I've been away, doing other things. Among them, completing a novel then responding to a "revise and resubmit" request from a mid-sized publisher focused on Southern stories/Southern authors. The manuscript was set on Edisto Island near Charleston, SC, and about a middle-aged Atlanta advertising executive who, recently divorced and unemployed, planned to buy a boat to sail away from his troubles—the plan foiled when, during a visit to the small sea island where he was born, he learns his mother is losing her eyesight as the generations old estate needs extensive repairs. My revisions made me one of eleven finalists competing for a handful of slots with said publisher. Then, for unexplained reasons, I was kicked to the curb. Oh well. I've set that story aside to ferment or fester of whatever it needs to do while I work on another one, also set on the coast. I like to write. I don't so much like looking for a publisher again. My friend Mickey Corrigan says manuscripts aren't finished until they're out there for others to read. I wonder. My first book, Blue Rubber Pool, is out there for peeps to read...but is anybody picking it up? I wouldn't mind a few reviews. Good or bad.