Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Danny Adams' LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
1:11 pm	Slowly Coming Together I like the fact that the storylines in this first chapter of the new third book are finally coming together. I very much don't like the fact that it's happening tortuously slowly (from my perspective) and taking so many pages. I've had good luck with revisions and trimming before when I've felt this way about the Shenandoah chapters, though this time I know I'll also be adding a lot to already written sections. Though for once, I think my problem with the chapter is less word count for its own sake than the feeling that nothing so much is "happening". At least not compared to the previous chapters...but then again, it's hard to compete with abolition, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. In the meantime, I managed to squeak out some more writing yesterday, but only because it was already in my head before I sat down to type. PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/8/09, PART 2 New Words: 950 on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. Mark's sister Rachel and his best friend Hardy (who are long married by this point) explain to Mark why they won't be leaving the land they've been forced onto, no matter how bad it is. Total Words: 34950. Reason For Stopping: I'd been feeling ill earlier in the day which kind of wore me out, then attempted one piece of a workout, which wore me out further. I stopped writing tonight simply because I ran out of steam. Book Year: 1884. Mammalian Assistance: None. Exercise: 15 minutes on an elliptical. (This turned out to be just over a mile; usually I do a mile on this machine in 11:45.) Stimulants: None, though I could've used something. Today's Opening Passage(s): Hardy was an even sadder sight. He didn’t have enough fight in him to even cross his arms. And poor Judah, who was twelve years old and looked two or three years younger. It was evident to Mark that only pride kept Rachel and her family from leaping onto supper like wolves. Mark told news of the family; Rachel asked a small question now and again, while Hardy and Judah said nothing. Finally Mark worked up the nerve to ask Hardy, “Music tonight? I’ve been pining for hearing your dulcimer for an age.” Hardy shrugged, as if he’d only then remembered he had a dulcimer. Which, Mark thought, might be the case. Mark turned to his sister. “I almost can’t remember the last time I heard you sing,” he told her. “I can,” she answered. Darling Du Jour: “What do you mean to do?” Mark asked. “About what? Henry Cooper?” Hardy shrugged, sagging a little again. “What can we do? But about this land...we’ll make it prosper. Or die trying. There’s nothing else.” Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: ccfinlay. Current Mood: awake Current Music: Music from *The Man in the Iron Mask* (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
12:31 pm	A Conservationist Two Decades Early PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/7-8/09 New Words: 1500 (600/900) on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. Stonewall Brigade vet Mark Evans, now alone in mid-life, is starting to become a conservationist of Eastern land a couple of decades before it became fashionable (or perhaps acceptable) in the East. Total Words: 34000. Reason For Stopping: Called to another need / Other work scraping at the edges. Book Year: 1884. Mammalian Assistance: None, though Friday did his daily thing of pounding at the Writing Room door. Exercise: Yesterday, a lower body workout. Today, none yet though I plan an upper body workout this evening. Stimulants: None. Today's Opening Passage(s): Yesterday: (Probably a little too spoilery.) Today: There was peace here, and succor. For hours Mark walked among the woods he’d known since childhood—had hunted in and ranged through since he could walk, but never really gazed at closely. He’d pulled chestnut bark for tanning, but now he fingered a single, dried serrated leaf still clinging to a low-hanging limb. He caught raccoons before when the war’s hunger drove him to it, and had seen the tracks of the little thieves countless times, but for the first time he noticed how much their paws looked like a child’s handprint. Darling Du Jour: (From yesterday:) The closer he looked, the nearer he got to the smaller things, the more movement he witnessed. On the great chestnut trees dominating a third of the mountain and the oaks that fought for a close second, the insects still labored, marching their mighty tasks up and down through the vertical rows of coarse-grained bark. Here and there above him birds showed themselves so quickly they were almost dreamlike glimpses: a flash of red cardinal, an eyeblink swoop of a blue jay, bright and dark dots of finches against the snowflakes. Deer and fox prints wove in and out of each other, already filling with white. Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: ccfinlay; My Antonia, by Willa Cather. (I caught three chapters of the latter on XM Radio's book channel while driving to Peoria, and now I want to finish the book.) Current Mood: restless Current Music: Abba, for some reason (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
