okay. i hope this is right. so this is my first blog. what shall i call it? ok how about beach time? we just got back from the beach, so i should have something to say about it. boy, the water was rough on emerald isle. and the house was small. but the view was great. nice to see my brother, too. this is crazy, this idea of a public journal. it's a contradiction in terms. but i guess you just have to get used to the idea of a professional journal. so what do i have to say of interest, professionally? i am still revising my first book stella bellarosa. i sure hope it gets published this year, because the writing life is hard enough without payoffs. and i would like to be heard. to be read. and to be able to help my family financially. not a high goal, i guess, but crucial. today i'm typing up the freewrites i did at the beach on my 3rd novel, stony bilgewater. even though i didn't feel all that good, i did manage to write quite a bit--3 good (I think) children's poems and a lot of exploratory stuff on Stony. bye for now. J.