Pride

Yeah, ain’t that the way it works? Pride goes before the fall? Chatting with Sister on Monday afternoon, I was bragging about the side-project and its relative success. As a venture and a side-project, and then, the discipline I’ve had to learn to use. No words. No long and winding explanations about how I lined up what to do what. Then, three days in a row, three shots, three images, in a row. Reverse published chronological order (bloggy-style):

China Grove
Flats Fixed
Sky Friday

Actual age?

China Grove Early 2006?
Flats Fixed Late 2007?
Sky Friday 2009 Last Week.

Then, the questions, the answers, which one is best, probably the most recent as my “eye” is improving. Most correct composition, especially with a “point and shoot” camera, part of the self-imposed guidelines.

Which one as the most personal meaning? China Grove, from the song, from a road trip, with another musical link: that was on Highway 87.

Which one has the most material buried behind it? Flats Fixed, as that location got plowed under. Probably going to be skyscraper, soon. Or maybe not, times being what they are. I watched, though, over time, while the original ground (gasoline storage) tanks were carefully excavated and the area environmentally cleared, only to have the building subsequently torn down. Progress marches on?

The problem, the real problem being, I couldn’t just let the pictures sit on their own. I had to write something about them.

Market help:
Source: Writer’s Market, 2009
Up to 1,000 words, short-story, flash fiction, vignette
1-6K words short story
15k-45k Novella
45-120K Novel

For more than a decade, I’ve turned out a hand-crafted, micro-brew “boutique” horoscope column. Weekly. At 2,500 words on average, that’s 130K words in a year, and there’s no shortage. Along with the horoscopes themselves, I have several books (self-published) that could use a new home with a real publisher.

Choices, choices, there’s one book about what signs get along with what signs, here’s another book of essays about art, creativity and being an astrologer loose on the streets of Austin (TX), and finally, one of the books is merely a commonplace book I cleaned up and published. As a bonus with this output, I’ve got a thriller/crime novel, but that’s kind of like icing on the cake.

Just need an agent. Or publisher.

Laeti edimus qui nos subigant!
Two Meat Tuesday (the book)
astrofish
(cure for the common horoscope)
Pink Cake A commonplace book.
Bexar County Line

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