On again, off again...

Another wild one.

Into the office early, and hard at the keyboard. Three--check, four--N reviews written and out the door. One package to the P.O., a quick read-through and edit of "Te Quiero Con Todo Mi Corazon." Home by 1:00 to look after little things.

Wanted to get to the gym, but the cold/sinus stuff has been kicking my ass. Begged off tonight in the hope of recovery.

We'll see if it makes a difference. 

A chill winter bastard today, as Anthony Burgess would have said. But only a dusting of snow. 

Just the highlights...

A day of surprises.

Must have gotten a little bit of work done, but hardly remember what it was. Except for the trip to the dump, which is always entertaining.

Weather cooled off quite a bit. Supposed to get down in the low teens tonight. Fingers crossed the sprinkler system doesn't rupture.

Finished the latest round of N mss. Need to jump all over the critiques tomorrow. Then on to the B&T stories. Looking forward, as always.

Four more days of antibiotics. Not sure they're doing the trick. Still feel hammered. Gonna pound down some zinc tomorrow, too. See if that helps.

 

Guess who's going to dinner?

Good god.  How did this day sneak up? Much craziness with workmen, meetings, work...more work...and not a cup of Starbucks to salvage a bit of it.

Seems like days since I've been able to work on a ms of my own. Longer. Hope the break does me some good. 

Miss my quiet time.

Off to dinner with family in few minutes. Best to sign off now.

Staying frosty...

It's coming on six, and I don't know where the day went. Spent most of it reading, writing critiques, sending off personal correspondence. Soon as I finished, five new pieces came in from N. Gonna have to buckle down to survive the week.

Got some Christmas decorations up, but didn't quite manage the tree. That'll have to come tomorrow when it warms up a bit. Otherwise I'll be busy chiseling block ice off the trunk.

Trip to Lowes later this afternoon, pricing doors, sheet rock, etc. Steve the carpenter comes out tomorrow to bid on the framing. Tim the electrician after that. Project looks as if it's taking off. Nothing left now but to hemorrhage money and kill ourselves with artificial deadlines.

Sinus infection still here. Damn. Hope the antibiotics start kicking in soon. Would like to get a good night's sleep for a change. If I'm up early tomorrow, might just strike out for the gym in the cold. 

 

 

Demolition man...

Where did the day go?

Spent a bit of the morning reading, revising, then went out to face the garage. Demo went more smoothly than expected, but took a long time nonetheless. Made one trip to the dump, but have a second in the making. Monday, maybe.

Tired. Eyes smarting. Finished for the day.

Will figure out the wisdom of the floorplan tomorrow.

Friday, neither Good, Bad, nor Indifferent

Rough going again today. Antibiotics not doing much for the sinus infection. Oh, well. Still early in the regimen. Fingers crossed I won't have to contend with a secondary infection, too.

Enough complaining. Got some beautiful birthday wishes today. A lot of smiles. Week turned out all right, despite being under the weather. Not sleeping. The crazy dreams I had when I did sleep.

Got my ms. off to the B&T group. Also worked another N story, and started my critique. Nice piece. Gonna promote it.

Cold today. Hope it warms a little tomorrow. Plan on undertaking some demo in the garage, and would prefer to do it with marginally functional hands.

Calling it quits for the night. Beat.

Bring forth the ring, Frodo...

Been knocked around by this stinking sinus infection. But still on my feet. Crazy morning. Back and forth. Home, office, office home. Even so, managed to get some project work out of the way.

Gotta tweak "Man of Letters" and get it off to B&T. Tried this afternoon, but needed one last pass to see it through. Didn't happen. Too many distractions. Will ship it off tomorrow, hell or high water. Still feel good about the piece, but interested to know what anyone else thinks.

Cold again today. Not bitter, but enough to wear gloves. Expect I'll be repeating those words for the next few months. Would like to get out for a long walk. Haven't done that in a while. A hike in the mountains would be nice.

Started A.B. Guthrie's Big Sky this morning. Didn't get far, but liked what I read. Didn't realize he helped adapt the screenplay for Shane. Pretty cool, pretty cool.

Tired. Gonna hang it up for the evening. Dream about castles and wizards and things.

 

Where I am going, where I have been...

Well. Hardly got anywhere today. Made it into the office at a respectable hour, but kept getting pulled away from my work. Got some revisions in place, but not a whole lot more before having to leave and look after things at home. Lot of back and forth.

Wrote two critiques and read a new story this afternoon. Made a pot of minestrone soup while I worked. Something to be happy about, I guess.

Didn't make it to the gym today. Maybe its for the best, given the sinus infection. Don't want to make things worse. Especially after getting a start on the antibiotics. Tomorrow's supposed to be a hairpin road, from what I'm told. May as well enjoy the breather while I've got it. 

Gonna try and kick back tonight, get a little reading in. We'll see how that goes. Like to close in on these last 60 or so pages of The Searchers.

Found out late last night my short story "Riverbound" was named a finalist in the Sequestrum New Writer Awards. Nice to hear. Made for a good night's sleep.

Live for another day...

Yeah. Still here, banging.

