Worst part of writing a novel

Some writers say the hardest part of writing a novel is starting it.

Not for me.

I do not start until the words, the plot, the characters, all that amounts to a book begins to spill over and cannot be contained.

Starting is easy: I have no choice but to write, I cannot stop it, and so it goes - first draft, second, third and so on. Then comes the point when the creative work is over. At that point I find that all I do is the technical, the polishing, the mundane. That's when I get tired of the novel. That's when I just want to throw it to hell, or I wish it was a team work - one person for the creative part and another to polish it, to bring it to that publishable state.

I think my second novel could use that extra once over, my editor seems to agree, but I am just so tired of it. I don't want to go back to it. I should. I will, but not until the current (3rd) novel is finished.

I have two mundane tasks ahead of me: polishing Novel Nr 2 and Novel Nr 3.

Ergh.

Who REALLY wrote Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, but E, who read each book 2 or 3 times and in at least 2 languages says that the last book (7th, is it?) is so unsatisfying that she thinks she might have purchased a fake copy...

She went to the bookstore to find out (after having heard on the radio that the novel should be 764 pages long while hers is 670 or thereabouts.)

All books in the bookstore were the same and this got E to think that:

• perhaps this was just a joke to get everybody talking and the REAL edition of the 7th Harry Potter is still coming

or

• perhaps the book was not written by JK Rowling at all... E says it did not have the depth of the previous books and it did not add anything new.

Now, E wants to know: Who REALLY wrote the last installment of Harry Potter?

Reading Harry Potter at sunset

Places to find your own book

I like an occasional trip to Goodwill. Sometimes you can find real gems on their bookshelves. I can't tell you how many out of print books I've purchased from Goodwill over the years, but the line up is long and often fascinating.

So imagine my surprise when I walked in today and the first book that caught my eye was my own. Yep, my first novel (published 2004) finally made it to Goodwill.  Of course I've seen my books in many different places such as grocery stores, airports, pharmacies, hotels, bookstores and libraries but Goodwill is definitely the first find for me.

Not sure what it means for me as a writer, particularly that the book seems as crisp as new, never read, but I can definitely boast of being one of those writers whose books end up at Goodwill.
Oh, and by the way: I bought it.

Inside Job

This morning our neighborhood woke up to find these signs painted on the street:

CIA Family Jewels for Download

Download Here, in .pdf (23.7 MB)

Don't expect to find out just who killed JFK.

How I quit coffee

From addiction to freedom.

If you quit ingesting coffee 'cold turkey', your brain begins to reduce the number of receptors right away. But the process takes about two weeks, and during that time your body sends out mild 'distress signals' in the form of headaches, lethargy, fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, and sometimes even stiffness and flu-like symptoms. As a result most doctors recommend cutting out caffeine gradually.

Well, gradual attempts at quitting coffee did not work for me. Each time I tried - I suffered the horrors described above.

I used to drink 10+ cups a day (no sugar or milk). The more I drank the more I needed to drink. I reached the stage where it would no longer work: more coffee meant more down times. I'd drink a cup, feel the rush for half an hour and I'd hit a mental fog, and need another one. It really was a vicious circle.

I tried to quit. I tried not to drink any coffee but it just would not do. I tried reducing the amount, but it would not do. Like a smoker I tried for years to quit.

In vain I struggled. It would not do.

Until pure chance came to the rescue.

I was traveling in remote areas of Central America, with no access to reliable drinking water. I could not trust bars, I certainly could not trust tap water to boil my own...

The first few days were terrible, the rejection process was really hard.

By the end of the 3 week trip I forgot what coffee was. I never looked back. It's been over 2 years and I don't care for coffee. My head works clearly without it. I do not suffer from the afternoon downtime. I do not need the caffeine boost. I'm free.

Who killed JFK

In today's Washington Post:

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.

You know the day is coming when the file on JFK assassination is supposed to be open?

You know what's in it?

I quote what I've been told by an old-timer from the spy world, an intel officer from the WWII and beyond:

"You know what they will find when they open the file on JFK? Nothing. There will be nothing in it."

Remember this.