Revisions

I've made the remaining edits to the manuscript that my first readers indicated, and submitted it to the workshop for this Thursday. The most extensive edits were to the last two chapters, so those are what I submitted. Both chapters are longer than before, as I had to fix and explain some aspects that were contrary to common sense. Thanks, Workshop!

Currently, the story just tops 99,000 words.

Struggling with a title. The book to me has always been The Weaver's Children. But that won't yield results from a Google search for RH. I suppose I should just call it Robin Hood. The Ballad of Robin Hood. "Ballad" gives it a softer sound, appropriate for my main character, and ties in with the historical RH ballads, the ballads Tuck recites within the story, and the ballads that Allan will sing later.

Hmm, let me sleep on that, and run it by the workshop.

I'd thought of submitting Dragonlord, but my revisions should be seen by someone, so they get what they get. I've worked quite a bit on the query letter. There's a professional workshop in Kansas City in March, and I'm trying to decide if I can afford to go, and what to do with the dogs for the two nights I'd be gone. I'd have to dispose of them early on Friday, then head to KC, stay overnight, workshop on Sat, stay overnight again, then drive back and pick up the dogs Sunday. Maybe I can split them up among various hosts.

Query letter

I've been through three drafts of my query letter -- feels like I'm nearly there. The goal is to introduce the protagonist and antagonist and to summarize the story up through the first big crisis and resulting choices. What are the consequences of each choice; what's at stake?

The target audience for this letter is an agent, the person who will decide whether or not to try to sell my story to a publisher. The purpose is to get the agent to want to read the manuscript.

A query letter is remarkably hard to write!

New year, new goals

It's been a very long time since last I posted. Much has changed; much remains the same.

My biggest news is that I have finished a novel. It took two years of increasingly intensive labor, but I wrapped up the final chapters in early December, in time to get feedback before year's end. The feedback was very useful, and I've been rewriting. My goal for the next two months is to finish revisions, write a good query letter and synopsis, and identify potential agents. There's a writer's conference in Kansas City in late March that I'd like to attend. Others, also within driving distance, are scheduled later in the year, but I need to keep moving forward.

And I need to begin the next one!

Autumn

The Scarlet Oaks along the road turned color in just the past couple of days. The Red Oak S of the old house is a much duller color. The Scarlet Oak S of the old house is on the yellow side. But the ones by the road are gorgeous! Planted too close to the evergreens, of course. I should get in there and mow around them.

Autumn Equinox approaches

I ran four miles this morning! I'd only meant to run 3.2, but went beyond the turning point a bit, to take that low hill, and then kept on over the top and down to the little bridge over the creek. I thought I could walk whenever I needed to stop running, but I started calling cadence for myself and kept on past my lane to take a bit of the big hill.

I started running again, finally, in St. Louis, around the base of the Arch. But I foolishly ran some (low) hills or rises of land, and was extremely sore for 3-4 days when we got back. But the next week I started running, just a mile or a bit, and settled on a plan. (Remains to be seen how long I follow it.) What's most important is to GET OUT THERE, but my knees are bad. (I've also started a strict regimen of glucosamine.) So I plan to run 1 mile on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, and 3 on Wed, then 1 on Thurs., 2 on Friday, and 3 on Saturday, then walk 3 on Sundays, when I have the time. My goal, aside from getting into size 10 jeans and feeling better about myself, is to run the breast cancer race at St. Luke's. But the mornings are dark these days, so I may have to run after work, at least on Tues., Wed., and Friday. The idea is that I would at least sometimes walk whatever remains of the 3.2 miles.

I think/hope I've broken the reading barrier. I read 12 Trollopes over the winter, then all of Mary Stewart, ending with the Merlin books. Then for something completely different (Henry Gibson died this past week), Gorky Park. Then Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Then Camille, which was pretty minor for such a well-known work. Then Diary of a Young Girl and a biography of Anne Frank. Now I'm reading The Time Machine and Other Stories, by HG Wells. Up next will be the 4 dystopias -- Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Animal Farm. Also Trilby by George Du Maurier, and then maybe Daphne, or Edith Wharton.... we shall see!

