Most days during the past week we’ve experience plenty of sunshine, although Wednesday was a rainy day. That was okay as the ground needed a good soaking and that’s what we had. The temperatures have dropped a bit, but still made it to 72F (22C). The common hedge between us and next door has grown out of proportion, so it was a good time to give it a trim.
Doing it all the time, whether or not we are in the mood, gives us ownership of our writing ability. It takes it out of the realm of conjuring where we stand on the rock of isolation, begging the winds for inspiration, and it makes it something as do-able as picking up a hammer and pounding a nail. Writing may be an art, but it is certainly a craft. It is a simple and workable thing that can be as steady and reliable as a chore. ~ Julia Cameron. Compliments of https://www.writerswrite.co.za/motivational-quotes-on-writing/.
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on 25 June, the fourth and final Sunday of the month. (Compliments of https://www.onthisday.com/birthdays/):
Georges Courteline [Moineau], French playwright; Hans Marchwitza, German writer and communist; Kay [Katherine Linn] Sage, American painter and poet; I. D. du Plessis, South African writer and director (3rd World); George Orwell, British author (Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four); Philip Toynbee, British journalist and writer (Savage Days, Barricade); Dorothy Gilman, American mystery writer; Nicholas Mosley, British novelist, biographer and son of Oswald Mosley; Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author and poet (Gott von Manhattan); Eric Carle, American illustrator, collage artist, and writer of children’s books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar); Larry Kramer, American playwright and AIDS activist; Paul Nowee, Dutch writer of children’s and youth books (Eagle’s Eye); Marabel Morgan, American author (The Total Woman); A. J. Quinnell [Philip Nicholson], English writer (Man on Fire); Michel Tremblay, Canadian novelist and playwright (Les Belles-Sœurs); Labi Siffre, British singer-songwriter and poet (It Must Be Love); and Ariel Gore, American journalist and author.
Any names familiar to you? There was one for me: George Orwell. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one!
My Work In Progress
This week, my personal editing of Frozen Conquest continued. I’ve now gone through all 825 chapter reviews it’s received and incorporated the suggestions I wanted to use into the manuscript. I’ve also completed the third and fourth edit passes, and I’m a third of the way through the fifth one. I normally do seven edit passes, so I’m well on my way.
Here’s the penultimate snippet:
Douglas Walliams, president of the World Bank, rifled through the stack of mail dropped off by his secretary. Nothing worth reading. He switched on his computer and skimmed his new messages. Routine, routine. Why can’t I receive something exciting?
He deleted the spam and filed trivial reports in their respective folders. The one-word subject of the next message from an unknown email address piqued his interest. What’s this?
Douglas opened the message labeled Beware and studied its contents.
To: Douglas Walliams, World Bank President
From: A concerned citizen of the world
Behold the beast, for he wants to destroy the world. He will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Seek him where glaciers abound.
Douglas scratched his chin. Is this some kind of a joke? Why send it to me? He picked up the phone and dialed.
A deep male voice answered after the first ring. “Hello.”
“Hey, Jonny. Douglas Walliams here. I received a strange email today. It might be from a crackpot, but with recent viable threats against the stock markets, I thought you might be interested.” He forwarded the message to Jonny. “Just sent it to you.”
“Got it. Hmm. Just a minute—I’ll be right back.”
Douglas listened to the classical hold music performed by an orchestra while he waited.
Moments later, Jonny came back on the line. “Sorry about that. I wanted to compare what you sent me with some earlier information that came in. I just forwarded your email to an organization already looking into this issue. If you receive anything else, just send it to me and we’ll look into it.”
“Will do, Jonny. Should I be worried?”
“You can share what you received with your counterparts in Japan, China, Germany, and the U.K., as they have the most voting power after the U.S. However, I recommend against sharing it with your executive directors and vice presidents. If I recall, that would push the word out to over fifty more people, and I think we should keep it contained—for now.”
“Understood.”
“Anything else, Douglas?”
“Not today. We need to arrange another outing on the Chesapeake.”
“As soon as a quiet period appears on my schedule, I’ll let you know.”
The final snippet will be provided next week.
Promotions
Dangerous Alliance, Colombian Betrayal, and Ultimate Escalation are participating in a Murders, Mysteries and the Paranormal promotion, running until the end of June for Mystery & Suspense / Paranormal, Mystery & Suspense / Thriller, and Mystery & Suspense / Women Sleuths. There are currently ninety-four novels participating. Why not check it out?
https://books.bookfunnel.com/murdermysteriespromo3/f3fke10rs2
All of my novels are participating in June’s MAYHEM & MOTIVES: Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Reads. There are 234 novels to choose from. Please stop in when you have a chance. You could find your next best author!
https://books.bookfunnel.com/mysthrillsus-jun/nwprjw7ql4
This brings us to an end for another week. I hope you found something of interest. 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 and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2023 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
This week, I began the hard work on Frozen Conquest — getting the manuscript ready to submit to my publisher. I’ll finish my first edit pass later today.