Manuscript retrieved

The quest to Bastrop turned out successfully. I now have the copyedited manuscript of Voices of Vision in my posession. Already I've seen a couple of copyedited mistakes that need to be fixed--but they're honest mistakes, the kind that stem from exceptions to standardized rules. I've also seen--I'm shamed to admit--several mistakes on my part that the copyeditor caught and fixed. Mistakes that saw print in the original publications. Oops. It'll take me a couple of days to complete the initial once-over, and we'll see where we stand then. But my first impression is that I've lucked into a competent copyeditor that knows her business. Lucky me.

I also had time tonight to finally bottle the batch of mead I've had going. It's just a tiny batch, and it filled seven-and-a-half 750ml green claret bottles I picked up at San Antonio Homebrew Supply over the weekend. After corking them all, they looked nice and clear with the exception of the half bottle, which was distrubingly cloudy. That one will have to be drunk as soon as the sediment settles. No time for aging with that much air in there. I sampled a tiny bit of the mead, and it caught me off guard. I could definitely taste the alcohol, and the acid/sweetness blend was well-balanced--the sweetness was almost neutral. But the overall flavor was somewhat bland. Maybe I've just gotten too used to the different, distinct personalities of beers and wines, but I expected the honey to have more oomph. It wasn't bad mind you, and I'd rather drink it than some commercial wines or beers I've had, but still. Mead's supposed to age for six months to a year before the flavor peaks, however, so we'll try it again this time next year. A name for this mead and lables are yet to come...

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