I planted all those little buddleias beyond the daylilies -- hope they take! The past couple of days I have brought a carload over from the old house. The ceilings haven't yet fallen in, as I feared the constant rains this summer would have caused, and which kept me from going in for the past three months. But we've had NO RAIN all September. Things in the old house are moldy but mostly okay -- some of the paper items are done. Today I brought the big gold balls for the winter porch, and most of the canning things. Tomorrow I want to bring the canning jars, the very last of the books, and maybe some shelves for the garage.

Pete wrote Thursday that Jules has learned she has colon cancer, and must have her entire large intestine removed.

Indigo Buntings

Yesterday there were indigo buntings outside the east windows. I first noticed an otherwise unremarkable bird that had a blue chest. I kept looking as it hopped and changed angles, and I wasn't wrong. Then it was joined by one that was blue on top. Definitely not bluebirds -- those have red chests. These were dark blue. I had let the weeds on the east and north just grow, so there must be tons of seeds for the birds. The hummingbirds are around, too. I hope they are eating Japanese beetles, but it wouldn't seem so.

Meanwhile, I have kept the rest of it mowed -- mostly just to the south of the house and down at the mailbox. If I were truly mowing eveything, it would take more than twice as long. This summer I am mowing once a week for about an hour and a half. That's doable.

I'm also planting up the west side, mostly daylilies, and edging the south side of the house with mulched daylilies and bricks. I think I will lay a sidewalk along that, so I can walk past the flowers without having to walk in wet grass. Also it will reduce the mowing by a trifle. I dug up volunteer butterfly bushes from along the edge of the new driveway. I didn't know they self-seeded!

Young deer and red birds

This morning as I walked down the lane in the mist, I chased off a deer and two young 'uns -- they'd lost their spots, but were still small. One large white tail and two small white tails flashed off into the corn, which just this week has nearly blocked the view of the road.

Last weekend, running down past the bridge, I saw a scarlet tanager. So pretty.

And the next day, a mother groundhog followed closely by a youngster came up the driveway and out past the garage. I don't care for groundhogs, but these two softened my heart -- at least while one is young.

Gina, deprived of the mice and snakes the old house offered, killed a baby rabbit and laid it just below the porch directly in front of the door -- on what would be the main walk if I had a walk.

A Good Day

I taught the 2-hour "Standards of Professionalism" to staff for the first time today, after two sessions with leadership (and a beta session with my own team, and a prototype module with EasyEnroll a few months back). It went really well -- I was sharp and funny and never lost my voice, kept it moving and kept in their faces, even though it was after lunch they participated pretty well -- and at the end they applauded me!

Immediately afterward I met with Jennifer about something, and when I mentioned what I had just been doing, she told me how good I was at training, that she often says to herself, "What did we ever do before Susan came?", and said Michelle Lockhart had told her how good I was.

I need to remember days like today when I have less good days. I had just been feeling that my module was amateurish and my presentation cheesy, so it was really nice to get that type of feedback. Jennifer, of course, wants me to develop and eventually deliver a new topic, cultural diversity. We had a good discussion, but that's not very high on my priority list. Getting everyone trained in Standards, then rolling out Benefits 101 to the supervisors and beginning to present it in a regular fashion to new hires, along with HIPAA and Standards, is primary. Dealing with GOSS is only pertinent for a small percentage of the company.

Nature Notes

Just picked a handful of large, juicy red strawberries, the first of the year. I have been working indoors and the weeds have nearly taken over the garden, which actually looked pretty good last year. On the plus side, I finished the bookcases two weeks ago. I tried staining the mantlepiece, but it was just too much dark wood, plus the (lovely) grain detracted from the beauty of Aaron's design. So I've just finished painting it Medici Ivory. I think this will work. Tried Roman Column yesterday, but way too white. I'd almost give another 1/64th shot of pink and yellow to the Medici -- but I do want it to read White, not Ivory.

I am all ready to measure for curtains, having spotted fabrics I love last autumn. But I have mail-order tomato plants and roses, and a few herbs from Hy-Vee, waiting (some for weeks) to be put out.

