It wasn’t terribly long that I discovered keeping up two blogs and writing and working full time didn’t make sense and wasn’t really achievable for me. So I stopped posting at AATTA and focused on this blog. I never did port over here the posts I added at AATTA after the original porting. So, I have some number of posts there that are, technically speaking, in addition to the 1,200 here. How many? I ought to go over there and count, but will do that at another time.
Eventually I realized I could use that name here too, and renamed this blog “An Arrow Through the Air”. That was sometime last year, or maybe it was the year before.
That gets us down to today. As I look through the blinds on The Dungeon windows, I see a cloudy day outside. We are right on the edge of the remnants of Hurricane Barry, with a 50 percent chance of showers this morning. It’s 7:46 a.m. and my first cup of coffee is almost finished. I’ve been at the computer since 6:50 a.m., right after I finished scripture reading (currently in Proverbs) and prayer. After checking book sales (none) and a writing website I follow, I typed edits in three chapters in Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. I’ll now shift to writing the eleventh chapter (out of seventeen) in the Bible study I’m writing, Acts of Faith—after I tend to my stock trading duties, that is. I guess breakfast will be in there somewhere.
The amount of wild blueberries in the woods across from our house is massive. It’s no where near being fully picked, no where near all being ripe. And, blackberry season is about to begin.
The blackberry bushes in the area still have both ripe and ripening berries on them, but I’m all picked out for this year. I got enough to make several cobblers, and freeze close to two quarts. I’ve done my free food gathering for this year. Time to think about some inside projects, some decluttering tasks and some home repairs to hire done.
This morning I woke about 6:15 a.m. and was able to say the prayer I’ve recently tried to make a morning theme, “I will awaken the dawn.” [Psalm 57:8] Looking forward to a full and rewarding day.
I don’t know how others feel, but I’m new enough to baking that it still seems creative to me.
After writing last week about what to write next, I made my decision and did it. I worked on Acts Of Faith Bible study on both Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t spend a lot of time on them, but found the words flowed quickly and easily. Research went well. By the time Sunday was over I was about halfway through Chapter 5. This morning, before getting to other activities, I came close to completing Chapter 5. Not really, because I plan on re-reading and editing it later today. But, as it sits right now, completing Chapter 5 today should be an easy thing.
What else? I began reading Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition aloud to my wife, scratching edits as I go. I read four chapters (out of 32) last night, seeing a fair number of places where it will benefit from editing. I hope to type some of those edits today. The Introduction especially needs both tightening and expansion.
The cooking prep for my experiment. I actually haven’t had one yet. Reports are that they were good. I’ll have one tomorrow.
What else? I wrote a letter to one of my grand-nephews. That may not seem like a creative thing, but it is/was. I also baked, a blackberry cobbler—from blackberries I picked—and some banana bread. They turned out well. Then, Sunday morning, I fixed English muffin omelet sandwiches to take to Life Group for our fellowship breakfast. I don’t know that they turned out so well and may not fix them again. It was an experiment, trying something my own mind conceived, so I count that and the baking as creative endeavors.
I spent a good amount of time outside, listening to the birds as I worked. Didn’t see this little guy around however.
While being creative, I didn’t neglect other things. As the first activities on Saturday I updated the checkbook and budget. On Sunday I took care of some miscellaneous receipts, the type that seem to defy even a comprehensive filing system. I weeded in our back yard and did other light yard work. I cleaned a matt of bugs off the front of our newer van, bugs that had decided to join us on our last two road trips. Both vans need washing, but that will be a task for another day. Sunday, Lynda and I went for a walk after the heat of the day passed. Not a long walk, but enough to get the juices and sweat flowing.
I kept up with my reading in three books, now having one more to review. Reading I see as sort of a creative activity. As I read my mind is usually thinking about writing, either the writing I’m reading or the writing I could do from the subject I’m reading about.
So, all in all I’m pleased at how the weekend went. If I can be that creative for the full week ahead of me, I will be on Cloud 9.
My most recent publication. Sales are trickling in. Literally.
For my Friday June 28 post I had planned to do my book review of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life In Letters. But based on the weekend just past, I’m pushing that post into the future. Instead, I want to document the process I’m going through.
What should I write next? I just finished the first draft of Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. I’m letting it sit for a week or two before I hit the editing process. The first two chapters have gone to my critique group, with good reviews. What to do next? Here are the most obvious choices, based on my recent thoughts, research, and publications.
The next volume in my church history novels series. This is to be sandwiched in between #2 and #3. Tentatively titled The Sayings, it will cover the writing of the Didiche, which many scholars believe was written before many of the New Testament books. A loose plot line was in my head even as I wrote Preserve The Revelation, #4 in the series. With Adam Of Jerusalem, #1 in the series, now published, completing the foursome makes sense.
