Working to Get an A

After a certain age, you wouldn’t think grades would matter much. But, son of a biscuit, it sure would be nice to get an A, wouldn’t it?

We have a new puppy in our household – it’s a long tale of synchronicities and happenstances, details that boggle the mind and speak of higher things – but, our whole lives have been turned upside down!

As I write this, my older brown dog is wedged here in the chair with me. The poor guy’s been stuck with this frenetically energetic bag of puppy parts all day, and could use a little break.

I’ve been trying for a week to get to work on the rewrite of the book. One of the things about puppies, you see, is that they need a lot of attention, this one in particular. So… play with me play with me play with me okay okay okay okay.

Right now she’s digging around my desk, looking for something to use to draw my attention. Oy. Not to complain, because the love and attention of a puppy ranks pretty high on the most wonderful gifts one can ever receive.

So, I’ve been researching Elizabethan views on magic, given that it forms the backbone of my book and my understanding of it is mainly shaped by Harry Potter.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: men who studied magic in Elizabeths’ time were considered astronomers and alchemists, but women were considered witches. During the reign of Elizabeth I, some 270 women were executed as witches. Only 23 men were put to death for the same practices.

In fact, Elizabeth herself believed in magic, and had a “court astronomer” that studied and quoted the Hermetica, the grandaddy of all magical books, written by Hermes Trismegistus in something like the 4th century BCE. I’m reading it now, trying to figure out what is the big deal.

A quick aside: my daughter the archaeologist advises me that we now use BCE, short for Before Current Era, instead of BC – Before Christ. Who knew? She hasn’t told me what to use instead of AD.

Anyway, the research is because I’m trying to build a backstory for one such astronomer in my story. If I do it right, it informs the book, which becomes better and maybe gets published, which would certainly score an A in my grade book.

If I do it wrong, I guess I’ll get a C- for not learning anything. Maybe a “thanks for showing up” ribbon or something.

But, the eyes of Rocket, my gentle brown dog snuggled here beside me in my chair, carry such a look of peace and thanks for giving him a break that I’m pretty sure I get an A+.

In dog terms.

Whoops. There went my shoe. Dang it, dog!