It’s Your Funeral

Well, not quite, but at last evening’s writers meeting at the Mt. Pleasant Library, Fred Adams led the gathering by sharing many humorous carvings and famous people’s epitaphs taken from their headstones. For example, “Here lies Johnny Yeast Pardon me For not rising” or from a tombstone in Georgia, “I told you I was sick.” There was the reading of a man, “Here lies Ezekial Alkie Age 102 The good die young.”

Then he asked that we try our hands at it. I must say that mine were more in line with those that rhyme, but there were quite a few that had snappy end lines. Perhaps one like “Thomas Edison, Lights out.” Or Kathy Griffin, “I tried to get ahead and got cut off.” For a deceased teacher, I wrote, “Just Passing Through.” “Napoleon, Generally coming up short.”

And you know what is coming next to try to write your own epitaph. I wrote, “Here lies Tom at your Beck and call.” It was an interesting evening.

Just before I left the house yesterday, the UOS man delivered my updated and corrected novel, The Walls Came Tumbling Down. I was able to trade Fred Adams one of mine for his new release, The Eye of Quang Chi. It is one that he had been describing and I wanted to read. Set in San Francisco near the time of their earthquake, wealthy conjoined brothers are raised and educated to become famous in their own right. Mingling among the high society elite, they still become involved in solving mysteries caused by the dregs of the city.

After I got home, I began to review my newest novel, Addiie. I believe in is my best so far. My co-editor wrote, “Wow” and I didn’t see that coming.” When I can elicit comments like that, it makes me happy. Another friend who read the manuscript said similar things. I hope to have it ready by the end of the month.