Chapter 35: Earl Wilson

I read some sad news about a former Major League pitcher, who starred for the Detroit Tigers. Earl Wilson was the third leg of the triumvirate of pitching talent that led the 1968 World Champion Tigers to success, though he was often overshadowed by Denny McLain (31 wins) and Mickey Lolich (three World Series victories). The previous year, however, when the Tigers fell just short of the Red Sox in their Impossible Dream season, Wilson led the league in victories. Once again, he was overshadowed, this time by Jim Lonborg, who won the Cy Young Award for leading the Red Sox' pitching staff.

Wilson was more than an able pitcher. He also was a strong hitter, retiring with 35 home runs as a pitcher, second most all time behind Wes Ferrell. He often pinch hit for the Tigers. When his playing days were done, he was instrumental in Baseball Assistance Team (BAT), which helps former Major Leaguers and Negro League players who need financial help. Though players today make a minimum of $316,000 it wasn't always such an outstanding paying profession. Moreover, the education levels of many players -- today and in the past -- has often left them vulnerable to being swindled.

Wilson played and lived like a champion.

Chapter 34.55: Progress Report

Amazing what a day can do. Despite four calls during squad today and a softball practice, as well as working some of the items I needed to do for the Scottish organization, I was able to read/edit my book to page 260. I'm two-thirds of the way through it, and pleased to say the middle third was pretty readable. Flaws remain, of course, but overall I was pleased with what I read -- espcially considering I'd forgotten that I wrote much of it. I found myself chuckling at character interactions, finding less superfluous back story to trim, and scribbling fewer red marks on the pages. I still fear I know these characters so well that I'm not describing them well enough for readers other than me. It's not yet publishable, but it seems like it's getting closer.

Chapter 34.5: Lazy Saturday

The weather sucks, chilly and grey, doing nothing to inspire me to fulfill mundane household tasks such as cleaning the gutters or scraping up last fall’s leftover leaves. So I’ve been organizing myself indoors while I await a phone call. We got ourselves a new batch of empty floppy disks (yes, there are still people who save on floppies), and I’ve cleared my email box of about 80 notes I’d been holding for this opportunity.

Everything gets a disk. One disk for background information for the next novel. Another for items for what I expect will be the fourth or fifth novel (perhaps I’m getting too far ahead of myself). Rolodex entries for people I’ll need to remember but won’t without electronic prompting. Items related to freelance work for a variety of clients. Each client has their own disk. Intermixed in all this was an IM conversation with my brother, who was watching the NFL draft at the time and predicting injuries to some newly minted millionaires.

Before I forget: Some people have asked me to keep their name and email addresses on a list so I can let them know about how things progress – when I sign with an agent, any publication news, etc. If anyone who reads this is interested, please send me an email. For those who don’t have my usual email address, send requests to mattsinclair@myway.com. I will not share your information with anyone.

I’m halfway through the edits of my novel, but I discovered a section that I’d intended to write and didn’t, so I have a potential snag. I don’t want to add too much, but there is something new that must be written. A scene or a reflection, clarity for what comes next. By the time I’m off to bed tonight, I’ll have read through 200 pages of the novel. I actually had a page that didn’t need any red marks on it. I think that’s the first one. Perhaps I’m being too hard on myself, but I doubt it. The edits are extensive but necessary. Whole chapters have been cut, and the next version will be cut even more.

I’m enjoying this.

Chapter 34.4: Moving Right Along

Since the Mets were bad enough to watch with the mute on last night, I got a bit further along on my edits. I'm now in the 160s and I was pleased to find one critical scene wasn't as bad as I feared it might be. I think there's enough tension and humor trying to break the tension, which is what I was looking for there. The deeper tension of the book has begun, after the initial problems have been established. I might need to cull back the earlier material more than I already have. That'll be determined within my wife's reading. I'm looking forward to that almost as much as I was looking forward to finishing the first draft. I'll have edited more than 200 pages by the end of this weekend, and I think I might be through the book by the end of April. But this will be one of many readings of the same novel this year.

By the way: for those loyal Coffee Cup readers (and there's more than I realized), thanks for your recent email communiques. Feel free to make any suggestions about odd stories you think I'd enjoy.

Chapter 34.3: The Pope and Our Lady of the Underpass

An odd conjunction of stories today. The big news, of course, is the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. As a practicing Catholic, I'm pleased to have a new leader of the church. I admit he's been portrayed as more conservative than I would prefer, but time will tell. His enrollment in the Hitler Youth as a child sounds horrible to me, but articles have indicated it was mandatory for boys then and that his family was anti-Nazi. I'm still trying to figure out how this pope fits in with St. Malachy's prediction that the pope after J.P. II would be born Jewish; it's why I thought the French cardinal would be selected. Again, time will tell.

