Have you submitted your second article?

I've been sick for a few days, so I decided not go to the Lamplighters. I submitted the second article and finished the first draft of a third. I think this submission went better than the last. I forgot to do a few things that I didn't forget on this one.

My first submission is now with an editor and I'm waiting for their response. They have a score system and I'm waiting for my score. The first submission, when I put it in the readability test page said it was at an average grade level of 7 with a Flesch Kincaid Grade Level of 5. Our articles are supposed to be about 7th grade. When I submitted their form said it was grade Level 4.58. The second submission was at an average grade level of 6 with a Flesch Kincaid Grade Level of 3.8. Whereas the FamilyShare.com site said it was grade level 4.05. No sure if I'm writing too low or if my readability site is correct with it's average grade level. Will have to wait until I get my results from the editor.

I managed to finish two books today.

A Good Dog by Jon Katz

This was a really interesting story about how far should one go to ensure they've done everything for their troubled dog. To the world who didn't know Orson, he was a bad dog with many problems and I'm sure if he was in the hands of a shelter or rescue group, would have not been adopted out but euthanized.


To the world that loved him. He could do no wrong. Or could he?

The story is about how Orson became Jon Katz's 'lifetime dog.' I don't know if I've had one, but I sure miss my past dogs. Orson came to the suburbs of New Jersey and Mr. Katz through a border collie breeder in Texas.He was uncontrollable and frightening. He tried to herd everything and anything he could find. School buses, cars, children on skateboards, etc.

Mr. Katz spent a long time working on his training with a trainer in Pennsylvania. He was even able to win a ribbon with Oson. But, Mr. Katz felt Orson wasn't happy in New Jersey and decided to purchase a farm in upstate New York. Here he continued to work with Orson and did see a mild improvement until he started biting people he knew and didn't know well.

This book had me crying, laughing and wondering as well as Mr. Katz as to when was enough, enough. I highly recommend reading this book, especially if you like books about dogs. This was a wonderful read about a dog that saved a man's life and in the end couldn't save his own.

I also finished A Familiar Rain by John Geddes

This book was full of emotion. I didn't want to put it down, but had too often as it's not in paper form, but is an ebook. I had to read it on my computer and reading time is limited for this manner. Since I've been sick for the past couple of days, I've been able to spend me time reading in bed with my laptop on my...lap.

This is a story of love, loss and crushes. Alex, a university professor, is working on a memory drug and mapping the brain's memory centers between his lectures. He falls in love with is soul-mate, marries and as most do, he continues his work to the detriment of his marriage. Something often happens when two people marry, they take each other, or at least one of them takes the other for granted. This happened here and Alex spent a great deal of time, telling his wife, Laura, as soon as he finishes this project, they'll do...

Unfortunately, Laura dies after only two years of marriage and Alex can't reconcile with himself how he'd left her behind. He misses her dearly and decides to keep her memory alive with his project. After five years of pushing aside feelings and emotions for another, Laura's best friend, Abbey, Alex realizes the importance and roll of memory. His last couple of experiments were done with the thoughts that he was going too far.

I enjoyed the pace of this book. I laughed and cried with the characters. I wanted to say to Alex and Abbey what others wanted to say--get together will you. You're meant for each other. I avidly believe what the priest told them, man is not meant to be alone. When one loses their spouse, especially early in life, one should mourn and not attempt to forget or push aside the former, but embrace the new chance with another love. Alex finally realized this at the end of the book.

There were many story lines interwoven with Alex and Abbey's that made this book interesting and worth the read. The possibilities of the uses of his research were well covered and Alex's take was interesting. The university politics wasn't too heavy and added an element of mystery through-out.

I recommend adding this ebook to your reader and reading it on a rainy day. (or a sick one as I did)

Happy writing, revising, submitting and reading.