Snow, snow, snow...

Okay. I'm a believer. Clouds are gathered over the Peak and a cold wind's moving in. Snow's a bit wet at the moment, which should make for a nice undercoating of ice once the storm blows for real. Come midnight, we're supposed to  get hammered.

Worked on revisions this morning, then went off to the theater to see The Revenant. Gorgeous cinematography. Believable retelling of Hugh Glass's unbelievable story of survival.

Made it to the gym later. Only two others there. Had a nice workout, then came home and made a few more notes. Gonna jump in the shower now, then go down and cook dinner. Looking forward to a fire and a glass of wine.

Ventures forth...

Tumbled  out of bed late this morning. Felt good to sleep. Poached egg and toast for breakfast, leisurely conversation over a cup of coffee. 

Started restructuring an old story I'd pulled from circulation, and found instant success in the revision. Still a ways from being a clean draft, but feel I've got a good handle on where it's going and how it's going to play. Glad I stuck with it. Think it's got real promise now. Particularly if I can make it do what it seems to want to do.

No gym today. Drove out to Whole Foods instead and picked up some groceries. Pizza tonight. Salmon tomorrow. Cold winds are blowing in already, so it's good we stocked up. Forecast is for fifteen inches between now and Monday. Be surprised if it happened, but you never know. Whatever gives, we need the moisture. If it's big, it'll just mean snowshoeing next weekend.

Talked about making audio productions of some of the stories on this site. Think it would be the next logical step to getting folks familiar with my work. Gonna make a push to get at least one in place before spring rolls around.

A good scent from a familiar mountain...

Good day at the office, good day at home. Commercial projects steaming forward, an hour or so of revisions on a new story, even got a couple of letters off. Tired. Almost didn't make it to the gym. Sucked it up, though, and got in a half-decent work out. Tomorrow, free sailing in the morning. Hope to get in some good work. Afternoon? Maybe a movie. Big Chinook winds blew in today, making me remember the worst part about Colorado winters and springs. Oh, well. Can't bitch too much. Not after what happened to the poor folks along the eastern seaboard. Keeping this short tonight. Dinner's cooking, and the whole evening's ahead.

No prisoners...

Good day. Learned "Bitter Angels of Our Nature" is being picked up by the Saint Katherine Review. There was other nice news as well, but nothing to serve up in a journal. At least not yet. Suffice it to say, you never know who's reading what, so keep your nose clean and just keep working. 

Last seen, it was a beautiful day. Cool, but pretty. Spent the afternoon taking care of correspondence, scheduling, etc. Another new job in. Had an hour unaccounted for and used it to make some quick revisions on one of the new stories.

Tired for some unaccountable reason. I guess because it's Thursday. Need to work through the malaise and keep reminding myself that every free minute is a chance to do something positive. Put on my war face. 

  

Holding on...

Into the office early. Made a few revisions on some corporate work, then settled in to write my "audition" piece for NM. 

Home just a bit before 1:00 pm. Good afternoon. Feel like I'm gaining a little ground after my week away. Gotta keep pushing. Take advantage of the advances and build on them. 

Had a terrible dream last night. Best to leave it at that. Thinking positive thoughts now, and hope tonight's a different scenario. Gotta be, right?

Schedule says home in the morning, office in the afternoon. Gonna try and carve out some time to revise a story. Fingers crossed.

 

 

Up for air...

Bit off more than I could chew today. Fell behind, somehow, while thinking I was moving ahead. Oh, well. Game ain't over, is it? 

Felt like spring going into the office, winter coming out. Imagine it'll be that way for a while. 

Haven't touched a story in two days. Commercial work keeping me busy. Will get back on it tomorrow when I get a bit of downtime.

Kitty sitting on my lap. Not much to do about that, either. Except smile. 

A midwinter's musing...

Up late. Body must be compensating for the shifts in time zone. Circadian clock and all that. Still feeling a little lazy and find I have to push extra hard to get moving, which is annoying.

Threw down a couple of cups then went to work on projects outstanding. Brochure. Radio. Other jobs with looming deadlines. Spent the morning and better part of the afternoon at the keyboard, but didn't make as much headway as I'd wanted. Fingers crossed I hit stride tomorrow. 

No one in the gym tonight. All home watching football games, I guess. Anyway, nice workout. Snow started to fall just before I got home. Temps had dropped too. Sixty yesterday, so the change is a bit jarring. Nothing to complain about, though, compared to what's going on back east. Those poor souls will be digging out for a month.

A lot of work ahead. That's good. A nice problem to have.

Comings and goings...

Lot of running back and forth today, but all good. Gym early, home for morning coffee, out the door to the office, then home again to finish up a few projects at home. New gigs on the horizon. One web video, two web sites, and new radio spot. Can't wait to jump in. Meanwhile, some excellent revisions on one of the new stories. Haven't delved into the SF piece yet--may give myself some room before taking that on--but have enough in the hopper to stay busy for some time. 

Sunny most of the day, but still cool. Got in a short walk mid-day, but was forced to shut it down before I wanted. No worries. Tomorrow's another day.

Read an unusual piece in the New Yorker today. A story (translation), "Aspic." Seemed different for the NYer, but maybe I'm just imagining things. Anyway, nice piece. Quiet, but with a brutal imagery.

Cold coming on? We'll see. Man, I hate colds. They seem so avoidable, and yet I can't avoid them. Downing vitamin C like its candy. Choking down the zinc, too, but with deep regret. Fingers crossed I can dodge the bullet just a little longer. Especially with the new jobs rolling in.    

