Does that even make sense?

It's one of those things that you say all the time that, when you stop and think about it, you wonder, "What the hell does THAT mean?"

Like "That really gets my goat." What goat? Who has a goat to get?

This time, Tori and I were taking a walk and we heard the ice cream truck and I said, "That's music to my ears." Then I stopped in my tracks as it hit me. What other organ would music affect? Why not just say, "That's music?" I mean, if you saw something pretty, I suppose it would make sense to say something like, "That's music to my eyes," although kind of weird. Something delicious could be "music to my tastebuds." But music to my ears? Where else would music go? What other organ would make sense to ascribe music to?

That's rhythm to my colon.

That's a symphony to my liver.

That's a melody to my philtrum.

Music to my ears. Sheesh.

Falling into routine

Summer is tricky, because the whole family is home and I have to mesh my schedule with theirs. Especially since we have always been night people. During the school year of course we can't sleep in completely, but during the summer we let nature take it's course. The night time doesn't frighten us and we'll often be up 'til 2 or 3, and then not wake 'til 11 or so.

But that doesn't really work for me. Don't get me wrong – I'd rather be asleep right now. But I've been making myself get up at 8 because I've got the house more or less to myself for a couple of hours. Make coffee, catch up on the news, and then get to work. In the morning I've been working on the movie treatment (which I think will be a terrific.) Break around noon or a little after, by which time the rest of the family is up.  That's the time for errands and things. THen spend the afternoon editing the other project I'm working on.

It's still early – school's been out here for 10 days – but so far it seems to be working for me. Making progress on both.

Now I have to work in the third summer project. Max had an idea for a story and I'm holding him to it. This summer he's going to write that book, under my pushy supervision. And watch, it'll be an instant hit.

Someone else a lot smarter than me

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

                                                                         Mark Twain

What I've Been Up To

I know. I know. Where the hell have I been?

Mostly right here. Plugging away. Got "Scurvy Dogs!" almost ready, just have to go back to the first half and make it more "rollicking." That's what I sort of lost sight of. The tone is a little serious, and I want it to be a rollicking adventure. Plus once I got to the end and saw how things came together, I have to adjust a few things and beef up the backstory. In a rollicking way.

Then I got sick. Don't want to belabor it, I wrote about it here.  Which is another of my problems. It's hard enough getting any traction with oen blog and here I'm trying ot write two, plus a novel. But they each serve different purposes so for now, at least, I soldier on.

Anyway, I was laid up on the couch for more than two weeks. Watched a lot of bad TV. (Is that redundant?) Somewhere I saw enough that the genres started melding in my head and I came up with what I think is a great story idea, although that might be the NyQuil talking. So while I'm letting "Scurvy Dogs!" gestate before hitting it one last time, I'm writing this up as a movie treatment to see if it leads anywhere. So far I like what I've got, but one idea is NOT a movie. Needs a lot of layers, a lot of balls in the air. I figure another week to two weeks, see what I've got, then ship it off and see if anyone salutes.

Then back to "Scurvy Dogs!" which is a lot of fun, Or will be when I get it rollicking. Right now it's a good story without enough laughs.