Thunder woke me up a couple of hours ago. Looks like another rainy day, which is the last thing we need around here. Municipal officials have been on TV telling people where to get sandbags.
My yard is full of water, and the ditches and gutters are overflowing. But if it stops within the next day or so, which it is supposed to, we’ll be fine. We’re lucky.
What’s going on in your neighborhood today?
Greg
Here in Portland OR, we have been deluged with lava pouring through our non-air conditioned housing for the last few days. This winter I almost had a nervous breakdown when it rained for 9 million days straight (I’m new here, so I may be exaggerating slightly), but today we had a bit of rain and a cooling trend and I am happy. BTW, I enjoy your FL comments Betty Cracker. I have several friends in Tampa, have been to MIA/FLL more times than I can count, and also lived in the Keys for awhile. Your commentary is spot on! BTW is anybody else here in PDX?
raven
They are supposed to start on the roof this morning and the weather clown said it was supposed to be the hottest day of the year. It’s very dry since Betty is sucking all the rain down south!
rikyrah
Trying to get back to sleep. Had bad storms here.
Major Major Major Major
I think I’m having my first real manic episode since I started the relevant meds so uh, wish me luck and pray for sleep :)
MattF
Low to mid 90’s, not quite so humid, ‘cold’ front approaching by mid-week with possible showers. IOW, August.
Ron Beasley
You send it up my way. Here in Western Oregon we have had a quarter of an inch of rain in the last 2 and half months and we are burning up.
NotMax
Still following the track of Hurricane Guillermo, now expected to brush by us (in a weakened condition) on Wed. or Thurs.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Major Major Major Major: Good luck.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I ran into a roadblock in trying to write the generic request for an endorsement: I still don’t have a three sentence description of Becoming Phoebe that I really like. I’m trying to rectify that situation, though I’m coming to the conclusion that there will never be a three sentence description of Becoming Phoebe that I like at all.
Major Major Major Major
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: thanks. Lord knows what’s going on up there…
Major Major Major Major
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: it’s not about what you like. It’s not even ‘about’ the novel in that sense. It’s answering a question: why should I buy this?
You talk about autism spectrum stuff and you know I’m on it too. Just treat it like that. Answering an almost unrelated question to change how people act.
Mustang Bobby
Betty, the Miami-Dade/South Florida water-management canal behind my house is almost up to the grass, which I’m guessing is about a foot or so above normal. We had deluges Thursday and Friday, very localized; friends three miles north didn’t get anything on Thursday, but Friday afternoon they lost power thanks to a thunderstorm that didn’t dampen my yard.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Major Major Major Major: Right now I’m on a pace of a sentence an hour. Hopefully I’ll finish by the end of my shift.
Gimlet
Of course he could always make his decision on the merits of the treaty and the possible consequences if it passes or fails.
More than 10,000 phone calls have flooded his office line the past two weeks, organized by a group looking to kill the deal. Another group has dropped seven figures on TV in New York City to pressure Schumer and other lawmakers to vote against the plan. The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee has put its muscle behind an effort to lobby the New Yorker against it.
And Dov Hikind, a state assemblyman from Brooklyn, was arrested for disorderly conduct while protesting the deal outside Schumer’s office.
People who have spoken with the senior New York senator believe the pressure campaign is having an effect: They say there is a growing sense inside and outside the Capitol that Schumer will vote against the deal when the Senate considers it in September. The bigger question many have now is this: How hard will he push against it?
Schlemazel
Betty, I remember from my time in hell that rain in the summer only came in the afternoon/early evening. Every day sometime between 3 and 6 it would rain for between 5 minutes and an hour. It never rained at night & never for a long time. Is life on the West coast of Americas penis different or is this summer really weird?
Schlemazel
@Major Major Major Major:
Hopefully your being aware what it is will help you get through it. Good luck
Splitting Image
A long string of hot, muggy, sunny days got broken by a thunderstorm last night, with another thunderstorm coming today. After that it’s supposed to be sunny again, but more pleasantly warm.
Canadians celebrate the world’s blandest holiday today: the non-traditional, non-storied, and non-interestingly named Civic Holiday.
Schlemazel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
My guess is it will be a lot better than you imagine. Artists never appreciate their work, Well, except for that one English painter but you knoe, generally.
MomSense
Good morning, Baud wherever you are.
Major Major Major Major
@Schlemazel: I just thought it was over but I guess not. I guess it’s never really over.
