Plus Ça Change – August 24, 2026 I tossed a chapter completely. My assessment is, I don’t need it. I’m moving one I had planned for a few years downstream into this slot. The narrative elements I had planned for the ditched chapter can be a few lines of dialog… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 16, 2026 The scene: Marie goes to the night firewood market to get fuel for her kitchen stove. There really was a night market for firewood. It really was in the neutral ground on Rampart Street near Canal. Night because the people selling firewood were… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 15, 2026 Once upon a time I was a tech writer focused on software development. I was very good at it. Company X would drop some new technology on my desk, and pay me to figure out how to explain it to the software developers… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 13, 2026 I need a good (expletive deleted). Christophe is righteously outraged. So of course “son of a bitch” comes to mind. But I’ve been here before, looking for period-correct curses from the enlightenment. Etymologically, I could use this. But there are other considerations. For… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – August 8, 2026 In 1836, the good white Americans of New Orleans instituted a secret police to keep an eye on those dangerous people of color. They might be eating the pets. It’s an intriguing historical tidbit. In 1836 The Louisiana legislature divided the city of… Continue reading
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Plus Ça Change – July 28, 2026 You’re a rich white man in antebellum New Orleans. How do you kill your accountant? RESEARCH! Yes, that might kill the accountant, but we’re talking about weapons here. Because the federal government is after your corrupt ass, and they’re about to bring in… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – July 27, 2026 That title is gonna raise some bot’s attention. I know how the story ends. I’ve known for a long time, really for a couple of years. Sorta. There’s a murder. This isn’t a murder mystery, and certainly not a true-crime detective story. But… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – July 15, 2026 As noted in Healing the Plot, I found myself going down a rathole of boring real estate shenanigans. So I went back to basics and tossed most of those. I replotted, focusing on her healing skills in the face of the first cholera… Continue reading
Plus Ça Change – July 14, 2026 The author obsessively revisits his story concepts and implementation, and thinks again. OR It seems I have some of my best conversations with my characters while I’m in the shower. Perhaps the white noise of falling water blots out the vagaries of the… Continue reading
