The days just keep coming, over and over again. Tuesdays don’t so much roll into Wednesdays as they roll into the following Tuesday. By the time I push to get my minimum 7,000 steps in, it is time for a drink, dinner, and bed. Only to start all over again the following day.
Speaking of drinks…here is the latest turmeric/ginger old fashioned.
Start with a simple syrup of one cup sugar to one cup water and boil until sugar is dissolved. Cool and add one tablespoon turmeric and one teaspoon ground ginger. Stir and sieve through fine strainer. Now in an old fashioned glass with ice pour 2 oz bourbon, 1 oz turmeric syrup and garnish with a slice of orange and a dash of Peychaud’s bitters…give a stir and get comfortable.
I have been working with the illustrations of drawing and stitch for my next book. And decided to make them black and white and only 3×4 inches centered in the page. Too large and they become too important and the important thing about a book is the text…not the illustration used as breaks in sections. So here they are with an extra for the cover.
I still want to write a couple more short stories, etc. but just needed a break with heat and humidity. On thinking about one of these illustrations being used on the cover, I got to thinking about the back cover. How the back of my books only have the obligatory author picture and brief bio.
I looked on the back of the paper backs on my shelf and was somewhat intrigued by the glowing remarks by “readers”. Do author’s ask friends to do this? Could anyone (author) just make up these glowing comments? Could I say that Annie Proulx loved my writing so much that she has quit writing just to go over my words again and again? What about Stephen King tossing his two cents in? Why not? It all seems so self-aggrandizing, so ego-driven. Can’t people just do what they always have done? Hold the book in their hands and thrum through to catch a bit of writing here and there to decide whether to invest $10? Or, if the book is not in a book store, couldn’t they just look it up on Amazon and read a description?
Maybe it is just an agreement between authors…”you say something nice about my book, and I’ll say something nice about yours.”
Anyway, I find it just a bit off. So will keep my books as blank as possible on the back so whoever bought it, read it, has plenty of room to write their own review before passing it on.
Here is a line from a short story….“Elderly single men who have either annoyed previous companions or watched them die off are rarely equipped with the ease their wives had for making new friends.”
It might be fun to pop a line or two from stories or poems into this blog.
I got to talking with a fellow in a bar last week. My friend was telling him about me being a writer. I told him I would bring him the short stories book this week, and keep it on hand in case he came in again while I was there. I like that he seemed mildly excited at the prospect.
Steps to get in before my physical therapist shows up to time my balance exercises.
So up and at it. Here is a picture of Sadie and Dily keeping me company.
Til later…