Gonna pop an extra Li real quick.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I have two sentences so far: “Becoming Phoebe is the story of a young woman who grew up in foster homes pursuing her dreams of playing college hockey. It’s about becoming a part of a team, and learning how to trust others, how to help them and how to be helped by them.”
I need one good sentence to wrap that up.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Gimlet: It’s very difficult to oppose something with nothing as an alternative.
OzarkHillbilly
Expecting 92 with sun and normal humidity (60+%). Then we are supposed to get T-storms every day the rest of the week with highs in the low 80s.
Major Major Major Major
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: “And in the end, she [something unexpected]”
Schlemazel
Betty,
If I remember from my time in hell correctly, rain in the summer only came in the afternoon/early evening. Every day sometime between 3PM and 6PM it would rain for between 5 minutes and an hour. It never rained at night & never for a long time. Is life on the West coast of Americas peep different or is this summer really weird?
Gimlet
Grist for the “I am not a scientist but…” Republicans
Obama said the limits were backed up by decades of data showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating health problems like asthma.
“Climate change is not a problem for another generation,” Obama said. “Not anymore.”
Opponents vowed to sue immediately, and planned to ask the courts to put the rule on hold while legal challenges play out. Many states have threatened not to comply.
The administration will attempt to incentivize states to take action earlier by offering credits to states that boost renewable sources like wind and solar in 2020 and 2021, officials said.
The focus on renewables marks a significant shift from the earlier version that sought to accelerate the ongoing transition from coal-fired power to natural gas plants, which emit far less carbon dioxide. The revised rule aims to keep the share of natural gas in the nation’s power mix at current levels.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
God, the last two albums Queen ever did (Innuendo and Made in Heaven) are fucking amazing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel:
I have known more than a few artists over the years, and of that vast # I have only come across a few who suffered from an excess of humility.
My experience is they generally have the exact opposite problem.
raven
Oh no, the African American chief of police wonders if all lives don’t matter.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’m trying to decide if I should actually use the phrase “coming-of-age story” in this blurb, and if so, how.
Phylllis
80% chance of rain here today. And we need it. The ornamental fruit trees and azalea bushes are terribly wilted. Interesting read about Sen. Graham’s USAF ‘service’.
Betty Cracker
@Schlemazel: That’s an accurate description of the usual rainy season pattern, but this current weather event is definitely an anomaly.
Major Major Major Major
@OzarkHillbilly: they were probably the good ones.
PurpleGirl
@Splitting Image: Do you get the day off? If you do, great and Enjoy the day off. Do something fun. Otherwise, if you don’t get it off — boo-hiss.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
FWIW, I feel like that phrase is well past it’s ‘sell by’ date. Trying to think of an alternative…
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Let me know when you do. So far my two major novels-in-progress are under that rubric.
OzarkHillbilly
@Major Major Major Major: Some yes, most just passable. About like artists in general, some are good, most aren’t.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: @Mustang Bobby: My old man always liked to say he graduated from the school of hard knocks. It’s an old phrase meaning the same, only more colorful. I’m leaning in that direction.
Major Major Major Major
@OzarkHillbilly: Sturgeon’s Law. 90% of everything is crap.
OzarkHillbilly
@Major Major Major Major: There it is.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: One of my N-I-P’s is about a kid in his early teens who discovers that he shares a secret with his grandfather: they’re both gay. It takes place in the early 1980’s. So I guess it fits.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: “Gramps was never just one of the guys….”
Elizabelle
Betty’s chickens could learn to crew. Or backstroke?
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: Wish I could get back my sleep. Had chatty late-at-night in-laws here.
Another Holocene Human
@Major Major Major Major: You can do it. :)
Splitting Image
@PurpleGirl:
Just another working day for me, but banks and the like are all closed. Stores are generally open, but with shorter hours than normal.
Snarkworth
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Not sure how an endorsement request is phrased, but if you want to trim a bit, remember they already know it’s a story and probably know the title. Start with the character:
“[Eighteen]-year-old Phoebe grew up in foster homes pursuing her dream of playing college hockey. When she [makes the team?], she soon learns that teamwork is about more than what happens on the field. [awesome final sentence]
JPL
@Phylllis: He’s not a dem, so it’s okay.
Mustang Bobby
@Splitting Image: I just checked the weather forecast for Stratford, Ontario, where I’ll be this weekend. Looks good.
A friend of mine in T.O. explained “Civic Holiday” as the “oh-why-the-heck-not” holiday.
donnah
Got burnt to a crisp yesterday at a Cincinnati Reds game, where the most interesting part was a dugout-clearing brawl between the Reds and Pirates. It was near ninety degrees and no shade, so I look like a boiled lobster woman.
