July Writing Update

 Elmore Leonard once said, “I never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people.” 

So What About the Weather? -  July has been pleasant here in our little part of the world. We have had some warm days, mostly offset by cool nights. Overall, the summer has been a bit cooler than the 30-year average. The fine weather has allowed for more flowers and more vegetables than last year. Two small hail storms were the only downside of this summer’s weather. The second one was short-lived, but nickel-sized hail took out most of our raspberries and the higher-on-the-vine tomatoes. Update - tomatoes are looking good and tasting even better!

Finishing a Book – I was asked this week if I had ever started but not finished a book. They should have asked me how many books have you started but not finished. My answer – too many. I have written nearly 200 pages with 200+ footnotes on one nonfiction project, now dead for five years. Add a kid’s book or two, a memoir, and two series books I abandoned. I nearly forgot to mention a history storybook and a historical highlights book. Maybe some days, I will go back and look at one or more of these books, but not soon.

Edits – The first long and slow edit of the third of my Blade Holmes western mysteries is complete. Now I will lay it aside for a week or two, then listen to the computer read it. Then a third go through. In the meantime, I am editing the third of my nonfiction books for older readers. It is a shorter book; I should finish this edit in a week or so.

 

Writing Quote of the Week – “A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.” Sidney Sheldon

Photos – Today’s photos are from this week’s wanderings, walks, and strolls.