Mya Bell - Novelist Web Log Blog June 2004

Mya Bell's Web Log
A Journal of a Writer's Life



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June 1, 2004 - A New Calendar
It takes a great of discipline to be a writer. There's no one telling you when to get up in the morning or when to go to bed. No one yells if you kick up with a bowl of popcorn and watch a favorite DVD or wander off to shop or walk in the park. Those are some of the glamorous aspects of being a writer and I won't deny that I love the life, but to achieve that kind of freedom takes years and years of hard work and excellent organizational skills.

Side Note: Royalties don't kick in until 2-5 years after you begin writing your first book (sometimes it can take longer if the publisher deducts advances from the next book from the royalties from the first book). It can take anywhere from 6 months to 6 years to write a novel (2-4 years is typical and biographies and historical fiction often take longer). Once the manuscript is finished, it can take months or years (especially for fiction) to find the right publisher and, once the book is accepted, it can take from 3 months to a year for it to hit the bookstands. After that, you don't get royalties until the publisher has calculated the returns. That's the reality that many writers don't talk about publicly, but I don't see any reason to keep it a secret. I feel it's only fair to share information about obstacles to help new writers overcome them. I've been writing for a long time, so I'm past most of the initial hurdles and I've had better luck getting published than many writers, but new writers need to know that the lag time between starting a book and getting payment for that book (assuming it gets published at all and assuming it makes you money (which is only a small percentage of the books printed)) can be many years. Authors' royalties are typically 15% (of which 10%-15% may go to a literary agent). Keep the realities of writing in mind when you are trying to calculate how many books you need to sell to make it worth your time.

Keeping track of everything (including the progress of my book, my networking with the community of writers, my communications with publishers, my friends, my family, etc.) all require a steady commitment of gray matter and good record-keeping. To complicate matters, a writer is often far from home and can't always take every document along on a laptop--it's not practical (and it's a security risk for sensitive documents like unpublished manuscripts).

So, I decided to use an online calendar to help keep track of important dates and my writing activities. Whatever my location, I can log on and check where I'm going. By leaving the calendar open, rather than password protected, and writing it in the form of a journal, I hope I can share some of my process and progress with readers and writers who are interested in the life of a writer.

So here it is [drum roll]. The grand opening of my writer's calendar. I won't be able to post every day, but I'll keep it up to date as much as possible. I'll also include links to Amazon reviews of some of the books and movies mentioned (I love books and movies) since I don't have time to do in-depth reviews and this way readers can get more information if they wish. If you have comments to make or share with other readers, you can do so on the fiction forum. --- Mya

June 2, 2004 - My First Online Fiction Challenge
It's a while since I've written short fiction. I've been doing very long nonfiction books and my fiction ideas tend to come to me in novel-sized chunks. Nevertheless, an interesting Fiction Challenge came up on www.writermag.com and I took the bait. I was so intrigued with the topic, I couldn't resist (if you were arrested for being a writer how would you defend yourself in court?).

I started the story after getting up early and working on my novel for a few hours. I finished it eight hours later (around 11:30pm, including editing and formatting). I had planned to upload it to the Web before midnight, but I ended up fussing around with the PDF-generating software (which had been on an old computer that I retired and needed to be installed and tweaked all over again on the new one) and I didn't get the story uploaded until after midnight--so much for my intention to start and finish the story on the same day. It came to 23 pages. That's quite a few, but remember, this was a writing exercise, not a story for publication and there are important differences. My typical output for a publication-quality document is 2-5 edited manuscript pages a day (at best). If I do more than that, quality suffers, even when telling a simple story.

If you want to take a look at the result (or print it for personal use only) and you have Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software), you can download the PDF file of The Last Word. It occurred to me that teachers of creative writing might be interested in this as a catalyst for fiction challenge topics, as fiction challenges can be a good teaching tool. --- Mya

June 3, 2004 - Smelling the Roses
Even writers have to run errands sometimes and I needed to stop at a couple of places to get supplies for the weekend. While driving, I was listening to the Sibelius Violin Concerto played by Joshua Bell on a local radio station. I've never heard Joshua Bell playing this piece before. I pulled over to shut off the engine so I could hear it better, then closed my eyes, lay back, and rolled down the window to let the sun warm my shoulder. When the music finished (does music like that ever finish? I swear I'll be hearing it in my head three days hence), I noticed beautiful roses in full bloom in a corner park to my right and hopped out to take a few pictures. What a wonderful reprieve from writing, computers, and the humdrum of everyday responsibilities. --- Mya

June 6, 2004 - My Current Read
A few days ago I started reading Ondaatje's novel "The English Patient" and I'm nearing the end. I saw the movie about five years ago (I can't believe it's been that long) and I've been following Ralph Fienne's career since, but I never thought to look for the book. Then I came across it while shopping and picked up a copy.