1:04 pm	Switching Scenes PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/6/09 New Words: 2200 on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. The bad guys gets comeuppance from an unexpected source. This also partly ends a storyline that stretched through most of this chapter, and I'm moving back briefly to an old friend. Total Words: 32500. And the chapter is only about 3/4s done, which means it's too long. But I can always trim it later. Reason For Stopping: Finished the scene. Book Year: 1884. Mammalian Assistance: None, through Friday tried getting in. Exercise: Most of an upper body workout with 5 gym laps and stretches, 15 minutes on the elliptical (5-6 mph the first half mile, 6-6.5 mph the second half, and then a three-minute cooldown), most of the resistance machines and free weight exercises with 20 and 30 pound weights, then a five-minute cooldown on an easy-level bike setting at around 90-100 RPMs. Stimulants: None. Today's Opening Passage: Part of Callie’s brain could still absorb the beauty of the mountain hollow once called Ama Springs. The Alleghenies were still magnificent; the wind drifting up the mountainside through the forests was still sweet-smelling. But thanks to Hardy Gillespie, Callie had seen the land here before the village was swept away and a hotel built atop the hot springs. Amid all the life she felt like she walked atop a grave, chilled despite the sticky heat. Darling Du Jour: Do you really think I don’t know you were the head of the night riders here? Callie wondered. She fought the rising bile in her throat by turning to Amanda Cooper, the namesake of the hotel—though knowing the hollow’s original name, she wondered about that as well. “Have you read my work as well, Mrs. Cooper?” She gasped, her fork frozen halfway to her mouth. She glanced at her husband, whose amiable eyes turned slightly colder. “Why…in fact I believe I have read some number of them, Mrs. Schenk.” “How do you find them?” “Oh, I…I couldn’t say...” “Please.” She found herself laying her hand on Amanda’s. The woman swallowed hard and glanced at Henry again. “I’m very curious as to a woman’s opinion. Certainly you have one, Mrs. Cooper? This woman is opinionated enough to write them, after all.” Callie noticed that this time she looked at her son, who seemed to hope no one would look at him at all. “I think them...quite fine, Mrs. Schenk. You seem to look into the very heart of things. And people.” Callie smiled with genuine warmth. “It’s a joy to me that you think so, Amanda.” I also like Henry stormed to their bedroom, found a jeweled cameo of Amanda, and threw it at the wall. But he missed. Instead it sailed out a window, over the veranda, and flew as if soaring towards the endless mountains beyond the town. Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: ccfinlay. Current Mood: discontent Current Music: "Bus Stop", by the Hollies (Comment on this)
Monday, July 6th, 2009
2:49 pm	Some Recent Reading 7 Man-Made Substances that Laugh in the Face of Physics. Just cool. Awful Library Books. I first saw this when somebody on LJ linked to it, but unfortunately now I can't remember who it was. Food Renegade: Wendell Berry Picks Jail Over NAIS. One of my favorite Appalachian authors takes on animal IDing. (Thanks to commonreader for the heads up.) A Historian Is on a Quest to Locate Lost Events. He's doing this in New York City, and I wish him luck... Lewis and Clark in murder mystery 200 years after their final expedition. The thing is, despite what this article says I grew up reading that Meriwether Lewis was probably murdered. Especially considering the fishy circumstances--and the fact that he was shot in both the head and the chest. 'Oldest' Prehistoric Art Unearthed. From my love of Really, Really Old Stuff. I hope this is what they think it is. Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field Explained by Small Core Fluctuations. This has fascinated me ever since I took geology in college. Rome opens up underground wonders of the ancient world to tourists. Another discovery in my ongoing love of Really Old Stuff. Treating Oneself Kindly When Things Go Badly Could Be A Key To Weathering Life's Challenges, Researchers Say. I'm not very good at the self-compassion thing. Tributes slated as Guiding Light draws to a close . I'd like to say I'm throwing this in solely for the historical fact that this show was on the air for 72 years. But I'll admit that I was a fan in the early 1990s, due mainly to having a crush on Beth Ehlers (who played Harley Davidson Cooper). What's On My Food? Pesticides On Food. Num num. UPDATE: Forgot one... Oldest Bible made whole again online. I remember being fascinated by this Bible years ago since some of its pieces didn't exactly match what we have now. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Allison Krauss and Union Station (2 Comments |Comment on this)