Feelin it...

Early coffee. Eased into the morning, then headed to the office to catch up on paperwork. Late morning meeting over a new web video for the Royal Gorge. Good to get back in the swing. Starting to feel the energy of home again.

Long afternoon looking after little things. Did manage a stroll around the neighborhood, more paperwork, and a quick workout at the gym, but can tell already it's going to take until the weekend before I get my groove back.

Put in some time on one of my new stories. Making so much progress with it it's scary. I know, I know. I'll eat those words. But right now I'm locked in, and when I hit certain sections it's like new snow on freshly waxed skis. It just moves. Riding the fumes of SF, I guess. We'll see.

 

First impressions, lasting impressions...

Back from SF to clear Colorado skies. Flew into Denver, got waylaid by nine-car collision in Larkspur, detoured into foothills and emerged, unscathed on the other side of Palmer Lake. 

Too much to say about Jenks and all the others. Great people, terrific work. The whole enchilada. Was very much impressed by the entire experience, and know already it will stick around forever. 

Phone went on the blink--again, so a few messages were late in arriving. Found out early this morning The Outskirts of Nowhere story collection was a semi-finalist in the St. Lawrence Book Award contest.

Nice news. Now need to parlay the studies and hard work into something bigger. Stronger. Learned things that could help get me there. 

Champing at the bit...

Looking at a short night. Gotta be up at 4:30 a.m. Good day making last minute preparations for the SF trip. Lot of paperwork. Lots and lots. And lots. Feel good about the work I've put in, but looking forward to getting started.

 

Cold snap...

A flip dark chill winter bastard, as Anthony Burgess would have said. Up early to a bit of editing, then on to the office for a voice gig, followed by yet another trip to the optical shop. (This time they've got it right!)

Home before noon to mark up two more SF mss. Have a pretty good handle on discussion material now, and looking forward to the first go-round. Should be an action-packed four days. 

Section material in the new 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories is absolutely fascinating. Learned, for instance, it was once fashionable to turn down reprint offers from BASS, certain authors seeing it as "selling out" to the establishment.

Looking forward to the weekend. Maybe a movie.

Weather, or not...

Up later than I wanted to be. Supposed to have been an overnight snow, but it came more toward noon and last a couple of hours. Big wet flakes. Just now back in from shoveling the walks. El Nino's here for a while, I guess. Should make for interesting coming and going in SF.

Didn't get much writing or revising in today. Spent the better part of the late morning and afternoon at the office, trying to catch up on one thing or another. Got away to the gym around 4:00 pm. Short workout, but good.

Feels like the spring doldrums, but I can't allow myself to go there yet with so many weeks of snow and cold ahead. Forecast for the weekend doesn't look good for the mountains. Temps supposed to drop into the teens or lower. 

City's digging up the alley. Not sure why. Sewer? Who knows. The sound of jackhammering is going on day and night now.

Here, there, and everywhere...

Up early making revisions. Have a working title for one of the new stories. "Unseen." Feeling good about its progress, though need a good chunk of time to make a beginning-to-end pass at it. Same with the other new piece. Into the office around 10:00, and back at work on the SF stories. Culled through notes from the second reading. Refined, simplified, and transcribed them to clean mss. Worked through two pieces, then went off for a turkey and dressing sandwich at Starbucks. Finished a third story, then left to do some grocery shopping. Home, gym, and Christmas tree to to Rocky Top recycling (fare thee well, old friend!) before close of day. Wish it weren't so dark, nights. Feels claustrophobic this time of year.

A semi-productive day...

Eyes itching like crazy. Must be some new pollen in the air. Or, maybe it's the higher temps? Nice day today after a nice night's sleep. Finished the last of the SF critiques this morning, and even got in a little revision work. Rest of the day went to computer and phone upgrades, dealings with the ophthalmologist, and a brief but much-needed trip to the gym. Think I'll try setting up my new tablet tonight. 

 

Briefly noted...

Up late. Restless night. Went to work on the last of the SF critiques today. No writing or revising. Finished all but two discussions, and hope to check those off my list by tomorrow. Went to the gym early afternoon, then came home and worked a little longer. Had a nice face-time visit. Rome as a backdrop. Hope to jump on the day early tomorrow and make some headway at the keyboard. Fingers crossed.

My baby, he wrote me a letter...

Up early, working on SF critiques. A lot of work, but a lot of fun, too. Or am I just being lazy, not wanting to face my own stories at the moment? 

Movie this afternoon. The Danish Girl. Heard talk about academy award nominations, but have to say I don't get it. Great production values wasted on an insufferably boring story. Spoiler alert: couldn't wait until the main character died. Most satisfying scene in the movie.

High note of the day: a belated birthday card from my son. Letter included!

Day one, 2016...

Got a good night's sleep. Hope that's a harbinger of what's to come in the new year. Put in an hour or two of writing/revising this morning, and got a start on another SF critique. Too nice a day to say in, though. Broke away from the keyboard around 11:00 and drove up to Mueller state park for an afternoon of snowshoeing. Temp was a little crisp, particularly when the wind kicked up, but the sky was a deep, New Mexico blue and the snow was as good as it gets. Ran across a doe, browsing for food on the return leg of the trip. Stopped and watched her for a while. It was one of those stop-and-enjoy moments. Perfect day, all things considered.