For us, the best thing about the storm system that blew lots of things apart in Southeastern Nebraska was that friends from around the globe contacted us with good wishes and expressions of concern. It was great to hear from so many friends from the past and present. Thanks to all for the thoughtfulness and gracious words.
We’re fine. During the height of the storm, Nita and I and the cat logged considerable time in the basement tuned to our battery powered weather radio (this is Nebraska after all). We actually fared very well. The lights flickered here once or twice but we never lost electricity. Twisters brushed the airport and homes and buildings - mostly on the outskirts of the city – suffered damage ranging from total loss to missing shingles. The most severe damage occurred to a manufacturing plant about seven miles east of here. Massive destruction left about seventy people trapped inside the building. The good news, though, was that only three had to be taken to the closest trauma center.
The storm damage was much more severe in and around Omaha, about 40 or 50 miles from here. There was lots of destruction in surrounding communities and an almost new suburban area was demolished. Again, a miracle: no lives were lost. Our daughter Laura was at the Omaha airport waiting to board a plane when the storm struck there. Everyone in the terminal was sent to interior shelters. The terminal was not hit, but a large building right across the runway was damaged and several aircraft were ruined. Flight ops were cancelled of course. Laura was able get a flight early the following morning.
The governor’s office just released a statement saying that altogether, 450 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
Writing News – Some Small Items: As mentioned last time, a science fiction piece (the first I have attempted) is scheduled to be published in the June edition of Spank the Carp, an iconic e-zine. The tale is titled “The Chosen One.” The story will be the third one the magazine has published in recent years. Perhaps somewhere on the staff I have found a sympathetic ear.
I haven’t heard back from the representative of the publishing company who had expressed an interest in the military history book. His note indicated that he was going to present the story proposal to the company’s editorial board. The absence of a response may mean that they have decided against it. I hope at some point it will find a home. As I have mentioned, one of my goals has been to write about military leaders in all of our nation’s wars who have done great things but whose contributions are little known. The first two books took us from the Revolutionary War through World War II. If ever published, this third and final book will tell the story from the onset of the Cold War to the present day.
In the past couple of newsletters, I’ve mentioned the prospects for a small book of short stories and/or verses. The more I have looked through publishing possibilities the more I think it is probably best to separate the two. Most companies seem to prefer to focus specifically on short stories or small books of poems called chapbooks. Both of mine would likely involve a mix of things. The short stories book, for example, would include works of fiction as well as family stuff, military, humor, and a general mixture of odds and ends. I still have not resolved on a title for it. Ideas are welcome.
The train keeps rolling further down the track on the fiction novel about the political campaign currently in the works via a British publishing company. Early in the process, the company representative mentioned the relative strictness of the British copyright laws. In response, I rewrote a few sections to eliminate direct quotes and to avoid attribution in others. I left a half dozen or so areas where the sources are old and outside the copyright time restriction and others which for various reasons seem clearly in the public domain – a Churchill quote from the early 1940s and one from the newsman Edward R. Murrow from a 1953 television broadcast, for example. I supplied that information in detail to the company early last October. A couple of weeks ago I received correspondence from them which seemed to indicate they had just begun to look into copyright issues. To say that didn’t please me very much would be an understatement. The book is a political novel about an unusual campaign for the presidency. As I have noted to the company on several occasions, the book would be more impactful if it could be released in time for it to coincide with this year’s campaign. One wonders what they have been doing with the material for the past seven months. Not happy.
In the meantime, the cover page layout has been approved and before the hand grenade regarding the copyright delay, I had agreed on the final wording and editing of the manuscript. That makes no sense to me now because if copyright questions remain, the text will have to be further amended. Several pages – which you would not care to read – could be written about the editing of the book. It has not been a smooth process. More than any other books that I have written, this one has run into several speed bumps along the way. Perhaps it will get published someday – maybe in time for the 2028 election 🙂.
Well, that’s enough of that stuff. It is time to turn to far more important things – like bits of humor and TRULY AWFUL PUNS.
“I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.” Zsa Zsa Gabor.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no sense in being a damn fool about it.” W.C. Fields
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A Viking explorer came home to find his name removed from the village register. When his wife complained, the village chief apologized and said “I must have taken Lief off my census.”
The other day, a giant bottle of Omega-3 tablets fell on my neighbor’s head. He’s okay now. It was just a super-fish-oil wound.
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So bad. Have a great month of May.
Tom