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squirrel

If you look carefully at the bottom of the photo, you can see the squirrel that's been stealing my figs, now trapped in the protective netting I put up. I guess you can call me Ms. McGregor. You never saw such a panicked creature until I finally undid the netting enough so it could escape, hopefully too traumatized to return.

farmer's market

I happened to be shopping at our local famer's market this morning when about 30 toddlers walked through on a field trip. Everyone stopped to admire the ultra-cuteness when all of a sudden a little voice rang out, "Bubbi." And there was my 3-yr-old grandson among them.

Funny Talmud website

This post will be short and sweet. I found a fascinating, and amusing, website titled Talmudic Humor and the Establishment of Legal Principles: Strange Questions, Impossible Scenarios, and Legalistic Brainteasers by Hershey H. Friedman.
Have fun on it, and while you’re at it, guess which of these passages will make it into Bk 2 of “Rav Hisda’s Daughter.” Keep in mind that our hero is Rava.

How do I fit everything in the final chapters

No, nothing untoward has happened to me. I have not been ill nor have I been on vacation. What I have been doing is working feverishly to finish the first draft of the Book Two of “Rav Hisda’s Daughter.” I’m now in the middle of chapter 31, so I consider myself on the home stretch [to mix metaphors].

I have the plot pretty well established and I know how the book ends, but as this volume will end the series, I’m faced with figuring out how to include all the best pieces of Talmud that involve my characters. I either have to place them in these last remaining chapters or go back and squeeze them in earlier.

Fortunately I went through my Talmud notes and chose these passages several months ago. However when I look at them now, it’s clear that there are far to many to include them all. Out of the ten that involve my heroine, I’ve only used five. The ratio of those that mention my hero, Rava, is much smaller. Now it’s a matter of picking the best of the best. I’m disheartened by how much of what the Talmud says about demons won’t fit in anywhere, and my intention of creating a mini “Game of Thrones” out of the true Sasanian Persian court intrigues seems less compelling than I first thought.

Ah well. That’s why some authors call the first draft the “puke draft.” Just throw everything in there to get the story told and then edit out what doesn’t work.