Excellent. Yes, don't worry about the comments, comment threads are a Pandora's Box of unthinking rage.

Because I was trying to figure out if my short story was really a long short story or a really short novella, I came across the term 'Novelette'. I hadn't heard that one before but it fits the size.

I only get a Real Writing gig about once a year, but every time I do, it reminds me how easy academic writing is in comparison. That, or it's the way I was trained to write, and now I can't remember how to do it the other way.

Erika, I wish I understood most of the political/news background to your Daily Kos stuff. It seems really good, but I'm clearly missing stuff. (Maybe I should watch American - which I interpret as Fox - news. Nothing may be worth that, of course.)

Please don't watch Fox News to understand DK...it's like understanding cleanliness by rolling in a pile of shit. But I appreciate that you'd be willing to...I understand that MSNBC has a partnership with ITV(Having a fake boyfriend who's a newsguy means you know these things. And more about ratings than a healthy woman should.) Can you see MSNBC there? because if you can't, this one won't make much sense anyway cause it's about Rachel Maddow. I have such a Kinsey-shifting crush on her, it's unreal.

ITV is evil. I could find a way to find NBC, I'm sure. It's supposed to be a globalized world. I think I used to watch CNN when I lived out there. Is that any good for politics? Here there is BBC and the Guardian and I don't need anything else.

Aww. Everyone can have Kinsey-shifting crushes. It's the joy of Kinsey. That man. He knew what he was doing.

Wrod. Maybe you can see Rachel's show on the internets. I'll find a link...one sec. [link] She's very out and proud.

My wife really liked my short story (or Novelette) which previews my next novel. She certainly isn't afraid to tell me something is crap, so I'm kind of happy about that since I thought it was good too. Now the only problem is that I'm getting worked up to start on that novel when I've got about 80 pages of notes from feedback to wade through on my current project. I going to have to have some discipline. As much as I'd like to get the next project going, but I really want to get the first novel all the way done. I don't want to end up with a bunch of 90% done novels.

When deciding on character names, does anyone else Google the name to see how many other people are using it?

I came across the term 'Novelette'. I hadn't heard that one before

Irrelevantly, I went to high school with a girl called Novelette.

Thank you, Jamaica.

Irrelevantly, I went to high school with a girl called Novelette.

Was she really short?