I've lost a few days of writing to a virus of some sort. "Of some sort" translates to a lot meaner than a cold--severe sore throat, cough, sniffles, 101 fever, a headache, body-aches etc--but not quite the flu. As I recall the flu jumps you all at once; this crept in one symptom at a time. My youngest son and I have been battling this since Saturday and this morning my third borne joined the ranks.

Remember that friend I waxed sentimental about? We have him to thank for this. He hadn't been in the door for more than a couple of minutes and I noted that he looked really tired and I asked if he was okay. "I'm a little run down," he replied. "What does run down mean?" I asked. "It means I'm sick." "And you brought this to my house?" I said. He grinned tiredly."I guess I did." I almost sent him back out the door, and probably should have, however we so rarely see him, I didn't want to curtail the visit. I spent Thanksgiving sick, thanks to a preschooler. Surely, I thought, God would not allow me to spend New Years in the same condition. Guess again. He arrived on Wednesday. By Friday, four of us had awakened with headaches that could not be treated (I take stuff for migraines, and it didn't even touch it). By Saturday evening, two of us were running fevers.

I am sorely tempted to cough flem into a baggy and mail it to my friend, who is by now back on his sailboat, no doubt feeling much better. I am fairly sure that if it is not illegal to mail germs to people, it should be, so I won't, but rest assured, I will be seeking revenge. (Check back with me after I feel better and I will probably be more forgiving)

In any case, sitting in front of the computer for more than a few minutes hasn't appealed to me at all. None of the cold medicine we have in the house is putting a dent in the symptoms--and this includes my fever. My youngest was fever free as of yesterday but is still coughing and complaining of a sore throat and he slept most of the day yesterday.

Scavella sent me some useful notes with respect to Troubled_Waters. Normally I don't want crits while in progress, but she pointed out some highly fixable items that won't be hard to write in (I hope) and simply amounts to needing more tell-tale evidence to lend credence to the role of the villain. The MC needs to be better armed for "battle". I'm still going to finish off this draft as is and then go back and catch those before moving on to the Villain's POV. The nice thing about writing him last is that if I decide that his POV isn't necessary then I can simply delete his chapters.

However, for now I'm crawling back in bed (the couch during the day) and try to shake off this bug. Maybe by tomorrow, the last day of my vacation, I will be up to writing.

Oh yeah--has anybody out there checked out Noah Lukeman's newest work--"How to write a great query letter"? It's in e-book form. He's asking for $25.00 for it and I'm trying to decide if it's worth the price.