About 10 days ago, I finally identified 3 major things that really were getting me down -- laundry, curtains, and paper. So I called a repairman who said I would probably be better off just getting new appliances, so I bit the bullet and went to Slager's. I got their lowest-level GE washer, and would have done the same with the dryer, but most people get the second-level washer and the basic dryer model -- leaving the company with too many basic washers and too few basic dryers. So I got the second-level dryer for the price of the basic, plus got a large discount on delivery, and they hauled the old ones! I did 5 loads of laundry Tuesday night (the day they were delivered), and at least one load per day since. I have too many clothes, but now I think I can begin to let some go.

The curtains are next, and I had planned to go shopping today, but I really need to get these plants out. Okay, any excuse not to have to drive on a weekend....

I watched Gina chase a deer this morning. They faced off yesterday, with neutral results. Today I thought Gina was trying to befriend it -- she loves to rub up against other people -- and the deer seemed more interested than offended, compared to yesterday. But a second deer came up, and Gina charged it. I think she won that one. I would love to see her befrind one, though!

Anyway, yesterday I finally took the plastic off the sofa, put floor guards under the piano legs, and moved them both to where I think I want them. Not a lot of choices, in such a small room.

There's not much wind, so I should go spray weeds.

Light in the sky when I awoke! Wonderful to see. A long, bright horizon. The actual sunrise took a while, but boy is that nice. And a fattish sliver of moon in the dark SSE sky.

The sun comes up over the Sutliff bridge these days.

I walked 2/ran 1 the weekend of the 7th & 8th, as it was so warm -- 40s. Then I ran 1 after work Tues and Thurs the next week. Just had a 3-day weekend (Presidents Day), and walked 2/ran 1 each of those days, even though it was much colder -- 20s. This week, due to work and weather, no running after work, and the coming weekend is going to be even colder. I hope I will have the discipline to go to the gym. Next week looks to be warmer, but also precipitous. But hopefully it will become a daily thing again soon. I am SO unbelieveably out of shape and overweight.

Sunrise at Arrowwood

This morning, through my wonderful kitchen window, I watched the sun peek over the eastern hills a few minutes after 7 am. The sky was clear, the temps in the single digits, and the air and ground were frosty with remnants of Friday night's 4-inch snowfall. I had on GMA, as today is a company holiday (Presidents Day). The sun just showed a gleam as the opening music was ending, and visibly leapt up as Diane Sawyer began the first story. It rises so quickly!

Harvest, home

Ate a strawberry today! They are predicting a hard freeze if the clouds clear, or frost if they stick around. So I picked ripening tomatoes, ripe cherry tomatoes, and volunteer lettuce -- I knew it was a good idea to let them go to seed. And there was one lovely, almost fully ripe strawberry. Yum.

Meanwhile, the house proceeds apace. Yesterday the vents went in for AIR CONDITIONING. Also the siding was delivered, to be installed Monday. Insulation Tues or Wed, fireplace by the end of the week, I believe, and drywall soon -- maybe next week? I showed Eric the color I was thinking of for the front door, and he suggested that I upgrade from steel to wood-grain fiberglass, which won't show dents so readily, at an extra $100. I said okay.

I took a vacation day; Lori Winder came out and inspected the place, then we went to Sutliff for lunch. She is really nice. She got to meet Eric in person, as he had come out to clean. She liked him, and said later that I looked really happy. She also mentioned, in this context, that she is often asked for recommendations. I can't praise him enough, and do so even when talking to people who can't send him much work!

Eric is very proud/pleased, both for me and for himself, I think. He said today, admiringly, that the siding would last for 30 years, the roof that long, the geo of course -- everything is no-maintenance. He sat on the ledge before the fireplace and said that he was going to borrow my idea (for the ledge) for his own future house. He really is fun. I can't wait to meet his wife and kids, and his parents -- I hope they will all come to the open house, if not sooner. Since I can't really imagine yet when the open house will be, if I am to paint and furnish.

