Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A year early

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I was looking at the date last week — mid-December 2009 — and immediately realized that we'd be hearing about players of the decade, teams of the decade and so on. And it's begun, since Tiger Woods was recently named athlete of the decade.

 Athletically, I'd agree, but I won't go into that. On the other hand, the decade won't end until 2010. Let me explain.

 The first year of the current calendar was 1, so the last year of the first 10 years (decade) was 10. The first year of the second decade was 11.

 The 100th year was 100 and the 1,000th year of the first millennium was 1000. That means that the first year of the second millennium was 1001. The last year of the second millennium was 2000, and the first year of the third millennium was 2001. So partying like it was 1999 had no meaning, since 1999 was not the end of the decade, century or millennium.

 The end of the first decade of the 21st century will be 2010. These people are just getting a jump on it.

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(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
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Monday, December 14, 2009

One more comment...

Here's a comment on this blog that talks about book endings:

Lea Schizas - Author/Editor said...

Talking about book endings reminded me of a self-published book I reviewed a couple of years ago. This book had the potential to make it big, but I'm sure readers felt the same way I did when I came to the end and read: To be concluded. I thought, "Hold on, this is a book, not a movie!" My next action was to check in the beginning for the author's published books or upcoming books. Nadda.

I understand this may happen in a series, but I also understand that a book should stand on its own with most of the foreshadows finalized before THE END rolls around. Nothing was finalized. Everything remained up in the air. What a shame. That book kept my interest, but my Spidergal instincts tingled about three quarters into the book when no foreshadow or sub-plot came close to an end.

So a tip to newbies: make sure your book stands on its own.
December 13, 2009 10:24 PM

I've read big-time books that stood on their own but were parts of series. I believe I'm thinking of "Tarzan of the Apes," Edgar Rice Burroughs' first Tarzan book. It had an indeterminate ending, but it didn't say that it was part of a series. In a way, it was frustrating; in another, it was a wonderful lead-in to later books.

On the editing, "Tarzan..." was terrific in a lot of ways, but there was a page near the end that needed big-time help. There were major flaws that should have been edited in subsequent editions. It bothers me every time I read it.

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ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
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