2:22 pm	Fictional Sites Open For Business I just got an e-mail from Marge Simon letting me know she was accepting my SF poem "A Plea to Time's Gatekeepers" for Star*Line. Woot! I also forgot to mention last week that the current issue of the same magazine features my my lighthearted post-apocalypse poem "Today in the Power Outage". This was written after llama4prez15 challenged me to write a poem about the power outage we were in at the time. PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/3 AND 7/5/09 New Words: 3650 (1400/2250) on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. The unsegregated orphanage is open, the mountain hotel capitalizing on the new idea of "hillbillies" is open, and some of the characters are struggling to survive a forced exile. Total Words: 30300. Reason For Stopping: Trying to cram a lot of other work into the weekend on both sides of the holiday. Book Year: 1884. Mammalian Assistance: None. Though Hayes has been trying to get into the Writing Room again, when she's not sacked out in front of the air conditioner. Exercise: Took Tucker for a walk around campus on Sunday morning. Stimulants: Some Dr. Pepper on Friday, none on Sunday. Today's Opening Passage(s): Friday: The orphanage is real. There were a dozen reasons that the part of Moses lacking in faith assumed it would never come to be, even as he looked at the nearly finished structure rising in brown river stone nearly in sight of Winchester. Not the least of which was the sheer girth of wealthy citizens of Winchester and other nearby towns who didn’t want it to happen. But of course, if God wanted something to happen, then His slightest breath could blow away all those in opposition to His will. Sunday: Rachel loved her niece Callie dearly. But as another hard winter approached the Melungeons and she watched her own family descending into the depth of a cold silence—no music, no laughter—she vowed that she would not let Callie destroy Ama Springs. Especially since Callie had no idea she could ruin them. Rachel meant to make sure she never found this out. Darling Du Jour: Meaningless without the context, I know, but I like the concluding sentence of one scene: And the Melungeons survived another year. I also like “You’re an Evans and a Schenk,” he told her, and his smile split into a broad grin for many different reasons. “It’s been my experience, Callie, that you give people exactly what they need.” Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: A Spell For the Revoluton by ccfinlay. Current Mood: frustrated Current Music: *Love What You Do*, the Hackensaw Boys (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
2:57 pm	Building A Hotel Where Lives Used To Be PROGRESS REPORT FOR 7/1/09 New Words: 1400 on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. A tourist hotel, fed by people who want to see what "primitive" mountain living in Appalachia looks like, is nearly complete atop a land where those "primitive" people once lived. Total Words: 26650. Reason For Stopping: To go to my workout. Book Year: 1881. Mammalian Assistance: None. Exercise: A workout I reduced to 20 minutes and took a little easy since I was feeling crummy. Later I went walking with Laurie and the dogs, but we both (Laurie and me, not the dogs) were feeling crummy so we cut it to a half loop around campus. Stimulants: None. Today's Opening Passage(s): Jackson fretted across the three days he traveled for Henry Cooper’s summons—two days from Melrose to Staunton, then another at Cooper’s recommendation, saying he wanted Jackson well rested before coming to Amanda Springs. But that was all Jackson’s wealthy employer told him, so he assumed the worst. He usually did. He hardly felt competent at the best of times, and pessimistic that he would ever make a success of himself—and save himself from starvation—the rest of his waking hours. Sometimes he dreamed his own self-immolations as well. At twenty-two he knew he was lumpy of feature, plain of intelligence, neither charming nor amiable of manner, and he couldn’t understand why the master of Melrose—plantation and town alike, now—took such an interest in him. Darling Du Jour: A cynical darling, from the Bad Guy explaining to his protege how to economically explot men of low social stature: “There is a great story about this land, Jackson,” Henry finally resumed, “that the poorest and meanest of men can, through their