Category: General Nonsense || By

Actually, several people have asked me. "Hey, doofus," they say, "when the hell is your damned book coming out?"

Fall, I keep telling them. The season when the Pirates are out of contention, and the Steelers are still generating false hope in the hearts of millions.

The last two weeks, I've been viewing the edits made by Penn State Press. They've been surprisingly gentle; in fact, almost all of the changes have either improved the flow or corrected some embarrassing mistakes. (I twice mixed up "complimentary" and "complementary," for instance. Ouch,)

You may remember that last May I posted a page of the book with my marked-up corrections to show how the revision process works ... at least for me.

Well, here's that same passage after being returned by Penn State's manuscript editor, and I'm still making revisions.

All of you aspiring writers of books, blogs and poems on the walls of Turnpike rest rooms: Revise, revise, revise. Never let your first draft be your only draft.

. . .

On a Related Note: The Daily News is running a lot of letters-to-the-editor lately submitted by out-of-town writers, and which focus on national issues. Most of those letters are being churned out indiscriminately to newspapers across the country by so-called "astroturf" PR campaigns.

The letters to the editor basket at any newspaper gets a wee bit thin at times, so I'm calling on all readers of the Almanac to do their part.

Take time today to write a letter to the editor of the Daily News on some local issue. The address is Letters to the Editor, The Daily News, Box 128, Our Fair City, Pa. 15134, or mcknews@dailynewsemail.com.

Please, don't make Craig Galik of Duquesne, Ray Figola of Liberty, Eddie Stanko of North Versailles, and Oren M. Spiegler of Upper St. Clair do all the work.

Let's all strike a blow for more variety in letters-to-the-editor of the Daily News.

(The preceding was a public-service message paid for by the Philanthropic Council to Make Things Nicer.)