I really enjoyed the movie. I liked the setting, the intrigue, the shifting relationships between the main characters. Most of my friends said they liked it as well, but I met one person whose comment was "What was it about? Nothing happened!" This really surprised me. I thought a lot happened and I was holding my breath with anticipation throughout the entire film to find out who was really who and what really happened (I won't go into detail or it would spoil it for those who haven't seen it).

I have a funny story connected with the movie. After watching it, there were three days left on the rental and I thought the setting and storyline would appeal to my neighbors--they sometimes enjoy a movie after the children have gone to bed. When I rang the doorbell, one of the kids opened the door and I handed him the rental cassette and asked him explicitly to tell his parents it was an adult movie (restricted) for his parents only. Then I left.

Two days later, my neighbor returned the movie with apologies because they hadn't seen it. Apparently they and their kids had almost watched it, except that something came up. That's when I discovered their son had NOT conveyed my 'adult movie' message and my neighbor had thought it was for children. I was relieved it hadn't been seen--I'm not sure what my neighbor would have thought about my 'family' movie recommendations after that. --- Mya

June 7, 2004 - A New Read
Last night I finished reading The English Patient. I may comment on it later, when I have had time to think about my reactions to it, on my reading list. I wasn't sure what to read after Ondaatje's novel and, after looking at six stacks of books on my 'to read' pile, finally settled on Schindler's List which I just bought on Thursday and have wanted to read since seeing the movie when it was first released.

I was only able to read a few pages before falling asleep, but I was already deeply moved by the extraordinary unfolding of this chapter of history and the unexpected way in which people were helped during WWII. --- Mya

June 8, 2004 - Heavy edits
Slash and Burn. I spent most of the day editing my novel-in-progress. There are times when new words must be added and times when words must be deleted because they don't fit. Sometimes a writer has to cut out wonderful phrases, beautiful words, and poignant thoughts because they just aren't quite right for the mood or tone of the story. It's one of the most difficult aspects of writing.

Nevertheless, no matter how difficult, it has to be done. My novel, which is 85% complete, was about 322 pages before I began editing. Cutting everything that wasn't absolutely essential (after editing for flow and typographical errors) reduced it to 313 pages. I had to ask myself, "Where did all those extra, unnecessary words come from?!" I think the answer is that the reader gets a sense of what is happening and a feeling for how the characters move and talk and make choices and so, as the story unwinds, it isn't as essential to make every detail explicit. I think it's good to trust the intelligence of the reader (and helps offset the pain of removing almost 10 carefully crafted pages from my book!).

An Evening Diversion. After taking the scalpel to my novel, I needed a diversion. I remembered about responding to the fiction challenge a few days ago on writermag.com, so I looked for another challenge, something lighter and sillier to fit my giddy mood (a long day of writing or editing can make you feel quite punchy). I found a quicky poetry/doggerel challenge. "Well," I thought. "That sounds about right. That will only take about 15 or 20 minutes." The challenge, posted by Bacchus, was to complete a poem called "Dining with Animals." The first two lines of the poem were:

As you ought to be aware,
You should not luncheon with a bear,

You might try completing it yourself, just for fun. Make it a rhyming poem with four four-line stanzas. When you're done, check out the responses by the other writers on the writermag forum. Enjoy! --- Mya

June 11, 2004 - Kicking Back
I love Fridays. Friday is the day I do anything I want as long as it vaguely relates to writing. It can be reading (online or print), writing something completely different, browsing a book store, talking to people who love to read or write. So today, I read for a while (Schindler's List), surfed the Web, posted on some of the writers' boards, and cruised some of the other Weblogs. It was a great day, very relaxing. I almost always get inspired to continue my fiction writing after having an unscheduled day and tonight I plan to enjoy Thai food and watch Almost Famous on DVD.

