The Sacred and the Profane

Five Columbia River rocks engraved with the words:
Shirley Jackson Social Club MEMBER: 1948.
They feel good in the hand and have a nice heft.
I keep them near my writing desk for inspiration.

The Book
Medieval streets of Paris, the smell of Sakkârah, the sound of the River Seine, Solifuegae, Pennsylvania Avenue, New Orleans, the Five Points, the Tombs, the Bowery, Tattoos, Phrenology, Sailor’s Charms, Chatham Square, Georgetown, Julia Ward Howe, Egyptian Temples, Witness Trees, Manhattan, Blood …

I finally did a word count. Oh lord. Anyway.

There are three Acts in the book, I call them Books.
Book I: World Building, getting to know everyone.
Book II: The Civil War
Book III: World Dismantling, everyone dies.

Everything is good, actually better than I thought it would be. But I am still cutting, rewriting and double-checking my information. I did much of my research years ago, back when Google actually was a search engine and people still had websites.

There was so much incredible information, but now most of these websites have all but disappeared. Thankfully I saved everything, and was able to track down primary sources, but how sad that the Internet has basically turned into a strip mall where before, it was actually really cool.

I probably won’t be finished with this third draft until maybe December. Then I will run through it one more time to tighten and cut and then I will send it off to my editor, where he will most likely beat it into submission.
😂

Music: Mori Shej by Satori Ki & Peia