Today is the 24th day of my Daughter Am I blog tour, and I am wearing down a bit. Mostly that’s because I’m still staying up way too late, though recently those long hours on the computer have nothing to do with my tour. Well, that’s not strictly true — my mind has been going blank when it comes time to write the next guest blog, so I play games on my computer while I try to rev up ideas, but it’s not helping. I have tomorrow’s guest post written, but for the next day I’ve agreed to write an article about giving thanks, and I have no idea what to say. I am thankful for many things — for my online friends, for my fans (odd to think I actually have fans!), for my publisher who understands my books even better than I do — and yet it’s not the sort of article I would want to read, so I’m looking for a different angle — a hook — and not finding it.
Lately I’ve been searching through my old Daughter Am I notebooks for ideas. It’s odd for me to see all the preparation I did for the novel, all the stray thoughts I jotted down, all the reminders. Here’s one of my reminders: Have Teach tell Mary that the whole point of the Syndicate was for them to become big enough and strong enough to make deals with but time politicians, to go into partnership with the biggest criminal of all — the government. Teach apparently has no use for the government, but then, he has no use for most societal organizations, not even the mob despite his distant ties to organized crime.
Here’s a note that came from a book by economist Antony Sutton: “History suggests that gold will once again be made illegal in the U.S. and subject to arbitrary seizures by a police-state apparatus.” I wonder why I didn’t use that for the book? Perhaps I didn’t want to dilute the shock of that happening in 1933.
You can find more musings from my notebooks at Meritorious Mysteries, where I am guest blogging today. Now if I can only find something to be thankful for!
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Bertram's Blog 
November 10, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I’m sure you’ll think of something.
I’m thankful for art, nature, Hugh Jackman, that I have an almost zero chance of being eaten by a shark or velociraptor.
November 10, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Oh, wow! I like that — being thankful you have zero chance of being eaten by a shark or a velociraptor. I might have to steal that!
November 10, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Giving thanks for literary critics. What would our little corner of the world be like if we weren’t aware of some literary critic ready to ponder on our books and scream bloody murder that we wrote a disgusting book! Makes me pay attention to every tee and every I.
November 10, 2009 at 1:14 pm
oops, Ponder should be pounce!
Makes me ponder why I wrote Ponder instead of Pounce. Hmm.
November 10, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I keep doing that too – I should go through my old comments sometime and see how many times I’ve written the wrong word. Meanwhile I’m glad of friends going through my writing to find mistakes. I really should make more notes, but I find myself wondering if they’d make sense if I did.
November 10, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Well, we do want them to ponder on our books. I mean, we wrote them because we had something to say.
So far, I haven’t come across any literary critics. Hmmm. I could be thankful for that!
November 10, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Pat, I was Tweeting with a local blogger, who said she found inspiration in her fridge. Might be worth a try?
Seriously… turn the topic on its head. When did you FAIL to be thankful? How did that teach you the value of giving thanks?
Wow. I sound like a composition teacher. Yikes.
November 10, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Inspiration in my refrigerator. Hmmm. Sounds like a great blog post.
As for turning the topic on it’s head, I like that, too. The thing is, I’ve always been grateful, which is why a day to give thanks seems a bit redundant.
But . . . Now I have my hook. I am grateful to my blog readers. Thank you, everyone!
November 11, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Fortunately the sharks here typically stay offshore 50 to 100 yards. Smaller ones (18 – 24″) venture closer (knee deep) but their bite won’t cause enough damage to worry about. It is possible to grab them by the tail, I’ve seen it done – by my wife. Really!
November 11, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Um . . . their bite won’t cause enough damage to worry about? But still, they bite. Ick. So, another thing I am grateful for — I’ve never been close enough to a shark to grab it by the tail!
November 11, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Hi Pat — Pleased to make your virtual acquaintance, and thanks for visiting my blog. I’m a one-time Coloradoan myself, planning to attend my 40-year high school reunion next summer in Grand Junction. But now I live inthe Catskills instead of the Rockies.
BTW, I wish I were as prolific as you are! So there’s something you can be thankful for: the endless stream of imagination…
Brent
November 12, 2009 at 10:37 am
Pleased to meet you Brent. I lived in Grand Junction for a while. I can see why you moved to the Catskills!