Time Flies

Here it is, late 2015. 

The last year and a half had me occupied with family matters.

My sister, Diane C. McLaughlin died in May 2014. She had Alzheimer's for many years.

A week later, my cat, Cami passed away. Bear was an only cat for seven months, but began to seem lonely. Then I found another seal point traditional Siamese named Chyna, who was seven and a half years old (she's now 8). As Bear is 17, I wasn't crazy about getting a kitten. The two are good friends off and on; Chyna can be bossy, but Bear wins couch spot wrestling matches.

I have been drawing preliminary pages for what may end up as a web comic, based on the characters that I usually write about. A side story ended up being too visual for that. 

In the mean time, I have learned some knitting and to play ukulele. 

However, art and writing are the main things that pull at me.

More to come...

Weather and Moon Phases of June 3, 1972

I chose to have my novel take place in the 70s.
I was going to high school then and my characters are 2-10 years older than that. The groundwork for the book was begun in that time period as well.
I also wanted to write about criminal/espionage activities before the internet, the digital age, and DNA testing among others.
I settled on a date for Chapter 1 of June 2, 1972.
Since I have scenes that are outdoors and indoors I wondered: What was the weather like in the Chicago area that day?
So, I looked up Tom Skilling. And found a link to data from Midway Airport*. Well, though the graphs were not enlargeable, I did see that June 3, 1972 was 96 degrees.
I thought a hot, humid day would be good, so I moved my date up to June 3.
Then I thought: Was it a moonless night, so some sneaking around could take place?
Well, I googled "moon phase June 1972" and there it was: new crescent.  So it was relatively dark.
And it was a Saturday, which is good because the first few chapters are about an awards banquet when few of the characters would be working.
Now if you ever get to go to a Shut Up and Write workshop with Judy Redbird Bridges (link in my last entry) you will learn one thing. A writer needs to employ all the senses in description. It improved my writing!
It wasn't a "dark and stormy night;" it was a "hot and humid" night.
Just what I needed.
*Midway Airport, rather than O'Hare was the official temperature back then. Midway is also closer to where my novel takes place. Here is the weather link: http://weatherspark.com/history/30851/1972/Chicago-Illinois-United-States
Moon phase calendar similar to the one I used: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1972&country=1