Four new subscribers last week, and three dropped out the next day. I gave out some good information, a great link to follow, and three dropped out. This isn’t a television series, folks. I don’t solve crimes. I don’t explore archeological sites. I sit in front of my computer day in and day out, writing, editing, researching, hoping and praying I’ll get my contract. I read book after book, good and bad, learning from them my craft. That’s all I do. All the bestsellers out there, that’s all they do. No shit. They sit and write, edit and research, all day, everyday.

A whole lot of editing going on this week, and I spent one whole day on chapter four. The prologue took a day, and the first three chapters took two days. I had to add to chapter four and smooth it out. I deleted a few lines that compromised the flow of the chapter. I put it away for the night, and the next day I read it again, making a few more small changes. Now it’s ready. On to chapter five. I may spend another day on this chapter, or it may be good to go. I started reading another traditional fantasy novel by a renown author, making notes, and then I lost my notebook for a day. The cats, and I have a dozen of the little eating machines, knocked it behind the chair.

And, talking about cats, I did have to shoot a mean tom cat this week. Fatso had killed one of my other cats, and was after my kittens. I can’t have that. I keep a small herd going, because nature and the highway thins them out, but a mean tom would eventually kill them all. I like my cats. The kittens play in the garden, the adults play with the kittens, and they’re very entertaining. Right now they’re all outside. By next month, that’s where they will all live. Outdoors, where all good garden kitties belong.

I play one computer game, Oblivion - The Elder Scrolls IV, as my reward for a good work week. I get a lot of work done, I put in a few hours. I started the game in January, explored every cave, ruin, site, whatever, on the main game, and was halfway done with the Shivering Isles, when both my save games glitched. I saved just as a fireball had been launched at me. My own fault, I’m sure, for saving my game where I did. I started over. My character was at level 42, which means I was about as powerful as I could get. I had great armor, could carry almost a ton, had my luck level up to 89. I was cute, too. I play as a young girl. I found I’m not as likely to take stupid chances with her. Starting over means I have to design my character again, and it’s hard to get that same look. I was real cute. The bad thing about this is all that hard work exploring, down the tubes. The good thing is, when I start over, I’m going to try hard not to die, even once. I died three times, during that last game. And, always give the beggars a coin. I don’t know why, but all that goodwill builds good karma.

I update my life blog once a week (next time big pictures, not small), and the Central Park blog once a month. I’ll post something good for next month, though I’m not sure what it will be. Maybe some of my new stuff. See you next week.