What's not to like?

Side benefits of having lived a full week on eastern time—a five o’clock rise. Out of bed and out to the cottage for a long spell at the keyboard, composing. Still no easy feat, but the draft time feels stronger and more concentrated this go round. Hope I’m right about that.

Worked revisions on a couple of short pieces before leaving for the gym. Started in on a new N story, too.

Called the lovely folks at the medical office to try and get a read on the cost of the surgery and was given the run around. Not even a ballpark. They didn’t seem to understand my reluctance to sign on knowing I would only be charged, at most, 20 percent of the total cost. I tried to point out that 20 percent of two hundred would be perfectly acceptable, while 20 percent of, say, five hundred thousand wouldn’t. They still wouldn’t throw out a number. We’ll see what happens next.

Good day at the gym. Light traffic again, which always makes for an easier workout. Glad to be back in the swing, though I can tell the difference after the six day layoff.

Pretty day. Wish now I’d gotten out to see a little more of it.

Text from my buddy, G, who’s back in town. Gonna meet for a drink at the Broadmoor on Friday and catch up on his doings back in LA.

Rolling on...

Easy night’s sleep, easy rise. Took a little bit to get in to the groove of the morning, but managed to make headway with the new piece.

Hit the gym early afternoon. Good to get back in the swing. Didn’t push things too hard, but didn’t lay back either. Just a nice even workout.

Caught up with the folks at the Storm’s clinic, end of day. Long talk with the docs about surgery. Meantime, back on a long regimen of steroids and antibiotics.

Good news of the day, the San Antonio Review is bumping my story up for publication online tomorrow. Print issue to follow at a later date.

Looking forward to getting my head in a new Masterclass.

The long way home...

Left on a train for Pittsburgh a week ago today. Spent Monday night eating steak in a dining car while the plains rolled by…Tuesday evening watching the sunset over Chicago…Wednesday catching up with the boys and their parents…Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday flat out goofing off. Swimming classes, karate classes, games of chess, croquet, Zingo, Go-fish….

All in all a pretty swell time. Even got an acceptance slip from the San Antonio Review for “Kings in Exile.”

Plane ride home was exhausting, as always, but we’re back and the whole trip was worth it—despite the fact we both came home with colds.

Didn’t get as much work done on the new long piece as I would’ve liked, but did enough to move the piece forward. Hope to press ahead again tomorrow. Meanwhile, no word on Dreams of Stone. Who knows? Maybe this’ll be my month.

Beat. Calling it a day. Hope to make an early start tomorrow, and see if I can’t get my groove back.

What to do except move on?

Yeah. Getting it done.

Up early, making revisions. Then off to gym.

Snow came along around 7:00, 7:30 and looked as if it might stay. But the sun came out and evened things, and now it’s back to where it was.

Hit the gym mid-afternoon.

Home to clean up, pack, and whatever. Ready to get on the train now and figure the rest out later.

Can I say i’m sick of the gray skies?

Need to get some sleep tonight. Good sleep.

Let’s see what happens.

Talked to mom. Everything’s good.

Another Saturday Night...

Up early again. The bad arm. If it doesn’t repair itself, it may become the alarm I’ll use all summer. Or as long as I need before I finish the new draft.

Put in some good revisions this morning. Spent the afternoon shopping in advance of the trip to see the boys. Got a call from them as we were driving home. They’re excited to see us.

Haven’t been able to catch up as much as I’d like, but my N queue is empty, I have a handful of shorts in the mail, and I’m already making plans for my new schedule moving into spring.

The biggest chore over the next two weeks will be to stay healthy.

Gotta remember to give mom a call tomorrow evening. Won’t have another chance for a while.

Oops...

Did I fall off the grid recently, or have my posts mysteriously disappeared? The bigger question in play might be, why can’t I remember? Yesterday is a complete blur, with the vague exception that I recall getting a haircut. Or maybe I’m wrong about that. Maybe I don’t recall. My hair is shorter today, which would suggest a haircut had been had, but….

Early rise today. Almost like it was still 2019. Hit the keyboard hard looking to put distance between the first ream of blank pages and the last. Did all right. The new draft is coming along, and I’m enjoying the ride. We’ll see how long the feeling lasts.

Making preparations for the trip east. Leaving on Monday, so not a whole lot of time left to get things in order. Feeling some apprehension, but think it’s collective bit of nerves coming to life over the busy schedule ahead. A week in Pittsburgh, after that I visit from mom, after that a visit from the boys, after that a visit to Albuquerque….

