PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING JULY 15, 2023

 Things are going great on the writing front at the moment! 😀

Especially since it's either been too hot 🌞 or too wet ☔ to do anything other than stay in lately. 😕

Still had housework and other chores to attend to throughout the week, but that's another matter.

In any event, I'm somewhere between Chapters 24 and 25 (because I haven't decided yet where to end 24 and officially start 25) on SOLITAIRE 2: THE AGENDA.

Regardless of chapter divisions, I have broken the 40,000+ word mark, which roughly makes the first draft of the manuscript about 2/3 complete as I post this, with 60,000 the minimum requirement to be considered a novel.

Twenty thousand words may not seem like much to some people, but a lot can happen within them. 😉

Of course after the first draft is complete, it goes to My Friendly Neighborhood Beta-Proofreader for review and then I go back over it again before submission, so Book 2 will be out about this time in 2024 at the earliest. But if you're anxious to see what all the fuss is about, SOLITAIRE'S debut novel (no subtitle) is still available in print and e-formats on Amazon from Airship 27.

Going back to writing now.

Take care.

STAY SAFE! 😷

And I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

16 July, 2023

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING JULY 15, 2017

ON WRITING AND DOCTOR WHO

Wish the subtitle of this Progress Report meant I was asked to write a Doctor Who story but alas, one cannot have everything in life.

Anyway, I spent the past week working on my 1970s story for Jim Beard's upcoming anthology project, since that assignment has an actual deadline. The end of September.
Broke the 5,000 word mark, which is the half way point for submissions.
Whether or not I'll have it finished before the end of the month remains to be seen, but definitely going back to HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE soon.

The Internet is abuzz today (July 16th) with the British Broadcasting Company's announcement that ACTRESS Jodie Whitaker will be the next person to portray the title role in their long running series Doctor Who.
In all honestly, I was totally flabbergasted when I first heard this.
I have absolutely nothing against women.
I have nothing against the idea of female Time Lords. After all, we've had at least 2 Romanas and the Rani in prominent roles during the course of the series. Granted, The Mistress has been an interesting character, but I'm still having some difficulty believing that the Master and the Mistress are two different (re)generation sides of the same person.
Yet to cast an actress in the title role goes against 50+ years of established continuity in my humble opinion.
I know ♫the times they are a changin',♫ to quote Bob Dylan.
And I'm all for women in more prominent, heroic roles whenever possible.
But this...???
I honestly don't know.
How would the public react if an until now well established female character was suddenly recast as a man?
I sincerely hope you see the point I am trying to make here, dear reader.
Doing this could be the greatest thing to come along since oxygen, or by the end of Whitaker's first season, the BBC could find themselves in a real mess.
Only time will tell, and all we can do for now is wait and see.

In any event, I'm going back to writing now.
Lee Houston, Junior
16 July, 2017