20150714.0703

Yesterday was a productive enough day. I was able to complete a freelance order, which always pleases me. I was also aided in doing so by my wonderful wife, who only had a half-day of work at the pharmacy and took Ms. 8 with her as she ran errands in the afternoon. Doing so allowed me a few hours of undistracted quiet in which to write the several thousand words I needed for the job. Now I await payment for the piece, which I expect is forthcoming--for there is already another order waiting for me to do, and I doubt it would be were my work not pleasing to the client.

The upcoming order bears some discussion, I think. The novel I get to read next is the new Harper Lee piece, Go Set a Watchman. Critical attention has already been focused on the text, appropriately enough, and no small amount of controversy attended upon news of its forthcoming release. There were, as I recall, questions about the author's willingness to have put into print a novel that had been set aside and kept away from the public for decades (although the argument could be made that keeping and not destroying the text meant publication at some point was intended), particularly since questions about the author's current capacities were also afoot. I am not in a position to answer any of them, and I do not seek to do so. The facts are that the book is in print even now, and I have been tasked with reading it and doing the usual write-up of it. I will be paid to do so, and I need the money. The Mrs. and Ms. 8 need what the money will buy.

I am mindful that I am being paid a compliment by my client in being selected to complete the Lee write-up. The novel already attracts much attention, and the write-up of it can reasonably be expected to sell well; I imagine that many people who are "too busy to read" the text in full will still want to know what goes on in it, so as to seem informed and intelligent, and the write-ups I do would seem to facilitate that use. I know also that there are other writers doing the kind of work that I have been doing; I have helped clean up their work, so I know they are about. That I have been chosen to do what will likely be one of the better selling pieces (I know what I am supporting through my efforts, and I know that it pays me to do so) is thus a commendation, albeit one that has me work a bit more. (It does not hurt that I was assigned to write up To Kill a Mockingbird not long after news of Go Set a Watchman broke.)

So, in and around keeping an eye on Ms. 8 and doing a bit of housecleaning so that the Mrs. comes home to a nice place after her full day at the pharmacy today, I will be reading the new novel. Tomorrow, perhaps, I will begin the write-up, although I do not think I will be so speedy as I was yesterday. It will, however, be done, and it will be done damned well.