The bottom line…

Wow, that was quick.

This article by John Koblin for The New York Times tells us…

Greta Van Susteren leaving MSNBC after less than six months

I point this out simply to show the sometimes ruthless business of television and, in this case, television news.

I very much recall liking Greta Van Susteren when she was one of the regular talking heads during the O.J. Simpson trial waaaaay back when.

Image result for greta van susteren o.j. case

After that was done, I know she went to Fox News and, because I avoid that network like the plague, never did get to see much of her there.

When she popped up on MSNBCa few months back I caught her now and again and, frankly, was surprised by how little I cared for her show.  Again, I distinctly recalled enjoying her and her comments -usually very sharp and perceptive- during that O.J. Simpson trial but here, in this format… I dunno.   It felt weak, as if she were trying a little too hard to straddle the line and inject her “common sense” thoughts into today’s politics.

Apparently Mrs. Van Susteren’s ratings were very bad and the decision was made to drop her.

Quickly.

She had a show on Wednesday and by Thursday (ie yesterday the 29th of June as I type this) they had already dropped her and placed a new temporary host for her hour.  No mention was made on the change by this new host and, I suspect as I didn’t see it, Mrs. Van Susteren didn’t have any sort of “goodbye” on her Wednesday show.

Again, I point this out as an example of the sometimes very ruthless nature of television.  While I didn’t particularly like her show and, it would appear, not enough people did, it strikes me as rather nasty the way she was so quickly dropped.

Which makes me wonder if there may have been other things going on in the background which hastened this decision.

Ah well, I won’t necessarily miss her but, still, can’t help but feel a little sorry for Mrs. Van Susteren.

Time passes and things change

A day or two ago I was flipping through the various channels and caught the opening minutes of a mostly forgotten 1967 James Coburn film Waterhole #3.  Here’s a clip from the movie’s first fifteen or so minutes… 

So I’m watching the film and its dated and all but it tries to present, as can be seen a little in the clip, a humorous take on the Western.  Further, I’m a fan of the late actor James Coburn.  He’s completely in his element playing these types of characters.

However…

Immediately after this scene finishes, the character Coburn plays, wanted outlaw Lewton Cole, heads to the farm of the Sheriff seeking his horse.  There, in the barn, he meets up with the Sheriff’s daughter, played by Margarete Blye, and what follows…ugh.

Here’s the IMDB description of the film (the highlights are mine):

Sergeant Foggers and two Confederate soldiers lay their hands on gold bullion belonging to the army, taking at the same time a certain Ben Akajnian hostage. Then they bury the loot near an isolated waterhole in the desert. Some time later, Lewton Cole, a professional gambler, fights a duel with one of the robbers, kills him and finds the map of the treasure on his body. Stopping at the small town of Integrity, Cole, in order to escape Sheriff Copperud locks him up in his own jail-house, steals his horse and even finds the time to “seduce and abandon” Billee, the sheriff’s comely daughter. The indignant father catches up with Lewton, arrests him and grabs the gold. But Foggers and his accomplice attack him, relieve him of the treasure and free Cole…

Don’t let the “nice” description fool you: Cole rapes Billee.

He.  Rapes.  Her.

The movie, clearly a product of its time, presents the rape as a “humorous” seduction.  Billee finds Cole in her barn, with his pants down (I’m not entirely sure why he isn’t wearing his pants…I suppose that was meant to be part of the “fun”), and he corners her (“humorously”), she tries to fight him (“humorously”), he pulls her down to the ground (“humorously”), he starts kissing her (“humorously”), and then, but of course, she’s somehow charmed by his actions and succumbs to the passion.

Holy shit.

There is no “seduce” about this.  This is rape, plain and simply, and with that supposed “humorous” scene, I could no longer watch the film and had to turn it off.

Again, I know this movie is a product of its obviously unenlightened times.  Yet it is jarring being hit with something like this today, nearly fifty years later.  Clearly as a people we have advanced beyond these medieval -or worse!- attitudes.

Which brings me to, coincidentally enough, to another topic regarding older mores… specifically in Walt Disney World/Disneyland.

I’ve written about changes to rides to make them more politically correct before (you can read the original post here), noting how the original version of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (the basis for the successful Johnny Depp movie series) has changed over time.

Well, it appears there are more changes to come!

