The day after...

Late to rise after a quiet night. Made it to the office around 9:15 and worked out a few revisions, paid a few bills. Got to the gym at noon and hit the heavy bag for a while. Hadn't realized it until late in the day, but the weather was perfect. High clouds, blue sky. Sun. Cut the lawn for the first time since fall in anticipation of the sprinkler man's return tomorrow. Looks as good as I can ever remember this early in the season. A few sinkholes where the old trees' root system had collapsed, but otherwise green and healthy. Not looking forward to the trip to Albuquerque, but not much to do about it either. Just suck it up and soldier on. 

Meanderings...

On the road for a couple of days. Trip south. Quiet drive home listening to Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking. Back to work this morning, putting in revisions on a new coming-of-age story. Think it's gonna be a nice piece if I can get the end right. 

Note from Boston University morning before I left. A complimentary rejection of "Occurrence at the Night Owl Liquor Store." Said writing was quite nice, but "stereotypical" in its characterization of three crackhead gunman. The acronym AAVE was used. Didn't know what it meant. (Sigh.) Just a guess, but I bet they don't teach Huck Finn, either.

Changes coming. Big and small. Just want to keep my eyes on the horizon and fingers on the keyboard. Tired of stupid people. Need to spend a little more time with my friends, the fish. Though not this weekend. More snow predicted. Lots of it. 

 

Mamma tried...

Merle Haggard bought the farm today. Sorry to hear it. Pneumonia. Started listening to his music back when I was in high school. Regarded it as highly as the Stones, the Who, and most of my favorite rockers. I guess Jung would call that the duality of man. I don't know. But Mr. Haggard will be missed. His nods to Jimmy Rodgers, to train songs, were classics.

Wind, rattling the windows...

Weather's turning. Again. Beautiful sunny day is on its way out, and a long bank of gray clouds is steamrolling its way over the mountains. Not sure what the forecast is, but by the look of it we could wake up to snow tomorrow.

Early morning visit to the allergist, then home to work. It might be Tuesday, but it had Monday written all over it. Slow going, start to finish.

Read an article in the NYer by Gay Talese about a motelier (I'm coining that word, by the way) in Aurora, named Foos. A voyeur. Could say more, but-- 

Looking ahead to summer. Fishing. Time in the mountains. Been locked up all winter and finally starting to feel it. Nine new pieces in from N. Gonna read all before making any decisions.

It's the little things...

Back in touch with some old mates from SF. Good to be able to read their work. Easy day here in the Springs. Weather sunny, temps in the 60s. A good day all around. Up early to do some revisions, but mostly took things in stride. Quit the keyboard around noon, and went off to a movie. Dinner out with family later.

Albuquerque on the mind. Changes coming in spades, though it's hard to say when and in what proportion. Been surprised more times in the past month than the previous five years, total. How is it the most obvious things can still sneak up on us? 

Nice thing about getting older, you look forward to stuff like planting a new bush. Painting a window sill. 

Resurrection...

Quiet Easter Sunday. Brunch with family, long distance calls to more family, then off to the Dodge dealership to ransom the truck from it's water pump woes. Sun came out. Big snow of yesterday is all but melted. Grass is almost green.  

Good (sort of) Friday...

Tugged in all directions. 

Put last touches on "Unseen" this morning. Will start sending it off next week. Spend rest of the day researching markets...trying not to worry about the future. Weather took turn this afternoon. Looks like that mountain of snow we've been promised might actually come though.

Truck needs new water pump. Ouch.

Road trip in the making...

Stuck in what feels like an endless state of revision. Good? Bad? Hard to say. Maybe what's best now is to stand down, take a breath, and come back to some of these pieces later. Happened on a title for the story of the two hunters. "Wilderness of Pain." Lifted it from the Doors, "The End." Still monkeying around with dialog, wondering if condensing some of the interior action won't strengthen the work.

Proofs in for "Desperado" from the editors of the American Fiction anthology. Edit looks clean. Looking forward to seeing the final product.

Earmarked a few of my yet unseen drafts for some upcoming deadlines. If that doesn't get them out the door, nothing will. 

Leaving for Durango tomorrow. Albuquerque the day after. Bittersweet doings, but with any luck more sweet than bitter.

 

Moving sideways...

Close. Close on at least four stories, but all an arm's length from being in the mail. Niggling details. Last minute additions. Etc. Trying to find a balance between elevation and ornament. The best thing is to clean them up, send them out and move on. But for some reason they're reluctant to go. Maybe I'm asking them to do too much.

Good day, workwise. Not a lot of time to spend on fiction, but paying projects were in abundance. Got over to the park late in the day. Enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Hit the gym after five, but too many people around for a good workout. Need to start earlier, when no one's there.

Long conversation with an old friend this morning. News not good. Son's in a bad way. Hard to swallow those things as you get older. Time's never your friend, but at the same time it's the only remedy to most of life's difficulties.

A stream of consciousness...

Beautiful Sunday. Writing, yard work, the gym, grocery store. Short conversation with the old folks. One of those days where one thing flows into another, and suddenly you're a minor character in a Virginia Woolf story. Worse fates have befallen people, I suppose. 

The course of things...

Did it. Managed a reading draft of "Dead Drift." Put in some serious time on another new story as well. Between the two finished a NYer piece by Don DeLillo and did some catch up reading in the Jenks book.

Dispiriting email from a buddy in Wisconsin. Bad luck going back so many years it's hard to fathom. Getting older doesn't fix much, does it? Strange looking back and remembering how good  things seemed at the beginning. How much they change and veer off course with the smallest bit of english.

Got some sleep last night. Needed it. Looking forward to a quiet evening. Right now, got a kitty who needs attention.

Postage due...

One or two sentences away from putting the finishing touches on "Dead Drift." Much headway on   new story, "Trigger Happy," today. Didn't realize it was so close. Good to have so many pieces in the works, and so many more in the wings. Been a slow go for the past eighteen months. With "Unseen" and "Good Bad Friday" both near the finish line as well, may have four strong stories in circulation by month's end. Not overanxious, but want to move on to newer drafts. Time to get the manuscripts in the mail.

 

 

Bewitched, bedeviled, and bewildered...

Been plugging away at four different stories, all close to completion, but each one's posed its own special difficulties. "Dead Drift" is probably closest to being finished. Should have a reading draft by tomorrow, certainly by the weekend. Feel really good about the piece. Hope it lives up to expectations. Dragged a copy of "Bad Good Friday" into the office this afternoon, and went at resectioning it the old fashioned way. With a scissors. Sounds stupid, but no shit, it worked. I now have a working draft that both makes sense and moves forward--instead of sideways. Whatever works, right? 

Daylight Savings Time? This weekend? Am I right about this?