lookingland

i had a lot of errands to run today (

utter_scoundrel, i finally mailed your package!). and then i sat down to try to write, dribbled about 500 words into two scenes (one of which will bite the dust by monday). the good news is i am making some headway in organizing the opening. it's a wee better than it was yesterday, which is all anybody can ask.

the day's darling:

The soldiers laughed and spun him around like a hanged man.

after writing a while, i spent six hours reading and taking copious notes. some of the reading i was doing was for research and some of it was just for pleasure. or both. the lines are getting blurrier these days:

for the

50bookchallenge:

no. 31 ~ Lincoln's Avengers by elizabeth d. leonard. you would think there couldn't be anything new to say about the lincoln assassination after so many years and so many books, but leonard manages a fresh approach (this was published in 2004). this is a highly readable account taken largely from the perspective of judge-advocate joseph holt about his single-minded determination to put jefferson davis on the gallows. there's nothing really new or earth-shattering here, but i like the angle and it was cool to see things from the commissioners' side of the table for a change. some later chapters about wirz and johnson's impeachment weren't as exciting, but necessary to take holt to his logical conclusion (a bitter and controversial end).

some of the info here about the milligan case feels muddy and leonard slips up on one or two facts (and contradicts herself at least once), but the subject matter is so twisted and confusing that i start seeing purple pigs while trying to follow some of the arguments myself ~ so kudos to the writer for a massive undertaking.

well worth the $6 i paid for it at the used bookstore.

not much else to report. my brain is elsewhere at the moment and i want to keep it there for a while as i mull over my battle plans for tomorrow's writing assault.

night all!

: D