This article, by Ed Mazza and found on Huffingtonpost.com, notes that the famous Redhead at the very-politically incorrect “Wench Auction”, will be changed:

Disney To Remove “Wench Auction” From Pirates of the Caribbean Ride

This is what the “Wench Auction” looked like for most of the ride’s run, until now…

Image result for Pirates of the caribbean wench auction images

Here’s a slightly closer look, which illustrates the comely women being auctioned with one big exception…

Image result for Pirates of the caribbean wench auction images

I’m not surprised by the change at all.  Much as I enjoy the ride -and it is one of my favorites- it was originally designed just a little before the release of Waterhole #3, and, frankly, featured some of the same oddball sexuality played for laughs.

The “Wench Auction” scene is specifically played for laughs.  A bunch of captured women are being auctioned off to be “brides” (ie sex slaves, no?) and the “prize” of the auction is a beautiful redhead.  However, the auctioneer has to first get rid of a comely, fat, and ugly woman first while the potential buyers demand to have a go at the redhead.

Ho…ho?

Later on, and in the original version of the ride, we had another sexually charged humorous sequence involving pirates chasing down women in one home, then the next.  In the third home (the punchline), a larger woman chases the pirate with her broom.

Again, what are the pirates chasing the women hoping to get from them?  Were they hoping to capture them and then they would very politely convince them to make them a nice meal?

Yeah.  Right.

That later part of the ride was changed and no longer were the pirates chasing the women but the women were chasing the men.

Now, the “Wench Auction” is being done away with and, with that, the ride certainly will strip (no pun intended) itself of some of its last… uncomfortable… elements.

I know there are those who argue the Pirates are villains and by removing these more risque jokes they’re castrating (again, no pun intended) the ride.

However, this is a park devoted, ultimately, to children.  As such, perhaps its best to remove these elements that at one time may have been acceptable but, frankly, by today’s standards are not.

By the way, the “Wench Auction”, for those too lazy to click on the link above, will be changed in this way:

The Redhead is now a pirate and the “Auction” sign remains but no mention of any wenches or auction of the same.

The Redhead’s there for the loot!

Profiles in courage…

As I’ve stated many –far too-many– times before, I don’t like to dwell on politics.  Those who have read these posts know I’m aghast that Donald Trump is president.

The thing Trump decided to focus on upon being elected was dismantling the Affordable Care Act, ie “Obamacare”.

So far, this hasn’t gone too well.

Though the Republicans were able to get the bill passed through the House of Representatives, they’ve so far had a tougher go in the Senate, though as these things go, this could well change.

Anyway, the new bill was drawn up in secret and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped that by being really quick and secretive with the whole thing, he’d get it passed and out of his hair.

Well, it didn’t work, again, at least as of today, and the bill will not be voted on before the July 4 break as was originally planned.

What was most amusing, to me anyway, was the fact that after it was announced the bill would not be voted on, three Senators, all Republicans, felt the heat was sufficiently off them that they could announce in public they didn’t care for the bill.

The article below, by Pete Grieve for CNN, details their announcements:

Senate punts, then 3 new Republicans oppose health care bill

The reason I don’t like to dwell on politics around these parts is because its one of those topics (I suppose religion is the other) where a rational conversation is pretty hard, if not impossible, to have.  You believe what you believe and you’re on this side or that side and, increasingly, the other side is the “enemy” and they lie and they’re unAmerican and etc. etc. etc.

In this case, I have little doubt the Senators mentioned in the article probably had deep reservations about this bill but, because of party dynamics, felt uncomfortable “speaking out” or, at the least, speaking their mind.

I wish they had done this before the heat was effectively off them.

And while I don’t particularly care for the politics of Rand Paul or Ted Cruz, at least they were upfront in voicing opposition to this bill, though the cynic might suspect they did so to try to pull it closer to their ideals (ie, repealing the ACA completely).

Ah well, that’s politics for ya.

You know you want to know…

Director Matt Reeves, whose soon to be released film War For The Planet of the Apes is getting some early very good word, has been tasked with directing the upcoming Batman (or, as it is currently titled, The Batman) film featuring Ben Affleck.

And because fans are intensely curious to hear what Mr. Reeves has to say regarding the project, here’s an article by Chris Begley for batman-news.com (I truly didn’t know there was a website devoted to just this!):

The Batman will be a “noir-driven detective version of Batman,” says director Matt Reeves

Now, the headline pretty much gives away the meat of this relatively small article as the film hasn’t begun, well, filming yet and Mr. Reeves is obviously more interested in promoting his War For The Planet of the Apes feature.

