My new book, Appearances: A Novel In Fragments, has been out for a couple of weeks now.  Go here (and scroll to the bottom of the page) where you can either purchase a hard copy or download it for free as an e-book.  I worked on the thing for over three years.  It is dear to my heart.

Oh, and did I mention that you can even download it as an e-book for free!

Watched an interesting documentary this afternoon: Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter.

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Have been revisiting Emerson.  I don't care for his poems but find incredible poetry in his essays and lectures.

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Listening to Jeff Beck's new CD Live+ (14 live tracks from various concerts, 2 studio tracks).

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At the Austin City Limits website there's a link up to a show B.B. King did.  I watched it yesterday and was particularly fascinated whenever the camera lingered on his fingers.

King didn't play a lot of chords. He played a lot of single note rhythms with a very distinctive vibrato and a lot of bends.

You bend strings by pushing them.  It takes strength and finesse to bend strings.  Eric Clapton once remarked in an interview that, while he no longer practiced scales and patterns, he did still practice bends.

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Since I finished Appearances I've been at something of a loss about what to do with myself.  I have no ideas for writing at the moment.  So I've been filling my time in other ways:  housework, yard work, errands, guitar,reading, etc.  Oh, and have I mentioned I watched this great documentary about Abraham Lincoln?

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