My writing week 2 (42)

Hi all,

I expected to be in a state of panic today as I prepared for cataract surgery on Wednesday, but after a meeting with the opthamologist last week I am relatively calm. Firstly, the opthamologist explained to a more receptive patient (me) the reason he had said there was slightly less of a chance of success with my eyes. He said the membrane under the lens on both of my eyes was thinner than normal, so there was a chance that it could split which would mean a hastily arranged second operation that usually fixes that problem. After initially refusing to give me any odds on the overall chances of success, he said it was probably 400:1. After a bit of thought, I decided I would play blind-in-one-eye roulette with a 400 chambered pistol.

The second reason is that, due to an infection, I have had to postpone the cataract surgery for three weeks. Nothing like putting time in the way of a good panic. The first cataract won't be done until the 9th of November and the second two weeks later. I have had a good practice, so my panic will probably be much better next time.

I am no longer editing Stalking Tigers, I am redrafting it. I have deleted and rewritten so much of chapter nine that I can no longer call it editing. The redrafting is mainly due to the compounding of subtle changes I have made, in previous chapters, to the two main character's behaviour that have rendered later actions out of character. It will still get to the same ending, but by a different route.

When reading Saturday's Age I thought I had slipped into an alternative universe, one where ignorance and peer group pressure didn't exist. In the book section there were not just one rare review of a science fiction novel, but two. And one of them was by an Australian author. Shit, hardly any books must have been released last week. The Australian was KA Bedford's, Time Machines Repaired While U Wait, which has just been published in Australia. I read the imported version earlier this year and thought it one of the better science fiction novels going round. I posted a review on this blog a few months ago (one of these days I will teach myself how to put in a link to a previous post, but not today as I will be too busy writing a panic guide).

Graham.

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