Therefore, I wouldn’t blame you a bit for not hitting the link above.  The full quote by Mr. Reeves, by the way, is this:

“There’s a chance to do an almost noir driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very very powerful way, that will hopefully connect you to what’s going on inside of his head,” Reeves said.

I’m intrigued, I suppose, though by this point whatever nostalgic joy I could have regarding seeing Batman on screen has been diminished by the various movies featuring him released to date.

In some ways, its like my feelings for the upcoming Spider-Man film.  There was a time when the idea of seeing Spidey on the big screen was a dream come true, but in the interval we’ve seen so many versions of the character come to the screen, some better than others, that I’m just not all that thrilled with seeing more Spidey.

With Batman, I must admit, I haven’t quite reached that level.  This is most likely due to the fact that he’s easily my favorite superhero and therefore it’ll take a lot more for my thirst to see him on screen is sated.

Having said that, while what Mr. Reeves said above sounds intriguing, I’m perfectly happy to wait and see what eventually shows up on at the local theaters.

Hope for the best and all!

A little more on that Han Solo film…

A few days ago came the reports that Phil Lord and Chris Miller (collectively, they’ve been involved in such great -to my mind!- works like 21 Jumpstreet, 22 Jumpstreet, The Last Man on Earth, The Lego Movie, etc. etc.) were released from the still untitled Han Solo Early Years movie (I wrote about that, briefly, here).

Though I didn’t mention it in the above post, I strongly suspected that, despite the “nice” public face the duo and Disney tried to make on the split -they cited the bland “creative differences” as the reason- things must have been incredibly heated and far from “bland”.

I suspected that in time bits and pieces of news regarding what really happened between Mr. Lord & Miller and Disney would come out.  Some, it appears, has.

This article by Kim Masters and found on The Hollywood Reporter points out a few rumors regarding what may have been going on behind the scenes of the movie:

Rumors may explain why Lucasfilm fired “Han Solo” directors

Now, like the headline notes, these are rumors.  So one should take them with the proverbial grain of salt.

While doing so, there were a couple of things that struck me as plausible.

For example:

Producers were also reported to be dissatisfied with the improvisational directing style used by Lord and Miller, which one source claimed led to them being indecisive.

I say this strikes me as plausible because I’ve always felt that Mr. Lord and Miller’s best works -comedies all- had a certain improvisational “feel” to them.  In comedies, this can work very well.  A joke that seems terrific on the page might not work in “real life” yet if you have a clever enough cast and crew, you may come up with things on the spot that work better.

I personally absolutely loved 22 Jumpstreet, a film that felt free wheeling, and only “liked” 21 Jumpstreet because it felt far more structured compared to its sequel.

However, as action/comedy hybrids, I felt both films were better in the comedy rather than the action aspect.  To be blunt: The action scenes were dull in comparison to the hilarious -and often very witty- comedy presented.

While looking over the movies/TV shows Mr. Lord and Miller have been involved in, I find it most curious that Disney/Lucasfilm wanted to use them in this Han Solo movie.

Did they want the film to be a comedy?

The various Star Wars films -the one’s I’ve seen anyway- certainly contained comic elements but they were mostly about the action and special effects, elements I’m not sure I’ve seen Mr. Lord and Miller have handled in that specific capacity before.

Perhaps the most damning rumor about their work on the Han Solo film is this line, also from the article above:

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm was so unhappy with how Lord and Miller were directing star Alden Ehrenreich that they hired an acting coach, unusual for this late in a film shoot.

The later part of this line needs to be emphasized: “Late in a film shoot”.  Apparently, the principle photography for the film was nearly done when Mr. Lord and Miller were fired.

So it would seem that Disney/Lucasfilm were trying to see if things could work out but, apparently, there were not and that’s why such an extreme step was finally taken in sacking them.

Will Han Solo be saved by the arrival of director Ron Howard?  Will much of the film have to be re-worked?

As I’ve said before many times, I’m not a particularly big Star Wars fan but I am intrigued by all these machinations.

I’ll be most curious to see what happens -and how audiences react- when the film finally makes it to screens.

