Busy with book

Coming down to the wire on Mississippi Cotton. ARC readers have reponded with great comments.

Robert E. Lee

Today is Lee's birthday.
"One of the most noble men who ever lived."
Winston Churchill

O. Henry

I was talking with an editor of a Southern magazine publication yesterday (the mag had agreed to review an ARC) and the conversation came up regarding magazines and low profit margins, etc.

Later, by chance, I was thumbing through an OLD text of Southern literature when I came across a short bio of O. Henry( William Sydney Porter). Born in Greensboro, North Carolina he migrated to Texas where he purchased a magazine (The Rolling Stone). Also working as a bank clerk, he found it necessary to help himself to bank funds to subsidize his struggling magazine.

For this love of literature he did three years in prison in Ohio.

Just a bit of trivia for the literary-curious.

Wondering

I didn't start writing for publication until late in life, so maybe I'm not the best critic. However, even a newby like me can still wonder where these so-called "journalists," many of them who get "book deals," learned their grammar and syntax. It's one thing to write nonsense in the name of political correctness; it's another to write or verbalize statements (frequently)such as: "There's dozens of people...," (we have no more plural verbs); If I would have..." (what mood, tense, etc does that mean?); John Doe, HE, went to..."; and the ubiqitious participle people ("I'm wanting to see him") These sorts of comments are not restricted to any given network, cable or broadcast newspaper or magazine, but seem to be pervasive. It's a sad day for the language when a guy like me has to defend the language. 
Oh well. Fiction dialogue makes it easier.