Blowing with the wind...

Big winds came up last night. Big winds. Woke up around 3:30 and never really got back to sleep. Looked for a while like we might have another nice day, early on, but the front blew in all kinds of smoke from the new California fire.

Finished my reader draft of the new short. Calling it “Eyes Wide Open.” Tomorrow, on to bigger things.

Stayed home today and worked out in the garage. Skipped rope and lifted. It went pretty well, and I’m beginning to think I might migrate back there every other day just to keep out the way of the non-maskers at the gym. There aren’t many of them at the moment, but as soon as the weather turns they’ll be back in droves.

Not sure what’s up for tomorrow. Might go fishing, might not. Need to think about getting the shrubs the ground and picking up top soil for next week’s seeding.

Tonight, kicking back and watching the last episode of G’s series. Maybe get in a little reading later.

I've got my own back, thank you...

No complaints.

Day went well.

Up early, wrote well, didn’t hurt myself at the gym, and enjoyed more warm but pleasantly fallish weather.

Been thinking about fishing this weekend and just might if I get the chance. Can’t seed the lawn until Monday, after the aeration guy stops by, and finished most of the trimming and pruning of the bushes a couple of days ago, so except for planting the three shrubs out back there isn’t much holding me down. At least I don’t think so.

Talked to my buddy S earlier this morning. Wish we could’ve spoken longer. Nothing from the rest of the world.

Not bad for mid-week...

Straightforward day. Up a little later than usual, but did a lot of good work at the keyboard and think I’m maybe a day, two days, from having a reader draft of a new story.

Left for the gym around home. Had a nice workout. Wasn’t as crowded as yesterday, so got in some lifting as well as a good bit of cardio.

Weather today’s been textbook perfect, if a little warm for September. Blue skies, a nice breeze to push the air around, and almost no smoke at all.

Got to FaceTime with Matty for about an hour when I got home. Haven’t had that much solo time with him for a while. Not sure where Jack was, but figure I’ll catch up with him before long, too.

Cooking shish kebab tonight. Nothing special, just veggies and kielbasa.

Finding the Steinbeck Viet Nam book lacking. Hope to move on from it soon.

Taking it as it comes...

Woke to cool temps and a clear sky. Nice way to start the day.

Wrote hard and fast on the new piece, then took some time off to help my buddy S. load landscaping stone from the back alley.

Worked out afterward, but stopped after the cardio set and came home to lift when the gym started filling up.

Read for a while when I got home and loafed otherwise, letting the afternoon slip by. Also put in some time cleaning the garage. Didn’t finish, but made some definite headway.

Was supposed to catch up with young Jack for a chess lesson tonight, but it didn’t happen owing to unexpected changes in schedule.

S. had her shingles shot today. Not feeling too bad. Arm’s sore, but doing well otherwise. Guess I’ll get mine later in the week.

Sent out a couple more queries tonight. We’ll see what happens.

Monday, 6:30 pm...

Quiet Monday, for sure.

Put in some solid time at the keyboard, then went off to the gym. Went to work in the yard when I got home, uprooting old dead plants and trimming the live ones. Had a quiet afternoon while John came and noodled with the tech problems.

Finished In Dubious Battle.

That’s it. The sum total of my day—give or take a few, unremembered details.

Sounds like it’s raining.

Hope so.

Yawn...

Geez. Slept-walked through this one. Started with a bad night’s sleep and continued on throughout the day. Did manage to get some reading done, so that was nice. But stalled out writing even though I pushed myself to get something done.

In short, no yard work, no gym, no nap, no nothing. Just an ordinary day sitting around the house. And all of it on me.

One a happy note, the sky cleared and we even saw a bit of rain.

Move over Bacchus...

Ran out of ambition somewhere between getting out of bed and heading off to the gym.

Made some revisions on the short piece, but not many and not enough to call it a reader draft yet. Nothing on the new long piece.

Temps climbed well into the nineties while I watched my beloved lawn wilt and frazzle.

Took a short nap, but even that didn’t live up to expectations.

Thought I might pull a few dead plants from the yard, but meh, got too lazy for that as well.

Did manage some decent reading time with Mr. Steinbeck.