Netflix cancels Girlboss…

Never saw the show, but over the weekend it was announced that the Netflix show Girlboss, based on the life of Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amorusa, was cancelled.  This article, by Matthew Dessem and found on Slate.com, is about the cancellation:

Netflix fires Girlboss

Again, I never saw the show and, most likely, never will.  There’s just too much entertainment out there and this particular topic, fashion, doesn’t intrigue me enough to see it though I’m certain there is/was an audience -though not enough of one- to get it made for at least the one season.

I point this out because Netflix, of late, appears to be paring down their shows.  They cancelled Sense8 and The Get Down in the previous month and who knows if they’re going to pare down a little more.

Not all that long ago -in late March as a matter of fact- I wrote about how much money Netflix was spending on what amounted to four original movies.  The movies, Death Note, Will Smith’s Bright, Brad Pitt’s War Machine, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, are projected to cost Netflix a whopping $295 million to make.

That’s one hell of a lot of dough.

I felt then, as I do now, that Netflix is clearly on a roll and clearly has a lot of money to invest but wondered if going for such high end expensive projects might be…well…risky.  While they seem to be doing reasonably well with their TV shows (another expense, it should be noted), it seemed nearly incomprehensible to spend that much money on “just” four movies, even with the big names attached to them.

I can’t help but wonder, three months later, if some of the paring down of TV shows in this past couple of weeks indicates that those at Netflix are beginning to realize they can’t sustain so many projects and invest that much money without -I know this is going to sound childishly simple- making it back.

At least making it back, if not actually turning a profit.

Much as I love movies and follow all the stories regarding the studios and features to come, their continued success relies, as it does with so many companies, with the bottom line.

If Actor X or Director Y make a film that bombs, hard, odds are those who could potentially back them will be more hesitant to invest in their next project(s).  If they make a bundle with their film, obviously the opposite is the case and said Actor or Director may find themselves in the position to do what they want rather than what they can get.

With Netflix, I had the impression from that first story that they were so flush with cash and were so enamored with movies and TV shows (not unlike so many of us) that they felt they could turn around and make things they’d like to see.  They invested big bucks into shows and, now, movies but, again, I can’t help but wonder if this paring down shows they’ve realized they can’t simply keep funding projects that don’t turn at least a modest profit for them.

Someone far more clever than I once said of a business (it doesn’t really matter which one as it can apply to so many of them), that “You can make a small fortune on it, provided you go into it with a large fortune”.

So it may be with Netflix and their movies and TV shows, if they’re not careful.

Hmmm…about that weather…

According to mlive.com’s Mark Torregrossa…

Arizona so hot weather map almost runs out of colors

What exactly does “almost” running out of colors looks like (and for those who don’t care to click the link)?

It looks like this:

High temperature forecast for Wednesday, June 21, 2017.

Checking the temps listed, Phoenix is listed at 117 degrees while the highest high (at least that I found with my oh-so-casual looking around) is 120 degrees at Blythe, CA.

Luckily for us, global warming is a myth and the polar caps meltdown is really all about natural climate changes which occur, naturally, over time and all those scientists who say global warming is a real danger are upstaged by the less than 10% of scientists who don’t believe this to be true.

Lucky for us, eh?

Oh, and I’ve got a bridge over the Everglades I’d like to sell, if anyone is interested.

Meanwhile, let’s enjoy a song…

Buster Poindexter used to be in a punkish band before this?  You don’t say…

Wanna see film of New York, circa 1911?

Sure you do!

The Museum of Modern Art is featuring an exhibit through July 14th regarding this topic and they have unearthed an absolutely fascinating film taken of New York City at that time by a Swedish (!) company that devoted itself to filming interesting places.

The film runs just shy of 8 minutes long and can be seen here:

MoMA: New York 1911

Not only is the restoration of the film fantastic, but you have to love the casual nature of the film itself.  For example, I love how at just a little past the 7 minute mark we have extended (well, it lasts about 20 or so seconds) footage from the rear of a vehicle and watch as what looks like a wealthy family with their African American chauffeur head down the street.

It is so amusing to see the young daughter, seated uncomfortably in the front, looking absolutely bored out of her freaking mind.  And then you see the chauffeur pointing to the camera and smiling as he realizes what’s going on.  Such universal, human reactions.