The next volume in The Gutter Chronicles: The Continuing Saga of Norman D. Gutter, Engineer. I ought to write this before I get too far into retirement and forget the stories of working as an engineer. I’ve begun the outline, and know where the first couple of chapters are going.
The next volume in Documenting America. This has turned out to be a good series, with three published already and the fourth a month or two away from publication. Once I know the topic these come together quickly. Another volume or two might result in critical mass and an increase in their popularity.
The next short story in the Sharon Williams Fonseca, CIA Agent series. I have four written and know what the fifth one will be about and it’s probable title: “Tango Delta Foxtrot”. This has been on my radar for some time, always with “as soon as I finish the book I’m on” schedule. But then another book bubbles up and this one gets shunted aside. Maybe it’s time. I have a basic outline of the plot.
A Bible study titled “Acts Of Faith”. I programmed this about four months ago (I think, maybe a little longer), one evening when I was brainstorming curriculum for future Life Group studies. I spent some time recently outlining this, and even creating the first computer files. This for sure would be next except, while I’ve taught Bible studies and prepared them from scratch, I’ve never written one for publication. That may be what happens here. Or, perhaps this will be the first to be developed, published, and taught.
A genealogy book, tentatively titled Samuel Cross and Elizabeth Cheney of Ipswich Massachusetts. This book is 80 percent written, maybe more. It’s meant to form a part of a larger work about Elizabeth Cheney’s father, John Cheney of Newbury. But the research is done and it is long enough to stand alone as a small genealogy book. It lacks only a little text, then the formatting for publication. I could have this ready for publication in less than a month if I re-started my work on it.
I’ll soon be creating a cover for “Documenting America: Making the Constitution Edition”. It will be a simple re-creation of this one.
There you have it. Six potential writing projects, all good, all desired (by me), all fulfilling the writing urge and maybe meeting a need. What will be next? I’m writing this on Monday, June 24, but scheduled to post on Friday June 28. My intent is to add something to it before it posts, to let everyone know either what I’ve decided, or at least what progress I’ve made in deciding. I’ll see if there’s a new ending to this post.
Update Tuesday June 25: Yesterday and today I wrote the first chapter in Acts Of Faith. The first draft came in at about 2,150 words, shorter than I thought it would, but perhaps about right for a Bible study book. I picked up a reviewer, a pastor/counselor, and have sent the first chapter to him. I’ll be anxious to see what he thinks.
The writing of this felt good. Since this is the most urgent need, should I indeed publish it and teach it beginning around mid-September. If so, I need to get on the stick.
Update Wednesday June 26: This morning I did another half-chapter of Acts Of Faith. It flowed easily. Yesterday afternoon I wrote the outline—more of a synopsis actually—for the next novel in my Church History Novels series. My evening reading unintentionally dovetailed with this, and the plot flowed easily. Makes me wonder if this book needs to be next. I’ll think on it.
Update Friday June 28: I have now completed two chapters (out of 17) in Acts Of Faith. The words have flowed fairly easy. The pastor/counselor I sent the first chapter to said he believes it to be a viable study and offered to help write discussion questions.
So, this is my next project. I’m hoping to finish the first draft by August 1, though that may be too ambitious. For sure I’m going to spend a lot of time with the writing.
For today’s blog post, I had originally planned on a book review. I’m not sure which. I recently finished two books and will review both. I’ve been debating which would be first. As late as Wednesday I was still debating that, unsure. This isn’t a critical decision, but I just wanted to let you all know what’s going on with me.
Caught this little guy on camera this week. It’s always so nice to see the blue color on the deck.
Then came Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Actually, I could lump Monday in with that. All four days were days of incredible accomplishment. I got a lot of stuff done. Not only me: Lynda accomplished much decluttering, sorting through piles of children’s books to find duplicates, the unused/unread, and prepare to give away many and organize the rest. That’s on-going. The house is a mess, but it won’t be long before it looks much, much better.
As for me, each day I kept up with my routine things. I did my devotions first thing. I kept up with writing and publishing news. I did my stock trading, entering into a number of trades on Monday and seeing some success. And, I resumed my workouts on the elliptical—nothing major, but after a month layoff, it felt good to get back to that routine.
I then shifted to working on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. One day I edited the final three source documents. One day I wrote my part of a chapter, then next day on two chapters, and then yesterday did the last chapter. So, the first draft is now done, excepting whatever I choose to do for an Introduction. This is a very good feeling.
In the afternoons I worked on a construction specification for my former employer. This was the first major work I had for them. It’s major not because it will require a lot of hours (it’s a small construction project), but because it’s something other than random site inspections and correspondence. I had to remember again how to put a spec together. Strange how much you forget in not quite six months of retirement.