Tonight, wine and revelry.

Hot, hot, and more hot...

A hot day from the get-go. Got in some decent time at the keyboard, but outside the skies were brown and filled with smoke.

Had to stick around the house to see if I’d be called for jury duty, but the time came and went and I was released into the general public and thanked for attending to my civic responsibilities, which amounted to exactly nothing. Hit the gym around noon, shopped for dinner, and picked up a prescription at King Soopers. Otherwise, a sleepy afternoon.

Weather guys say it’s supposed to reach 94 tomorrow. Having an afternoon beer with my buddy Scott. Sure hope we can find a seat in the shade.

Reflections on the past 9 hours and 12 minutes...

Getting hard to know when we’ll ever see a blue sky again. Who knows, I might be induced to prayer.

Meanwhile, a nice day by other standards.

Got in some decent writing, a good workout, a meaningful nap, and some nice phone time with my uncle. Now, if I could only find the motivation to get some work done around the yard.

Borrowed (half-heartedly) J. Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle after failing to find a number of other titles I was searching for, and have since come to see what a buzzkill I’d been in assuming it wouldn’t be any fun. Am halfway through and enjoying it quite a bit.

Contributor copy of The Belmont Review showed up in the mail. My story “Devotion” is featured nicely in it. Would like to see that piece in a collection some day. Maybe I’ll spend the late fall gathering up pieces for submission.

Can’t believe tomorrow’s Thursday.

Plugging along...

Woke up to smoke-filled skies again. Another air quality advisory. Not sure when the weather’s supposed to break, but I hope it’s soon.

Was out to the cottage early, and got in some good writing. John came by to do some tech work, so I had to button things up and even hand over the laptop, but that was all right. Gave me a chance to visit the gym a little earlier than usual.

Have a lot of catching up to do, and need to do it before end of day tomorrow on the outside chance Thursday will see me in jury duty.

Sat in on young Jack’s chess lesson this evening. Had a lot of fun. Didn’t get a chance to gab afterward, but maybe we’ll catch up before week’s end.

Like to sit outside by the fireplace one of these fallish evenings. Just hasn’t been worth it with the air quality so poor.

Brats tonight. That’s about it.

Enjoying the peace and quiet...

Quiet day.

Air quality went to hell early on, and the hot temps made a return, not the worst day we’ve had this summer, so I’ll take it.

Did some good writing this morning, then went off for a longish workout at the gym. Hadn’t planned to do as much as I did, but when I got there and found the place empty I thought, why not?

Took a long nap this afternoon. Woke to find it near five. Been scheming for a way to get up the mountain this week and do some fishing, but I guess I’ll have to see how the rest of the schedule pans out.

Lot of dreams about my mom and dad lately. Had a dream about Jack last night as well. He was a chess piece, a rook. Wish I could recall the context of the narrative, but I can’t.

John comes over tomorrow to do some work on the computers. Not sure what the rest of the day is supposed to look like, but I guess someone will clue me in.

A quiet holiday weekend...

Have found myself in the literary doldrums. But who knows? Maybe this is the new reality. Either way, I’m in a place a rarely find myself, except this time it seems deeper, less desperate, and more pervasive than on other occasions.

None the less, I had a decent morning working on the new story, rough title “Cold Cocked.” It’s near finished, and probably would be already if I hadn’t allowed myself to drift.

Put in some notes on what I believe will be my next long piece, too. Gonna settle in hard with this one before I tear off writing. Have a good idea where I want it to go, and want to squander as little time as possible getting there.

Had a nice time visiting Kath last night, celebrating S’s birthday. First time in a long time you couldn’t smell smoke in the air. A haze settled on the mountains later in the afternoon—from the Tahoe fire, I suspect—but all in all it was a pretty afternoon that didn’t feel as hot as the thermometer made it out to be.

Feeling my folks over my shoulder these days. Wish I could talk to them.

Big week coming: dentist, jury duty, finding a new doc…etc., etc. But tomorrow, maybe just yard work and a trip to the gym.

Got it all figured out...

Looking at nice rain right now. This after a nice long rain last night. Glad I found the ambition to cut the lawn earlier.

