Out of Order

You may notice my post timelines are rather scrambled. I found some posts that were not posted in order. Some were drafts that were posted at a later date.

So please forgive me if you find repeated posts, or errors. My mind is fuzzy these days. Early Alzheimer's? 

I want my granddaughters to read my story and receive some honest feedback. They are busy. Very busy, but they have shown interest in my stories and my art, so plunge on ahead.

Editing is hard work!

I have family and friends anxious to read my book, and I'm still struggling with edits and rewrites. I printed out my current version today, all 150 pages, and as it printed, I noticed many errors that still are not resolved. 

One chapter is printed twice, so I'll have to go in and delete that, which will screw up my chapter count, and several are in a different font. I'm still finding weak verbs, which are a constant issue in my writing. 

Before this book is truly complete, I'll probably have 20 versions. Grrr!

I'm sure other artists suffer the same frustrations, but this is the first time I've had to edit so much. It makes me wonder if the whole project is worth all the work and effort. 

But quitting is not an option for me. This book is part of my legacy for my children and grandchildren, and I want to finish my other novel before I die, and I have already started writing my second story that will be a sequel to Hero in Cowboy Boots. It's the story of my male protagonist's friend, Jarred. I haven't even outlined this one yet.

But I definitely plan to write an outline. It's just too darned hard to write by the seat of my pants, which are way too big anyway!

Anyway, back to work on HICB. I'll get this story done if it kills me, or something else does. If anyone is reading this, pray for perseverance. I'm going to need it!

It's Hot Outside!

Baby it's HOT outside! One of our thermometers says 109, the other reads 99 but feels like 125 degrees. That's ridiculous!

I hope all who reads this are either at the beach, lake, or inside with the air conditioning running.  I'm in my recliner. My pooch is on my leg rest in front of me. Dennis is in his recliner also. We're watching our tv and I'm trying to write this blog post on my laptop. 

I have finished my first draft of my book. I tried to share it with some close friends, but after sending it found some huge mistakes. I should have proofread it before hitting enter or send. Some day, maybe I'll learn that lesson.

So I'll be working on fixing my booboos, and try to apologize to my recipients about the errors.

We received some shocking news at Mass this morning.  A neighboring parish had some reports of sexual abuse by the priest. I can't even imagine how that family feels. There were no names of the children of course. They would keep that secret to protect the family. But the name of the priest was mentioned, and I was very surprised to hear his name. I haven't had much contact with him, but I've known his name from activities around our diocese.

He's not an older man, but a young, fairly new priest. Fr. Andrew, our priest, said today's homily (sermon) is one of he hardest he has had to deliver. I believe he had been friends with the accused priest.

I know these things happen around the country, but this has hit pretty close to home. I grew up not far from that parish. I wasn't Catholic then, but I knew some of the parishioners when I was going through college, just out of high school. 

Fr. talked about how the effects of sin can affect those in a concentric fashion, going farther than we can imagine. I have a feeling this story will be a tragedy spoken behind covered lips and in hushed tones for years to come.

I am praying for the families involved: both the parishioner and the priest. His family will be affected negatively as well.

May God have compassion and deliver justice and mercy to all involved.

Amen.

Farewells and Dads

Saturday evening, we said goodbye to our favorite Sister, Sr. Beverly Martin. She had been with us in the Clifton and Clyde parishes for several years, but as with most good things, it had to end. Bishop Vincke decided to move her to another parish. 

It has crossed my mind that the reason we got Sr. Bev in the first place was possibly the deteriorating health of Fr. Steven Heina, our former priest. He needed help, so Sr. Bev stepped in to help him. Then they moved Fr. Steve, and we got Fr. Andrew. We loved Fr. Steve, and we adore Fr. Andrew. He's young, with boundless energy, ideas, and he's computer savvy; even has his own vlog online.  So perhaps we didn't need Sr. Bev. Or at least that's what the Bishop believes.

Originally, Sr. Bev had a destination, although we still don't know where that was. But then there was some sort of plan change, and so now Sr. Bev is in a holding pattern at the Motherhouse in Concordia. Like an airplane circling an airport during a storm. She's in limbo, just doing whatever they need her to do. I believe she has accepted this much easier than her parishioners.

Last night, the combined parishes put on a farewell party for her, a potluck supper, and visiting with her with lots of hugs and many teary smiles. Sr. Bev became emotional, I believe it was difficult for her to leave us too. She was such a good fit for our communities. And I do believe that we still need her. 

Fr. Andrew is young, energetic, and a strong leader. He is trying to bring our parishes back to the Catholic Church of long ago with the same Eucharistic prayers (the long version, not the shortened ones that many priests use today), and some customs that we have not used in many decades. He is an excellent educator in our faith, and I wished I could continue taking lessons with him for a long time more. Even Dennis said he had learned more about his faith than he had in over 75 years. He started out as my ride to my OCIA classes and ended up asking many questions and also wishing for more.

