Road trip in the making...

Stuck in what feels like an endless state of revision. Good? Bad? Hard to say. Maybe what's best now is to stand down, take a breath, and come back to some of these pieces later. Happened on a title for the story of the two hunters. "Wilderness of Pain." Lifted it from the Doors, "The End." Still monkeying around with dialog, wondering if condensing some of the interior action won't strengthen the work.

Proofs in for "Desperado" from the editors of the American Fiction anthology. Edit looks clean. Looking forward to seeing the final product.

Earmarked a few of my yet unseen drafts for some upcoming deadlines. If that doesn't get them out the door, nothing will. 

Leaving for Durango tomorrow. Albuquerque the day after. Bittersweet doings, but with any luck more sweet than bitter.

 

Moving sideways...

Close. Close on at least four stories, but all an arm's length from being in the mail. Niggling details. Last minute additions. Etc. Trying to find a balance between elevation and ornament. The best thing is to clean them up, send them out and move on. But for some reason they're reluctant to go. Maybe I'm asking them to do too much.

Good day, workwise. Not a lot of time to spend on fiction, but paying projects were in abundance. Got over to the park late in the day. Enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Hit the gym after five, but too many people around for a good workout. Need to start earlier, when no one's there.

Long conversation with an old friend this morning. News not good. Son's in a bad way. Hard to swallow those things as you get older. Time's never your friend, but at the same time it's the only remedy to most of life's difficulties.

A stream of consciousness...

Beautiful Sunday. Writing, yard work, the gym, grocery store. Short conversation with the old folks. One of those days where one thing flows into another, and suddenly you're a minor character in a Virginia Woolf story. Worse fates have befallen people, I suppose. 

The course of things...

Did it. Managed a reading draft of "Dead Drift." Put in some serious time on another new story as well. Between the two finished a NYer piece by Don DeLillo and did some catch up reading in the Jenks book.

Dispiriting email from a buddy in Wisconsin. Bad luck going back so many years it's hard to fathom. Getting older doesn't fix much, does it? Strange looking back and remembering how good  things seemed at the beginning. How much they change and veer off course with the smallest bit of english.

Got some sleep last night. Needed it. Looking forward to a quiet evening. Right now, got a kitty who needs attention.

Postage due...

One or two sentences away from putting the finishing touches on "Dead Drift." Much headway on   new story, "Trigger Happy," today. Didn't realize it was so close. Good to have so many pieces in the works, and so many more in the wings. Been a slow go for the past eighteen months. With "Unseen" and "Good Bad Friday" both near the finish line as well, may have four strong stories in circulation by month's end. Not overanxious, but want to move on to newer drafts. Time to get the manuscripts in the mail.

 

 

Bewitched, bedeviled, and bewildered...

Been plugging away at four different stories, all close to completion, but each one's posed its own special difficulties. "Dead Drift" is probably closest to being finished. Should have a reading draft by tomorrow, certainly by the weekend. Feel really good about the piece. Hope it lives up to expectations. Dragged a copy of "Bad Good Friday" into the office this afternoon, and went at resectioning it the old fashioned way. With a scissors. Sounds stupid, but no shit, it worked. I now have a working draft that both makes sense and moves forward--instead of sideways. Whatever works, right? 

Daylight Savings Time? This weekend? Am I right about this?

Two draft day...

Squandered the better part of a beautiful day at the keyboard. But it was worth it. Made great headway on one story, and nearly came to a passable reader's draft on the second, "Dead Drift." Have good feelings about the work these days, and hope the old instincts are on target. Off to the gym late afternoon. Back home after a short workout. Gonna glide into Saturday night.

 

Revising, revisiting...

Into the office early. Good work done on "Dead Drift," formerly "The Catch." Reordered the narrative, streamlined the action, trimmed dead wood, and rewrote the ending. Still need to smooth out the diction, but the piece has already improved by leaps and bounds. Also made some good advances with a new story, working title, "Walking In." Have four pieces now, all within a few  good edits of going out the door. At least three others not far behind. Want to believe this is going to be a good year. Not worried about quantity, but would like to see a leap forward in quality. Bigger pubs. Maybe a few extra bucks on the side. 

Nice weather today, and more promised tomorrow. Someone mentioned seventies, but it seems too early for that. Anyway, a classic Colorado day. Blue skies, snowy peaks, and fresh air. The antidote to a whole helluva lot that's going on right now. Another nice thing. Saw my artist friend, George S. yesterday. Been too long. Had a great visit, and am already looking forward to the next.

