Maine, in the region where our son lives, had 14 inches of snow last night. He's really excited about having to shovel out. I can't blame him. I'd get excited too if I had to shovel that much snow. Speaking of which, they say we might have a few flakes blowing around in the air, the snow type, that is, sometime tomorrow afternoon. The other flakes around here walk around, too heavy to be blown around.
We went for our walk today, and it was cold outside. I think it's interesting that I have not seen my breath that much this year when being out in the cold. I'm not sure if it is because it has been so dry out, or because I'm no longer breathing, and I just don't realize it.
There is an opening tomorrow night down at ArtWorks. It will be interesting to see if anyone shows up for it. Many openings from last year were very poorly attended compared to 2008.
I am an official member of the Virginia Writer's Club for the year 2010. I plan on networking as much as possible to see if that has any impact on my being able to publish my book. I am almost half way through the restructuring, and expect to possibly finish by the end of the month now, or early into next month. I have rewritten the part of one character in the book, the driver person, at least the beginning part. I still have to do the last part which will come once the diary has been restructured. I like the way this is going now much better than last year. Once I have the necessities completed, query letters to publishers will be in the mail, and we'll continue to pursue that end.
I have also spent a lot of time working through the short story I finished several weeks back. I have a little more work to do on that, and I will begin sending that out as well, just don't know where to.
I began reading a new book yesterday, the one I bought on Americans in Paris during the German occupation in WW II. I read where Isadora (A Greek Dancer) Duncan's brother, Raymond, was a great believer in living as the ancient Greeks did, and so ran around Europe, including Paris, wearing a form of Toga and sandals. I also learned that of all the Americans who stayed during the occupation, only one, not yet named, was ever brought back to the US and tried for treason.
Early on, the Germans, who supposedly admired Americans, did not confiscate American property. Unless they were African Americans, and then they were tossed into concentration camps for the duration.
One of the things I enjoy when reading is learning about different people, such as Isadora Duncan. While I knew the name, I knew nothing about her. Such as, she died that the age of 49 in an auto accident in 1927. Prior to that, her two daughters were killed, along with their nanny, when the car they were riding in ended up in the River Seine. After not dancing for some years after that, she began anew, and adopted 6 young children that were in her dance class, referring to them as her "Isadorables".
I've also learned a lot about Robert Bullitt, the American Ambassador who was "elected" by the French government to be the "Mayor of Paris" during the initial occupation of Paris, and to ensure the smooth transition of the city into German hands. It had been declared an open city in the hope the Germans would not destroy it, but when a group of French soldiers decided they would fight to the death, the Germans were gearing up to destroy the city, block by block. Bullitt helped calm that situation. All I can say is, Thank God they didn't destroy it!
I am also learning a lot about the group of doctors who periodically went into Afghanistan to tend to the wounded when they were fighting the Russians. I am a little over half way through that book, looking to finish within a week and a half.
I haven't decided at yet if I will read the biography of Georgia O'Keefe, the artist, or the biography of Alice Longworth Roosevelt. Or, maybe a different book than those. Whatever strikes my fancy.
A few days ago we went into a mall we hardly ever go into and saw where Waldenbooks was going out of business. So, we went in to see what was left, as they were selling everything off at a really good discount. I picked up, among other books, the huge book of New Yorker Cartoons, a coffee table book for a large coffee table. It was originally on sale for $19.99, and I didn't really want to spend that even though I love their cartoons! Well, it was there for $8, so I bought it! I found several others I had debated with myself about purchasing, but didn't. One is the latest novel by Orhan Pamuk, the Noble Prize winning author from Turkey. I had read part of it in the bookstore before this, and did not buy it then as I had, and still have, so many books to read. Now, I have that one as well. I couldn't resist the low price. I fully expect the floor to collapse soon from the weight of all the books we have upstairs.
Lunch time!
