End of Week Update

Let’s tie up a few loose ends and get up to date, since it’s Friday.
 
Hester Morris, Maggie’s Ancestor
I had a group of folks respond about what occupation they thought Hester might have in the 1730s American colonies. So, between their suggestions and my own here is what we came up with (in no logical order):
 

1. A seamstress who creates original clothing for women of means
2. Shop keeper
3. Maid
4. Governess or teacher
5. Farm worker
6. Cook
7. Tavern worker or owner
8. Midwife
9. Apothecary (herbalist)

 
You’ll have to give me some time to think about what Hester will do. I won’t be dashing off a story any time soon, since the 18th century is less familiar to me than the 19th and I will need to get my research on. On the other hand, I did score a better grade on my “Seventeenth & Eighteen Century American Religion and Culture” grad school exam, than I did on the “Nineteenth & Twenty-First Century American Religion and Culture” exam. So, there is that… In sort, maybe I know more than I think.
 
Once I get “The Great Central Fair” story and the novel The Good Community out, I will be free turn to another century just for the fun of it. The prospect sounds fun. I could make another trip to Williamsburg. I could hang out in their archives. Ohhh… to hang out in an archives again! Yes. Geeks like me think research is fun. Everyone else wants to go out and enjoy summer, I want to sit and peruse old books, journals, and periodicals. Love that smell!
 
“The Great Central Fair”
I’m completing the second draft of the story, which is running around 20,000 words. At that length, it just might be a novella. I usually do four or five drafts before I dare to let my beta readers have it. Any writer will tell you the first few drafts are dreadful. As I go through each draft the writing decreases and the editing increases. Also, the time spent decreases, but the anxiety goes way up, because writers hit a “this thing really sucks” stage. That’s when we must be brave and hand it someone else.

This will take a while. Please be patient.
 
Also, remember I’m not a full-time author. I have another career. Life is a juggling act of priorities, just like it is for everyone else.
 
Something Fun
My social media manager, Stephanie Moore Hopkins of LAP It Marketing, tells me a project she is curating between graphic artist Lee Davis and myself is close to launch. Let’s just say it involves his graphic novel-style art and my book Heart Soul & Rock ‘n’ Roll. I’ve seen some of Lee’s work on this and I’m so excited I can barely stand it. I’ll let you know more as we get close to launch.
 
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That’s it, folks. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!