 

Rubric Tuesday...

Up early to say goodbye. K off to New York, then Florida. Good morning with the little man, then off to dental appointments, the office, and home again. Had the chance to delve deeper into Poetics of Fiction, and am fascinated--truly fascinated--by what I'm learning. Put in a bit of time editing, but wasn't able to make huge headway owing to other work. Tomorrow, right? Cold weather blew in overnight, snow as well. Tomorrow's supposed to offer a respite. Let's hope so.

Behind...

Windy day. Bad dreams last night. Woke up in a sour mood and couldn't kick it. Slow morning, but managed some edits this afternoon. Making better progress than hoped on my new birth-parents story.

Letter off to the folks. Looks like I won't be making the trip south this weekend. Feel bad about that, but work and other obligations are standing in the way. Gotta re-group and start counter-punching.

Better, Best, Bested...

Last good day before the Chinooks blow in again, if the weather folks are right. Sunny, blue skies. It was all there for the asking, providing you didn't have any prior commitments to keep you from it. Which I did. Spent the morning getting the new iPhone working, gathering up tax documents, taking care of the odd errand, and managing the smallest amount of editing on an old manuscript. Been banging away all week, but can't seem to make things move forward. Hope that means when it gives, it comes in a flood. Finished Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, while riding the bike at the gym. Fun piece of work. Really enjoyed it. Re-read the first ten or so pages of "Sonny's Blues" too. Quite a story. Quite a story. Letter out the door to D. today. Always feels like a message in a bottle, sending them off.  

All over everything but the page...

Crazy mixed up day. Got waylaid on the way to the office, caught up in long, involved telephone conversation, and when the conversation ended the phone followed suit. Spent forty minutes at the iphone repair center only to learn the device was dead. Spent the last part of the afternoon driving to the north side of town in rush hour to make it to the Apple store in time to buy a new phone. Not much done in the way of work, but happy to say I was able to get "Outskirts" out the door to The Journal, and still find time to snag a copy of T. Jenks "A Poetics of Fiction" for some late night reading. High winds blowing in and out the past few days. Allergies are driving me nuts. Saw there's an excerpt of Don DeLillo's new novel in this week's New Yorker. Read the interview online yesterday. Great answer from D. about character's backstory/motivation. Will have to revisit that one. Didn't get a lick of writing in today. Will have to remedy that tomorrow.

In and out...

Another unseasonably warm day. All but a few pockets of snow left in the neighborhood. Worked on revise of "Morphosis" this morning. Trying to get the voice right. It's a short-short piece, but that makes the task all the more daunting. Did some good work, then went off to see a movie. 

Hit the gym around 2:00, back home by 3:30. Put in time on an old draft I'd abandoned a couple of years ago. Had meant to get back to it, but misplaced the file. Reading it, found some good stuff. Maybe it's a blessing it went missing. Saw right off what needed to be fixed and leapt in. Will take a while to make it right, but was pleased to see that most of the real work will be in the opening pages. The end is actually pretty strong already.

Out to dinner with guests tonight. Need to shower and dress. More later. 

Errands, observations, and more...

Working day. Up early, off to the keyboard, revisions to "Donor" and "Morphosis." Hung around the house, waiting for a call from NM editorial. Long conversation. Forty or so minutes. All good.

Out for coffee and a little grocery shopping afterward. Dropped Jeep off at carwash for detailing. Must needs do same with truck before the next jaunt to Albuquerque. No gym today.

Justice A. Scalia kicked bucket this afternoon. Big surprise. Should make for some interesting political fodder for the coming election. Doubt he'll be replaced before then.

Two fillets resting downstairs. Talipia for dinner. Signing off.

Prospects for the weekend...

Blue skies all day. Beautiful. Snow close to being gone now, but still a good day or two away. Into the office a little after eight. Finished a readable draft of "Unseen" then went on to do some research on a new draft I'm tentatively calling "Donor." Fairly productive, all things considered. Also managed to get four drafts of "Beggar's Banquet" in the mail.

Looks like a warm weekend in the making. Been talking about a drive up to Leadville, so who knows? Maybe it'll happen. Pretty drive. Be nice to get back up into the mountains again. Last time there, all sorts of goings on. Fond memories, for sure.

Like to dig into a short story this weekend (Someone else's). Have a hardcover commemorative volume of BASS on the nightstand I haven't been able to crack yet (beyond the front matter), and that might be a good place to start. Have gone back and read a few pieces from Thom Jones's collection, The Pugiliist at Rest this week. Wow. Really liked the guy's work.