The floating bookshop was rained out today and it looks as though it will be so again tomorrow. Fortunately, I made some money accompanying Arlynn to the doctor. She has only one more scheduled visit this year, Thursday. She sorted through the donation of children's books I received Sunday to see if there were any she could peddle at Amazon. She mailed two this morning, one to Germany. Sure enough, she bought three of my new batch, and also a self-help CD about letting go of the past. Thank you, my friend. I will be making my own music CD's tomorrow to peddle on the street, as I just received a shipment of blanks. I filled out Christmas cards today, but won't mail them until the 15th.
I received a stunning offer from my literary angel, Victoria Valentine, who has published 12 of my short stories through the years in her beautiful magazines and anthologies, as well as my second novel, Adjustments. She is the person most responsible for keeping me in the game. Anyway, I offered to edit the romance novel she's working on and she offered, as payment, to put Killing into print for free. I would just have to buy copies, which I know I would turn a profit on eventually. There are people who will never read it as a Kindle book, most notably my sister, my biggest fan. I tempered my excitement. I want VV to read the last few chapters to make sure she realizes what she may be getting into. As I've said, I know there would be people who would be outraged by what is proposed, even though the event doesn't come off. Also, her husband, who is a Vietnam veteran, is currently reading the novel. Post 9/11, the book was available briefly electronically. I visited a Vietnam veterans website and described the book to gauge reaction. Several of them tore me a new you know what. I was upset. The last thing I would want to do is anger those men, who have been treated so unfairly by so many, especially the arts community. I am more proud of this work than any of my others. It is as close to complete fiction as I can get, meaning it contains very little from my own life. Mind you, none of the veterans read the book. The part in question occurs late and is roughly ten-percent of it. I wait on pins and needles for the opinion of VV's husband. He has enjoyed my work until now. I'm not sure myself if what the main character proposes doesn't cast him in such a negative light that no one will identify with him in the end. If that's the case, the novel is probably a failure, despite the richness of what occurs before the climax. To me, he is someone you would want next to you in a foxhole.
Read Vic's stories, free:
http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
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