As for technology, you’ll have to wait and see.

Thanks. I made the block prints myself, carved out of this foam rubber material specifically for block printing. It was great to do something tactile for a change.

“Technology can do this as well…” Might you be thinking Underwood typewriter and paper vs. laptop computer and Word?

Lovely little accordion book you made. Where did you get the print images? Created the wood blocks yourself, or stamps? Now I wish I’d have taken the book making class. I’ll have to check out Minnesota Center for Book Arts…

That is one of the challenges of first-person narratives. The expository text has a tone that might not be the same as the narrator’s dialogue, but if it strays, is not just right, it jars the reader.

Gary Smith commented on your link.
Gary wrote: “Great post. I thought your piece “Valentine’s Day” had a similar disjunct when the narrator used the phrase “blush with pleasure”. My gut reaction was, “no guy who used the word ‘tits’ the way your narrator does later, would ever say that.” Susan pointed that out too. I don’t point to this as a criticism, but as an example in your work of the difficulties we all face as writers, choosing charged phrases that are strangely emblematic of theme. Your post raises an even deeper question though. Are these word or phrase choices much more important to the thematic foundation upon which the story is built? Will the story fail to resonate given that choice? Nice mini essay.”