Good news to report this Sunday. I've passed 20,000 words on my novel, which means the first draft is one-fourth finished. So I'm behind schedule but making progress.
I'm shooting for a first draft of 80k words because, knowing myself, I'll inevitably add another 20–40k words in the rewriting process. That'll give me my target word count of 100–120k words.
A few "project" news blips from friends and readers:
Hugh Crawford by Jamie Livingston
• Hugh Crawford sold a number of copies of his massive and epic Jamie Livingston book to TOP readers a few weeks ago. He's very grateful to all purchasers! Here's a link again to the book project page.
• You probably remember John Lehet from his last print sale here. Here's John (above) visiting a few of his own photographs that are hanging in the waiting room of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' office in the Senate Building in Washington, D.C.
• Tim Smith followed one of my recommendations and bought himself a swell pair of Ohm Walsh Super Sound Cylinder speakers (you can find them on the Beta page of the Ohm Speakers website). He says, "I’m in a sublime state of bless-ed nirvana-tude with my Ohm speakers. And I owe it all to you! They really are wonderful. I find myself listening endlessly and have a hard time walking out of the room, wanting to hear just one more."
John Marshall, Bob Burnett, and Susan Marshall at Nova Fest
• Bob Burnett, who debuted his short film Marshall's House here on TOP, is seen here at a screening of the film at Nova Fest in April, flanked by John and Susan Marshall, the owners of Marshall’s House. If you haven't watched the film yet, it's well worth the seven minutes it takes. Here ya go!
•
Hope you do well with your own long-term project in the coming week. Stick with it!
Mike
UPDATE from Hugh Crawford: "The you-can't-make-it-up coincidences of that photo continue. This weekend I was at the wedding of one of my nieces, the younger sister of the little girl in my lap in the photograph. She, the flower girl at my wedding in the photo, was the maid of honor for her sister. (Oh, and the TOP banana discount for the book is still in effect.)"
Mike explains: When I first published that photograph, in our first mention on TOP of the Jamie Livingston project, in this post in 2008, I chose it from thousands of alternatives—and had no idea the picture was of Hugh, who I still have never met in person.
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
MikeR: "Okay, this is admittedly silly but, in the photo of John Lehet, I noticed how he wears the shoulder strap of his bag. Duh...for years, I've been doing it backwards, and wondered why my Calumet bag was designed that awkward way. So, despite not having an active project, I've learned something new from the Sunday support group. Now I just have to ignore those Ohm Walsh speakers."
Mike replies: Easy enough to do as long as you don't listen to them.
Michael Ferron: "When I retired from full time back in January part of my financial survival plan was to fix up and rent out a studio apartment on the property. That went as planned but I lost my darkroom in doing so. When remodeling I created a walk-in closet size space from the existing apartment with a separate entrance, and for the last few days I have been re-constructing the new darkroom.
"My long term plan is to shoot mostly 35mm B&W film with my Nikon F2 standard and hopefully land a printable decent keeper once a week and then edit it down to the best 12 of the year. No electronics involved. Why? Umm because I can. (Hey it's just a passion and hobby. :-) Now if I can land that above mentioned one keeper a month and continue for, say, three years, hopefully I will have created a respectable 36-photograph portfolio of urban, street and street portraits centered around downtown Austin, Texas. I'll need to do repeated butt kicking on myself to see this through, but as of now I am enthusiastic."
I love your long-term plan, Michael Ferron. It's mine, too. Like you, I'm on my way. Bill
Posted by: Bill Wheeler | Monday, 14 May 2018 at 01:55 PM
I saw you were reading a 1000+ pages of English history, complete with discussions of the Old Norse and its relation to (mostly) medieval English kings. When I find myself reading tomes of that class, I wonder what duty I am ignoring with such a tool of procrastination. I once delayed authorship of my part of a textbook for two whole months while I waded through both volumes of Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. Just sayin'.
Posted by: Rick Denney | Monday, 14 May 2018 at 02:09 PM
Congrats on the great progress you're making on your book! Receiving "news blips" from friends and fans is one way businessmen set smart goals. Successful people, such as yourself, consistently set goals to maintain success. These photographs are not only inspiration, but also very rewarding. Thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Dennis | Monday, 14 May 2018 at 02:38 PM
It's all good, but I'm really thrilled to read a comment on audio. I really miss those and have been hoping for an Off Topic piece on such. I'd love to hear your thoughts about Tubes, Turntables, and Vinyl. I just picked up my renewed (long story) Pioneer SX 1250 yesterday and have been smiling since.
Posted by: Del Bomberger | Tuesday, 15 May 2018 at 07:25 PM