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Finishing up the page proofs of BLOOD NOIR. I had a paragraph marked where Anita says that the Browning BDM had an ambidextrous safety. I know the Browning Hi-Power has one, but I wasn’t a hundred percent certain on the BDM. So, off I trooped to the gun safe. By golly, the BDM does, indeed, have an ambidextrous safety, just the like the Hi-Power. I know there are guns out there that are lighter, and even fit my hand better, but there is just something about the feel of the Browning in my hand that is so terribly satisfying. Anyway, fact checked, and that’s it.
I’ve handed it off to Darla to get the changes to New York, because today is drop dead day. That’s a phrase in publishing that means the absolutely last day possible for something to make it’s schedule. Drop dead day, what a nice phrase. I don’t usually cut it this close but the flu laid me pretty low. Even now the cough is lingering, and the tiredness, but I’m feeling a whole lot better. And better, or no, the deadline was upon us.
The Browning is sitting beside me as I type this. I’d checked it earlier today with a piece of clothing, to check the fit, so when I went back to the gun safe for a second time I had to go back through the whole routine of making sure it was not loaded. Yes, the gun had been in the safe the whole time, but, it is a gun and it had been out of my sight for awhile. So, point it in a safe direction, keep your finger off the trigger, pop the magazine, then put it back in, then take the safety off, pop the magazine out one more time, and put the slide all the way back, locked. Now you can see all the way up and through; clean and empty. Put it all back together, and it’s safe. Think I was being too careful? Look at some crime scene photos of what bullets can do to human flesh, and get back to me on that “too careful” thing. I like guns, but I am also a little afraid of them. A little fear is not a bad thing when it comes to dealing with things that can kill you.