But in the wee hours this morning, a thunderstorm blew in and cleared the air and dropped the temps to the sixties. It might just be a pretty day!
raven
@donnah: Best fight I ever saw was at Three Rivers. They must have been steelworkers and there were about 8 of them. The cops just watched until the burned themselves out.
cmorenc
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym How about:: “It then traces how her adventurous life led her to become the only gay taxidermist in Tennessee”.
OK, so that’s just a bit misleading about where your novel goes from being a hockey-playing foster child. But you said “I need one good sentence to wrap that up” – not “I need one accurate sentence to wrap that up”, in order to really GRAB the blurb-reader’s attention.
:=)
NotMax
Anyone happen to have a kitchen-tested recipe for smorgastrata that doesn’t use seafood?
Trying to put together a file of ideas for the next New Year’s party. Yes, I attempt plan well ahead. One person who attends can’t abide seafood (so the traditional smoked salmon is out), a couple of others are averse to anything involving liver. I’m toying with a combo of garlicky egg salad and curried chicken salad or perhaps a spread of sweet and sour beef tongue (have a killer-diller recipe for that which I dearly love to prepare and eat and which has made tongue lovers out of skeptical and picky friends, but makes much too much when cooking for one so don’t make it often).
donnah
@raven: Our seats were so high I could see God’s feet, but I could see the brawl. The whole fight started after a Reds pitcher hit a Pirate batter, who took first base, which should have been no big deal. He didn’t do it on purpose and it didn’t incapacitate the batter.
So next time up, the Pirate deliberately hits the Reds batter, who charged the mound and all the fielders, players, and crew swarmed the field. Helmets and gloves were thrown off and they were ready to rumble. The umpires and security people broke it up, then the mob swarmed back, they broke it up again and the teams started back to the dugouts and someone got mouthy and they started AGAIN. You could smell the testosterone all the way up to our level.
The Pirates won the game, but I was so sunburned I didn’t even care.
Cervantes
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The Republicans seem to manage it.
@Elizabelle:
Dali would have loved you!
@Splitting Image:
What about Honda dealerships?
Gin & Tonic
@BillinGlendaleCA: It’s very difficult to oppose something with nothing as an alternative.
Isn’t that the Republican party platform?
MazeDancer
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
The Elevator Speech version of your novel is a sales pitch, not a description. All of your BJ posts are snappier than those sentences. Which are more flatly descriptive than enthusiastically showcasing of what’s alive and unique about your book.
The essence of all sales is exciting the customer with the unique aspects of the product.
You have said often you hate sales. Consider hiring someone who loves sales. Like a copywriter. Tommy offered to help. This is sales time. You are selling others on conveying the joys of your book. Writing sales copy is a specific skill set not all good novelists have.
Or find a way to let your excitement about your work show. Talk outloud for as long as you like about how you love your book and what it means to you and hope it means to others and record it onto your computer or phone. Pretend you’re on Oprah. Pretend you are the voice over for the movie version. Put all your sentences into intriguing question form. (Can a girl play hockey? What if she’s autistic and in the scariest foster home in the system?) Have someone interview you and record it. How does this book bring new insights about autism and athletics?
Listen back and note the words and short phrases that grab. Then use those. Or let the copy writer ask you a bunch of questions and come back with the copy.
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
Well, at least you know what’s going on. Best of luck with your meds, and your “medical staff” who can help you out if things get screwed up past coping with.
Hope you are back in control of things up there soonest. I know how it is to be in the throes of something unexpected that is out of immediate control, no fun is putting it too mildly…
And take care!
Paul in KY
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Something about overcoming obstacles she had to endure while playing that brutal sport.
Kathleen
@donnah: It turned out to be a beautiful morning. Do you think some of it is the Reds’ frustration with the lousy season? (I think Price has GOT to go.)
Paul in KY
@MazeDancer: You’d have to ensure Tommy didn’t work a first person anecdote in there (snark).
Kathleen
@Mustang Bobby: I saw on my daughter’s Facebook post that 275S in Tampa was closed. It looked like a lake.
donnah
@Kathleen:
I think they’re frustrated, certainly. They traded away their two best pitchers and there were a couple of their better players who didn’t play yesterday.
But they have an ongoing rivalry with the Pirates and the brawl was over the pitcher retaliating against one of their players being hit, so the fight was going to happen anyhow.
Lizzy L
California is burning.