Oscars

Something wonderful happened at the Kodak Theatre last night. A movie won four Oscars. The King's Speech won an Oscar for Best Picture and it had NO violence and NO explicit, instructional SEX in it. NO guns exploded on-screen to create momentary deafness in the eardrums, NO one was beaten up, scarred or mutilated. NO one was tortured or cut into little pieces. NO cars drove through the market upsetting apple carts, scattering people from the screen, etc.

Egads, could this generation of movie goers be refining their tastes in entertainment? Are we becoming an enlightened people?

BOOK PHOTOS

So okay, here’s the deal. I planned to have twenty photos including maps in Major Fraser’s. I had them all arranged, altered from color to black & white, lined up as I wanted them placed in the book. Captions were written and ready. Permissions to publish them were received. But as the Universe commands, plans go awry.

I spent four days trying to upload the photos into the body of the manuscript where I wanted them to be. Success, well almost. As soon as they were placed and I was worn out from the day’s efforts, I closed my laptop…and lost them all. @!&#*

On the third day I began placing map one in the book and put the caption next to it instead of doing all the photos then adding the captions. Easy. The second map was not so easy, but was placed. I started on the photos and havoc broke out. When the captions were placed, the photos moved around on their own volition or at least that is how it seemed. They moved up and down and sometimes just disappeared. When I settled the photo the captions disintegrated. And I had not even gotten to the pixel stuff yet.

It was time for a life threatening choice. Lose the photos or get ulcers. Another hard lesson. In my next book, now approaching the last third of the manuscript, I’ll have a professional photographer handle that end.

Birthing a Book

Okay, okay. It is all true. Writing a book is like birthing a baby. First forming the creative idea =getting pregnant, going through the nine month gestation (which takes a lot longer with a manuscript) =actually writing, finding just the right name =then exploding into labor =which is the last step of editing, proof reading and all that goes with it; egads, pulling out the hair and all =before holding that little creation in your hands =The Book.

Whew! I’ve had the heartburn, the indigestion, the tossing and turning during the sleepless nights when my characters drove me a bit nutty, the aches, the pains and the final push which brings it all together and comes into a form. Major Fraser's is coming soon, it is in the hands of the printer.

But it is looking good even though the planned photos did not get into the book. Two are posted. And already I am seeing things that I should have done differently……….just like raising kids.

Cats in the Window

Don’t you just love cats in the window…….it’s a welcome sign like some people put a candle in the window. It is a picture of Welcome Home. At least that’s how I feel when I see the girls waiting for me to return from where ever I’ve been. I would often like to take them with me, but my cats just don’t travel well like most dogs do. I notice down here in North Carolina everyone has dogs and they all travel along with their heads out the window or riding along in the back of the pick-up. Neat. I guess cats and dogs are just as different as men and women.