Early to rise...

Woke at 3:00 am. Got up and wrote a while. Had brunch with friends, then went off in search of Christmas. Untangled twelve strands of lights while watching a football game. The lights were more interesting than the game. Read, then went to the gym. Back home now, looking to settle in.

Uninspired musings...

Wild day. Braces broke last night (unglued bracket), and spent the better part of the morning chasing down the orthodontist. Meanwhile, forged ahead with revisions on an old draft. Surprisingly, or maybe not, discovered how to puzzle the narrative together without cutting the hell out of the story.

Beautiful day. Colder than last fall, but nothing to complain about when the sun's sunny and the skies are blue. Miss the long autumn of last year. Miss fishing. Keep hearing the line, "Swift as a weaver's shuttle fleet our years..." Browning? The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed's?" I can't remember anymore. Hesiod's Works and Days, maybe?

Saw my brother standing on his front porch tonight as I was driving down the road. We waved at one another.

Bullets over San Bernardino...

More shootings. This time in San Bernardino. Not sure what's wrong with the world, but hope it enjoys a full and healthy recovery. Soon. Before everything worth appreciating vanishes.

A lot of uninterrupted time today. Made the most of it. Revised a new draft, made notes on an earlier one. Researched submission possibilities and read another (the seventh) of the stories to be discussed in San Francisco. Lots of work ahead. Notes, more notes. Reading, more reading.

Sunny most of the day. A welcome sight, the blue sky. Night comes too soon, and with it, dark, nighttime thoughts. Got to the gym to chase away the blues, but discovered my access card missing. Home now with a bottle of wine instead.   

 

Weekend's end...

Good morning writing. Making progress on a new story. Was hoping to catch the revival of Roman Holiday at Cinemark, but got waylaid. Ransomed the Jeep from the airport instead, then moseyed off to the gym. Dinner later with family. Mac & cheese! Back to work tomorrow. Stories for the SF class arrived via email late in the afternoon. Eager to start reading them. Another frosty night. Picked up a new light snow just before six. Plumber comes tomorrow, iron smith tuesday. Hope to get a tree-cutting permit from the Forest Service before the week's out.

Saturday, 6:15 pm...

Florida beautiful. Two days swimming in the ocean. Haven't done that in a long, long time. Flew back Thursday (Thanksgiving), but nearly hung up by a cold front with snow. Woke the following day to learn a gunman had shot more than ten people, then holed up in Planned Parenthood a few miles away. Standoff went on until 9:00-something that evening, marring an otherwise quiet holiday. Second wild shooting here in two months.

Copies of the New Guard arrived today. My story "Requiem for a Bantamweight," was one of the featured pieces. A finalist in the Machigonne Fiction Prize contest. Nice to see it in print.

Looking forward to getting back into some sort of groove. Soon.

I Loafed, and Invited My Soul to Do Likewise...

Worked on a new story this morning. Felt good to be back composing. Got in a long walk before noon. More importantly, before the wind blew in over the peak and the temps plummeted. Looks like it's going to be a wintry Saturday.

Wrote and posted some long overdue letters this afternoon. Made it to the gym before coming home.

A lazy day compared to most. Felt good to relax a little.

This Pilgrim's Progress...

The two pieces for the San Francisco workshop are out the door. Hallefreakinglujah. Figured to have them finished two days ago, but should have known better. Anyway, they’re out of my hair and I won’t have to look at them again until January.

Took care of housekeeping this morning. Sent letters to four or five pubs, inquiring after manuscripts. All over a year in the slush pile. Only one’s written back so far, but based on experience that’s one more than I’d expected. The story in question had been lost or misplaced. Worst part was, it cost me an IRC. Which are nearly impossible to come by. Half of our U.S. Postal Service employees don’t even know what they are.

Sunny day. Sunny, brisk, and full of fall. Saw the Cristo “Over the River” installation working its way through the courts in Denver. Would love to see it resolved, favorably, for Cristo. If it’s okayed, I have a serious notion to apply for a job on the crew. Fingers crossed.

When My Ship Comes In...

Dreary morning. Overcast, snowy, but clear by mid-day. Worked on "Bounty," the second of the two San Francisco stories. Shoveled the walk at noon, wrote a little more, then off to the gym. Miss the outside time, walking the neighborhood. Weather bureau says 50s tomorrow, so with any luck the fall weather will return for a while.

Copies of the Blue Crow Review arrived mid-afternoon. "A Convergence of Interests" appears toward the end of the volume. Pretty looking piece. That's two in a row. Kansas City Voices ("Burn Scar") was a knockout too.

Read in the Smithsonian online today some millionaire bought, and is restoring, John Steinbeck's old boat, Western Flyer. Now that's a project, isn't it? Oh, to win the Powerball. 

Peeking in...

Long time since checking in. Hard to explain the silence except to say it was combination of many, many things. Going to ease into it this time around, and not worry about catching up or looking back. 

Snow blew in tonight. First serious sign of winter. Finished Mrs. Dalloway earlier, and started Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire this evening. Worked on "Bounty" all day. Deadline for submission is Friday, but want to send it off before that if possible. My other piece up for review, "Bad Good Friday," is finished, pending a quick proof reading.

Flying to Florida for Thanksgiving. Be nice to get away for a while.

Changes...

Long day. Up late.

