writer
Squandered the better part of a beautiful day at the keyboard. But it was worth it. Made great headway on one story, and nearly came to a passable reader's draft on the second, "Dead Drift." Have good feelings about the work these days, and hope the old instincts are on target. Off to the gym late afternoon. Back home after a short workout. Gonna glide into Saturday night.
Into the office early. Good work done on "Dead Drift," formerly "The Catch." Reordered the narrative, streamlined the action, trimmed dead wood, and rewrote the ending. Still need to smooth out the diction, but the piece has already improved by leaps and bounds. Also made some good advances with a new story, working title, "Walking In." Have four pieces now, all within a few good edits of going out the door. At least three others not far behind. Want to believe this is going to be a good year. Not worried about quantity, but would like to see a leap forward in quality. Bigger pubs. Maybe a few extra bucks on the side.
Nice weather today, and more promised tomorrow. Someone mentioned seventies, but it seems too early for that. Anyway, a classic Colorado day. Blue skies, snowy peaks, and fresh air. The antidote to a whole helluva lot that's going on right now. Another nice thing. Saw my artist friend, George S. yesterday. Been too long. Had a great visit, and am already looking forward to the next.
Late. Just back from seeing The Maltese Falcon down at Tinseltown. What a movie!
Up early to say goodbye. K off to New York, then Florida. Good morning with the little man, then off to dental appointments, the office, and home again. Had the chance to delve deeper into Poetics of Fiction, and am fascinated--truly fascinated--by what I'm learning. Put in a bit of time editing, but wasn't able to make huge headway owing to other work. Tomorrow, right? Cold weather blew in overnight, snow as well. Tomorrow's supposed to offer a respite. Let's hope so.
Harper Lee died today. That one hurt.
Windy day. Bad dreams last night. Woke up in a sour mood and couldn't kick it. Slow morning, but managed some edits this afternoon. Making better progress than hoped on my new birth-parents story.
Letter off to the folks. Looks like I won't be making the trip south this weekend. Feel bad about that, but work and other obligations are standing in the way. Gotta re-group and start counter-punching.
Last good day before the Chinooks blow in again, if the weather folks are right. Sunny, blue skies. It was all there for the asking, providing you didn't have any prior commitments to keep you from it. Which I did. Spent the morning getting the new iPhone working, gathering up tax documents, taking care of the odd errand, and managing the smallest amount of editing on an old manuscript. Been banging away all week, but can't seem to make things move forward. Hope that means when it gives, it comes in a flood. Finished Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, while riding the bike at the gym. Fun piece of work. Really enjoyed it. Re-read the first ten or so pages of "Sonny's Blues" too. Quite a story. Quite a story. Letter out the door to D. today. Always feels like a message in a bottle, sending them off.
Crazy mixed up day. Got waylaid on the way to the office, caught up in long, involved telephone conversation, and when the conversation ended the phone followed suit. Spent forty minutes at the iphone repair center only to learn the device was dead. Spent the last part of the afternoon driving to the north side of town in rush hour to make it to the Apple store in time to buy a new phone. Not much done in the way of work, but happy to say I was able to get "Outskirts" out the door to The Journal, and still find time to snag a copy of T. Jenks "A Poetics of Fiction" for some late night reading. High winds blowing in and out the past few days. Allergies are driving me nuts. Saw there's an excerpt of Don DeLillo's new novel in this week's New Yorker. Read the interview online yesterday. Great answer from D. about character's backstory/motivation. Will have to revisit that one. Didn't get a lick of writing in today. Will have to remedy that tomorrow.
Another unseasonably warm day. All but a few pockets of snow left in the neighborhood. Worked on revise of "Morphosis" this morning. Trying to get the voice right. It's a short-short piece, but that makes the task all the more daunting. Did some good work, then went off to see a movie.
Hit the gym around 2:00, back home by 3:30. Put in time on an old draft I'd abandoned a couple of years ago. Had meant to get back to it, but misplaced the file. Reading it, found some good stuff. Maybe it's a blessing it went missing. Saw right off what needed to be fixed and leapt in. Will take a while to make it right, but was pleased to see that most of the real work will be in the opening pages. The end is actually pretty strong already.
Out to dinner with guests tonight. Need to shower and dress. More later.
Working day. Up early, off to the keyboard, revisions to "Donor" and "Morphosis." Hung around the house, waiting for a call from NM editorial. Long conversation. Forty or so minutes. All good.
Out for coffee and a little grocery shopping afterward. Dropped Jeep off at carwash for detailing. Must needs do same with truck before the next jaunt to Albuquerque. No gym today.
Justice A. Scalia kicked bucket this afternoon. Big surprise. Should make for some interesting political fodder for the coming election. Doubt he'll be replaced before then.
Two fillets resting downstairs. Talipia for dinner. Signing off.
Blue skies all day. Beautiful. Snow close to being gone now, but still a good day or two away. Into the office a little after eight. Finished a readable draft of "Unseen" then went on to do some research on a new draft I'm tentatively calling "Donor." Fairly productive, all things considered. Also managed to get four drafts of "Beggar's Banquet" in the mail.
Looks like a warm weekend in the making. Been talking about a drive up to Leadville, so who knows? Maybe it'll happen. Pretty drive. Be nice to get back up into the mountains again. Last time there, all sorts of goings on. Fond memories, for sure.