Not sure how it’ll all work out, but it will. Meanwhile, there’s this dreary gray winter to get through.

Put the brakes on the Portis book. Don’t want it to end. Still reading the Ruark stories too, and re-reading D. Johnson’s Laughing Monsters. Would like to jump into a big old classic, but afraid it might de-rail my thinking at the moment.

Gotta open the new laptop and take it for a spin before I get on the train. Want to make sure I know where to find everything once the train leaves the station.

Did I mention the arm is killing me?

Sigh, and sigh again...

Hmmm.

Was plugging along, making edits, when I decided to tear off on a cleaning spree. Midway into it, got an email from American Short Fiction. A rejection. They’d held the story for two years, nine months. It was an apology of sorts, and believe me, I’m sympathetic to the workload they shoulder. But two years and nine months? I suffered through a marriage that didn’t last two years and nine months.

That’s why they invented the gym, I guess.

High point in day? Got to see my buddy Scout.

Not going to try and figure out what the low point was.

Time, an invention of man...

Suddenly, everything lit up.

Spent the whole day writing, goofing off. Then came crunch time.

Got in some nice writing, reading time. A walk downtown to window shop and catch a cup of coffee. After that, a long talk with mom…and here it is creeping up on seven.

Got to see my boy, Scout, and had a good visit. Lots of talk, some brushing… Still miss his bro, Sam.

Tomorrow, a new week. Seven days until the train to Pittsburgh.

World shrinks in one way, opens in another.

Go figure.

Checking (back) in...

Nothing like falling off the face of the earth for a couple of days. That’s what a social life will do for you.

Dinner at K’s last night. Good food, great company as always. Can’t say as I remember much else of Friday, so I must be having fun or losing my mind, or both.

Easy day today. Lots of writing time. Took a drive to Woodland Park this afternoon to share a cup of coffee, but not a whole lot else to report.

Visited my buddy, Sam, tonight. Good to see him again. Tomorrow maybe we’ll have a little more time. Meanwhile, settling in for the evening.

Tired.

A dose of the same...

Still humming along through the new draft. Be sweet if the whole manuscript wen that way.

Worked till a little past noon, then headed out to the gym. Arm was sore, but did what I came to do and managed a nice workout.

Sun made an appearance. Stuck around, too. The air was still chilly, and yeah, we got a bit of snow, but nothing that wasn’t gone by afternoon.

Things are still dragging in the world of short fiction, though I did get a timely rejection today. Hate to start marking my days with pink slips, but any sign of life out there is a positive.

Heard from Mosaic Art & Literature regarding comp copies. Next month, they say.

Promises, promises.

Or as David Mamet might put it, “Bibbity, bobbity, boo.”

A tangle of words...

Snow back in the forecast. Three inches overnight. We’ll see.

Bad night’s sleep, but made up for it with a good morning writing.

Hit the gym early. Had a voice session early afternoon and wanted to make sure there weren’t any schedule conflicts. Felt nice getting things out of the way. Left the afternoon open to more keyboard time. More reading time, too.

Two new pieces in from N. Hope I scored a couple of winners. Last batch wasn’t exactly pitiful, but with the exception of one nicely-written short-short, it came awfully close.

Having a lot of bad dreams of late, though can’t say they’re playing an role in the insomnia. Still the arm that’s the culprit in that mess. Guess I have more on my mind than I think.

Like to see the sunshine again. Hasn’t made too many appearances in the past couple of weeks.

Portis book is a real treat. The read I’d been looking for all winter.

And the Oscar goes to...

Good day writing. Better than good, productive. Put up a decent page count. Also pushed the newest short out the door, which is a strange sort of liberation all its own.

Spent the afternoon shopping for cat food and talking to mom. If there’s a theme in that, please, write to me.

Sky went back to grey today, and the temps dropped again. Steel sky, no snow, no fun.

Gonna hang back and watch the Academy Awards tonight. Why not?

Travels here and there...

Lot of snow last couple of days. Good to see. Temps into the mid/high forties today giving it a good melt, though not enough to clear it away. Lots of snowmen showed up on the lawns by afternoon.

Up later than usual, but got in some good work at the keyboard just the same. Finished my latest short, “Aftermath,” and figure to get in the mail before the weekend’s out.

Snowshoed Mueller State Park this afternoon. Drifts were fresh and deep and perfect for a long hike. Haven’t seen the sky so blue in over a month. No critters about, but a lovely day even so. Glad to have gotten out for a while.

