Scrap That Plan

Last week my buddy Jesse and I decided that yesterday we and our ladies would take the pontoon boat out on the Intracoastal Waterway for a day of cruising and fishing. But since the wind was blowing at about 15 miles an hour for most of the day, and the high temperature only got up to 61 degrees, we scrapped that idea. That wouldn’t be much fun at all in a pontoon boat or any other kind of boat as far as that goes.

Instead, after a light breakfast of Pop-Tarts and hot chocolate, I made all of the changes that Judy Rinehimer, proofreader #2, had suggested for the last chapters I wrote. Today I will send them off to Roberta, proofreader #3.

With that done, I answered some e-mails, including one from a new author who told me he is 55 years old and doesn’t have time to mess around. What kind of books can he write to make a lot of money in a hurry. I told him really good books, and a lot of them.

I learned a long time ago that if you’re in this gig to make a lot of money in a hurry, you can forget it. Some of us have done very well, but none of the authors I know who are successful at self-publishing or who are using traditional publishers go into it with the idea of making a lot of money. We write because it’s something we love doing, and even if we weren’t getting paid for it, we would probably still be writing stories. At least I know I would.

About four o’clock Terry and I, and Jesse and Jennifer went to Boston’s Fish House for dinner. The restaurant is always busy, but we had hoped we were there early enough to beat the rush. Apparently, everybody else thought the same thing because there was a 45-minute wait.

Okay, change of plans. We drove about half a mile to Crabby’s, another excellent seafood restaurant with great views of the ocean, where we were taken right to a table and served. That’s better.

Jennifer started out with Boom Boom Shrimp for an appetizer and then ordered boneless chicken tenders for her dinner. I split a Boom Boom Shrimp appetizer with Terry, then ordered a combo that included grouper fingers (don’t ask me what those are. but I guess if chickens can have nuggets, groupers can have fingers), calamari, and shrimp. Terry and Jesse had fish tacos made with grouper, and both said they were probably the best they’ve ever had anywhere. It was all absolutely delicious and more than any of us could eat. The restaurant also has an ice cream bar, so we stopped on the way out, and Jennifer bought us all ice cream to take home for dessert. Needless to say, I didn’t need a midnight snack!

I plan to get a couple more chapters done in my new book today, and at some point Terry and I need to go to the grocery store because we’re out of milk, eggs, bread, and a lot of other essentials. Or, I guess we could just go back to Crabby’s instead.

Before I let you go, our granddaughter Hailey got into barrel racing last year, and here is a video of her Saturday, when she took third place in her division. She and her horse, Six, have worked hard, and it’s paying off.

Congratulations Wilmer Olsen, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of The Scribe’s Daughter, the first book in Stephanie Churchill’s Crowns of Destiny historical fantasy series about a young heroine who escapes a brutal prison to journey through imperial cities, dark swamps, and across stormy seas to unravel clues to the mysteries of her family’s past. In doing so, her discoveries make her the target of a man who would use her for his own dark ends. But first he has to catch her. We had 26 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – The nationwide coin shortage is all my fault. I started a swear jar.