Up early after a worthless night's sleep. Worked some quick revisions, looked after the new N stories, read a couple of chapters, then ran off to the doc's office. Sinus infection, confirmed. Antibiotics for the next couple of weeks.

Full afternoon of billing, letter writing, project work, trips to post office, Arc, etc. Hardly know where the time went. Maybe just as well.

Gotta jump all over tomorrow. This time of year, always working at a deficit. Falling behind no matter how much you get ahead.

Calling it quits.

A Sunday meditation...

A perfectly lovely morning. Lots of this and that. A bit of the other. All good.

Big week ahead. Gotta rest up for it. Try and rid myself of this--what? Sinus infection? Allergies? Cold?

Made turkey stock from the Thanksgiving bird. Making turkey soup tonight.

Tired, but in a good way. Peaceful way. Keeping this short.

 

Closing in on Sunday...

Short entry. Home late from the gym.

Full day--beautiful day for late November--writing, letter writing, cleaning and moving. Got some new mss. in from N as well.

Mean to call Mom. Too late now. Will do it tomorrow. Can't believe how quickly the past few days have come and gone. "Swift as a weaver's shuttle fleet our years..."

Glimpses of this and that...

Black Friday. Well, maybe not so black after all.

Nice, quiet Thanksgiving yesterday. Guests for dinner. Wonderful food, good wine, great conversation. Cooked my first rotisserie turkey, and it was everything I'd hoped for, a beautiful, bird. Will never go back to oven roasted again.

Had a dream last night where my dad came looking for me. He'd brought my old German shepherd, Buck (died April 15, 1995), with him. I called the dog and he ran to me and put his paws on my shoulders the way he used to do. I was overcome. I couldn't breath. I woke from a dead sleep and sat up in bed and tried to settle my mind, but here it is, early evening, and the dream is still with me. As strong as ever.

Cleaned K's gutters this afternoon, then went off to run errands. Bought a Christmas tree at the Good Earth just before closing. Beautiful Nordmann. Nine feet in height. Silver green needles. Got some writing in earlier--some reading, too. Came across a deceptively good fist-fight scene in Alan LeMay's The Searchers.

Hope to clean the garage tomorrow, box some books, make preliminary measurements for a new construction project. Need to keep looking ahead. Dreaming, no matter what.

 

Keyboardus Interruptus...

Jesus. Off the grid again. Three day (four day?) visit with Mom. Got a small amount of reading in, no writing, but little else. Had a nice time. We're all getting older, and it shows. Radio silence with the rest of the known world, but that should change before long. Weather should warm, too, over the next day or so.

Thanksgiving tomorrow. Hard to believe. William Trevor died this week. Need to read a story or two in commemoration. 

Kittie siege! Abandon keyboard!

A Saturday Evening Post...

Falling behind!

Got in some good edits this morning before jumping into chores around the house. May have put the final edits on "Man of Letters." Will have to let it go cold one more time before passing judgment. More good work on "Te Quiero Con Todo Mi Corazon" too. Best to let that one sit for a few days before going back. Move on to something else.

Nice note from N regarding a story I kicked up stairs. Didn't make the final cut, but got a lot of praise. Feels good to see solid work noticed. Hope the author finds a good home for the piece.

Hit a movie early afternoon. Arrival. It had some interesting moments, and beautiful effects but fell short, I think, in the end. Enjoyed it, but don't need to see it again.

Mom coming in tomorrow. Seems like she just left. Guess that speaks to how crazy life's been the past month. Miss the summer. Miss the fall. The good parts, anyway. Feels as if it's going to be a long winter.

One revelation. The gym is virtually empty at 5:00 on Saturday night.

Thoughts on a cold Thursday evening...

Out of the house at 5:30. Fourth night in a row I haven't slept. Went to the gym, worked out, came home and got ready for work.

Read, rewrote, revised, and critiqued. Then home again to look after little things. Quiet early afternoon. Studying TJ's Poetics again. Endless font of information. 

Winter announced its entrance late this afternoon. Flurries. Dropped temps. Had to come sooner or later, yes? Anyway, made due. Offered it up, as the nuns used to say. My god, but what our forebears endured! Trying to imagine what it would be like living in the cabin in Wyoming all winter--with food and without fear of losing your topknot to savages. My grandfather would have thought it a picnic!

Get tough. Grrrrrr. Read the closing chapter of No Country for Old Men last night. Remembered my dad. A tough man, feeling his way through this life like the rest of us. Not always right, but always dad. I can live with that. I miss him.

Back in the game...

Out of it for a couple of days. Not sure where the time went. Many fetes, as Fitzgerald wrote.

Hammering away at N submissions. Got a couple of fun ones this time around, a couple of rim shots, too.

Read yesterday that Thom Jones died in October. Still bumming over that one.

Work, coming and going. Same with guests, visitors, family, etc. Trying to catch a breath. 

Saturday...

Restless night, strange dreams.

Woke up late, or then again, maybe not. Slow going. Or, maybe not. Did some time at the keyboard, dropped off paint, etc., at the toxic dump facility. then came home and took up yard work.

Too tired to write more.

Happy for small things.