I think Fr. Andrew is working toward educating us all in the catechism of the Church by including sections of the catechism in the bulletin. I like that. I was not raised Catholic. I was a confirmed Lutheran until I met him and when we became seriously involved and headed toward marriage, we decided that I would convert to Catholicism.

The class I took to learn and join the Church was not an optimal class. The priest was teetering on the brink of leaving the priest-hood, and seemed to want to talk about social gatherings more than the lessons we were supposed to be learning. I know we are not supposed to verbally attack our priests but pray for them. when they fail, and I do pray for them, but the truth is that I was ill-prepared for joining the Church.

Today we celebrated Father's Day with family and friends. It was great attending Mass with our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It was mostly Becky and Rusty's family, although we did get an unexpected but very welcome visit from our oldest son Josh. I wish we could have seen or heard from others in our family. 

Hopefully, we'll see more family on July 3, when we meet at Josh's house for his annual patriotic holiday and gumbo feed.

I do know I'm totally exhausted and headed for bed soon. It's been a crazy long weekend. But I've loved every moment.

A Mundane but productive day

There were many things that I wanted to do today. I didn't get to do any of them.

I wanted to paint, practice with my soft pastels, or watercolors. I never touched a paintbrush.

I wanted to do some editing on my book. I did start to do this but was interrupted so many times in a five-minute span that I gave up on that too. 

I wanted to sort out some things for the thrift shop to reduce the clutter in our home. I moved some things around, but didn't gain much ground there either.

However, Dennis promised to work on my dishwasher today, and we did get that done. He struggled, but he managed to get bigger wheels underneath my portable dishwasher, making it much easier to maneuver around in my tiny, crowded kitchen.  I am excited to get that done. We thought about changing out the hoses on it too, but there was a problem with the ends, so that part of the project was tabled for today.

I did get the bedding on our bed laundered and changed out. I think the washer ate one of my pillowcases. Either that or it's still in the dryer. I'll have to check in a bit. Changing the bed shouldn't be difficult, but the fitted sheet is a hassle wrestling those danged corners. And I'd almost bet the upper corner on my side of the bed will come flipping up toward the center of the bed as soon as I lie down on it. It does every time

Maizie has been excited today. She got a bath today. I've been talking about doing that, but today when she jumped up on my lap with a blob of poop stuck in her hair, that made the decision easy. She does ok with it, until it comes time to spray her head. Getting that eye gunk out of her fur around her face is a challenge. She doesn't like me doing anything other than petting her on her head and face. I'll have to use a baby wipe or damp washcloth to gradually work that gunk out of her facial fur.

She enjoyed watching while Dennis was sitting on the floor wrestling with the dishwasher. He was in a good humor, so she got in quite a few licks and sniffs. Right now, she's laying on my left arm, making it a little difficult to type. I'm working from my recliner. It's my most comfortable chair, and quite frankly, the only one that works to type in. I have two other chairs in my front room that I can sit in, but my table is too high and it's not adjustable. Such struggles!

It's reading time in about 4 minutes, so I'll shut this down and get my book out. I'm currently reading a biography: Living With No Excuses by Noah Galloway. An American soldier disabled due to battle wounds, he shares the intensely emotional struggles of the fight to heal from his wounds. It's been a great story so far.

I'll let  you all know how it ends. :)

First Draft Complete!

Finally! My first draft of Hero in Cowboy Boots is complete! I've been working toward this goal for years. Now I'm jumping into the edits and rewriting phase. Not nearly as much fun or rewarding as the initial writings, but just as important. And this phase can be shared with anyone who has a working knowledge of spelling, grammar, syntax, and just seeing the same vision as I do. Namely, my beta readers.

I will be going through my manuscript looking for errors in the above elements: spelling, grammar, syntax, and conciseness. So if I send you a copy of my story to read, and you find any glaring errors, please, please send me an alert. I will be ever so grateful. And you'll get to read my story for free!

I'm rather proud of my story. I know there are areas where it needs work, more descriptive work in some areas, POV jumps, and changing passive verbs to active ones. And probably others that I haven't caught yet.

Why didn't I just change those things while I was writing? That is simple. I've tried that method before, and it bogged me down so much that I forgot what the main character was trying to do, and eventually just gave up. I've had that happen in at least five different stories. I hope to go back to each one and complete it, but right now, I just want to get this one published and in its best form.

I know everyone is very busy, and I respect that. But if you can just review one chapter for me, that will be a great help. So, if you read this post, and have a few minutes to spare, please contact me by email at dmbarnes@twinvalley.net, and I'll send you my first chapter. If you wish to read more, let me know. I will be so grateful.

Thank you.

Dixie