This is not Mount Fuji

This is the Osorno Volcano in Puerto Montt, Chile. Look at the summit, the color of the snow captures the blue of the sky and glows in a hyper-realistic, almost cartoonish way.

I did not actually go ashore in Puerto Montt. Instead, I spent the day aboard sitting by the pool reading. Later I took a walk around the outdoor track on the ship's top deck and did some thinking about the two books I just completed.

"A Map of Heaven", is a picture book that deals with the death of a parent and the imagining of Heaven. What I realized as I walked was that this was too much. It is enough to consider the joy of heaven, the loss that its entrance entails will remain unstated albeit still present, which may be more appropriate, and a more comforting approach.

Secondly, (is that really a word?!) I considered my recently revised novel, The Silver Cord. Oh how I hate that title.

So I will be searching for a new title. Any suggestions?

In addition, I have decided to change the opening chapter of the book. I worked on that today and with any luck will post it tomorrow. I have decided to remove any specific references to the actual city or a specific time period, because my assertion is that what takes place in the book could/does take place at any point in time.

Does anyone else spend this much time obsessing over this sort of stuff?