I had to pop back online to tell you about Almost Famous, the DVD. There are some fun outtakes, especially if you happen to have a Led Zeppelin IV CD (which includes Stairway to Heaven)! There's an outtake in which the main character plays Stairway to Heaven to convince his mom that rock music isn't all bad. Well, they couldn't get the rights to Stairway to Heaven to put it in the movie or on the DVD. But, they left in the outtake and made it an 'interactive DVD.' All you have to do is cue up your CD player and play it and watch the DVD at the same time. It's a hoot. I laughed myself silly (and enjoyed listening to Stairway to Heaven again--I still haven't tired of it). This is on the Almost Famous "Bootleg" version (on the second DVD) with the extras (it's not bootleg--they just call it that). --- Mya

June 12, 2004 - Contemplative Saturday
Saturday is my quiet day and a day for family and friends. I try to take a walk, explore, listen to music, or visit people I haven't seen for a while. Sometimes I'll just sit and read or go through old photos or enjoy the garden. I try not to schedule the day too much.

[Reagan Half Mast Pic] Serendipity-doo-daa. While on my walk, I noticed many flags at half mast due to the recent death of Ronald Reagan. I hadn't planned to photograph flags, but when I came upon this particular view of a flag pole at half mast between two round bushes, well, I felt I had a patriotic duty to record my feelings about Reagan's term of office.

Interactive DVD. This afternoon I was looking at my CDs and thinking back on the 'interactive' nature of the outtake on Almost Famous that I watched last night. Then it occurred to me that it would be fun to find a song that was about the same length as Stairway to Heaven, but with a very different character and play it instead of Stairway to Heaven, while watching the DVD.

Well, the tricky part is finding a musical style so diametrically opposed to Stairway to Heaven that it will maximize the satiric nature of the experiment. So, I poked through the CDs, Edie Brickell, hmmm, no, Michelle Shocked, hmmm, no, Midnight Oil?, nope, not quite, what about Sting?, hmmmmm, nope, definitely too mellow to have the desired effect. How about Kate Bush! One of her early albums where her voice is quite high-pitched and strident? I looked through the Kate Bush albums but most of them didn't list the length of the individual tracks. Hmmmm. Mozart? No, too sedate to make a joke of the outtake.

Hey, I know! Skinny Puppy! I have several Skinny Puppy albums. Skinny Puppy is, for most people, an acquired taste, a taste in fact that most people never acquire (I'm not even sure what musical style it is, industrial maybe? My old mom would probably refer to it as "that awful noise"). It's certainly different from Led Zeppelin! It would be fun to substitute a Skinny Puppy track for the Led Zeppelin song. When I have time I'll have to experiment. --- Mya

[Bird Relief Pic] June 13, 2004 - Quiet Sunday and Cemeteries
I like cemeteries. If I'm in a new city or country and I see a cemetery, I'll jump out and take a walk. I've walked through cemeteries from Victoria, B.C. to Eugene, Oregon and from the south of England to the south of Belgium. Someday I hope to visit cemeteries in Scotland and Japan.

It's amazing how the characters and values of people are reflected in their cemeteries. Some have high walls, some are low and spare. In some parts of the US, where commercial convenience is tantamount, the ticcy-taccy tombstones have to be flush to the ground with no flowers, so the grounds keepers can easily mow the grass (and the cemetery owners can make more money with less effort). I think that kind of cemetery unnecessarily dehumanizes people's memories of their forever departed loved ones.

In England (which has awesome cemeteries--I'll have to upload some pictures) the tombs go back hundreds of years. In Denmark (where they are very tidy and space-conscious), individual tombstones are only kept as long as the family pays for the upkeep and then the plot is 'recycled' for the next occupant and stone.

Yesterday I went for a walk in a cemetery and it reminded me of some of the pictures of cemeteries I've collected over the years (I have a lot of them) and also reminded me that I was going to make an effort to learn more about writers. One of the writers is Ella Higginson, a northwest writer I don't know very much about. Well, when walking in the cemetery, I met a man whose mother had been a friend of hers. He said he sometimes puts flowers on Ella Higginson's tombstone. I have a picture of that tombstone (and many others in the Pacific Northwest). But that's a story for another day. --- Mya

[US Flag icon] June 14, 2004 - Flag Day
Today was flag day. I'm a little embarrassed to say, I don't know what flag day is. Of course, I understand it on a superficial level--it's a day to honor the US flag and what it represents, but that doesn't tell me the origins of the day or who thought it was important enough that it should be commemorated each year.

