Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Chicken Pools, Revisions & Silk . . .

You know it's getting warm outside when . . .


. . . this happens.

I went to town the other day and came home to find a cluster of thirsty hens gathered around their newly installed oasis in the back yard. This was our daughter's idea; we have a resident duck who thinks she's a chicken living in the coop, so she bought her a swimming pool. My husband built a wooden ramp up to the edge, and now it looks like we have five or six feathered Greg Louganises.


This is Chuck. Get it? She's a chicken-duck.


Chuck has not yet taken to the pool like a duck-to-you-know-what, but I bet she will.
It's good to be fowl at the Duke Poultry Farm. Things are going swimmingly.
My wonderful son thinks maybe we should make it an in-ground pool, and Jay seems to consider that a cool idea. In that case, I'll be sorely tempted to add goldfish. I'm not just being koi.
(sorry)
At the moment, it's functioning as a lagoon for the dogs, Pepper the cat, the chickens and Chuck.

 Ah, Spring.


Chapters one and two of Delaney's People are now fully edited and revised. The work is progressing very smoothly. I have discovered things about my writing, such as: the word "just" creeps in sometimes.

In "Jewels" (the opener), for instance, my editor allowed me only one precious "just". I just had no idea I'd typed that word so often. It's completely unjustified. I just used it about four times. Just got carried away. If there's any justice in the world, I've learned my just lesson.

I've adjusted nicely.

If your name is Justin, Justinian or Justus, you may not come to my house. Just kidding.

Chapter two was not plagued with "justs". I just had to add some dialog and change some verb tenses, and it was just peachy.

The truth is, I'm having a great deal of fun with the revisions, and grateful to have a good editor to go over my work. I just hope the next eighteen chapters go as easily as these did.


For those who are feeling artistic, or simply want to play with something fun, I present "Silk - a magical interactive artwork". It's Yuri Vishnevsky's experiment in generative art. I love this thing . . . it's like a Spirograph on steroids. Try it. Click and drag, then watch the amazing designs fill your screen.
Silk - a magical interactive artwork
Thank you, Yuri. Beautifully done.





Love from Delta.

5 comments:

  1. your Just Desserts are on the Horizon! so is the poetic justice that has been a long time coming.
    we are truly so proud of you and for you Bethie D. just sayin'!
    there is no one like you my bella cousine and no one who writes like you, you will be the fresh young face on the writer's circuit and we will all show up at your signings... just sitting back and watching our talented. beautiful, witty Beth get her "just desserts" yum

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  2. Thank you, Deb. That is so very welcome this morning, after putting the finishing touches on Chapter Four.

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  3. The Hen/Duck pool is JUST marvelous~I think an inground pool is a MUST...and the injustice of having to curb your justs made me very aware of how I am a juster fo sure. I usually reread casual notes and try to delete at least 75% of my modifying just justs...I sometimes replace with incredibly or somewhat or some sort of word to quantify (I just never got fluent in grammar terms, I am sure there is a just perfect official term...)

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  4. You are so funny, Marietta, and really remind me of me sometimes. I hope to meet you in person the next time I find myself in the TB area. Perhaps Kris will take us to lunch . . .

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    ReplyDelete