How to Publish

Creative writing professor Carolyn See once said, “If you want to get published, you have to write a thousand words a day, every day of the week. You also must send out a letter to an editor every day of the week.”

That’s tantamount to writing 7,000 words each week, and then some, since letters to the editor will add additional verbiage. That makes for a meaty short story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_story

It’s a great place to start if you are planning a novel someday, and romantic novels tend to be highly marketable.

But publishing what gets written is most difficult. That is because all publishers have specific needs, specific criteria, and specific time-lines. Word is about that if you want to publish for a magazine, read the particular magazine you wish to write for. If you want to sell a novel, find out what is on the best seller lists and read those novels.  If you are inclined toward writing for a specialized field, such as paranormal studies, do the research.

Hence, becoming a published writer is a full time job. It requires one to spend a couple of hours a day for the writing, and several more for the reading, and another few for research. If you are smart enough to begin an ongoing self promotion for your work, add weekend writer’s conferences, weekly blogs, and frequent speaking engagements on your subject.

So, is this writer published? Yes.

Was it easy?  It’s better to say it was unexpected.

Walking in on an editor isn’t the gentlest approach to getting published. It only opens the door, in this case, to Franciscan Communications.

Chief Editor Corinne said, “Can you write us a short story?”

A week later Corinne reviewed the new writer’s work and said, “It won’t do for us.”

The crestfallen author pulled a little poem out of her jeans pocket and asked, “Can you let me know what you think of this?”

Corinne looked up from the half crumpled paper and asked, “Can you give me twenty more?”

Beaming, the new writer blurted, “Sure; of course I will.”

“They don’t have to be poems. Short short’s are sufficient,” said Corinne.

Two years later Inside the Gospels hit its religious market.

From the Dome

It's nice to have a deck to sit on and stare out at the mountains opposite our property. Our deck has been sunburned and peeling for a few years. Today was paint day. It took about four hours, not counting the three days it took to bleach, wash, rinse and rewash; i.e. prep the deck.

The sun was up early, unusual for this normally misty time of year, so I said to my better half, "C'mon, let's get it over with." Out came the fifteen year old buckets of deck stain, brushes, rollers, and pans. Since we had bought oil based stain, we also dragged out the mineral spirits.

Brush and roller clean up had us busy another hour or two. We'll want to use them again to touch up and for doing the backside of the deck that we normally don't see, unless we're standing under it. We still need to clean and prep the stairway down. Maybe tomorrow . . .if we are up to it?

Comparing Saints

Last week St. Stephen of Hungary’s letter to his son was posted. Today another monarch, St. Louis of France, takes the limelight. He began his reign at the youthful age of 22. Here are his words to his son, very like to St. Stephen’s thoughts:

My dearest son, my first instruction is that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength. Without this there is no salvation. Keep yourself from everything that you know displeases God, that is to say, from every mortal sin. You should permit yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would allow yourself to commit a mortal sin.

If the Lord has permitted you to have some trial, bear it willingly and with gratitude, considering that it has happened for your good and that perhaps you well deserved it. If the Lord bestows upon you any kind of prosperity, thank him humbly and see that you become no worse for it, either through vain pride or anything else, because you ought not to oppose God or offend him in the matter of his gifts.  

Be kindhearted to the poor, the unfortunate and the afflicted. Give them as much help and consolation as you can. Thank God for all the benefits he has bestowed upon you that you may be worthy to receive greater. Be just with your subjects, swaying neither to right nor left, but hold the line of justice. See that all your subjects live in justice and peace, but especially those who have ecclesiastical rank and who belong to religious orders. Be devout and obedient to our mother the Church of Rome and the Supreme Pontiff as your spiritual father. Work to remove all sin from your land, particularly blasphemies and heresies.

In conclusion, dearest son, I give you every blessing that a loving father can give a son. May the Holy Trinity and all the saints protect you from every evil, and may the Lord give you grace to do his will.

The Pipe, continued . . .

It would be easy to block thoughts against Trip, but Kraft and Reema couldn’t hide two alien beings. Reema sent an urgent message to her mother Come!

Kraft, shared Reema’s view of telepathy’s dangers but took a chance that these seemingly intelligent beings could learn. He spoke urgently, “Don’t think of anything! It’s how you shield your mind against intruders.”