Anyway, here’s a screen grab of the family and their car, full filmed image:

And below is a close up of the moment the driver first notices they’re being filmed.  A moment after this particular frame he turns to the man beside him (I’m guessing the husband and head of this family) and points out what he’s seen.  The girl remains totally bored out of her mind, though she too appears to notice the camera at this moment as well as her (I’m assuming) brother in the back seat:

Fascinating, fascinating stuff.

Someone noticed that in some of the street footage you see people with missing limbs wandering about.  The person who noticed this wondered if these people were Civil War veterans.

That’s very possible.  The Civil War ended in 1865 so if you were, say, 17 years old during the war and lost a limb in the fighting toward its end, you would be approximately 63 years old at the time this footage was shot.

Back in the late 1980’s I was often in the presence of the elderly (how I got to know them is a story for another day), some of whom were in their mid to late 80’s at that time and therefore were likely small children not unlike the youngsters in the car above in 1911.

Anyway, one of them told me when he was very young he recalled seeing amputees on the streets of New York usually begging for money.  He said many of them were indeed Civil War veterans who had sustained their injuries during the war.

He noted that as he grew up in NY these people gradually disappeared, no doubt because -let’s be blunt here- they aged and eventually passed away.

Still, an interesting verification of a story told to me about 30 years ago by this individual!

Anyway, if you’re at all interested in seeing the rest of the footage, please check out the link!

Two bits of sci-fi news broke yesterday…

Both interesting.

First up, the bigger of the two stories, that directors/writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have exited the so far untitled young Han Solo Star Wars movie and, as of yesterday, the rumor was that Ron Howard may be brought in to finish the film.  The below link is to an article by Germain Lussier at i09.com discussing that very topic:

Ron Howard is the reported front runner to take over Han Solo film

What’s most fascinating about this news is that Lord and Miller have been filming for months and were reportedly close to finishing principle photography when they left.

If you’ve been around these parts for any length of time, you know that I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, despite having been exactly the right age at the right time back in 1977 when the first film was released.  In fact, I have yet to see Rogue One, which also had its difficulties upon completion.  Supposedly most of the movie’s second half was re-filmed by others though the original director didn’t walk like Lord and Miller did.

I wrote a comment over at i09 regarding this and recalling it sounded a lot like what happened with another film…

The closest comparison seems to be what happened with Superman II, where director Richard Donner filmed something like 80% of the movie before being sacked. The film was completed with some new scenes directed by Richard Lester and while the film wound up being quite good -though I prefer the Richard Donner cut, even if it didn’t have a “real” ending- those who recognize the difference know what Mr. Lester added…and it was mostly silly humor.

To reiterate:  It is my feeling most of the success of the theatrical cut of Superman II is attributable to Mr. Donner and the work he did in the film before being fired.  Having said that, the theatrical cut, while not as good a film as the original Superman, nonetheless wound up being pretty good on its own, even if some of the things Mr. Lester added were silly.

Will the same happen with the Han Solo film?  Until its released, we won’t know.  I doubt I’ll catch the film until it airs on cable so I won’t know until then.

Second bit of interesting news, also found on i09 and in an article written by Charles Pullman-Moore is…

Damon Lindelof’s bringing a Watchmen series to HBO

Way back when I was a HUGE fan of writer Alan Moore.  By complete luck I got back into the Saga of the Swamp Thing comic book with issue #16 when it originally hit news stands.  I was a big fan of the Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson run of the book back in the early to mid-1970’s and when this new series came out in the early 1980’s, written by Martin Pasko and drawn by Tom Yeates, I gave it a try for something like five to seven issues before giving up on it.

A friend, however, told me to give the book another try and, as I mentioned above, I picked up issue #16 which, while still written by Martin Pasko, was drawn by the new art team of Steve Bissette and John Totleben.

While I love me some Tom Yeates, Bissette and Totleben were far more appropriate for a book like Swamp Thing and I bought the issue and those that came afterwards.

What happened, of course, is that with issue #20 Martin Pasko took off and Alan Moore, in his first U.S. work, stepped in.  The book, frankly, was in trouble.  It wasn’t selling well and there was no reason to think it would last too much longer.  Yet with issue 21 of the book, with the head-turning Anatomy Lesson story, Alan Moore proved he was a talent to watch, even if most of the U.S. market didn’t know this.

I did, though at that time I was one of the very few.