I would like to have gone for a walk to photograph flags, but today was a day for writing. Not only is discipline important to finishing writing projects, but there are days when the words flow and you have to take advantage of it. I wrote for almost 10 hours straight today. I worked on my novel and also on a short story. Working on a short story in between novel-writing gives me a break and a different focus so that I can take a fresh look at the longer projects. I was so engrossed in my work, I hardly looked up from the keyboard. It was that kind of day.

In spite of being busy and tired, after a long work day, I felt I should find out a little about Flag Day. Since 1916, the US has honored "Old Glory," the flag of the newly formed union (1776). One of the best short descriptions of the American Flag Day was on the US Embassy site in Germany and, of course, the Library of Congress had some good pictures. Then I came across a cartoon that was published in the Washington Post a few years ago. Here's a link to Greatest Country on Earth--a cartoon near the bottom of the page. --- Mya

June 15, 2004 - Writing, writing
Today I wrote. And wrote and wrote. Usually I can turn out about three publication-quality pages a day, but occasionally, I have spurts where I might produce 15 pages or more. Today was one of those rare days. The pages just poured out of my fingers. If every day were like that, I could produce a novel a month, but I suppose I would have no life outside of writing and it's unrealistic to expect that level of productivity on a daily basis. Nevertheless, it was a good feeling to have the words flow so readily and realistic to accept that it takes a couple of years to produce a really good novel. --- Mya

June 16, 2004 - Happy Bloomsday!
Today is Bloomsday--the day the world celebrates a fictional milestone in a story written by James Joyce (a rather long story, called Ulysses). It's a story many people apparently have started but never finished.

Actually, I've never read Ulysses. I don't even have a copy in my library. So, in honor of Joyce and Bloomsday, I decided to learn a little more about the origins of Bloomsday, especially since today is the 100-year anniversary. I didn't feel like reading. Sometimes you get all read out and you need a break, so I looked for an audio commentary instead and found an enlightening program about James Joyce and Bloomsday on Boston NPR.

I was so amused and inspired, I almost donned a Macintosh so I could wander around town pretending to be Leopold Bloom. I'd better read the book first though! Then next year, I'll celebrate Bloomsday by masquerading as one of its characters. Hmmm, maybe I should fly to Dublin for the day--I've always wanted to see Ireland. --- Mya

June 17, 2004 - Happy Birthday Stravinsky
Since I'll be on a road trip this weekend, I needed to run some errands. On the way, I listened to Stravinsky's Firebird Suite in honor of Igor Stravinsky who, I believe, was born on this day in 1882. I haven't heard the Firebird for quite a while and missed the ending because I needed to finish shopping. I think I may have a copy of the Firebird in my CD collection. I'll have to check and listen to the whole thing through on a good stereo--the car stereo doesn't do it justice. --- Mya

[Big tree Icon] June 18, 2004 - On the Road Again
One part of my life is intense writing. Another part is intense travel. I didn't have to travel on a plane this time, however. Instead, I was on a road trip around the northwest, including Seattle, Portland and parts in between. One of my favorite landmarks is the giant cedar tree that has been installed at one of the I-5 rest areas. This tree is estimated to have been about 1,000 years old when it was killed by fire in the early 20th century. In 1939, the Prince and Princess of Norway drove through its arches.

But don't assume this is the biggest tree around. In the Gray's Harbour area, before the old growth forest was completely razed, there were many trees ranging from 20 to 30 feet in diameter. An average bedroom is typically between 10 and 12 feet in length. So imagine a tree that would fill four bedrooms arranged in a square. That's how big they were. They couldn't even cut them at the base, near the ground. The breadth and root systems were so great that they cut these trees (with hand saws) at a level of about eight feet in height. Sadly those trees are gone forever. Next time you see a logging truck with a dozen or more logs, it's a good idea to remember these are young tiny trees. The original trees growing in the Pacific Northwest would have had to have been sawed into quarters and loaded on four separate logging trucks to carry one tree (in fact, it would have taken much more than four trucks to fit a tree like that, since they were 200 feet or more in height, which is the height of a 20-story apartment building--so figure about 10 logging trucks to transport the entire tree, assuming the tree getting narrower toward the top).

