Fifteen pages!

During a busy week, I have written fifteen pages, which is a huge amount for pokey 'ol me. Maybe it's the impetus of the food writing class. Maybe I'm actually a non-fiction writer. Who knows? I even sent in two queries, and tried to figure out where to send the pimp short story.

I'm not sure that it's even crime fiction, although one guy pulls a knife on another. Nobody gets hurt, at least not physically. The fish story is not really concerned with crime, although drug running plays heavily into it. I'm voting for the loosening of the marijuana laws in Massachusetts. Did you know that MJ is the#one cash crop in the U.S.

Of as we used to say back in the dark ages of high school. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Ha ha. Just kidding.

There was a confrontation north of Winnemucca (Northern Nevada) between pot growers and some biologists working for the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). When the smoke (another ha ha) had cleaned the growers bailed on five million dollars worth of plants and some already harvested crop. They were growing it along the river in the middle of nowhere, but as my young friend likes to say, everywhere is somewhere. Not quite far enough into the middle of nowhere. Nowhere close to where I was visiting.

In my novel and even my fish short story, I'm writing about the submarines that the drug runners are now using to ferry "product" between Columbia and ports of call in the U.S. These submarines can't be detected by radar and each can carry a huge stash of coke. When they are discovered, the crew scuttles the boat and has to be rescued. There's no evidence, so they can't be prosecuted. Clever, eh?

Just think if all the effort that went into breaking the law were harnessed for some kind of good. Zowie!

Caribou Barbie is speaking in New Hampshire tomorrow, and I would think seriously about going up there to heckle her, except that I have a meeting to attend. No, not that kind of meeting. The Republicans have stooped lower than a snake's belly with their rumors and innuendo. Will a campaign ever be fought (and won) on the issues? Not in my lifetime.

Something that no one mentions: if investments continue to tank, and jobs continue to be lost, and no one has any money, where will the tax revenues comes from to bail the country out? Seems like one impact of what's going on will be less tax money. People seem to hate economics, but how about Paul Krugman? Yay! Love his columns in the NYT. He was even on Bill Maher. Or was it Jon Stewart? Can't remember anything.

Tonight is the last night of the delicious bean soup. I ran out of salad fixins', so we're having a cute little antipasto. Call it creativity in the kitchen.

Bon Appetit!


Grapeshot