Back and forth day trying to get things done. Wasn’t as productive as what I would have liked, but got in some good writing, took care of the billing, and was still able to do some cardio at the gym.

Been lazy of spirit lately, and can’t quite figure out why. Guess I’m winding down like the summer. Never did find a middle ground—either we had our feet to the gas pedal, or were sitting around listening to crickets. Sure miss the boys. They were a handful, but they kept things moving forward.

Might engage in a little yard work this weekend. Pull up the dead shrubs, collect the logs from the dead cottonwood. Get ready for my next trip to Rocky Top. We’ll see what sort of energy we can drum up.

Meanwhile, another birthday to celebrate.

Tonight, potato leek soup.

Thinking out loud...

Back again.

Spent the day making submissions, taking out garbage, scribbling notes. In other words, nothing worth talking about. Had a nice workout at the gym, mid-day, then came home and worked a little more.

Nice night tonight, in that last night’s rain cleared the air of smoke.

Finished the Johnson book last night, and started a new one today.

Gotta get cracking on the new short.

Looking forward to the start of the weekend tomorrow.

What about tomorrow?

Thought myself into a hole long before getting out of bed this morning, but managed to climb at least partway out of it by mid-afternoon.

Was up early—it’s getting darker by the day, isn’t it?—working on a short. Been trying to pare it back, but it seems to like its current length, around seven thousand words. Had a moment this morning, thinking maybe I’ll give up the writing game for good. Start spending all my spare time fishing. I gave up smoking a long time ago. Why not words?

Worked out early today, and the gym was entirely empty. Wish I’d had more energy than I did—I might have made the whole circuit—but even so it was nice to have the place to myself.

Took a short nap when I got home, then worked a little more before catching up with Jack and his chess instructor on Zoom. Good seeing him again. Matt, too, though it was only for a moment.

Looking for a quiet night. Not much happening around the neighborhood. Things are pretty quiet.

Nothing more, nothing less...

Yeah, all right. A day of ups and downs. But what day isn’t?

An early morning breeze kept me in bed until 6:00, after that some time at the keyboard followed by a few submissions. Life is a work in progress.

Put together a good afternoon at the gym with the shoulder feeling better and better. Picked up some groceries on the way home, watered the lawn, and that was about it.

Missing the boys. Should have called them this afternoon, but didn’t quite make it. Will talk to Jack tomorrow night (I hope) after his chess lesson. Matt, too.

Not sure where they days go, but go they do.

Looking ahead to a quiet night.

Small doings...

Feels as if I slept-walked through the entire day. Was up early, spent some good time at the keyboard, but didn’t make near as much progress as I’d hoped. Guess it got away from me.

Worked in the yard this afternoon. Picked up some privet and burning bush, but decided not to plant them until the temps fall at least below 90.

Came home and did a little more housekeeping, sending out submissions. With the desktop under the weather, things went slower than usual. Worked off the laptop until the cross referencing got to be too big a pain in the ass.

Sent off a letter to G. this afternoon, testing the waters for the new ms. We’ll see what sort of response it draws. Meanwhile, working on the query letter.

Questions, answers, and the occasional riddle...

Still trying to figure out what happened to last night’s post. Internet’s been patchy at best the last couple of days, and for no decent reason. Might need to have this computer looked over, too.

Early rise to a nice morning. More blue skies. Put in a lot of work at the keyboard, then watched a little pre-season football.

Drove out to Whole Foods early afternoon to pick up some mussels, and few veggies. Home to work the kinks out of the synopsis.

Meant to cut the lawn today, but didn’t. Guess I’ll get around to it tomorrow.

Talked to my sis, M, for a while. Good to catch up. As for the rest of the day, it was lost and I’m not in the mood to go out looking for it. Happy to be where I am.

Hope to send a note to my agent tomorrow and let him know the ms’s available. After that, back to some short fiction for a while.

A pleasant Saturday, in all. Nice to be home alone not worrying about company.

More later.

The short version...

Good day for getting things done.

Worked on the novel edits early, wrote the boys letters, got in a nice workout at the gym, then came home and caught up on few phone calls.

Saw the oral surgeon, too. Says the work is healing well.

Figure to hit it hard tomorrow morning. For now, pizza.