There is some good news. My wife's health is noticeably improving. Her doctor's appointment last Friday was mostly good news. Also, I was even more of my usual smart-ass self. The wife, doctor, and nurse got into the spirit of the situation and we were all laughing like crazy.
Mrs. Waiss was sitting on the exam table and I said something smart-alecky (but funny!) and she told the doc to hit me. He did! He stepped right over and popped me in the shoulder! I said, "Hey, what happened to 'Do no harm?'" He responded with a grin, "She's my patient, not you."
That was just a little bit of the funnies of that visit. Primarily, he was very pleased with her progress concerning the pain. It has noticeably declined and she hasn't had to take much of the pain meds recently. In another month or so she might be quite a bit better and stronger.
I got another rejection. On my 10/12 blog I mentioned the short story, "The Affair." After all that cutting, the publisher didn't accept it. Darn.
I did something really stupid with that story—something I've never done before and hopefully will not do again. I didn't keep a copy of the original longer version. Now all I have is the shortened version, and I think the one that existed for a short time with an additional one thousand words was better. To quote Bugs Bunny: "What a maroon!"
I contacted two more agents about Saving Atlantis. One provides no info on response time; the other predicts about four weeks. She wanted to see the first fifty pages or the first three chapters, whichever was greater. Those coincided exactly. So she will see more of the story than the others have. I hope that will work in my favor.
For those of you keeping up with The Mascot Serial, I'm going to try very hard to get one more chapter done before the end of the week—maybe on Thanksgiving—but I can't promise.
And that is all I have. I wish you all an enjoyable and thankful Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas and good New Year.