own hard work and tenacity, rise to great wealth and prominence. I happen to believe this.” He pointed the cigar at his young employee. “Yet most men are not willing to work so hard, or will surrender too early when facing the rigorous demands of industry. But the story of triumph persists. So what can we do to convince those who will never make it to not even bother trying?” He smiled and chomped the cigar. “Convince them that they are truly no better than coloreds. Then they will accept whatever jobs you hand them at whatever pay they can get. Never pay a man more than he’s worth, Jackson—and if you convince him that he’s worth little more than nothing, you can pay him even less. Your sister’s orphanage may be a breeding ground for convincing the whelps of this Valley that they’re worth no more than a few pennies a day by the time they’re old enough to take up employment.” He gave Jackson a hard stare. “Provided they learn the proper lessons.” Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; ccfinlay. Current Mood: anxious Current Music: "Duel of the Fates", from *Star Wars* (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
11:18 am	Still Working On Getting That Orphanage Built PROGRESS REPORT FOR 6/30/09 New Words: 1350 on chapter 1 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. The capitalist project near Staunton is getting built a lot faster than the altruistic project near Winchester. Total Words: 25250. Reason For Stopping: Went to my workout. Usually I'd been doing the workouts first and then writing, but too much lately this meant that I never got to the writing. Book Year: 1881. Mammalian Assistance: None. Exercise: Most of a lower body workout. 1.35 miles (15 minutes) on an elliptical usually at 5.3-6 mph, two leg machines at the maximum setting, and a 100-125 RPM mile on an exercise bike's easiest setting. Stimulants: None. Today's Opening Passage: She expected nothing to come of it, certainly not that the newspaper would print it. But anger roiled inside her and it needed some direction so as not to erupt against Will. Thus it came as a shock when Will’s Uncle Cornelius, editor of the staunchly Republican paper the Winchester Sentinel, burst into the house waving a copy of the Clarion. “This is brilliant, Callie!” he declared. “Madness, but brilliant!” Darling Du Jour: Will’s uncle was right about how little Callie’s plan to not segregate the children had harmed the Schenk cattle business—until a few days after the letter’s appearance. The Clarion printed a flurry of angry letters retaliating against Callie’s uppity pronouncements. The same day the worst appeared, Will came home that night pale and obviously angry. “The Millers canceled their contract,” he said, looking at everything in his office but Callie. “Thirty years they’ve bought stock from us. And they’re not even the biggest loss.” At last he stared at her with fear in his eyes. “Winchester, Callie. The town itself is threatening to find another supplier.” She stiffened. Once again the consequences of her actions were striking Will, who constantly stood between their barrage and his wife. “What do you plan to do?” He rose and slammed his palms on the desk. “Nothing.” “What do you mean?” He smiled faintly. “Either I believe in this orphanage or I don’t. Either I believe in you or I don’t. If this farm can survive Indian attacks and civil war, it can survive the displeasure of the town of Winchester and a few of its citizens.” Submissions Sent Out In June: 3 to magazines, 1 to agents. Total Submissions Out Right Now: 4 to magazines, 2 to agents. Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; ccfinlay. Current Mood: restless Current Music: Opening theme from *The Blue and the Gray* (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
2:55 pm	Hiking (A Small Piece Of) The Appalachian Trail, Concluded (With 19 Photos, Some Large) Sgt. Jackson of the McAfee's Knob Expeditionary Force. ( +18 ) Current Mood: calm Current Music: Allison Krauss (8 Comments |Comment on this)
2:22 pm	Hiking (A Small Piece Of) The Appalachian Trail, Part Two (With 18 Photos, Some Large, Plus 1 Video) Panorama from the Knob. I wonder why my scenic videos always turn out looking like 1960s-era 8 mm shots? ( +18 ) Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: The Superman Theme (9 Comments |Comment on this)
1:49 pm	Hiking (A Small Piece Of) The Appalachian Trail, Part One (With 19 Photos, Some Large) Finally, I'm getting my shots from my McAfee's Knob last Saturday up and running. Kristi / poetesskris' sons Andrew and Zachary waiting to really get underway. ( +18 ) Current Mood: rushed Current Music: *Jesus Christ Superstar* (6 Comments |Comment on this)