Trip surveyed the scene not hearing Reema’s call for help or Kraft’s words to the aliens. He was too surprised by the dark skinned feminine form with the tightly twisted brown ropes for hair. They weren’t the usual tendrils of his people. He attempted to search her mind, but the girl was too primitive. He only sensed a blank emptiness behind her eyes.

Confused, he turned back to Kraft and Reema, Figured I’d find you here. He moved closer to the two aliens who took a step back from the tall, blue haired cadet.

And who are you? He tried again to reach out to the chubby boy with the golden hair.

 “Trip wants to know who you are,” Kraft helped.

 “We came through the tunnel,” said Jiro.

“We fell through,” said Sanaa.

Trip didn’t believe in tunnels linking worlds, but he understood ‘falling through’. That was part of his world. Well, why don’t you fall back through to where you came from. You’ve upset our city.

Before he could pry into their minds, an emergency portal swung open and Reema’s mother, still dressed in her official deep purple security jumpsuit came toward them.

Aren’t you supposed to be on the service deck handling crowd control? Her thoughts seared Trip’s mind. The senior cadet jerked around to face her. Go! She ordered him out of the area. He glared at Reema in anger and turned to leave.

As the portal closed behind him Reema let down her mind shield and ran to hug her mother. Kraft stood at attention and allowed the security officer to search his thoughts. Within moments, Reema’s mother understood her daughter’s concern for the two aliens whose white knuckled hands were locked tightly together. Unpracticed in telepathy, their blank thoughts had crumbled into a torrent of fears. The security officer immediately understood they had found the between tunnel.  Only a few high level officials and top security officers knew of it. Others thought it a legend

You are safe here, but not for long, Reema’s mother informed the aliens directly, The city keepers are coming. I can only divert them for a little while. She smiled at her daughter, whose flowing purple hair was so like her own. She pointed to the exit, Go quickly; and give them a branch from the tree by the road. It will safeguard the portal.

The exit out of the city and into the wilderness slid shut behind the children. With no windows in the space port’s principal bay, no one would see them leave. Reema’s mother knew that telepathic contact would be almost impossible under Alberio’s ultraviolet bombardment, but she trusted her daughter to get safely to the coordinates she had impressed on her child’s mind. It would get the four children back to the mountain tunnel between worlds. While she waited for the onslaught of other officials coming to join her in the spaceport, she worried what to tell them. Instinctively, she strengthened her shield.

August Showers

If you missed the Perseid meteor shower on the 12^th of this month, there will be another chance to see a grand display of “falling stars” coming up.

There’s a trick to watching a meteor shower. Meteors flash across the sky rapidly, so it’s helpful to know from which direction they originate. In astronomy, that’s called the radiant. For the Perseids, the radiant is the constellation Perseus.  Although  the meteors seem to be all over the sky, the Perseids do come in from the north-east quadrant of sky. November’s upcoming Leonids will originate in the constellation Leo.

What is a meteor?

Meteors are remnants of comets that pass close enough to the big blue marble of the world to be captured by earth’s gravitation. As cometary debris passes through our atmosphere, the meteor burns up in a flash of light. Sand or boulder sized chunks of comets come from space, pass through our atmosphere, and fall to the ground. These three states are given different names. Space junk is called a meteoroid. When it passes through the atmosphere it is called a meteor. Any chunk that makes it to the ground is called a meteorite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid

The Perseids are remnants of comet Swift-Tuttle. The Leonids are remnants of comet Temple-Tuttle. The names, of course, come from the men who discovered the comets.

http://www.oarval.org/section3_16.htm

Since the Perseids are gone, because the earth has already passed through the stream of Swift-Tuttle’s orbit, make sure you don’t miss the remnant of Temple-Tuttle, the Leonids in mid-November. http://cometography.com/pcomets/055p.html

How should you watch meteor showers? 

1.  Face into the radiant. Relax . . .lay on your back and watch the show. 

2.   Catch them when they peak. Most astronomical websites will inform you when the shower will peak. That could be in the middle of the night. 

3.    Best viewing happens after midnight. That’s when the earth rotates to face the shower. Earlier viewing means the meteors have to catch up to earth.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide

As you can see from this website, there are other meteor showers on the horizon, though they may not be as spectacular as the bolide producing Perseids or the Leonids. Other radiants include Draco, Orion, Taurus, and Gemini.

