Good day to you all! Yes, I’m back home again after a two-week break in KwaZulu Natal. Sunny skies and white tropical beaches. Okay, Mister-you-know-who-you-are, I did sit under a palm tree and finish chapter 4 of “The Sound of Thunder!” But that was a little distracting with all the skinny tan bodies floating by, so I relocated back to the nice cool air-conditioned apartment.
Then there were some hype about a cyclone hitting Madagascar and all the KZN beaches were closed, and the shark nets lifted. Dark clouds rolled in, and a light wind with misty rain set in. Word got to us that a massive storm that hit Gauteng, and there was flooding, trees and walls came down. We packed up and came home. Lucky only one tile on my roof slipped a little down, causing water to get into my study. No big train smash. I fixed the tile and there were no water damage to the floor of my study.
So ready to send the chapter to the editors and then all hell broke loose about a certain description I did in the chapter. Really? What about my readers that crave these descriptions, geography and history?
The other two editors concurred with the first one. So, I moved the offending paragraphs to a part of the text where it won't interfere with rest of the story. (Thank you, Mister Dan Brown for your well researched and descriptive stories. I learned from the best! Although critics say your grammar stinks, I still think you’re the best.) (BTW – Some say my grammar stinks too!)
Next was a Race Name I used to describe a Cape Town Race. It was found to be offensive in the USA. Really? Okay if it would be considered offensive to my USA readers, I removed it. It detracts from the story a little, but I suppose no one will notice it. And if this race have a name that are offensive to others… well so be it. You can’t please all. There are stories on SOL that are offensive from page one to the last page!
It just goes to prove my theory that English is not English from country to country! And here in South Africa we have a Race that pride themselves in calling themselves a name that would be offensive in another country. Can you now see why I said in a previous blog entry that the story is a little technical?
Without ranting too much, can you see why it took so long to get the chapter ready for publishing? (Don’t worry! Chapter five is running now at 1000 words.)
Chapter 4 will be up later today. Enjoy!
Bye 4 now!