10:41 am	There Are Few Happier Things In This World... ...than getting back in touch with a friend you were once very close to after thinking she was lost to you for good. Current Mood: Wall-bouncing Current Music: "The 59th Street Rag", by Simon and Garfunkel (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 29th, 2009
2:58 pm	Rugged Adventurers! (Another McAfee's Knob hike shot from poetesskris.) Current Mood: Ran-around Current Music: Music from *North and South* (Comment on this)
2:03 pm	Illinois And Back Again, Part Two, With Riverboat And Historic Pharmacy (16 Photos) Along the Illinois River. ( +15 ) Current Mood: sad Current Music: "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee" (7 Comments |Comment on this)
1:21 pm	Illinois And Back Again, Part One, With Hail (17 Photos Plus 1 Video) A small (compared to the number of pictures I took) album of shots from my trip to Peoria a few weeks ago to say goodbye to my aunt and attend FarmerCon IV. Mostly family shots in this one, with some scenery thrown in here and there. Southwest Virginia just after dawn. ( +17 ) Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: "Alley Cat" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
12:17 pm	Other Reports About My Appalachian Trail Hike I haven't yet uploaded any of the pictures I took on my hike to McAfee's Knob on the Appalachian Trail this past Saturday, but if you like you can check out some shots over on Time_Shark's and Poetesskris' Live Journals. A shot from poetesskris: Allen Jackson, me, Mike Allen / time_shark, and Kris herself. Current Mood: Achy Current Music: "Swan Lake" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
11:05 am	A New Chapter For The Shenandoah Books Almost literally. I've decided on the trilogy format, implemented my original plan of what chapter goes into which book, and found that the first book will now indeed be almost exactly 100,000 words even without some trimming I mean to do. Which means that I'm now writing the first chapter of book three, still titled The Great Valley. PROGRESS REPORT FOR 6/25/09 New Words: 2100. Two mostly competing ideologies get started on the same story week. One to help children of the New South, one to help its economy. Total Words: Somewhere in the neighborhood of 21,000. I haven't done an exact count yet. (Update: It came in at 23,900.) Reason For Stopping: Was feeling sleepy out of my gourd, just like I have for most of the past few days. Don't know why. But my head was actually starting to swim a little by the time I hit the 2K mark. Book Year: 1881. Mammalian Assistance: None, though Friday tried to enter the enclave. Exercise: 15 minutes (about 1.3 miles) on an elliptical trainer, usually moving at 4.5-5.5 mph. Stimulants: A tall glass of chocolate milk. Today's Opening Passage: This one shows the Michener influence: In the spring of 1881, nearly the same day though on opposite ends of the Valley, ground was broken on two buildings that would leave deep and opposing footprints in the years to come. Darling Du Jour: Even if they wanted to tell anyone they had lived there, that their grandparents’ grandparents were born on this ground and baptized by their grandparents, no one involved with this new building cared to listen. They were to take orders, gratefully accept whatever scraps Henry Cooper offered in the way of payment and living conditions, and if they were lucky they might get employee cabins nearby. Cabins no better or worse than they’d known before, except for being coffins now instead of heirlooms. This next bit may be rewritten since by this point my brain was feeling a little muddy. But I'm also kind of fond of the conclusion of a letter about her orphanage that Callie is writing to the local conservative newspaper: There is no menace in children, regardless of the blood their small hearts pump through their veins, and there will be no menace to the community in caring for them. They are the Samaritans of our time. When a child is in need I can turn him away no more than Christ turned away the vilest sinner. Especially since there is no sin in these children, except perhaps those sins they have learned from adults. Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; ccfinlay; Birmingham. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: "String Of Pearls", by Glenn Miller (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