[Mya Bell at Fountain] Doffing and Dousing My Hat!
I had a nice stop in downtown Portland, enjoying some of the parks and fountains while I was stretching my legs from the road trip. It was a lovely diversion and the fountains helped cool me off--it was 88 degrees F along the way, with hot sun above and thunder clouds all around.

At one point the wind caught my hat and flung it into the fountain. I rather like my hat--I didn't want to lose it! It started to float away under the ramparts and then to sink! I was very fortunate--it made a sudden spin toward an open area and my long-armed companion reached underneath, at the risk of falling in, and was just barely able to make a heroic rescue. A nearby spectator even applauded.

Fortunately the heat worked to my advantage and dried off my hat fairly quickly so it can accompany me further on my travels. --- Mya

[Mt. Hood Icon] June 20, 2004 - Up the I-5
I had a relaxing Sunday, visiting friends for a crepe breakfast with fresh fruit. By evening, I was on my way home again.

When you travel north/south on Interstate-5 in the Pacific Northwest, you're following Volcano Alley. To the east, there's a long string of active volcanoes visible from the freeway, including Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Hood (pictured), Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker. You get peek-a-boo glimpses of them through the powerlines, bridges, and smog.

I was amazed at how well the digital camera captured them, if you consider they were only visible for brief moments through the window of the car speeding along at 65mph.

Of course, sometimes I wasn't so successful. In one instance, I got the bridge strut instead of the mountain and many times, the mountain was obscured behind trees before the 'shutter' clicked. In that way, photography is like writing. The public sees the successes, not all the learning experiences that happened along the way to achieving that one good photo (or one good story). --- Mya

[Submission Icon] June 22, 2004 - Story Acceptance!
I neglected to mention that one of the ways I celebrated Bloomsday was to submit a short story for publication. I don't write a lot of short fiction these days--most of my projects are longer formats--but submitting a story seemed an appropriate way to commemorate James Joyce's great work of fiction. So here's the good news--today I received email that my story has been accepted for publication. Since the theme felt like a good fit for the geographic and cultural market in which it's being distributed, I was happy with the news and thanked the editor for letting me know in a timely manner. Many editors can be slow to provide feedback, so I appreciated his professional courtesy.

When I get final confirmation of the edition being in print (publications typically send "author's copies"), I'll let you know where it's being published so you can run out and by zillians of copies--or at least one--to enjoy the stories submitted by the various writers. --- Mya

June 24, 2004 - Writer Commemoriated
I just heard the news that the Japanese have decided to acknowledge the female half of their population and honor a woman on the new 5,000 yen note that will be coming out later this year. The picture on the note will feature Ichiyo Higuchi--a Japanese novelist and poet of the Meiji era who wrote "Takekurabe" and died, tragically, in her 24th year. It is the first time a woman has been commemorated on a Japanese bank note.

Depending upon currency fluctuations, the new note is similar in value to an American $50 bill. It is scheduled to be released in November 2004. Now I just have to figure out how to get one! --- Mya

[Pink Lily Pic] [Sashimi Pic] June 26, 2004 - A Good Meal
Learning about the Japanese writer Ichiyo Higuchi put me in the mood for Japanese food.

There seem to be quite a few good Japanese restaurants in the northwest. I especially like those near UBC, one overlooking the water in White Rock, a couple in Bellingham and one or two each in Seattle and Portland. Today, I decided to be brave and ordered a tempura dish that came with sashimi (raw fish) appetizers. I believe they were tuna (the darkest one), prawn and, hmmm, the white one may have been squid or cuttlefish or something else kind of chewy and white. The california rolls were filled with a sort of salmon paté.

Actually, it was a delicious meal and very attractively served with pink and red carnations. --- Mya

June 27, 2004 - Web Recognition
End of the Great War. On this day, in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, signaling the end of World War I. It was also the day I finished Schindler's List, which chronicles the life of Oskar Schindler during World War II. What an astonishing, important, poignant and difficult to read book (not in terms of the way it is written, but in terms of the acts of cruelty so wantonly perpetrated by people at the time). When I have some free time, I'll describe my reactions to it in my Reading List.

Featured Site. I just discovered that CanLinks and The Province selected my Web site as a featured site for the week of June 9, 2004. Considering that the sites are human-reviewed and they only choose about 10 sites per week from the many thousands that are listed (not just writers' sites, but all sites), this was happy news.

