How I Spent My Summer Solstice

I can't talk too much about what's going on at work, though I can say that I won two games of Family Business during lunch. (For those of you who haven't played the game, it's about famous mobsters. Each player runs a mob and tries to take out other players' mobsters while protecting her own. The survivor is the winner.) After work, Eugene and I went to the library so he could do some genealogical research. I checked out a few CDs and signed up for an author visit next week. Laura Anne Gilman will be at the library; she writes fantasy and science fiction. I've read a few of her books but not the most recent ones. Maybe I should get one from her latest series this weekend, though the last thing I need to do is add to my Twin Towers of Reading.

Writing: Beating my head against a brick wall. Melinda posted a synopsis on OWW, and I'm not sure how to go about critting it. She's focusing on character development instead of overall plot, and while I think she needs more of the external plot in her synopsis in her book, she might have a reason for doing it the way she did. Maybe I should e-mail her and ask about it before I try to crit her synopsis.

I'm doing something painful with Lennon's Line; I'm trying to replace song lyrics with uncopyrighted lines from John (from a letter he wrote to his friend Stu Sutcliffe). It's difficult for two reasons. First, I think the song lyrics do a better job of making Jo cry than the other lines do; the only reason I'm changing them is to avoid any possible problems with obtaining permission to use them in a published book (assuming Lennon's Line makes it that far). Second, I have to go back and set up the lines by mentioning Stu earlier. Even with that background, it still seems awkward; the lines are too personal for John to sing at a concert, especially at this point in his life. Maybe it would be easier to pay for permission to use the lines and have done with it. Of course, it would help if I could track down who holds the copyright to that song. I think the composer is still alive, but I don't know if he kept his rights. Maybe I just need to switch projects for a few days until I get past this block.