Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

Patrick bought a cow's tongue at Hong Kong Market last week, and he's boiling it today. So that's what I'll be having for dinner, however he decides to make it. Sounds like it might come out like boiled corned beef. I sent off a sci fi story for an anthology today. Fingers crossed. I also just got word that the "Heavy Metal" horror anthology will be coming out from Rymfire Books soon. I'm really looking forward to reading that, actually. It was a fun theme to write for.

And I'm not sure I'm cut out to write novels. Short stories, most definitely. Stringed together short stories, sure. Novellas of about 20,000 words, a push but okay. Novels. Hell no. Storm Summer, my planned NaNoWriMo work, finished at 26 K. Done, finito. When I go back to revise, I might get it to 30,000. Will it be in the Scholastic Book Club? Probably not. I might end up self or epublishing it, just to get it out there, but it needs work, and I've got other projects on my mind now. So, in conclusion, NaNoWriMo, my hat is off to you. I have been well and thoroughly beaten.

I'd planned to write three thousand words a day while on Thanksgiving break: 27,000 words left, nine days of break... easy-peasy. Problem is, not so much. My husband and I also decided to redo the floors in our 10o-year-old house; they are old pine and have never been sealed. They do, however, have an unfortunate layer of old carpet glue that gums up the sandpaper. It's slow going right now. So working on that is keeping me a little behind in the writing. We're also looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with friends next week. Maybe this year we will finally make it to the track. New Orleans Thanksgiving at the Fair Grounds Race Track is infamous, and we've never gone. Right now, I have no idea what to wear.

My Saturday was spent taking the two social studies Praxis exams for fun; I wanted to see if i could add the high school social studies endorsement to my existing English certification. Guess what? I don't think I can. I'm pretty good at taking tests, and maybe I did okay on the multiple choice part, but the short answer... No way. So anyway, and because of the rest of my day being spend walking around the French Quarter, buying Zaya rum (the BEST), and going to a house warming party, I've gotten no NaNoWriMo writing done at all. I am deep into Leander Perez: Boss of the Delta though, which is a much better source for the area I'm writing about than Louisiana During World War Two was. This one is interesting. Leadner Perez is a bizarre, bigoted figure in Louisiana history, but understanding him and what he did in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes goes a long way to understanding why the people who live there now think and act the way they do.

If you are going to buy it, buy it here. Each purchase through this link counts as five hundred votes for me in the publishing deal contest. If I win, we could see either Storm Summer , or All Along the Pacific, or less likely, The Mechanical Ghost published. With my begging out of the way, I'm back to work. I have 1700 words to get done today on the book, but I'd like to do 2500, which would put me at a solid one quarter of the word count. I might also take a little trip down Highway 23 to do some fact finding. First, we're going to buy a picnic at Steins on Magazine Street, I think. Pat is really looking forward to the tongue sandwiches; his grandfather used to make them for him. I think I'll go with corned beef, or maybe a bagel with salmon cream cheese. But I will definitely get some cheesecake to wash it all down.