Did you say bolide?

bo·lide (bld, -ld) n. A meteoric fireball. [French, from Latin bolis, bolid-, kind of meteor, from Greek, missile, flash (of lightning), from ballein, to throw; see gwel- in Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 

bolide [ˈbəʊlaɪd -lɪd] n (Astronomy) a large exceptionally bright meteor that often explodes Also called fireball [from French, from bolis missile; see ballista] Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Noble Desires

From a letter to his son by St. Stephen of Hungary, king:

My dearest son, if you desire to honor the royal crown, I advise, I counsel, I urge you above all things to maintain the Catholic and apostolic faith with such diligence and care that you may be an example for all those placed under you by God and that all the clergy may rightly call you a man of true Christian profession. Indeed, in the royal palace after faith itself, the Church holds second place, first propagated as she was by our head, Christ.

Be strong lest prosperity lift you up too much or adversity cast you down. Be humble in this life, that God may raise you up in the next. Be truly moderate and do not punish or condemn anyone immoderately. Be gentle so that you may never oppose justice. Be honorable so that you may never voluntarily bring disgrace upon anyone. Be chaste so that you may avoid all the foulness of lust like the pangs of death.

All these virtues make up the  royal crown and without them no one is fit to rule here on earth or attain to the heavenly kingdom.

The Pipe, segment 6

Sanaa and Jiro backed away from the aliens, faces tense with fear. They’d seen lots of  UFO movies and were sure these two beings, though they looked almost earthly, would abduct them. Before they could turn to run, they heard, Don’t be afraid; we mean you no harm.

Sanaa looked at Jiro who met her glance instantly. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

“It was more like my mind heard it,” said Jiro, turning to face Reema. At least she had long hair, if it was a she. Her jumpsuit was made of the same silvery material the rest of her world was made of, except there were dark side panels from her arms to her ankles. It made her look slim, though Jiro could see she was as buxom as he was. He started to say, “I’m Jiro.”

Instantly he knew her name was Reema. She’s a telepath, he thought, like the ones on Star Trek.

Sanaa couldn’t help but notice the tiny tendrils vibrating between Kraft’s dark curls. I’m Kraft, he introduced himself to her mind. His face was almost feminine and she wondered if he were a boy or a girl.

Kraft answered, It’s the name. Have you heard of a girl named Kraft before?

She almost giggled. So did Reema, who quickly added, We better get outside before our parents stop us from helping you find your way home.

Jiro hadn’t thought about going home. He wanted to stay and learn more. Most of all, he wanted to discover the workings of mental telepathy. Reema must have heard his thoughts. She stared at him with a seriousness that worried him. Telepathy isn’t just what you think. It’s dangerous. It’s worse than being naked.

We’ve got to get out of here, Kraft was urgent. He grabbed two thin sheets, black as the trees outside, from a shelf near the wall. He handed them to Jiro and Sanaa. These will shield you against Alberio’s damaging rays.

“Alberio?” Jiro said out loud his face full of interest. He wondered how the aliens could know earthly star names.

You thought the name when you wondered about the color of our sky, said Reema who helped Sanaa fix the sheet around her shoulders and over her head. The material didn’t slide off like ordinary cloth would. It shaped itself to Sanaa’s body. Ready,let’s go.

The aliens led the two children through the spaceport to the portal that allowed ships direct access to the wasteland outside the city. It hadn’t seemed like a great deal of time had passed since their arrival in the alien world, but the dark of night had vanished. It had been replaced with the deep bluish-purple of daylight.

Reema cleared their confusion, Our day-night cycle is only five hours.

When Alberio’s companion sun swings around to light our sky, the days will be longer and our world will bloom again under its golden warmth, Kraft explained as he led them through the spaceport to the main exit from the city.

  Before they reached their destination, the gate slid open. Together, Kraft and Reema shrieked Trip!

Astronomy in the Bible

Most Christians know about the three wise men that followed a star to Bethlehem. There are far more references to the stars in Scripture, including the classical names of well known constellations. Of course, most readers of the Good Book know that “The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the firmament shows forth the work of His hand (Psalm 19:1)”

Here is a peek into biblical verses that mention astronomical events:

7^th to 5^th Century BC

Job must have been an astronomer, huh?   

