The Return of the Monday Musing!!!

It's been quite awhile since I wandered, tidbitted or mused

So, here I go, with the return of a Monday Musing!


Topic #1

My work (accounting, that is) is subsiding a bit, and won't really pick up until a summer audit that will occupy much of late July and August, running until about Labor Day.  Since my retirement, I've been going in at least three days a week (except during tax season, when it was four to five days).  When I've had a full week off, it's usually been with family or vacation. 

One of the best writing times I've had in my life was when I took Benjamin to Robot Camp at Georgia Tech (three summers ago)  and wrote while he was in camp, finishing over a hundred pages of Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge.

I may not get full weeks over the next five weeks, but I should come closer.  I'm looking forward to getting into a better fiction writing routine.

Topic #2

So, what exactly is my writing focus right now?

I am writing more on The Extra Credit Club.  Why this project?  I may be deluding myself, but I think I have a publisher, one whom I've corresponded with, who is very likely to publish it.  And you would agree, wouldn't you, that it is best to concentrate on something that has the best chance of getting published?  Anyways, that's my idea.

What is The Extra Credit Club about?  12 students of Huron University (an imaginary college in Michigan) participate in an extracurricular activity with a Professor of medieval literature.  The assignment proves to be much more dangerous than any of them anticipated. More on this later!

Topic #3

I finally broke down and obtained Grammarly Premium.   My goal is to edit Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge for the tenth time.  When I edited with basic Grammarly, it said there were 981 premium issues but to find out what they were, I had to get the premium program. Well, a few days ago they offered the Premium program for half price, so I broke down and got it.

I applied it to The Extra Credit Club (at this point, a shorter project than Crowley Stories)  to see what kind of problems I have.  Well, I tend to overuse certain words that are not needed, like really, just, actually, and others.  It's hard to get it through my head that adverbs are evil, but I'm getting there.  Really, I actually am, or just about.  It also fussed about the ways I used commas.  Sometimes, I swear, it wanted me to change comma use differently than the way the basic program had told me to change.  That's right.  Premium would contradict Basic.  Oh, well.

More problematic was the significant number of issues I had with passive voice.  I tried to fix those, but I found it hard because most of the story is in past tense.  I also ended some sentences with a preposition.  I changed some but not all of those.

Topic #4

It's hard to believe, but it's time to prepare for Benjamin's college applications.  We're happy with his ACT score, so we're done with that phase.  But he needs to start working on essays and a resume.

He also needs to drive some more.  We'd like him to retake his driver's test this Fall.  He's not going to have his own car, and probably won't take one to college, but we'd like him to have a license anyway, just in case.


Topic #5

So, Melania's jacket was some sort of message, but I don't know what.  No, she didn't wear it to the shelters, just at the airport, or at least that's what I read.  It was 90, but there was some rain forecast, so I think she was wearing for that reason?  My questions - was this her jacket?  Or did she borrow from somebody else on the plane?  If she bought it, why?  If you buy something with writing on it, the written message on it must strike a chord with you, right?  What chord did it strike in Melania?  When she bought it (if she bought it), what was it saying to her at the time?  Has she worn it before?  How often and when? You can research and find out that Zara (the jacket's manufacturer) is a terrible company, with anti-semitic apparel and poor working conditions.  It's much harder to discover what was really going in Melania's head.  That we may never know.

Topic #6

We continue to be captivated by soccer.  Alison finds out when the Atlanta United games are on, and is absorbed by them the whole time they are on.  It helps that Atlanta is such a good team, with the best record in the MLS (Major League Soccer).

I've followed some of the scores in the World Cup, but I haven't watched much of it.  Hard to have favorites.  I like the idea of Senegal and Iceland, or as I call them, Fire and Ice!


That's it for now.  I could muse more, but I probably should get on to other writing projects.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait