I was never a big fan of Bill the Cat, one of the characters of Berke Breathed’s “Bloom County” and “Outland” comic strips, but there are times when his expression of, “Ackkk!” does apply. Part of my erratic posting to the blog since my return from Woods Hole, MA, is the stringent deadline that I am operating under for this new non-fiction book. Because I am in a co-author situation, and drawing material from a lot of different sources, there are extra steps involved in completing the manuscript. So, the ambitious timeline that we established with the publisher is compounded with extra coordination that is essential to getting this done correctly. Aside from that, I also have certain obligations to the different community projects that I’m involved with, one of which has two major events that require my attention. One has been completed and one is next week. That sets up today and tomorrow with a series of meetings (well, okay, let me be honest – tomorrow also has some social aspect to it), and as timing would have it, a neighbor has been in need of my assistance for the past two weeks. I’m fine with all of this – I really am, but it does require some creative time management. That was one of the big reasons why I made such a quick trip to Woods Hole and why I didn’t do a multi-city stop to go see the kids and little Amelia.

On the other hand, the manuscript is progressing well and I picked up another way-cool story about major explorations that will be included in the book. More to follow soon.