10:27 am	Shenandoah Est Omnis Divisa In Partes Tres A few months ago I wrote an entry here that was brainstorming about whether I should break Shenandoah into two books or three. At the time I decided on two for various reasons, but kept in mind my plan of how the series could become a trilogy. I think I hit the trilogy tipping point yesterday. While there are agents out there who say they are willing to look at books as big as mine by new authors, I got a warning yesterday from my favorite Appalachian author, Sharyn McCrumb. She's caught at least a couple of my Progress Reports thanks to the fact that my public Live Journal entries automatically feed to Facebook, and yesterday she warned that publishers won't consider a new author's book if it goes over 100,000 words. Which, obviously, Shenandoah and The Great Valley do. So that kicked my brain in high division gear for the rest of the day, mulling over my original trilogy plan. With some trimming I already had in mind, Books One and Three would round out at the 100K mark, though Book Two would go well over thanks primarily to the fact that the Civil War looms enormously in this story, with a 42K chapter just covering up to Stonewall Jackson's death alone. But that just means my editing and trimming skills will get an extra workout. So under the trilogy plan, here is how the Shenandoah series would work out: Book One: Shenandoah. Pre-European contact through the end of the Backcountry era. 1646 to 1797. (I'm also itching to add a short "geology" chapter at the beginning, but aside from that messing with the word count, I feel kind of confident that I would make a hash of such a thing, even though the Shenandoah's prehistory fascinates me as much as any period of written history.) Book Two: Weary are the Hearts. The early Appalachian Virginia abolitionist movements through the Civil War and Reconstruction. 1815 to 1870. Book Three: The Great Valley. The New South through the 21st century. 1877 to 2010. Which means the chapter I'm working on now would be / is chapter one of Book Three. Another semi-related thing I was considering last night was whether "The Shenandoah Saga" is too pretentious, and that I should simply call this series the Shenandoah Trilogy. Then again, I also have trouble selling myself when it comes to writing and this is something I need to work on as well. Current Mood: Pondering Current Music: Various riffs from *Centennial* (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
12:28 pm	Facebook I'm now also Madwriter over on Facebook too. As long as I procrastinated getting a user name over there, I'm a little surprised that was still available. I haven't been so lucky on other social networking sites. Current Mood: full Current Music: Closing music from *Dances With Wolves* (Comment on this)
10:32 am	Yesterday's Work, Part Two After writing and posting the 1700 words yesterday morning, I did another 1700 last night: PROGRESS REPORT FOR 6/23/09, PART 2 New Words: 1700 on chapter 4 ("The Builders, 1877") of The Great Valley. The circuit rider gets involved in the events that led to a disaster at his home. Total Words: 141100. Reason For Stopping: Just done for the night. Book Year: 1880. Mammalian Assistance: None. Exercise: A lower body workout with some extra arm lifting and walking, then walking around campus later that night with Laurie and the dogs. Today's Opening Passage: There was work, so much work to do in the Shenandoah, as there was all over God’s creation, Moses knew. He took great satisfaction—as much as he would allow himself, stopping just shy of pride—in doing the Lord’s work in the Valley. He was still a circuit rider, going to the people in need of God who lived in the backcountry, too far from churches, just as circuit riders had done since the Methodists sent their first riders out on horses with no more than a Bible, a canteen, and a little food. But from time to time a man liked to find his way home and rest awhile. So this Moses meant to do now. Darling Du Jour: That was a year ago. The Methodists had no provisions for colored riders, but Moses paid little attention to such technicalities. Now Naphtali accompanied the woods minister—so Moses called himself, ordained by calling and deeds if not the church itself—everywhere he went. There’d been surprisingly little trouble with the whites. They saw what they wanted to see. Even those who would spit on a colored man sooner than anything simply assumed Naphtali was a servant. More benevolent souls believed Moses took the boy on as a personal burden to save Naphtali’s soul. That was, Moses thought on reflection, not so far from true as to matter. Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; ccfinlay; Birmingham. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Johhny Carson's *Tonight Show* theme, in memory of Ed McMahon (Comment on this)
10:08 am	It's A Good Thing... ...that I never really, seriously thought things like "I wonder how much work Shenandoah will be?" before I started work on it, or that I never really, seriously think about how much work I still have to do yet on The Great Valley. Because if I thought things like this I would have been way too intimidated to ever get started at all, or finish them now that they're more than three-quarters of the way through. Of course...don't most novelists feel this way at one point or another? Current Mood: Whelmed Current Music: *Love What You Do*, by the Hackensaw Boys (3 Comments |Comment on this)