The electricians worked Monday through Wednesday. I haven't been keeping up on this as I had intended, because I am exhausted. It is very difficult to sleep on that ancient saggy mattress, in a room with the wrong solar orientation (which I need to get used to), and with the alarm clock in another room down the hall. But there are no outlets in this room, and using the outlet in the hall would expose the alarm clock cord to rainfall. Only about 6 more weeks...

More House

Conversation with Linda at Ellison Insurance, last Thursday:

Since you're not actively involved in farming, we'll cancel the farm policy and just give you a homeowner's policy; we can add an endorsement for the rented farmland.

We'll start with builder's risk coverage, for materials theft, etc., and $128K [the loan amount] to start. As the house is completed, we'll increase the coverage to the final amount. The policy will be $300K liability, for $306.87/year with $1000 deductible. [That's SO much less than I've been paying heretofore!]

Let us know as soon as possible when the coverage should start.

A Brief History of the House

I want to centralize one place for various notes, so I can keep the kitchen table -- and my computer desk -- clean.

Notes from conversation with Lori Winder, my loan officer, when she heard back from the assessor (appraiser). "Everything looks good -- there's quite a bit of land with that. [Assessor] came in with $325,000, but that's inclusive. The value of the house itself is about $168K-$170K; the rest is the land. I've sent the abstract out to be updated; that should happen within a week or two. You could open a separate checking account for the construction loan. You can sign for the loan once we have everything set on our end, even if your builder isn't ready to start. The loan could just sit out there; no interest accrues until an advance is made."

My loan is for $128K (and if the stock market continues to tumble, I have to wonder if that will be enough). The house should ideally assess at the same level or higher than the bid amount, from the bank's point of view. So that they're not lending money for something that's not even going to be worth that amount. But we're good -- the house value is sligthly above Eric's bid -- and the property as a whole is about twice that. So the bank is happy to take my signature on a note.

The above was about a 7-10 days ago. At that point she sent out the abstract to be updated; when that came back, she had Doug Wuff (sp), the appraiser, give her a preliminary title opinion. Everything takes a few days to a couple of weeks...

Then Friday, Aug. 22:

Eric, I just spoke with Lori Winder, and also talked to my insurance company this morning.
The bank says that everything is in place to go ahead with my construction loan. I will meet with Lori on Thursday, Aug. 28, to sign the loan and open a construction checking account (that will help me keep things straight). She said to tell you that funds will be available beginning Thursday.
My insurance company (Ellison, in Solon) will have builder's risk coverage in place on that date as well. So from my point of view, things could get started as early as Thursday afternoon! (Of course, you may have holiday plans and other commitments.)
If there are other things that I need to take care of but don't know about, like permits and inspections and things, we can talk about them. I haven't notified Brian Ulch that I am building, but I think I need to clarify first with Rob Brown if and when he will want to prep the land for the septic field. Same thing with geothermal -- does that go out in the field where there is currently corn, and how much land is needed, etc.? Also I'll have a surveyor come out, once I know roughly what's going to be taken out of production.
Well, I'll stop fussing for a minute and just enjoy this little victory. We have an official go-live date! Woo-hoo!

Eric replied that he would get all permits, and would apply on Monday, but it would take a week or two to get approval. However, in the meantime, he could talk to Rob Brown and get started on tearing down the machine shed and clearing the land. Eric asked if I could meet with the two of them some evening early next week. I replied that I could be home by 5:30 any night. Haven't heard back yet.

Sweet no more

Had the last of my sweet corn yesterday, August 18, which was less than 2 weeks' worth of harvest. Not too disappointed, since I didn't really know what to expect, and I planted quite late, and only 2 boxes, and only a week apart, and their maturity dates were only about a week apart. What with the rain, and the Japanese beetles -- I actually did rather well.

And since I had to eat 2-3 ears every day, which isn't quite the treat it sounds, that was enough.

Sweets for the sweet

I must be awful' sweet, because I just had two ears of homegrown Butter and Sugar sweet corn. And I sliced up that first Husky Pink and ate it with fresh basil leaves and balsamic vinegar. Then I sauteed some store-bought yellow and zucchini squash, with onion and dried tomatoes and a little tube pasta.