Job 26:7ff  He stretches out Zaphon (the North) over the void and suspends the earth over nothing at all . . . He holds back the appearance of the full moon by spreading clouds over it . . .He has marked out a circle on the surface of the deep as a boundary of light and darkness.

Hmm: Circle? You mean the horizon of the ancients proved the earth a sphere?

 In this passage, Job mentions constellations by name:

“He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.”

Planets are also mentioned in Scripture under the names of the pagan gods

Arabs, called Saturn Kaiwan, the corresponding terms in the Zoroastrian Bundahish being Kevan. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02029a.htm

10^th to 6^th Century, BC

2 Kings 17:30 mentions the Babylonian god Marduk, whose star was the planet Jupiter.

“The Babylonians made Sukkoth-Benot (the consort of the Babylonian
god, Marduk).” * Footnote of New American Bible *

[17:30] Sukkot-Benot: several of the divine names in vv. 30–31 are problematic or conjectural. Sukkot-Benot is unknown, but the name may have been corrupted from that of Sarpanitu, the consort of the Babylonian god Marduk.

8^th to 7^th Century

Isaiah mentions “the Morning Star” by name: Isaiah 14:12 (btw, that’s Venus)

Amos 5:26 "Yet you will carry away Sukuth (Sirius, per New American Bible) your king, and Kaiwan (Saturn, same NAB reference) your star image."

 

As you can tell, Biblical names are problematic, unless you know middle-eastern languages that name the planets and stars. You can find the translations in the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_names_of_stars

This current most accurate list of the names of stars in the bible (from the Catholic Encyclopedia website above) is based largely on Schiaparelli's authority. These are the best-warranted interpretations of biblical star-names:

• Kimah, the Pleiades;
• the Kesil, Orion;
• Ash, or Ayish, the Hyades;
• Mezarim, the Bears (Great and Little);
• Mazzaroth, Venus (Lucifer and Hesperus);
• Hadre theman — "the chambers of the south" — Canopus, the Southern Cross, and a-Centauri;
• Nachash, Draco.

Now, go find these stars, constellations, and planets in the night sky and realize that people have been seeing them for thousands of years.

So, what's in a name?  The constellations have classical Roman designations. The stars bear Arabic names.

Enrolled in music appreciation class this month. The topic is Beethoven. There’s so much to learn when one’s only exposure to music is made up of personal favorite repertoires.  Beethoven’s 3^rd Symphony, Eroica, has always been my favorite. Of course his 9^th is also loved for its power.

The first class took up the sonata form, which has become standard for all music since the 1750s. Much like a literary composition, sonatas have an opening theme which is developed and then recapitulates. http://library.thinkquest.org/22673/forms1.html

Here are a few Beethoven notes:

1.     Beethoven straddled the classical and the romantic eras

2.     His works were post (French) revolutionary

3.     Beethoven was an innovator, adding to older forms and surprising with new ideas

4.     His pieces condensed musical form for easier listening

5.     He brought his main themes back as a reminder for his listeners

6.     He played to the public, not the aristocracy

In other words, he was a business man, because he earned his living the way today’s orchestras earn it—by a paying audience, not an elite few.

Starting out as a pianist, he made full use of the development of the instrument taking place during his time. His phenomenal abilities demanded an expansion of the keyboard, bringing this instrument closer to its current form.

I remember . . .

The sister’s chapel is dim. A tall lanky priest with dark hair busies himself with prayers and ritual. My brother stands quietly next to me. Then there is light. Father hands me a lit candle. Ceremonial candles are of beeswax, and my brother holds his so tight it softens and bends under his fingers. I am only five, he six, but I remember.

Most Catholics don’t remember their baptism. They are brought into the faith as infants.  Mutti wanted to wait for my father to return from the war. He didn’t. 

8/5 Alert

Mars Curiosity

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-08-06/mars-rover-curiosity-landing/56814732/1 

It’s time to watch NASA on TV, or the JPL Website, because we are coming up on another first. The largest, best equipped Martian lander, called Curiosity, is about to plummet to the Martian surface. Don’t miss it. It will land in about a half hour Pacific time.

 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/?cid=mslsplashpage