Went to the movies last night—kind of out of character for us—to see Parasite, which’ll be up for an Academy Award tomorrow night. Interesting movie. Funny, creepy, sad… Didn’t have the energy do much but go home and order a pizza after it was over. Pop a bottle of wine and relax.

Trip to Pittsburgh’s getting closer all the time.

Eager to see the boys.

Borrowed True Grit from my neighbor, R, yesterday and discovered it was the antidote I’d been after. What a great bit of writing. Have to go on a search for a hard copy for the library.

Chicken piccata and more...

Back at it, early.

A hodgepodge.

Banged away at the keyboard as long as I could take it, then moved on. As always, thought I’d be more productive than I was, and as always I thought wrong. Still, made progress here and there. Which is something.

Some kind of black cloud’s crawling over the back of my brain. Don’t know why, doesn’t really matter. Just figure to keep an eye on it, see where it goes.

Hit the gym early. Worked out hard even though it doesn’t feel like it. Won’t feel like it later tonight.

Weather still cold. Not sure if there’s going to be a break in the temps this weekend or not. Rainbows should be close to spawning down on the Arkansas, shouldn’t they?

Hey, if nothing else, it’s Thursday.

That’s good, right?

Objective reality would be nice...

Cold one today. In more respects than I care to count. Sapped all the energy.

Up at a decent hour to write three reviews and a letter to the boys. Went off to the gym a little later, but quit after a long ride on the bike. Came home and took a nap instead. First time in a long time I’ve gone a whole day without working on a story, but figured I needed a break.

In literary news, saw that Tin House is backing out of the magazine business to concentrate on publishing. Also saw Kwame Dawes is now reviewing short fiction manuscripts for the low low price of $1,200. Imagine that.

Gotta keep reminding myself it’s not about anyone else. Or anything but the words. Everything else is only a distraction.

Have a thought for the New York Times and others. Forget the Pinocchio ratings, and sensitivity to nuances of mistruth in your columns. Let go of the “falsifications vs lies vs misrepresentations” crap, and just label the stuff for what it is: bullshit.

Looking forward to some reheated clam chowder, and maybe a baby goat video.

Wonder what my fishing prospects are this weekend?

Yeah, tired...

Up early—like three am. Didn’t get back to sleep until five, but this time it wasn’t the arm so much as insomnia. Not to complain. Got in some decent day dreaming while watching the night sky out the window.

Snow came, though not as much as predicted. Light and cold. Shoveled first thing, then brewed a pot and went to work at the keyboard. Research took up most of the morning. Never quite hit a good pace. Not sure why. Guess I’ll have to give it another go tomorrow.

Good day at the gym. Went at it hard, expect to feel it tonight. A few friends out with sore throats, so I’ve gotta be careful. Don’t want to come down with something before the trip to Pittsburgh. Not when I can pick it up there instead and bring it back to Colorado!

Funny. Was having a waking dream last night about paddling around in the canoe. What a great feeling. Hope I can get the boys out on the water this summer, maybe catch a few fish.

Happiness in small things...

Beautiful day, just beautiful. Sunny, temps in the seventies…. Couldn’t ask for more. Well, you could ask for more, but it wouldn’t get you very far. Weather people say it’s all going to be gone by tomorrow. Back to cold and snow again.

Close to finishing a new short. A piece I’m calling “Written Off.” Think it’ll be a nice piece if I can get it the revisions to work. Went minimalist this time. Trying to keep it under 2000 words, and so far so good. Got some organizational work done on the long piece, too. All in all, a short but productive morning.

Took a long hike in Red Rock Canyon this afternoon. Pretty place. Didn’t make it to the lake, but there’s always next time. Saw a guy packing in with fishing rods. Made me wonder if there was open water close to home I didn’t know about.

Got an early look at my sister’s thesis on Heart Mountain. Fascinating story. Hope she keeps going with it. Might make a detour up that way come summer if I get the time.

Looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Didn’t get one yesterday.

Well, the weekend's here...

So…a late night followed by a late rise.

All good.

Worked some, played some, dodged some. Put a few touches on a new story, did a little research, then went off and kicked around town.

No gym today. Just reading, writing, and running errands.

Took a walk around the neighborhood late afternoon, and found it much the way I’d left it a few weeks back. Nice to get outdoors. Pretty day, if a bit cool.

Heading out to Red Rock Canyon tomorrow for a hike.