The Bernard is Back

Pleased to be back in the US, and now that things are beginning to return to normal, I can turn my attention back on Ghosty: Trip No Further, the last book in the Ghosty trilogy. I've got 26,000 words so far, and a pretty decent first act. Now, the antagonist makes his move. I'm also adapting Antigone for stage.

I'm still processing the highs and lows of the trip, and I've compiled two preliminary lists, in no particular order:

What I most enjoyed about the U.K.
1. The museums, especially the British Museum and Tate Britain
2. The weather that was mild relative to the excruciating Indiana summer heat and humidity
3. The British Film Institute
4. Staffa Island
5. The Globe Theater

What I enjoyed least about the U.K.
1. Idiot pedestrians in London
2. Packing into a car on the Tube
3. Being away from my wife and family for 6 weeks
4. Hostel living
5. Hidden costs!

So, let's check out some new pictures. These are from Staffa Island.

Idler's Academy

Sorry, guys...no pictures today, but I wanted to post anyway. It's not that I haven't taken any recently, but the computers at the hostel I'm staying at don't allow me to transfer stuff via jump drive, so...just text. That being said, I'll keep it short.

Went to the Idler's Academy in West Kensington today. It's a bookstore/tea house that has some amazing books in it, and it has the kind of "here we are, the last bastion of civilization standing against the creep of Phillistinism" feel to it. Perfect for a grammatical, literature-oriented, writerly snob like me.

They have a tea towel with all the Latin conjugations and declensions on it, for cripe's sake! They have a great all-around selection, which included titles like The Idler: Smash the System, Roland Barthe's Mourning Diary, and a book I hope I can find on my Kindle, Eli Pariser's The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. The idea is that the internet is becoming more and more personalized which, like 24-hour cable news fragmentation, actually prevents us from getting a clearer, broader picture of the cyberworld. Apps like Facebook and Google tend to reinforce this.

Anyway, great place. But don't take my word for it.

I stayed for a few hours this afternoon, sitting by the window, drinking five (!) cups of Earl Grey, and typing out some notes on Ghosty 3.

By the way, it has a title now.

Ghosty: Trip No Further. It's a reference to a line from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

Trip no further, pretty sweeting
Journeys end in lovers meeting
This every wise man's son doth know.

What's the significance? That would be telling, as Number Two would say.

(By the way, Portmeirion is still on. If I cancelled, I'd eat the cost of the lodging, so I guess I'm going after all!)

2 Days Until London

It has nothing to do with London, or writing, for that matter, but the Schadenfreude is at a fevered pitch in the Sell household. Of course, I'm talking about the Miami Heat failing to win a championship (or five, six, seven...) in their first go. The "Welcome Party," "The Decision," the whiny why-does-everyone-hate-us crap, the media trying to outposture each other with regard to the players, the fans, poor Cleveland, anyone who DOESN'T like these guys...I'm glad it's at an end for a while, and I'm glad the Mavericks did what the Bulls couldn't manage to do.

And I don't have to feel like I fled the country on the heels of a Game #7 Heat win.

Or maybe it DOES have something to do with writing. My next villain may flip the script and totally not comprehend why he isn't beloved. He definitely will be more than a match for the hero.

However, I can't afford for the evil Emile Malisov to shrink like a shrinking violet stuck in a shrinking ray in the fourth quarter like a certain King we all know.

Maybe my antagonist will need to have more Wade than LeBron.

8 Days to London

Good news! "Ghosty: White Cloud, Blue Mountain" is now available on Smashwords. It's also available on Kindle.

The best part about Smashwords is that it's so versatile. Want to read it with a Kindle? Check. How 'bout an iPod? Check. A Nook? Can do. Kobo? Android? Got all of 'dose. Want to read it off your computer? They can accommodate that, too.

Been working on editing Maniac Tuba, my first book from 2000. Not exactly high literature, and not at all saleable, but part of the historical record.

Setting the itinerary for London, too. I have a small red notebook with all my info in it, a blank page for each day over there. I have 15 days with the BritRail pass, so I'm trying to schedule day trips to make use of all that. Should include Portmeiron, Oxford and Cambridge, Beachy Head, Canterbury, Hampton Court, and a cricket match at West Wycomb. There's also the big trip to Oban, Scotland, and Staffa Isle, which leaves about 5 days of train availability, so I'm thinking maybe I'll try to fit in Port Isaac in Cornwall, Tintern Abbey in Wales, and possibly the Lake Country or Dartmoor. Hard to say.

Tick tock!

10 Days Until London

A good night to read last night, as the ferocious storm halted our power for about 12 hours. I rather like reading by candlelight, even though reading a Kindle with medieval technology seemed like an anachronism.

What did I read? Several things. I spent quite a bit of time rereading Ghosty: This Fenceless World for the dual purposes of getting a second, better Smashwords copy online, and ultimately a better print version; as well as refamiliarizing myself with the first book of the trilogy for the sake of finishing the third. The point of the trip is research, after all, and I found myself thinking about Oxford and walking in Bingo Elkins's footsteps.

I also read from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which I've never actually read before. I've taught "The Devil and Tom Walker" a number of times, but have never read this American classic. Irving may have loved to hammer home the stereotype about hectoring women, but he was really skilled at painting a character sketch. Incidentally, in my mind's eye, it didn't look anything like this.

I also continued reading The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas really knows how to keep a plot rolling along quickly. We should all do so well.

Lesson learned? Always make sure your Kindle is charged up (just in case), and have an ample supply of candles and matches available for emergencies.