Day started hot and sunny, ended up hot and overcast. Even so, there's a bit of fall in the air and I look forward to its coming.

Went out to fetch the paper this morning, and found my new, replacement fly rod waiting for me on the front porch! Happy days. The rig is remarkably close in look and feel to the original I bought thirty-some years ago, and I'm looking forward to trying it out. Maybe this weekend if things go well.

Got in some good work on a manuscript this afternoon, then over to the gym. Have a feeling this will be an early-to-bed evening. 

Far and away...

Five days in Wyoming. Hard to believe after another five back at home. Good trip, though a few bumps were encountered. Weather wasn’t bad on the way up, save for hazed-over skies from the fires in the pacific northwest, but was driven down the mountain a day early owing to cold, weather.

Got in some excellent reading time during the day, and a few nice walks in the late afternoons. Saw a number of pronghorn, and a surprising number of sage hens—more than I’ve run into up there since I was a kid.

Broke the tip joint on my flyrod the day before going to the middle fork, but managed to catch a handful of good trout in spite of it. Caught and released most, and kept one good rainbow for dinner on Monday night. Contacted the folks at G. Loomis after returning to the Springs, and was pleased to know they’ll replace my entire rig before month’s end. Be sorry to say goodbye to the old rod—caught a lot of nice fish with it—but have no choice except to move on. Good news is, I won’t have to fork out $800 for a new outfit.

Read The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt while on the mountain, and liked it so much I had to turn to non-fiction rather than spoil the mood it left me in. Quite an entertaining read. Nicely imagined, skillfully executed. Have since embarked on the Harvard Classic’s version of Jean Froissart’s Chronicle’s of the Hundred Years War, also quite entertaining.

Working on a draft I’d stashed away in a drawer last spring, and feel pretty good about the progress I’ve been making. Hope to have the piece in readable shape within the next ten days, but it keeps trying to grow, so the effort may take longer than expected. Can’t pull in the reins when the mind wants to roam. Just have to run with it. If it sucks, cutting back is never a problem and almost always a joy.

On the home front, still waiting for the bricklayers to finish the last jog of wall. Other projects have stalled because of the lack of progress, but there isn’t much to do about it. Other, more lucrative jobs, keep getting in the crew’s way. Just hope we can wrap things up before the cold weather sets in.

Making due...

Came down with something yesterday. Chills, fever. Bit of a headache. Hope I can shake it before I head up to Wyoming.

Rainy today. Big lashing hailstorm around 2:00 pm. Thought we might lose another tree, but fared pretty well when it was all over and done with. Damage to the flowers, but the rest of yard came through unscathed. Or mostly unscathed, anyway.

Ready to send “Missing” and “Eternity, Revisited” out the door. Close with “The Least of Your Brothers,” too. Had a small window to make some revisions this morning, so got a start on a draft I wrote sometime last spring.

Haven’t gotten in much reading time with all the yard work, but looking forward to some downtime tonight when I can dig back in to The Assassins. Can’t help but think I’d have a completely different opinion of the book, and its characters, if I’d read it in the 70s.

Under construction...

Woke late to a warm Saturday morning. Drank some coffee, punched the keyboard a while, then went outside, picked up a shovel and finished trenching the property line out back.

Spent the better part of the day pouring concrete footers for the new brick wall at the northeast corner of the house. All went well, and with any luck Vern the bricklayer will make an appearance early in the week and handle the tricky stuff.

Bought a stack of teak flooring later in the afternoon. Hope to make a pair of gates for the backyard. The wood is beautiful but it’s going to take some cajoling to come together. Looking forward to seeing this last big job finished.

A breath of fresh air...

Up early this morning, off to the gym. Back home just before eight where I got in some revision time on “Eternity, Revisited.” Wrote until 11:30, then loaded up the fly rod and made for Elevenmile Canyon. Beautiful day in the mountains. Wildflowers still in bloom. Caught two nice trout (one brown, one rainbow) on the lower section of the river. Water was still high, but more manageable than last week. 

The writing seems to be coming a little easier than it has in a while. Who knows why. Hope the good feeling sticks around so I can push a couple of manuscripts out the door. 

 

 

A brief recap...

Thing’s I’ve done the past two weeks without writing them down…

 

Enjoyed visitors

Had lunch in Golden

Admired the giant trout sculptures in Clear Creek

Eaten (a fabulous) dinner at Frasca, in Boulder

Fished the South Platte

Seen a movie

Killed back-to-back nights before a fire on the back patio

Painted two new trellises

Planted new barberry bushes

Revised three stories

Gone to the park

Cooked ribs

 

Things I haven’t done…

 

Taken a nap

Forgotten how good I have it

Worth the wait...

Crazy few days. Behind on my entries. After many a summer and many a dead swan, the Bi-lingual Review I’ve been waiting for finally arrived. My story “Mano a Mano was picked up by the pub in 2003-2004?—I can’t recall anymore—and it’s good to finally see it in print.

A lot of memories tied up with that piece. Remember reading it to my folks up in Wyoming after I’d finished it. We haven’t been together on the mountain since, and old age will preclude its ever happening again.

Spent the day at various nurseries. Was looking for shrubs and vines to dress up the holes left after the massive clearance we undertook. Picked up a couple of nice clematis to plant under the big trellises on the east side of the porch. Still more to do, but it’s all fun now, the dirty work (most of it, anyway) behind us.