The Auctioneer, Mowa Lettahs From Maine, The Beach

I finally finished the first draft of "The Auctioneer" today.  It's shorter than I'd hoped, about 75,000 words, but I usually add on my subsequent drafts so by the time it is completed it should be about 90,000 words.  Most people take out words and whole sections and plotlines when they revise.  I do some of that, but I also tend to add a lot more, like doing the framework for a new house and then adding all the finish work  It's a strange way of doing things, I guess, but it works for me.

And "Mowa Lettahs From Maine" should be ready to publish within a week or two.  The stories are coming easily, the only problem is the cover.  I'm contemplating putting it out in print as well as digitally, but I'm unsure about how to do the cover.  So most likely I will just publish it as an ebook, like the first one.  "Lettahs From Maine" continues to sell, slow but steady, so I'm hoping the new one will do as well.  I have ideas for more of the Lettahs From Maine series (yes, it has somehow become a series) so stay tuned.

Thinking about going to the beach tonight.  I usually play with Sam for a little while, then go for a walk or sit in my chair and read.  Seth used to love the beach, but now  he is too cool to hang out at the beach with his parents.  I'd say I was never like that as a teenager but, of course, I was. 

Almost as exciting as finishing the first draft of my story: I have a couple of tomatoes growing in my garden.  I'm a wicked fahmah, yessah.

Batman and Kindle

The first draft of The Auctioneer will be finished this week.  I'm very excited because I plan to set it aside and immediately go to work finishing Mowa Lettahs From Maine.  My goal is to have that one published as an ebook by the end of June, so I'll really have to push.  I've been writing a lot lately, especially at night after Sam goes to bed, and I think I'll be able to do it.

Sam has been watching the 1965 Batman movie, with Adam West.  He watched it about 5 or 6 times last week and loved it.  There is nothing better than watching a 5-year-old figuring out the jokes of such a classic, campy movie and laughing his head off.  His favorite may be the name of the person who bought a submarine from the Navy - P.N. Gwin.  Sam just thinks that's so funny - "Get it? P.N. Gwin?  It's Penguin!"  He's walking around saying things are purrrfect, like Catwoman, and quoting other parts of the movie.  The kid's going to be a comedy writer (I hope).

I got a Kindle from the library last week.  It's ironic that I publish ebooks but have never used a Kindle or Nook. I love the smell and feel of books and it's hard for me to let go of that - kind of like going down with the ship, I suppose.  But now I think, why can't I have both?   On the Kindle I am reading "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and really enjoying it.   Who knows, I may end up buying myself one for Christmas.

School's Out

School's out.  Sam is already done, and Seth's last day is tomorrow.  If I happened to be unsure about that, all I'd have to do is turn the radio on the classic rock stations and listen to Alice Cooper tell me School's Out three to five times a day. 

An editor wrote to me last weekend about a short story I submitted to his magazine.  He wrote that they would consider publishing my story if I made a few revisions, but judging by the list of suggestions I may need to start over and write an entirely different story.  I'm going to try to do what he asked, though.  Maybe he's right and it will make the story better.  I doubt it, but maybe.

Lettahs From Maine continues to sell.  I have to say that I'm very surprised and very pleased.  I wonder how Mowa Lettahs From Maine will do when I publish it this summer.  I should probably focus on finishing it before I worry about things like that.