What I've been doin'

      Sorry I haven't been posting. I've been writing a lot on Murder by the Acre and just don't have the desire to sit at my computer for longer than I have to. At the present rate of word input, the "final" polish rewrite for MBTA should be finished by mid-May, then to the proofreaders, then another "final" edit and polish, then to Lulu to be published, then a proof copy from Lulu, then another "final" edit if any errors are found (God forbid), then back to Lulu, then another proof, then if that proof is okay, back to Lulu for publication of both the softcover and the hardcover, then two weeks later, it will go on sale on Lulu.com. Two or three months after that, it will go on sale on the online retailers. And of course, in that time frame, I will be promoting MBTA mercilessly with giveaways, book signings, and so on.Whew. Makes me both tired and excited. I think that's how I live my life.
      Last night, TL, Melissa, Kyra, Eric, and I went to Applebees to eat. I'd like to say that I was a good diabetic when I was there, but I wasn't. I was a bad boy. A sated, happy boy, but bad nonetheless. I had a nine ounce steak topped with mushrooms, a baked potato with butter, a garden salad with ranch dressing, a cherry limeade, a chocolate dessert shooter, fried shrimp (from the lovely Melissa's plate) ... Should I go on? Let's not. I feel ashamed. But full. Sated even. But so ashamed. And happy. Content, even. But ashamed, I tell you, ashamed. Somewhat.
      Anyway, it was sort of a dinner celebrating that I had passed the 60% mark on MBTA. I say sort of because my dinner companions seemed less thrilled about it than I had hoped. Oh, they congratulated me and I appreciate their support immensely, but I suspect only another writer knows how hard it is to sit down and write where there are so many other things in the world that you might pursue. But that's life, you know. We have everything but enough time.
      Tonight I went to a local Mexican restaurant with Eric and his son Todd. I tried to be good and avoid the cheese and sour cream and succeeded in that, but did have beef fajitas instead of chicken. Oh, well, one step at a time.
      The weather here stayed cloudy, chilly, and foggy most of the day. We got some rain a few minutes ago, but no severe weather this time. We've had enough high winds and hail, thank you very much. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, but windy and still chilly. Keep coming, Mr. Summer. You'll get here eventually.
      I've also been doing a bit of research for MBTA. I've had to learn about Catholic funerals and library circulation computer programs. Both turned out to be different that I had imagined/wrote. So I corrected the mistakes -- I hope -- and MBTA gained from it. I appreciate Kyra, Nancy, and Roxanne for helping with the Catholic knowledge and Charlotte for her help with library programs.
      It's time for bed. I didn't get the words I wanted this evening, but I'm off work tomorrow afternoon so I should have a chance to get caught up and even get ahead of schedule. I'd like to get ahead so that I have a word cushion should something unexpected happen. Anyway, I'm going to call it a night. Take care and have a great weekend.
      Night!