They're good thoughts. I certainly like physical beats better than attribution tags, though, like anything, it can be overdone.

One of my tics is "obviously" to mean "therefore". Basically a lazy transition, and rather insulting to the reader. If it's obvious, why am I saying it? I can't really stop my self. So I just do searches on the word when I'm done with the first draft, which is a good workaround in general for incurable tics.

This book I'm reviewing for a journal is *dull*. Much repetition without conclusion. I have to plough through it even though I've already written the (rather critical) review in note form. Ah well - it might end up making me look at least vaguely intelligent, as a result!

Much repetition without conclusion.

That does sound like a recipe for boredom.

I'm progressing on 45. There are a lot of little developments in this chapter so hopefully it won't be too much stuffed into too few words.

Keep at it, Gud. You're doing great. I'm so impressed with your consistency and effort.

I have a kind of dumb question. What's the approximate word count for an article that would fill an 8 1/2 by 11 page, 12 pt font, probably Book Antiqua or something like that, with some whitespace and maybe a photo or two?

Our crazy communal living way lefty Christian singer of Tuvan throat songs came back from his trip to Tuva. We raised a good bit of money for it, so we're giving him an article in our upcoming newsletter. But he wants to know how long it should be and I'm giving him his own insert, so I don't know. I haven't done it this size before.

Plus I don't give Dave wordcounts. He writes the article and then I edit it furiously to fit the space. I dunno how well that'll go over with our buddy.

Single-spaced, right, Liese? Probably under 400 words to leave room for photos.

Yes, single spaced. Okay, thank you. And he's verbose, so I'll tell him 400 and get probably 600, and then I can add the second page if necessary given the photos. But I'm not telling him it's an option.

I love him a bunch, but he's cracking me up. I finally wrote him a big note and gave him a deadline, some expectations, and an outline. It's the only way he'll get it done. And he wants to get it done! People will give him more money! He already missed last quarter's newsletter. By the time he gets it done, he'll be back in Tuva!

Thanks!

Making more progress on 45, while trying to decide what to have in there and what not. There's a scene I like, but there appears to be no place for it the way I'm rewriting this part. Maybe it can fit into a later chapter, maybe not. In any event, I'm getting through the things that must happen plot-wise and character-wise.

Just some fixing up to do on 45 and 46 and I'll be digging in on 47. I'm not sure about 46, but this isn't the last version so I'm not going to fret about it too much now. I'll see what beta readers think when they get there.

I'm expecting 55 chapters so I'm just nine chapters away from the end of this revision. I sure hope the next revision doesn't take as long, I don't plan to rewrite everything so I don't think it will.

Working on having the calm of a Zen master and the patience of a saint over losing most of the work I did on my book review yesterday.

Did I mention that all computers must die?