9:33 PM

On this last day of April, 2019, I’ve revisited my characters at the scene of their finale, in a house that in a very sentimental way, I’ve modeled after my childhood home in St. Bernard Parish. It was from that house in Arabi where I’d first imagined these characters, where via a computer keyboard I created them all and released them into existence. Now they're all back, right back to the very place where they were born, a private place that I have now made public.

I have company, so, if you'll excuse me ...

7:22 PM

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

It's been a rewarding Easter weekend here in New Orleans with spectacular weather and much progress made on Book III. And anyone who knows me knows that I'm always looking for signs that I'm where I need to be with certain writing projects or anything else for that matter. A strong believer in the whims of the universe, I don't so much look for coincidental signs, but rather, a certain continuity in the signs themselves and the unmistakable recognition of reoccurring ones. For example, when I'd completed editing the third-to-last chapter of the novel this morning and felt accomplished in doing so, I just so happened to notice that where I'd stopped was on Page 333. Don't think this is a big deal for me? Go back and search all of my mentions of the number 3, or more importantly, the number 333 and all of the purpose and meaning that I've pumped into it. It's a really big deal to see this in my life, and as I mentioned, it's a recurring one.

And if that one wasn't enough, this past Friday night, rather late, I was working on that very third-to-last chapter, one which makes mention of the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788. Being that the first draft of this book was written a few years ago, I decided to go back and do a little research on the topic, just to make sure I'd gotten certain things correct. Keep in mind, today is Easter Sunday, and the night I was doing this research and editing this passage on this particular topic was the evening of Good Friday ...

... which just so happened to be the exact day 231 years ago that the devastating fire occurred, on the afternoon of Good Friday, 1788.

Yep, I'd say I'm right on schedule with this one.