Phil Brown: Blog

Like a poorly written horror story... just when you think things are getting better, out jumps the masked guy with flamethrowers or chainsaws or something. So goes the story of my health this past year.

First, thanks for all your notes and emails.

Many of you asked for an update to my blog to let readers know what was going on (or even that I was still alive), and I have to tell you that I really struggled with those suggestions.

You see, I am much older than the 'social networking' generation. And while I have an email address (mandated by SoL), I do not have a Facebook page , or a Twitter account, or any other of the myriad methods of social networking. In fact, this (SoL provided) blog page is as close as I want to get to social networking.

The other reason I struggled with the suggestion is that I tend to be a very private person, and am often mystified by people who feel the need to tell the world every time they take a dump.

Heck, I never understood the 'Letters to the Editors' section of our small local newspaper when I was growing up, but my parents read them every week.

Truthfully, I don't comprehend (or appreciate) why these people feel the need to share their opinions; since, if they don't agree with mine, are generally worthless anyway.

That being said, my heart is failing... Again.(4 Bypasses, 2 stents, the first time).

This time, for those of you who've been there, the mitral valve is slowly giving out. They can do another open heart operation and replace it with a pigs valve, but I am dragging my feet on that one.

Not that I'm kosher or anything. In fact, I love a good pork roast or a great barbeque.

I simply don't want to go through all the pain of having them cutting open my sternum a second time (that's the big bone down the front of your chest). Mainly because it hurts like shit and takes forever to heal.

When I told my surgeons this, they put their collective heads together and came up with a possible alternative. It seems there is an arthroscopic type of repair they might do, however, the procedure has not received FDA approval. Yet.

So we wait...

It's now a race to see if my failing mitral valve will keep working long enough for our government, in its infinite wisdom, to give the procedure it's blessing.

In the meantime, I'm down to less than a 40% functioning heart, but still hanging in there.

So there it is. More than I wanted to share, because I don't want pity and also because I don't know when it will be better.

However, I felt an even greater obligation to let you know that I do plan to get back to 'Second Time Through' as soon as I get some strength back.

So thanks for your patience and understanding,

Phil Brown

November 27, 2015

To those of you who emailed, thanks for caring enough to take the time to write.

For most of the last four months, I have been on sabbatical, trying to recover both physically and emotionally.

While I have always tried to respond to your emails in the past; this time, I decided it would be better not to. Trust me, you would not have liked me if I had.

But time heals all things and I've finally found the positive mental energy to live and to write some more on the story.

This is just a short note to let you know that I posted Chapter 18 this morning. And that I will continue to post as I am able, but probably not as fast as you would like. Sorry.

As always, thank you for reading "Second Time Through",

Phil

It's here!

The re-write of Book 2 of the Second Time Through' series was just posted.

I DID NOT change the story significantly, except maybe to those of you who, like myself, are perfectionists. Mostly, I just corrected mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation and several word usage faux pas.

I also re-worded several sentences and paragraphs to better explain a situation. By my calculations, I probably added about 6000 words, but since it was almost a quarter million words already, it's not too big a deal.

So if you're one of those readers with a phenomenal memory and never likes to re-read a story, forget it. Don't bother.

However, if you happen to LIKE re-reading a story, (like me), and you appreciate not having to stumble around mistakes, then you might want to download the re-write.

Either way, thanks for reading Second Time Through…

Phil Brown

Several of my editors were surprised when I started sending them chapters to edit for Book IV. Most of them said they had to go back and re-read the first three books to catch up again. And I appreciate their efforts. However, since they have a tendency to be blunt with me (which is one of the traits that makes them great editors), they were not shy about reminding me of all the errors in Book I.

Unknown to them, I have actually been working on all three books for the last six months, going through each of the books, editing, correcting, and re-phasing as I went.

I did it for me and had not intended to post the corrected chapters. I had kept every e-mail that pointed out a mistake, misspell, etc and went through every last one of them systematically to get as many mistakes corrected as possible, which is why it took me so long. It was also good therapy after everything I've gone through over the last two years.

As many of you know, I am something of a perfectionist, and I truly wanted to make the story flow better. Also, all the errors that you have been so gracious and helpful to point out were driving me crazy and needed be corrected for my personal sanity, even if no one else ever saw them.

However, thanks to Cassie's and Greg's chastisement, I have now uploaded a complete re-edit of Book One.

There are no major changes to the story, only grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections, along with a lot of re-phrasing and some added explanations in spots. All told, I added about 6000 words to the story (or about two chapters).

I have books II and III corrected, but they have not been formatted for SoL because, as I said, I did not intend to concern myself with updating what was already posted. However, if enough of you want them, I will spend the extra time to format and upload Book II and Book III. (I think I just heard a groan from Laz…).

By the way, Special thanks to Laz and his team for helping me through the technical aspects of uploading Book I yesterday.

As always, thanks for reading,

Phil

"For it was written that he that commands the Te'trad will be amongst the most powerful of all the gods."

And Michael now has three of the four pieces. Should he put off his long planned trip to Tapato and his coronation? Not-to-mention his marriages to Hanna and Abby? Just to go searching for the missing piece of the Te'trad?

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I just posted the first five chapters of Second Time Through - Book IV.