Hey, if you get Black Issues Book Review magazine, check out our ad for Counting Raindrops on page 2! ;-)

First day of revisions went smoothly yesterday. Did chapters 1 and 2 and as a matter of fact, I hope the rest of the chapters go like that. I got finished rather early in the evening and was considering doing chapter 3. But I thought it important to space it out. To just let it flow and not force it. To not rush it, just to try to get it in earlier. In between time, the story doesn't leave my mind and new thoughts and ideas will pop up at any given time. I'll find myself jumping up to add a word, or a sentence in a certain spot. It's like, the littlest, the oddest, or the most insignificant thing can trigger a thought for the novel. Or sometimes, it seems like the thought just comes from nowhere.

I also read in between. I usually read a page or a chapter of something before I start writing. Reading helps me to jump start my mind and put me in the writing mode. Last year, I remember reading EJ Dickey and Gloria Mallette books. This year, I'm reading my own, Counting Raindrops. How cool is that? LOL But seriously, I'm reading my own book to get me back in the flow of my own writing style. But I do read other stuff too. I just finished up Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis. I hadn't read a romance novel since I was a teenager. Seeing Red was good. The storyline had a bit of mystery to it, plus there was humor laced throughout. This wasn't like the Harelquin romance I read way back then. And now, I've gone back to my Norton Anthology of Short Fiction and I'm in the midst of The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. I read and study classical writers and try to alternate in readings.

Okay, if I'm good, I'm going to attend the Muddy Blues Festival this weekend. This is another event on Lacelede's Landing, which, again, is right around the corner from my place and I will probably hear activities from my apartment. The Muddy Blues Festival goes Friday to Sunday or Monday and I expect there will be Blues singers and bands all weekend long. This is an annual event in St. Louis, but it will be my first time ever attending. So, the plan is to get two chapters a day revised in the morning and the afternoon, then spend the rest of the day hanging out. Well, at least two days. We'll see if I can do it.