Roll

I hesitate to mention this because I'm afraid that I will jinx myself or bring myself once again to the attention of some malevolent aspect of the universe, but ... last week I wrote 11 "keeper" pages on Murder by the Mile. I was able to hold the book in my mind and move in that world. Clumsy in some ways when compared to my grasp of it before, like returning to a familiar place and things are slightly different. I even see the murders in a different slant. The story is moving forward.

I may be out of park. Not into drive, but rolling forward a bit. No promises. No deadlines. No saying it will be published this year. In the past, I broke all promises, missed all deadlines, and obviously didn't publish it. So this time, it's me and the computer and the story and, of course, all of you. Which makes exactly six people, including me, who know I'm working on it and getting pages.

I don't know why it feels like this--like it's a secret or maybe too tender to survive any intense scrutiny, but it does. We'll see what happens, if this rolling leads to a drive or it's me going downhill to a more level place.

About halfway through Weeping Willow. I have several narrative questions that I'm waiting to see if Wendy answers. Wish I had the ink and paper to print it out. I don't like reading on the computer, and there's something about seeing a sentence on a paper that appeals to my eyes. Yes, I'm outdated.

We had our writers group meeting Saturday morning. A good crowd that seemed to respond to my program. The program was "Gentle: Marking for Artistic Souls." I talked about the publication of Murder by Dewey Decimal and what I learned and how surprised I was by its success when I was stumbling my way blind into the publication world. I will always be grateful for that book, because in a lot of ways, it saved my life. After the meeting was over, six people stayed to ask more questions and generally be appreciative. Wish I knew how to always present programs that would be so well received.

Today I walked a mile nonstop. The first time since my heart attack. I was exhausted afterwards, but recovered fairly quickly. It's heartening in one way and discouraging in another. In one way, I have worked myself back to a nonstop mile, so that's good. But a year ago, I was walking two miles and spending time on the exercise bike afterwards, so I've fallen back that much. Well, overall, it's good, I think, and maybe a sign that I've finally turned a curve on this.

So my plans this week?
- Walk each day.
- Household chores.
- Continue on MBTM.
- Finish WW and produce crit.
- Book signing Thursday afternoon at the library for the writer group anthology.

That's enough. Will be happy if I do those. Hope you have a good week and roll along toward your goals as I hope I roll along to reach mine.