Hmmm...

Cheerful day. Lots of sun, high flying clouds, a good fall breeze. Out of the gym and into the office early. Worked out a new draft, best first shot in a long time. How many mss are sitting on my desk, days away from being finished? Must be five. Of more interest, why haven’t I been able to shove them out the door? A real head scratcher. Been in this place before. You wake up one morning, and suddenly the words all fall into place. Not gonna panic or try and hurry anything cause it wouldn’t do any good. Just gonna wait and see.

Nice meeting this afternoon. New TV script in the works. Got a nice walk through Old Colorado City. Could’ve used a Starbucks but settle for a house brew. Back at the office made a few more revisions.

K leaves for home tomorrow. Been a nice visit. Like to get at least one new ms out the door before the weekend’s out. Maybe it’ll happen, maybe not. But something to shoot for. 

 

Tuesday and counting...

Closing the book on another one. Back and forth day. Read a little, wrote a little, looked after small things around the house.

Casting still in progress for Our Souls at Night. Extras won’t be called for another week and half. Meanwhile, scripts for at least two videos, a draft for a coffee table book, and scattered manuscripts staring me down.

Rain again, off an on.

Dinner guests coming. Gotta run.

 

Rainy day, dream away...

Big rain blew in this afternoon. Clouds on the mountains still all swollen and bruised. Temps fell into the 70s and will probably stay there for a few days. Good sleeping weather, for sure.

K’s inspection on the new digs went well. Lots of reason to celebrate. Happy for her. Hope the rest of the song and dance goes as smoothly.

Saw Hell or High Water at the theater out east, yesterday. Nice bit of filmmaking/storytelling. Like to go back and see it again. Maybe this weekend?

Stalled out, writing. Need to step back and take a breath of air. Step up the reading for a few days. Having luck with the revisions, but they seem to be coming more slowly, which usually means I’ve gotten far too close to the manuscript and lost my aesthetic distance.

Empire of the Summer Moon continues to impress. Gotta fetch a hardcover for the permanent library when I’m finished reading.

Calling it a wrap. Need to get home to the house guests.

Plate full, not going back for seconds...

Up later than usual, today. Loafed over a couple of cups of coffee, then watered the garden and sneaked off to the gym.

House guest-ing again this week. Maybe through the weekend, depending on everyone's plans. 

Going to a movie this afternoon. New western, the title of which eludes me. Reviews looked good. Who knows, maybe were coming into a revival? That'd be nice.

Speaking of the west, reading an absolutely spellbinding bit of historical nonfiction. Empire of the Summer Moon.

Have the feeling things are gonna get kind of hairy around here the next few weeks. Got projects piling up at the office, new responsibilities at N coming down the pike, and who knows, maybe even some extra work on the movie set in Florence. Exciting times.  

 

Cattle call...

Slept in, up at 8:00. Put in some quick edits on a story, then ran off to the Hillside Community Center for the casting call of Our Souls at Night. Two hundred people already there when I arrived. No worries, though. Line moved quickly. The production staff was polite and efficient, and after a headshot and short briefing, was home again. We'll see what happens from here.  

 

All I gotta do is act naturally...

Finished a reader draft of "Oceans Apart" this afternoon. Good to have it near-ready for the mail. Cut 1000 words of backstory from "Man of Letters" yesterday, and it breathed new life into the piece. Feeling optimistic about it again.

Beautiful autumn evening. Nice rain earlier made everything cool and breezy, perfect for a good night's sleep.

Going off to a cattle call tomorrow. Netflix is looking for extras for "Our Souls at Night." Should be an interesting way to kill a Saturday. Will bring a laptop and good book along.

A little bit of sunshine...

Interesting hodgepodge of a day. All over the road, literally and figuratively. Work, meetings, more work, more meetings. Caught up with old friends, revisited old projects. Researched new projects and got a head start on tomorrow's to-do list. For all that, it feels like I'm still behind.

Tried to punch out a few lines at home, but was beset on all sides by kitties. First with meows, then with cuddles. Had to abandon the laptop keyboard for the office computer. That, or give up on my projects and resign myself to a nap.

Fall weather's drifted in. Low lying clouds were clinging to mountain valleys like smoke this afternoon. Sky opened later in the day and the sun broke through. Needed that. I miss the sun when it's not around.

