She's Otherwise Occupied

Adding a link to the always readable Riverbend, the nom de plume behind the blog Baghdad Burning. She's an Iraqi woman living in Iraq, posting when there's electricity to do so. It's a street-level view of the American occupation of her country, refreshing and harrowing at once. A stark break from neo-con pundits and vapid talking heads on American TV pointing out how wonderful things are in ol' Mesopotamia.

Today's Word hasn't been updated, the bums.

Tinkered with the contest submission last night. Up until now, the structure has been: Narrative, flashback part 1, narrative, flashback part 2, narrative, flashback part 3, narrative. Last night, I swapped things around so it was all one big linear motion. The one drawback is the action-filled opening I posted a few days ago has been moved to page 4, but it now sets up the general exterior opening, giving a view of Seattle as a whole as Rayelle runs for her life. I'm leaning to the new set-up because the flashbacks seem to lose their tension after while. You know Rayelle survives the danger in the flashback because you see her on the street. I make the comparison to the opening sequence of any Bond movie: You know Bond is going to escape because there's another two hours of film. My wife, who reads books in the way whales dine on plankton (and who is a professional editor), doesn't mind the flashback. She says the technique establishes what kind of person Rayelle is, and I can see that. I need to make the decision soon, since I need to get the submission in the mail by the weekend.

My wife, last night, sprung my Valentine's gift on me. Apparently, I've been a very good boy because Cupid Claus got me an iPod Shuffle.

Well, it's on order. Should be here in a couple weeks.