After the news of the new pope, I noticed a story in the Chicago Tribune about an odd water stain image that to some appears to be the Virgin Mary.

I looked at the picture the paper showed. What concerned me was not the image but the grafitti nearby that said "Satan Loves." I have no idea which of those things occurred first, the man made words or the natural water stain, but it just seemed off.

Chapter 34.1: Edit update

Just a quick update for those who are interested. I'm moving a bit slowly on the edits of the book, but I've accomplished some of my initial goals. Tonight I put red Xs through a page or two of detail that readers won't miss. Keeping my Ideal Reader in mind, I recognized that the wistful ruminations of my lead character on sports as he watches hockey on a bar television weren't necessarily pertinent to the story. Not bad writing, but it goes. I'm in the 130s and went through a somewhat too graphic sex scene before calling it quits for the night. I'm one-third of the way through, and I think I've cut out more than I've added.

Chapter 34.09: Spoil Sport

Ok, first off, I want to apologize to loyal reader John (loyal reader in the sense that he's read the blog more than once.) I expected that as a loyal WW viewer, he'd have already seen the season finale, and that my recent update wouldn't be the spoiler that it was. Sorry.

So, now on to something that will only spoil themselves: The Mets.

I had the pleasure of attending the home opener yet again. The crowd was ready for something different than the Art Howe era. The team has sucked like a newborn the first week of the season, and they started yesterday's game without offering much hope of anything different. Tom Glavine kept them in a game they seemed destined to lose. But they put a rally together on soft hits and aggressive play. It helped that the Astros couldn't catch fly balls to the outfield, and they eventually brought in John Franco to face his old team (and fans eager to watch him give up crucial runs as they were accustomed to seeing him do).

Their victory gave them a 2-5 record. Rather crappy. It'll get better, and statistically speaking it should get much better. Winning two of seven means they have a .286 winning percentage. I think they'll do better than that. 85-89 wins is my prediction. Third place in the NL East, at best. I've said it before, and I still believe it's true. I like Doug Mientkeiwicz (or however it's spelled) and Carlos Beltran. I've been pleasantly surprised by Pedro Martinez so far. But their pitching is worse now than it was in February when they arrived at camp. The injury to Steve Trachsel is devastating, if for no other reason than they won't get his 200+ innings out of Aaron Heilman or Jae So.

We should enjoy our victories, Mets fans. They won't come in abundance.

Chapter 34.05: The Race Begins

Ok, this will almost certainly be the last West Wing item for a while, since tonight's episode was the season finale, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Democratic ticket for next fall's campaign shows. I wasn't too surprised at Jimmy Smits's Matthew Santos character getting the nod; I think Martin Sheen's President Bartlet liked him all along. But I never considered Leo McGarry as the vice presidential nominee. That was a complete surprise to me.

To me, it means that Alan Alda will not win the election. He's done a decent job as the Republican nominee -- a likeable character who appeals to both sides of the aisle. But I don't think the West Wing folks would have included Leo on the ticket unless they were going to have the Democrats win. I wouldn't be surprised if the election's as tight as 2000, however.

Assuming Santos/McGarry win, I’ve got a couple predictions and questions about characters in a Santos administration: chief of staff would be Josh Lyman, who led the campaign; Toby Ziegler might be in prison if he’s found to be the leak of national security secrets (or perhaps C.J. Cregg is, if it’s her). Perhaps Will Bailey takes over Josh’s old deputy COS for politics. If C.J.’s not in prison, does she remain in the White House? I’m not sure. I doubt she’d do the press secretary job again, and I don’t expect her to get the COS job for Santos. Perhaps she takes over Toby’s role as director of communications. Who becomes press secretary, Donna Moss or the perky, annoying short woman (Annabeth)?

Does Charlie Young marry Zoe Bartlet? (That strikes me as the jump the shark episode. Another potential shark could swim in the form of a White House infant, since Santos and his wife have been shown trying to fool around during the campaign.) And to what extent will we see former President Bartlet diminish? Would there be an episode in which Rob Lowe’s Sam Seaborn character is approached for a role in the new administration? Will we ever see Dr. McNally again or do we end up counting the times Mary McCormack’s hair style changes? When will Vice President McGarry have another heart attack?

I realize that the show has become somewhat like a soap opera, but I’ve enjoyed watching the development of many of these characters. There’s energy out there to write a new adminstration

Chapter 34: Ghoul Pool

Number two has occurred. Frank Perdue can now learn which came first, the chicken or the egg. He seemed like a nice guy.

In keeping with the idea of death coming in threes, I'm curious who's next: The Pope or Prince Rainier of Monaco. Perhaps there are a couple others to come this weekend, and it'll be a pair of threes. (The unfortunate Terri Schiavo went first yesterday.)