June 28, 2004 - Edgar Allen Poe Moves In and $$ Money in the Mailbox
I always find it interesting to discover little tidbits of information about literature and literary figures. For example, on this day in 1825, Edgar Allen Poe's guardians, John and Francis Allen, purchased a house near Fifth and Main in London. Two years later, Edgar apparently had a serious row with John and set out for Boston, where he enlisted with the U.S. Army. While stationed in the Boston Harbor, he anonymously published Tamerlane and other Poems. I was very much inspired by Edgar Allen Poe as a child. After reading The Raven, I tried my hand at writing poetry for a couple of months and showed a few of the poems to my junior high school English teacher. He liked them so much, he submitted them for publication to a text book that was going to include a few examples of student poetry and mine was selected. It was, in a sense, my first sale, but more important than that, it was an inspiration to continue to try to write well.

Time to Work. Well, no more Web surfing for at least a few hours. I have to sit down at the other computer now and write chapter 17 of my novel-in-progress. Much has happened to my characters in the last couple of chapters and I'm eager to relate the next segment of the story.

$urprise check. What a great day it's been. Not only did I complete three more pages of my novel (in addition to editing a few), but I received an unexpected royalty check in the mail. I get regular royalty checks twice a year from my publisher for four of my books that are still in print. Every once in a while, however, I get a small, unexpected extra one when one of the other imprints makes a sale in a nontraditional market. So there it was, in the mailbox, a check for $630 that I wasn't anticipating. I'm thinking of using it toward a vacation one of these days.

June 29, 2004 - Press Association and Slim Pickins Anniversaries
Today is the 136th anniversary of the founding of the British News Agency called the Press Association. Some of my earliest published writings were for local newspapers. I rarely do newspaper articles now--I'm concentrating most of my energy on full-length books--but it's fun to remember back on how exciting it was the first time I saw one of my articles in a daily newspaper.

This is also the anniversary of the day Slim Pickins was born in 1919. If you're a Peter Sellers/Dr. Strangelove fan, you'll remember him as the guy who "rode the bomb." Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite old movies. The inimitable Peter Sellers plays several of the characters. Some people need to see it more than once before they begin to understand the humor (I know I didn't get it all the first time), but what a classic.

June 30, 2004 - Georges Duhamel and Open Directory Selects Site
Today is the anniversary of the birth of French novelist Georges Duhamel, born in 1884. I don't know if his books are available in English translation (he wrote in French) and my French is somewhat limited, but I thought it would be interesting to learn a little more about him. After some seaching, I found him listed in several quotations databases and discovered that his autobiography, "Light of My Days" (1948) has been translated into English. Darrin McMahon made an interesting remark in his thesis about the historic roots of French anti-Americanism in which he mentions Georges Duhamel:

Indeed, American society as a whole seemed to many French thinkers merely an absurd organizational structure for the anonymous pursuit of work--likened, in George Duhamel's tremendously popular, Scènes de la vie future (1930), to an ant-hill.

I didn't feel I could ignore this comment or pass it off as grudging anti-American sentiment because in fact I've read that the US has the longest work week (and fewest holidays) of any major industrialized nation. Since I live in WA and BC and have family on both sides of the border, I have to admit this observation hit home. My friends and relatives in western Canada (it may be different in eastern Canada) work an average of 32-37 hours a week with full medical insurance and 3-4 weeks off per year (plus a long weekend every month). Most of my friends and relatives in the US work an average of 40-60 hours a week, many have little or no medical coverage, and they average only 1-2 weeks of vacation time per year (with only a few long weekends). There's some food for thought. Perhaps there's a story in that.

In mentioning the above McMahon quote, I don't want to leave a negative impression about the French. America is indebted to France in many ways. The French provided significant financing for the American revolution (Benjamin Franklin spent many years in Paris as an emissary) and gave America the most revered and well-known of all symbols of freedom--the Statue of Liberty.

Web site accepted. On a different topic, I just found out today that my site has been selected for inclusion by human evaluators for the Open Directory Project. Since they have become fussy about site inclusion (more and more human-edited directories look for complete, interesting, and well-linked sites), I was happy to get the news. My site has been included in the Mixed Genre Online Writing category. It's nice to end the month of June on such a happy note.

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