The spec was also good because the work of the project is unusual, the widening of a ditch, which requires a farm pond to be moved, both of which require some heavy-duty erosion control (temporary and permanent). I had to write one new spec section and significantly modify another. It’s always good to create something.
The amount of wild blueberries in the woods across from our house is massive. It’s no where near being fully picked, no where near all being ripe. And, blackberry season is about to begin.
Despite this busyness, I was able to do some things for enjoyment. I picked blueberries one day. Started reading two new books on consecutive days, and they both look like good ones that I’ll read through to completion.
In the evenings, I began work on a Bible study. I’m planning on it being part of our Life Group curriculum at church, probably this fall. I had the outline done for over a month, but hadn’t started work on it. On Tuesday evening I tweaked the outline and wrote it out anew. On Wednesday evening I began putting a Word document together, only to end the night finding the file had major corruption issues, about the strangest I’ve ever seen. On Thursday evening (actually some during the day) I started the document over and made major progress with it.
Now it’s Friday. I plan on writing the Introduction to Documenting America. I might pick some more blueberries. I’ll read some more in the two books. I’ll begin one book review for Monday’s blog post. I’ll do some decluttering work of my own, perhaps split between my closet, the garage, and my writing papers. Hopefully, four days of great accomplishment will become five.
I greet my few readers this rainy Monday morning. It looks as if this is going to be a normal week. Not much taking me away from what I want to be a normal routine.
I was up at 6:30 a.m. and in The Dungeon, and had my devotions before 7. I just finished checking a publishing website I keep up with, which reminded me this is my day to blog. Yes, having been so out of the habit I needed that reminder.
Tomorrow I have an afternoon dentist appointment for some major work. I also have an assignment for my former company that will take ten to twelve hours to complete this week. Beyond that, blueberry picking is before me. I’ve yet to search the full extent of the field in the woods across the street from our house. I would do that today, but it’s raining right now. The showers should pass before long, but I won’t go out into a soaking wet wood.
Beyond that, this is a week for writing and other author tasks. My critique group meets Wednesday evening. I’ve submitted my work and have only one piece submitted to me at present.
In The Dungeon, I anticipate the normal stock trading activities, and writing. I have five chapters left (actually 4 and a half) in Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. I’d like to get one done per day and, by Friday, call the first draft complete. I have no writing tasks other than that this week. Well, perhaps a little clean up of my work areas.
Next Sunday I have another author event, at the Rogers Library, hosted by Ozark Book Authority. I think it will be just an author table for selling and signing books, though the organizer said something about having writer panels. I have a hard time believing the turnout will be enough on a Sunday afternoon in June to justify that, but we’ll see. Two author events in one month: that’s a first.
The grandkids found a wild blueberry patch in the woods across the street from our house. How many years has that been there and I didn’t know it?
After 2,700 miles in the last 24 days, consisting of two round trips from home to West Texas, first to pick up grandchildren to stay with us then to return them, things are back to normal today. That also includes our special bug infestation earlier in May, something I haven’t written about here.
I took the grandkids to a Wednesday evening service project at our church, packing meals for the food challenged.
Well, not quite back to normal. This afternoon we have our quarterly pest treatment. We always have some prep work to do for that and putting things back afterwards. Then there’s the question of groceries and whether we have enough or if we need to make a quick trip to the store. Then there’s getting the checkbook and budget up to date for all the debits on the trip, and filing the receipts. The latter isn’t critical, but I like to have finances up to date always.
Then, there’s my speaking engagement tomorrow, to the Village Lake Writers and Poets. This was supposed to have been in April, but I got bumped when another speaker was booked over me. I’m mostly prepared, but would like to run through it a couple of times today and tomorrow morning. My topic is “Genre Focus Disorder: Is Poetry the Cure?”
One other thing is an assignment from my former company to write a construction spec. I’ll need to look at that a little today, consider the deadlines, and decide how much time I’ll need to put into it. It isn’t huge, but it’s the first “major” assignment they’ve given me since I retired on January 1st this year.
Couldn’t let them be on screens all day. Chores were assigned, and done cheerfully—for the most part.
As for blog post, I have nothing planned. I’ll be thinking about them over the next few days. I hope to quickly get back into my rhythm of Monday and Friday blog posts. I normally try to plan ahead for those, knowing a week or two out what I’ll be posting about.
Trips aren’t over yet for the summer. We will soon make an overnight trip to Oklahoma City for a church event. Back to Texas a little later to help the kids out, and maybe one more time for the oldest grandchild to come stay with us for a week. It’s all good. I enjoy long distance driving, as does the wife. A road trip us usually a joy.
Now, will I be able to accomplish a little writing today? Documenting America waits. Stay tuned.
