Marc Hamlet

Here’s a link to my short interview with Jane Taylor about The Capable Man & other stuff. http://t.co/KDAtxtkB

No time for blogging, no time for Twitter, very little time novel writing. For the past month, there’s been serious matters in my way–okay, except for “Boardwalk Empire” and “House”. Now that I have a couple of hours to myself, I find my mind is coming up empty. As Curly said, “I’m tryin’ to think, but nothin’ happens.”

At least my body’s back to normal. A week from now, it all starts again.

It’s been a rather difficult week thanks to the chemo. My oncologist warned me that the neuropathy will be more intense than three years ago, but I didn’t realize that “worse” meant nerve sensitivity at the level of pain in my jaw and a sharp skin-tingling from cold, morning air. This sensitivity has been improving of late and I’ve got more than two weeks before the next treatment. For what I have to look forward to for the next four months, this had damn well better make an impact or I will be really upset.

On a positive note, The Capable Man has been doing pretty good, particularly on Amazon Kindle. My publisher has no stats from B&N Nook sales, but I know at least three people who own nooks and they were early buyers. I’ve got to get the sequel together before my readers forget the original story, however I just don’t bang-out the word count like some.

Tomorrow, I’ll be doing my first round of Oxaliplatin in three years. The cold sensitivity is not going to be pleasant, especially after the fifth cycle, but what else can I do? I didn’t suffer nausea and vomiting the last time so at least I don’t have that to look forward to. Of course, between the Xeloda and the Oxaliplatin, I can say good-bye to normal bowel movements for the foreseeable future. For all I’ll be going through, it damn well better work or I’ll be really pissed.

Oh, yeah, my old Fifth Gen iPod got repaired today. That’s one thing that worked out right.

It was standing room only at Trinity Cathedral for Pastor Marcia’s funeral service. Nobody recognized me in my double-breasted suit. I hadn’t worn it since the last funeral I attended about eight years ago. The service itself was as High Church as you can get with the bishop presiding over the Eucarist. Marcia was one of those people who made friends wherever she went.

The only thing of note I can say about the event was that I had to wear my sixteen-year-old son’s shoes. Somehow, my only pair of black dress shoes have gone missing. Joseph, luckily, is only one shoe-size smaller than my own. Yes, the shoes pinched, but the fact that Joseph’s feet are very nearly my size strikes me as particularly strange. He’s man-sized now and may grow to my size within a year. How did this happen?

A little ahead of schedule, but my ebook is now available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes&Noble Nook and Smashwords in multiple formats. Novel Concept Publishing will have it available on its website as soon as Mr. Halstead’s boss let’s him up for air.

A very good family friend, Pastor Marcia Engblom, died today. The respirator that kept her body going was shut off around 1PM; her spirit, of course, had already left us. She had been recovering from a heart valve replacement and was ready to return to work in another week. Unfortunately, as with many heart surgery patients, she suffered a heart attack which caused her to fall and severely wound her head. Because of the blood thinners she was taking, the bleeding in her brain was terminal.

Marcia was one of those Positive Energy people who pick you up when you’re feeling down. She was kindhearted, always a friend, and considered it her job to make people see the better part of themselves. She made sure there was a place for my two autistic sons at St. Francis Episcopal as well as any other person with special needs. She treated everyone as a child of God.

I could go on about how she encouraged me to complete The Capable Man, or force myself to learn the difficult chords for the Sunday Service, but really that was only a small part of how she served the community of St. Francis. Her absence is leaving a very big hole in the lives of many.