Links and Stuff

I know you’re all anxious to hear the latest in the house-hunting news, so let’s get right to it…

Last week I said we might be honing in on the house we think is “it.” So we prayed, “Lord, if this is the house, remove the obstacles. If it’s not, make them insurmountable.” On Monday, we visited the house for the third time, making notes on things that we would need to change, and things we would like to change if we can afford to. We came away with a consensus: it’s not the perfect house, but it will work for us, and everyone is willing to go for it. Of course, views vary among the kids from “Actually, now we’ve seen it again, and had a chance to really think about where our stuff will go, I like it!” to, “I’m not a fan of it, but I’ll make the most of it.” As I said last time, I don’t expect a ringing endorsement from everyone, but we don’t have a lot of choice. We’re being forced to move, so time is not our friend. We’re simply grateful the Lord has put a house in our path.

So we put in an offer. A low-ball offer. A $12,000-below-asking-price low-ball offer. Our realtor said it wasn’t unreasonable, but he’d be surprised if they took it. He expected the sellers to negotiate hard. Okay, Lord. Here’s an obstacle. Stop us here if you want!

The sellers rejected our offer, but countered with one of their own: a mere $4,000 higher than our offer. That’s $8,000 below asking price. Jaws dropped. We accepted.

Okay Lord, so far so good. There’s still the inspection, and other due diligence things we need to do. Still plenty of opportunity for the Lord to throw in some insurmountable road-blocks. But at the moment, it looks like we have a house! 😀

We continue to covet the prayers of those that pray. And now for some links…

Have you noticed that books tend to publish on Tuesdays? If you’re a writer, or a publishing professional, this is probably no surprise. But why? What’s so special about Tuesdays? Why not publish on Wednesday, or Friday? Well, Laurie Hertzel did some investigating and published her results in a Minnesota Star Tribune article. It seems many in the publishing world have no idea why–it’s just kind of a tradition. But some have plausible reasons to offer.

Literary Agent Jessica Sinsheimer recently announced the launch of The Manuscript Academy. This venture seeks to bring the benefits of a writer’s conference to your home and your digital device. By using high-quality video instruction, along with internet forums, and other online technology, Jessica and the faculty of The Manuscript Academy want to make writing and publishing industry education affordable and accessible. It’s a bold venture that reminds me of WriteOnCon, an online conference that ran for a few years. Indeed, it was at WriteOnCon that I first met Jessica Sinsheimer. She hosted a one-hour forum that ended up going for three hours because we were all having such a good time. The Manuscript Academy isn’t free, but it’s cheaper than most conferences, especially if you factor in hotel and transportation costs. They also aim to eventually raise enough money to be able to provide scholarships to people who want to intern within the publishing industry. Many internships are unpaid, which, given the cost of living in NYC, makes the prospect untenable for many otherwise well-qualified people. Anyway, check out the link and see for yourself what it’s all about!

Finally, I discovered this week that former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough died this past June. He was 72 years old. Henry joined Wings in 1972, and left in 1973, just prior to the recording of the “Band on the Run” album. He continued to play for a variety of artists, as well as recording his own material, right up through 2012, when he suffered a major heart attack from which he never recovered. Of the Wings songs McCullough played on, the most notable are probably the James Bond movie theme, “Live and Let Die,” and the classic song, “My Love” which goes something like this…

That’s all from me for this week! How has your week been?