The corn was a trifle bland -- a bi-color -- and so was the tomato. But they were real!

... and Garden

I've been picking a daily handful of Sungold cherry tomatoes for about a week. Today I picked the first Pink Husky (Husky Pink?). Probably a day or two from being perfectly ripe, but it can sit on a counter. There's another one right behind.

And I peeled back the husks on an ear of corn and pricked a kernel -- milky, not clear, so it may be ready too! I've had a dozen from roadside vendors, but this is mine own!

The HP tomato was just a variety at Earl May, where I also got the Sungold and a Brandywine (which died). I did a very late job of starting seeds this year, and don't expect much in the way of heirlooms, despite what Barbara Herring says! Luckily, a few Brandywine, and some other varieties, have produced volunteers from last year, so I should get a few tomatoes at least.

I blame the rain, rather than my sloth. Who's to know?

House

I met Eric Quaintance, my builder, at the Ar-Jay Center this afternoon. We made decisions on kitchen countertops, cabinets, design, and hardware, then went to the lighting department and chose lighting throughout the house (not including the table and floor lamps I already have) and for all exterior doors/garage, plus a ceiling fan for the library. We looked at the firebox he had selected, then went into a "sale" room, where they have various display items that are now many-percents off, and saw a beautiful oak mantelpiece, marked down from $700 (which I thought might be a good price for what it was) to $150!

We will get flooring at Bachmeier's in Iowa City, but he and I have pretty much the same ideas. Faux wood laminate and 18-in. faux tile vinyl. Slager's for the kitchen appliances, which I am going with black cooktop, but I don't know yet whether black or white for the refrigerator and wall ovens. I think because of the white beadboard cabinets, I may be better off with black appliances.

What I envision for the library is darkish "wood" floor, wood fireplance mantel, wood rocker (from Joyce), dark leather sofa, wood coffee and side tables, piano, and grandfather clock, with bookshelves of stained wood and off-white walls behind. Bare, unmatched woods and leathers with some throw pillows and maybe the other (grandma's) rocker in fabric. The curtains are that dark fringed wool. Floor lamps and ceiling fan of dark bronze. Rather spare and solid overall, yet homey and comfortable.

Eric seems comfortable giving his opinion, and I value it, both practical and aesthetic. But once or twice I "overrode" him, and he came around, or seemed to. Particularly in the case of the bathroom cabinets, where I wanted black to counteract the light-colored tops, that wouldn't go well at all with the white beadboard used in the kitchen. He wasn't sure, but after carrying the sample door over to the bath display area, he said he liked it. Certainly, it's my decision, but I'd like for him to be happy with "his" house. He has an artistic and professional reputation and pride.

Nice while it lasted

The Northblue bush seems to be done -- unless it's that pesky rabbit. Got a tablespoonful of Northsky, but it's also winding down. Got two nice strawberries, and two more Sungold. Knocked several dozen nasty beetles off the roses - and the sweet corn. The sweet corn is dropping pollen, but in several cases onto NO SILK. This is a weird year all the way around, so I don't know if that's typical or if it means I'll be lucky to get a half dozen ears total from my two bozes. I noticed, driving home today, that Dean Rebal has his signs out.

House & Garden

Eric brought over his bid, not quite final. It's really at the very top of what I could manage, so I need to pare down about $10K. Goodbye, geothermal. He said nice things about baseboard electric, but how I have my heart set on heated floors! It would be more expensive to re-use the wood interior trim from this house, as opposed to buying new, due to more labor costs in ripping it off. But he will talk to his guys and see if they would rip it off for $25 an hour or something. I'll look the bid over in detail while he takes his family to Door County.

The blueberries seem to be winding down fast -- unless it has something to do with the rabbit I chased out just now. Next year should see greater yield, and the following year the next 3 plants should start to bear. I want to plant additional varieties next year, as well, focusing on extending the season. But how lovely it's been to eat 1/3 C. every other day -- that's just about right.