We’re off to a chilly and gloomy start to the day. With temperatures at 34F/1C and cloudy skies as far as one can see, the hint of moisture in the air will likely dampen things before too long. Even with this, it’s reported March temperatures are above normal and this is borne out by the abundance of buds and flowers appearing. Hopefully, the weather won’t take a turn for the worse, although the forecast is for some snow today.
Oops–spoke too soon. The rain’s coming down! Could be worse–I saw there were thousands of people without power in Michigan. Hope it’s restored soon.
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on March 10th. (compliments of http://www.onthisday.com/today/birthdays):
Constantine Huygens Jr, Dutch poet/painter/cartoonist; Georg F Creuzer, German philological/historian (Idea und Probe); Friedrich von Schlegel, German romantic writer/critic (Lucinde); Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German poet (Das Marmorbild); Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet; Ina Donna Coolbrith, American poet laureate of California; Mary Mills Patrick, American author and 1st President of Istanbul Woman’s College; Pim [Willem JH] Mulier, Dutch journalist/writer/sport-organizer; Jakob Wassermann, German novelist (My Life as German & Jew); David M Chumaceiro, poet; Karel van de Woestijne, Flemish writer/poet (God at Sea); Nancy Cunard, British writer and activist; Pamela Mason [Ostrer], British actress, author and talk-show host (Lady Possessed); Boris Vian, French writer and musician; Adam Kennedy, American actor, screenwriter, novelist and painter (The Californians, Just Like Humphrey Bogart); Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet; Laurie Langenbach, Dutch author; Omer Tarin [Omer Salim Khan], Pakistani poet, scholar and activist; and Felice Arena, Australian children’s author.
How many did you recognize? There’s definitely one or two who should be familiar, perhaps not by name, but by the title of their work. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one and many more to follow!
My Work in Progress
Editing continues on my third novel, Carnage in Singapore. I completed my first pass through the manuscript this week. Here’s another snippet:
Back in the team office, Barbara reached out to her former colleagues at the Security 
Intelligence Service in Wellington, New Zealand. She picked up the receiver of a secure telephone on her desk and dialed a number from memory. A woman answered on the first ring.
“Research. How may I help?”
“Harper, is that you? Barbara Battersea here.”
A squeal of delight forced Barbara to pull the phone away from her ear. “Babs! How the hell are you? Been ages since we last spoke.”
“I’m cooking with gas. Busy finding a place to live and settling into the new job.”
“Any opening for a primo researcher? I could sure use a change of pace.”
“None right now, but send me your resume and I’ll pass it to our team leader.”
“Right. So, other than a chat, what did you call for?”
Barbara glanced at the ceiling. “Almost forgot.” She gave a breathy laugh. “I’m working up a profile about Jemaah Anshorut Daulah. Would you mind sending over whatever’s available?”
“I’ll check with my supervisor, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. There isn’t much. Since they haven’t made any attacks against New Zealand, they’re not on our radar.”
“Whatever you can provide will be fine. I’m reaching out to the Brits, America, Singapore, and Malaysia, too.”
***
Back in the lab, Alf checked the output of the mass spectrometer that analyzed the effluent from the HPLC. The graph showed two peaks. The smaller one was identified as acetone, which he’d expected since he used this to prepare the sample. His eyes widened as his gaze rested on the label above the larger spike, which almost reached the top of the graph. “I’ll be ….”
More next time.
I didn’t have much time left over to work on the final book of the series, Ultimate Escalation. However, I did manage to complete and post chapter three to the two subscription writing sites I use. So far, there’s been thirty-seven chapter reviews, all helping me improve the story and my writing.
I also continued assisting a fellow writer with paring down his first book, a memoir based on his father’s life as a hobo during the Great Depression. A fascinating read!
Books I’m Reading
I’m currently doing two beta reads, so I won’t be able to post my reviews until they’re published. I should have one or two over reviews for you next time.
This brings us to a close for another week. I hope you found something of interest or at least useful for your own writing. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading.
© Copyright 2019 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
Nice piece! Love how you share a bit of everything! Your excerpt sounds fascinating.
Many thanks for your support! Glad you find the excerpts fascinating. I’ll be sending the manuscript to my publisher in the May/June timeframe after I finish editing.