As I’ve been kind of stuck on revisions in Chapter One of the Jane Grant book, I keep thinking of this scene from the 1987 comedy classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

In their hurry to get home to their families for Thanksgiving, the characters played by Steve Martin and John Candy take the wrong highway ramp and will soon find themselves barreling into oncoming traffic. A couple driving in the right direction try to warn them that they’re going the wrong way. But Candy says to Martin, “How would he know where we’re going.”

My plan, as far as I remember it, had been to move through this round of revisions sequentially, chapter by chapter. That worked okay until the third chapter raised some questions about the second, which in turn sent me back to the first. I realized I didn’t like Chapter One at all, so I’ve been taking a lot of time going back over sources, notes, and drafts to try and work out why it doesn’t work. After more than two weeks, I’ve inched through about six pages.

My goal now is to stick with the chapter and not get sidetracked by another. Like Martin and Candy, I think I’m going the right way. But there’s always the chance that I don’t know yet where this chapter, which focuses on Jane’s first years in New York City, will take me. That’s the revision journey.

What I’m Reading

To continue with the automobile theme, reading has taken a backseat to writing and other things in life. But I’m continuing with historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Megan Kate Nelson’s latest, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier. I’ve also started a novel by Virginia Pye, Marriage and Other Monuments.

I finished the Val McDermid police procedural set in Edinburgh, Past Lying, and liked it.

What I’m Watching

In the current watch rotation are The Boroughs (Netflix), Spider Noir (Prime), Legends (Netflix), and The Pembrokeshire Murders (BritBox). St. Denis Medical (Netflix) is the current filler show. It’s not quite as engaging as Ghosts UK, but it doesn’t irritate, so that’s good.

I’m still returning to The Other Bennet Sister (BritBox), A Place to Call Home (Prime), and Deep Space Nine (Paramount+).

Finished the last season of Ghosts UK (Paramount+), which was wonderful and I miss the characters, BritBox’s After the Flood, and the second season of The Chestnut Man (Netflix), which had an unexpected twist. Easily raced through season two of The Four Seasons, which I always think I will like more than I actually do. To be fair, I feel the same about the original movie.

What Else Is Happening

Weekly bowling remains on the schedule even through the summer months. There has been no overall improvement in my games, but some good frames happen now and then.

I’ve spent my first afternoon of the season on the golf course. I would never claim to play an actual game because despite a couple of sets of lessons, hitting the ball, much less hitting it far and straight, remain elusive. This summer, at least once a month, I’ll walk the nine-hole course, push my cart, and take a few swings on every hole. There is no score keeping. But this week we were treated to the sight of a family of Sandhill cranes rooting around for food on the ninth hole and a couple of herons flying overhead. It was a good time.

And here at Southfork, thanks to the foreman (aka Charles), the lawn and garden beds are thriving. The peonies that I look forward to so much every year have had their glory days, but the amaryllises and irises have taken up the slack with spectacular blossoms. The two new pears trees and the mulberry tree, started as bare roots, are leafing out. The back forty is bursting with color from many different plants and flowers. The cat mint (that I always mistake for Russian sage) is gorgeously purple. The apple trees appear to be in good shape. (Only fruit grows here at Southfork, not vegetables.) There will be more blooming throughout the summer. I’ve spotted the first hummingbirds of the season, plus there have been lots of busy bumblebees around.

Thanks for reading. Hope you stop in again to find out which way my writing is going.