Editing

One of my manuscripts is Day 10K, a science fiction novel for adults with some humorous elements. On the advice of a couple of professional beta readers, I need to get people down from their spaceship to a colonized world faster.

The main problem was chapter 4. The entire chapter has good writing, but much of it was getting in the way. A difficult decision for a writer is not so much getting rid of bad writing, but getting rid of good writing.

So after taking out chunks, chapter 4 went from nineteen pages to nine pages. More work will be done on chapter 5, but the changes to chapter 4 were the largest.

Gonzo Stuff

This is a random collection of … well, you’ll see.

Ducks

I didn’t do much on the 4^th of July, since it was on a school night, as the saying goes. I took a walk in a park in Bellevue (a suburb of Seattle) and took a picture of ducks.

Click to enlarge

Debris

There was a collision at an intersection near where I work. Some of the debris ended up on a sidewalk. I told a coworker that one of the cars must have spun around a good amount, for part of the bumper to end up there. She replied that someone could have pulled it onto the sidewalk to get it out of the way. She was probably right.

Prices

I looked at a copy of Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth in a used bookstore. On the back, the price was listed as $14.00. The sticker for the used price was $15.99. Huh?

Later, I looked for some vitamin water in a grocery store. They were being sold at four for $5.00. I bought one and was surprised when it cost only $1.10. Those who flunked basic math won’t see the silliness of this.

Skybridge

I saw this sign on a skybridge in Seattle. At first I thought I had to be careful about gaining 8,000 pounds. But it obviously concerns loads of supplies. Shouldn’t the sign be inside?

 Click to enlarge

But the only sign I saw inside was this one. How did I get out? How am I writing this?