The Writer's Life 2/4 - Perspective

I just got a dose of perspective. My back pain is worse today than yesterday. Even my morning walk didn’t diminish it. In fact, I haven’t found one position, seated or laying down, where I haven’t felt it. This is my second episode, the previous in 2010 or 2011, so I know what to do. All the guides I’ve read state that normal activities should be carried out. I’ll carefully lug the crates on those days the weather allows me to sell books. And I’ll do the exercises I’ve been doing since the last bout, which may or may not have helped. Only one causes me pain. The worst aspect is not knowing how long it will last. The prior episode was about six months, the pain diminishing gradually. Anyway, I just visited Facebook and received a dose of perspective. Tom, the husband of my literary angel, Victoria Valentine, has eight months to live, his cancer having metastasized. He’s a Vietnam vet, so he must be at least 60. On top of that, they will be losing their house, as the income stopped and the bills continued. In her post she asked people to buy books at her website. Down to two copies of Killing, I asked for a price on 50. I hope others will follow suit. Here’s her website url:  http://www.waterforestpress.com/

I've just gone through the third proof copy of my rock n roll epic, Rising Star. It's not perfect, but it's workable. A few of the most recent corrections I made did not work out as I'd hoped. In one instance an blank line now appears. Some of the extra spaces I'd closed between words still seem wider than the rest of the spaces. As expected, the text on some pages doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the page. Since the file looks fine, I don't know what could have caused it. I'll leave it as it is. Unfortunately, a new problem has arisen regarding the Kindle version. A message warned that Adobe files might not transfer well. Recalling that I'd used it to upload Adjustments, I thought I'd give it a try. Sure enough, it's shon-gahd, as Italians would say. Since the program recognizes only Word and not Works, it's back to the drawing board. Fortunately, this does not affect publication of the print version, which should be available at Amazon in three days.

There was a reprieve from the wintry weather today, allowing the floating book shop to open, despite back pain. My thanks to Alan, who bought Kay Hooper's Chill of Fear. I also had a visit from one of my favorites, Laura, a Romanian immigrant, mom of two teens, who is in her final semester of college and has begun applying to medical schools. Good luck, sweetie.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/