I was so turned on by Alan Moore’s writing that I hunted down all the previous work he had that I could get my hands on.  That turned out to be mostly Warrior magazine and there I found his awesome work on MarvelMan (later re-titled MiracleMan), V for Vendetta, and Dr. & Quinch.  Meanwhile, sales on Swamp Thing grew and Alan Moore was increasingly being looked upon as a talent to watch.  It amused me to be so ahead of the curve but I was only too happy to get even more…Moore.

I recall distinctly when The Watchmen series was announced and being so very excited to get it.  By the time it was over, however, things had changed.

I can’t quite put my finger upon it but as I read more of his works, I realized that as good as Alan Moore was, he was best when doing short stories rather than longer series.  His best issues of Swamp Thing, IMHO, were those that were “done in one” while his longer stories tended to amble on and not reach all that great of a resolution.

The same, alas, was my opinion of Watchmen.  Great premise, obviously a lot of work invested in it, but the ending…jeeze.  The ending was, in what I think was most likely a case of coincidental creativity (or perhaps Alan Moore simply forgot he had watched it), the plot of the famous Outer Limits episode Architects of Fear.

Clearly someone within DC (or perhaps Alan Moore himself) realized this as well for towards the end of the series we get this curious little panel which acknowledges the similarity in stories:

Image result for watchmen architects of fear

Again, I think this was probably coincidence as I would certainly hope someone as creative as Mr. Moore wouldn’t simply take another story premise and, even with an acknowledgement, pass it off as his own.

Still, the bloom had faded.  Mr. Moore concluded his Swamp Thing run going farther and farther “out there”.  Both Marvel Man and V for Vendetta were also given conclusions as the Warrior magazine folded before either could be done, but I found both stories also featured murky ends.

Mr. Moore also had a big argument with DC comics and left the company.  His work following his departure, IMHO, was never quite on the level of where he started, and his interviews showed an at times very bitter man who didn’t seem to know when to let things go.

All this history came back to hurt my appreciation of The Watchmen.  What I once viewed as a terrific series once done I couldn’t help but view in a lesser light.  When the Zach Snyder directed Watchmen movie came out, I was somewhat curious to see it but didn’t.  I eventually bought the director’s cut BluRay yet despite the fact that I love Mr. Snyder’s Batman v Superman, I haven’t had the desire to watch that film.

Which, in a very long winded way, explains why I’m not all that interested in seeing Mr. Lindelof’s Watchmen series, either.  I think a series will do the work more justice as it felt like a great difficult thing to make a single movie, no matter how long it may be, of this 12 issue work.

Could it be good?

I have no doubt it could be good.

I just don’t think I’m going to bother watching it.

Corrosive Knights, a 6/20/17 update

It occurs to me its been a while since I’ve offered an update on book #7, the concluding chapter, of the Corrosive Knights series.

Basically, I’m in what I call the third draft of the book though, truth be told, this is probably the first “complete” first draft.

OK, I know that sounds confusing but here goes: The first draft of the book generally told the story I wanted to tell but with some very big gaps which were meant to be filled up in the future.  That draft wound up being a puny 50,000 or so words and I knew even then considering all the bases that were to be covered that this book would probably be my longest Corrosive Knights novel.

To date, my longest Corrosive Knights novel runs slightly north of 110,000 words so there was a lot to be done still.

However, I needed to print out what I had to that point, read through it, then get a clearer idea of what needed to be done next.  I did this and for the second draft of the book had approximately 65,000 words written up.

Once again, when I got to the end of that draft I knew there was still a hell of a lot to add into the book but, again, felt the need to print what I had, read through it, and then hit it again.

So, as I said above, I’m on the third draft of the book and roughly half-way to the end.  I now have approximately 95,000 words written and know there will be plenty more to come.  I’ve got the first half to three quarters of the book pretty well written out though there will be some bits and pieces that need to be trimmed.

This is a natural process.

I wish I could sit down and in one go write up a book start to finish but that simply isn’t the way I work.  Things need to be clarified and refined and sometimes a thunderbolt will hit me and I realize “don’t do this, do that” and I have to go back and re-work sections of the book.

Again, this is a natural process.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can finish this book by the end of this year but, this far out, that’s a hard thing to promise.  Regardless, once this draft of the book is done, I’m reasonably sure I’ll have just about everything I wanted to put in the book there…and then some.

Hopefully we’ll soon move to the next stage of writing, where I’m more focused on refining what I have and don’t need to add any new material.