cookin' dabook

I have always told my creative writing students to let a draft sit. Let it "cook" so to speak. Well, I have an official draft of my historic novel completed, and printed--as you can see. One draft has been mailed to it's beta reader, Fina-- despite it going through three perfectly good boxes before actually getting postage paid on it. You see clever reader-- Apparently the post office won't use DHL boxes and then the mailbabe was like --"oh let's get book rate-- it's $2 cheaper" and I was like ..uh ..okay. What a waste of cardboad tho! One copy gets delivered Thursday when Tim gives it to Rick and I better hook up with Carol before we go see Harry Potter OoP at midnight, but today is her birthday and I'm not gonna bug her with my ego stroking today!!

I am not gonna look at the file till they come home at the end of summer. I might fuss around with the bibliography/notes bit but no new text till I see what they think. How does one shop for an agent? If they are anything like hiring handymen I am screwed!

this morning in the Freep

There are reinforcements on the way boys!! Several of our friends in the SCA play their game in Viking Mode. Vikings are awesome! (Not as sweet as 15th Europe BUT a couple of steps closer to literacy than Boadicea.) I like Vikings. They are very honest and forthright about their mission statements--no BS from a Viking. (and they have great epic poetry)

It was with great interest that I read the tiny tiny blurb in this morning's paper. There are some brave and dedicated re-enactors in a ship they named the Sea Stallion. They left Denmark on Sunday for a trip to Ireland. They have 100 feet of authenticity and am I jealous. Here is a link for you to click on.

The Monks of New Skete

The Sunday NY Times ran an obit for an amazing person who really changed my life. The Rev. Laurence Mancuso was the founding abbot of a monastery in upstate New York. He died June 10 and the world is now less one hero. The monks have a style of dog training that is holistic and ravingly successful. When we brought our darling Emery home as a pup so many years ago we read a lovely book called "The Art of Raising a Puppy" it was written by "The Monks of New Skete." click here. I learned so much, that really changed the way I think about dogs. The whole wolf pack theory--alpha bitch authority, leadership and all that--a lot of the philosophy applies to kids too!!
respect, good food, exercise, freedom within boundaries--"sit stay". Good stuff. Thank you brother Mancuso.

PS
I can't help but wish whomever had Bree as a pup had read this stuff.