The Writer's Life 7/27 -

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from my health care provider, which included a check for $196. One of the facets of ObamaCare is the 80/20 rule. A firm must use 80% of its revenue on customers. It was determined that the company in question allocated only 69%. In a sense, it was fined, forced to make payouts even to those, like me, who had no complaints about coverage. I was happy to have the money, of course, but I expected consequences. Yesterday I received another letter, which informed me the company had applied for a rate increase of 5.3%.

I had a scare this morning from my virus checker. I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and doesn't take up the space on a hard drive that Norton or other software does. It has worked like a charm. I scan every Friday morning. Today the program spotted a Trojan. I wasn't that surprised, as I remember my PC stalling for a moment after clicking on a link, probably from a survey site. It's been just a tad slow ever since. I held my breath as the program worked to remove the virus. It seemed successful, although the machine still seems just a tad slow, but that might be because it's now three years old and has accumulated a lot of debris through constant use. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

NFL training camps are opening around the country. If I were a head coach, the first thing I'd tell my team is: "The Giants were 9-7 last season - and won the Super Bowl. If they did it, why can't we?"

The floating book shop had a good day. I hadn't seen Susan, one of my most faithful customers, in more than a month. My spirits buoyed when I spotted her approaching. Staying in character, she bought two obscure novels: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls and The Last Time They Met by the critically acclaimed Anita Shreve. Mr. Almost, that is, Mikhail bought a novel in Russia, as did another gentleman, a tall, quiet guy. When I put it out, I sensed it was the one he would buy, as the cover promised something other than fantasy. Thanks, folks.

The best part of the day involved imparting information to two e-readers about the Kindle Lending Library, where two of my items, the novel Killing and screenplay All Hallows, are available free to owners. I get a token sum for each borrow. I'm confident one woman will try it, as she bought hers. The other was given to a woman by a friend who upgraded to a more sophisticated machine. Anyone interested in the program please click on the appropriate link below. Thanks.

Visit Vic’s sites:
Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic’s Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f