 

 

 

The list goes on...

Good day at the keyboard. Got scripts out of the way, managed some billing, made a number of productive revisions to the Hawaii story (tentatively titled "Oceans Apart"), and logged a rejection on "Dead Drift."

Early day at the gym, early day at the office, then day early home to look after small things. Mid morning meeting tomorrow to discuss video scripts, and production.

Weather's been cooling off, though it may have made it into the eighties this afternoon. Not sure. Only know I didn't need to run the AC, which was nice. Prime fishing weather in the cards, and fingers crossed I can take advantage. More guests coming in over the weekend, so we'll see what the gods are willing to dispense with, favorwise.

Is it crazy I'm still dogged by the memory of my old fishing vest? Wonder if it'll ever turn up? Stranger things have happened, I guess.

 

Lazy Sunday...

Big party last night. 75th birthday, 20th anniversary all in the same shot. Hit the rack late, woke up with absolutely no energy. Even so, finished critiques of B&T stories and blazed through two quick revisions of some new short fiction. 

Beautiful day for fishing. Wish I'd planned ahead. As it was, good to push some work out the door, and get a jump on the week ahead. Still have a script staring me in the eye, and two new video projects in the wings.

Maybe sit outside by the fireplace tonight. Turn in early, and start fresh in the morning.

When I consider how my light is spent...

Losing light, bit by bit. Wake like clockwork around 5:30, but to a darker sky every morning.

Into the gym, and office, early. A productive day for the most part, though incoming projects are keeping me honest. Need to find time to get organized before the next batch of surprises arrives. Feel like a man whose arms are overflowing with packages.

Spent the better part of the afternoon running errands. Hardware store for, well, hardware. Lumber yard for lumber. Rental outfit for tables, chairs, and the like. Propane station for gas. Doesn't sound like much, but the traffic was miserable and everything took more time than expected. Gonna have to wait till tomorrow to mow the lawn.

Dreaming of a weekend where fishing and writing are my only concerns. 

 

Making the rounds...

Back and forth day. A ray of sunshine here and there. Good way to ease into the weekend.

Tried out the new rotisserie on the grill. A few bumps, but not a bad first effort. Should know what I'm doing when Saturday evening rolls around and the prime rib comes out. Hope so, anyway. Otherwise, it's dinner for twelve at McDonald's.

Still have number of commercial projects staring me in the face, but need to get a move on my reviews, too. Fallen a bit behind there. Got a lot on my mind, but all of it good. Like to see another story get picked up.

 

 

Cloudburst...

Up to my ears, suddenly.

New projects in and out the door all day. Tomorrow looks to be a carbon copy. Happy about the work, as always, but need to stay ahead of things or it could all end up in a train wreck. 

Nice note from M.C. last night, complimenting the quality and volume of work I've been putting in. An unexpected surprise, for sure. Coming from someone of his stature, quite the nod. Makes me wonder if I'm not on the right track after all.

Slow gains on the deep sea story. It's taken a lot of fiddling around to get the first five hundred words in order, but I think it's getting close.

Gym overrun this morning. Skipped rope in a corner while a guy behind me swung kettles, and a guy to my left chucked around a medicine ball. Crazy.

Storm coming in tonight? Feels like it.

Midsummer Night's Dream...

Sleepwalker's dream last night.

Curious, storybook morning.

Oh, the phone calls I haven't returned. The letters I haven't written. The thanks I haven't properly expressed. Always behind, always trying to catch up. That's the way it is. Fitzgerald was right, we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past.

What if everything in front of me didn't seem so large? If everything behind me didn't seem so small? What then, I wonder. 

I'll think about that tomorrow...

Put in a nice, comfortable round of work today. With one exception. Didn't get as much time to noodle with my own stories as I would have liked. 

Made it to the gym early. Home in time for coffee and a quick shower, then off to the Beidleman center for a long walk in the woods with the little guy. Had a good time. Learned that "hoppers are scary," it's cooler when you walk in the shade, and no one one the planet obeys leash laws.

Saw a nice environmental bumper sticker as we were leaving: FRANKLY MY DEAR, I DON'T WANT A DAM.

In the office by 1:00. Read two new N stories by special request, and wrote reviews. Also posted the Philharmonic work, and had copyright agreements notarized for the UCCS fight song.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Too tired to write anymore tonight.