Like to dig into a short story this weekend (Someone else's). Have a hardcover commemorative volume of BASS on the nightstand I haven't been able to crack yet (beyond the front matter), and that might be a good place to start. Have gone back and read a few pieces from Thom Jones's collection, The Pugiliist at Rest this week. Wow. Really liked the guy's work.
Third day in a row of mild weather and sun, but there's still six inches of now on the lawn. Maybe it'll be gone by the weekend. Feels like a lost day, but I know it wasn't. Drafted a new story that may or may not have promise, then into the office to do a little commercial work. Took care of small things from noon till 2:00, then off to the barber, the gym, and back to the office. Feeling the weight of the week, and happy to know tomorrow's Friday. Looking forward to a couple days of uninterrupted writing. Very much like to have a working draft of "Unseen" in order by tomorrow evening. "Good Bad Friday" not long after that. Submitted a scaled back version of The Outskirts of Nowhere" off to the Indiana Review press for consideration in the Blue Lights Book Prize. Haven't had much luck with the IR, but we'll see. Maybe an independent judge will look more favorably on my style.
Perfectly good post disappeared on me. Ain't writin another.
Where do I start? Up early, but not early enough to hit the gym. Home all morning looking after little things, then to the office to finish the Royal Gorge script and send off the first NM review, which I kicked upstairs. After that, paid bills, ran to the bank and post office.
Temps warm today. Streets a slushy mess. Weather bureau says 50s tomorrow, and maybe the day after. Not sure it'll be enough to melt all the snow that's left, but what's left will be a problem for days.
Tired and ready for something different.
Up later than usual. Extra rest good after a night out.
Made some decent revisions on Good Bad Friday. Think I have a new opening. Added two hundred fifty to three hundred words on the front end, but clipped just as many from the rest of the story. Beginning to feel all right.
Went off to see "Hail, Caesar!" this afternoon. Enjoyed it. A nice break from work.
Got most of my first NM review in place later this evening.
Can't believe it. Woke up to two more inches of snow this morning. Went out and shoveled, then came back in for a quick couple of cups of coffee. Made a couple of manuscript revisions, then headed into the office. A beautiful morning. It actually slapped me in the face as I was heading west, up to Old Colorado City. Blue sky, thin low-hanging clouds, and the Peak rising up out it all, as pure and steady and permanent as anything in this world ever gets.
Spent the afternoon at home, working on the Royal Gorge script. Lots of interruptions, but got far enough I should be able to wrap it up sometime tomorrow. Missed getting over to the gym again tonight. Damn. Gonna hit it early tomorrow, and make up for lost reps.
That's it. Throwing in the towel for evening.
Long, quiet day. Pushed papers at the office, worked on script for the Royal Gorge, did some billing and still managed a few revisions. Haven't been able to muster enough energy for a deep push, writing into the evening. The cold dark nights sap the cheer out of it. Glad to see the weekend come round. Have a little time for my fiction. If it's warm, maybe get in some snowshoeing. Headed out to the gym with the wrong set of keys. Begged my way in only to discover I'd left my workout clothes at home. Picked up a six on the way home. Figured it was the best I'd be able to do, given the cursed nature of the evening.
Just back from an EJ meeting about Social Security. Illuminating--in that, as suspected, I won't be retiring anytime soon.
Cold day, but not so bad in the sun. Went sledding for the first time in many a year down at the park. Much fun was had. Wind picked up and headed home, Tilapia fillet for lunch, website copy most of the afternoon, a little reading and revision in the early evening.
Note from Michael Croft, editor in chief at Narrative magazine late this afternoon. I've been accepted as an assistant editor. A lot of work ahead. A lot of responsibility. Thrilled with the news and can't wait to get started.
Went to work on the new opening of "Good Bad Friday" this morning. Banged out something like 300 words without looking back. Some clean-up, compression, and I'll be ready to send it out. Feels as though the pieces are falling into place.
Must have been a foot of snow out there this morning. Shoveled like hell and dumped it on the grass. Streets are a mess. Gonna take a few solid days of sunshine and warm weather to even put a dent in things. Forecast calls for fifty-some degrees come the weekend. If we get it, we'll be looking at a mountain of slush.
Close to finished with the "Beggar's Banquet" draft. Really like the changes I've made over the past few days. I knew there was a story under all the horse shit, and am glad I hung tight with it. Think it's got potential now. Feels like it, anyway. Will let it sit for a couple of days then go back and have another look-see.
Made it to the gym late afternoon, but didn't have much in the tank. Maybe it was all the snow shoveling this morning. Will hit it hard tomorrow if I can.
Picked up the new glasses. Still not right, but at this point, three passes in, I didn't figure it would get any better. So I took them. They'll be find for reading, but lousy for anything beyond about three feet. Abba Eyecare, never again.
Waffled in my believerhood when I looked out the window this morning. Couldn't have been more than a few inches of snow. Went out, shoveled, and figured I was through. Must have gotten seven inches since then as payback. Came back from the gym, and had to shovel a second time. No doubt about it, there's a third pass in my future.
A lot of solid work today. Very happy with the direction the new/old story is taking. Have ripped off the Stones for a working title. "Beggar's Banquet." Feels right now, like I've finally cracked the code. Still needs work, but not all that much.
Fire burning downstairs. Time for a glass of wine. Need to back off the revisions for a while and start something new. Get hammering on the commercial work.
