Making something out of nothing...

Another wild one.

So tired by 12:30, had to lie down. Didn’t manage to get much of anything done, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Took one long walk around the block, and it seemed to be a pretty nice afternoon. Not sure what the weather ahead’s supposed to bring, but I expect the word “cold” is going to work into it. Just a guess.

Need to make a serious bid at hitting the gym early morning. Been putting it off because mornings got so crowded, but looking back on it, I think I made better progress the rest of the day. It’ll change the working dynamic on the long piece, but prospects there are waning anyway with the holidays coming up.

Glad to put this one to rest.

Looking ahead to a more productive tomorrow.

Yow...

Busy one. But came at it rested and ready.

New stories in from N. Read two so far, but haven’t started on the critiques. Working on research for next week’s meetings, too.

Not sure, but I think it was cloudy most of the day. Feels like winter’s about to make another appearance. Gonna have to look for new ways to entertain young M. Think I’ll take a shot and pushing him around in shopping carts tomorrow since the weather’s tapped to turn south.

Didn’t get anytime to work on the long piece today, but maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Laid awake much of the night thinking about it, and may have reasoned myself into understanding where it is I want to go from here. We’ll see.

Prime directive. Christmas tree goes up on Saturday. Gotta get jump on it while the time’s available. Outside decorations? Who knows when that’ll happen.

Meantime, keep pushing.

Works and days...

Overcast day with a chill. Up too late to manage anything significant at the keyboard, but did do some housekeeping and letter writing. The rest of the day went to young M. Did get a brief trip to the gym, which was cool. Found myself all alone there for the first time in years. Was nice.

Restless night’s sleep last night, but it gave me a lot of time to think about the long piece. As in, what I want to do with it now. Answer: trust in what brought you here, and push ahead with fingers crossed.

Rough end of day. The whooping and hollering eventually does it. Anyway, looking forward to a good night’s sleep and an early rise. Getting in some fresh work.

Bits and pieces...

First of the week, and not a bad start. Put in some good time at the keyboard early on, editing the long piece. After that, finished two reviews for N and passed them along to the higher powers.

Had a funny moment on Thanksgiving. Walked in on a football game playing on the TV and was struck with the thought I should call my dad. He’ll be dead, what, three years in April?

Made it to the gym for a quick workout. Felt good to get back in the swing. Been thinking about going in the mornings again so I can keep on schedule. We’ll see.

Descant sent along a copy of the new issue, volume 57. My story “Love Triangle” appears on page 67. Stylish looking pub.

The day after...

Yeah.

Out of town early. Drive across Wilkerson Pass beautiful, Collegiates smothered in mist. Felled this year’s Christmas tree with young J wielding a hatchet and me an axe. Had lunch (cheeseburgers, what else?) in Buena Vista, then drove back home. Nice day all around. Went by pretty fast.

Back now. Gonna give mom a call.

As always, much to be thankful for...

Spent the early part of the day reading and writing. New novel excerpt from N was pretty good. Abandoned the keyboard before noon and took the axe and hatchet to Tony’s to have them sharpened in advance of the drive up into the San Isabels in search of a Christmas tree.

Hit the gym just before one, then came home and did a little more reading. Quiet afternoon.

Thanksgiving tomorrow. Should be a nice one. Lots of company set to drift in.

Weather’s been cool, but not too bad. Skies clear despite the fires in CA.

What it is...

Long, long day.

Up early to take the pickup in for new tires. Came home in time to have a cup of coffee before young M arrived.

No break to the gym today—to many people coming and going—but managed to write a few reviews before heading out to the school to pick up J.

Full day of babysitting. Full. Day.

Picked up the truck just before six and drove straight home to find a new submission in my queue. Was kinda hoping to get around to the Edmund White piece, but I guess that’ll happen soon enough.

Gonna shoot for an early rise tomorrow. Put in some time on my own work. We’ll see how it goes.

On the road...

Quick postscript to a long day.

Drove up to Leadville this morning to scout Christmas tree possibilities in the San Isabel’s. Found two, marked them and drove home.

The Collegiate Peaks were, as always, an astonishing sight. Mount Princeton is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful mountains in the country—with or without snow.

Good day for wildlife watching. Must have seen forty deer, and a herd of at least eighty pronghorn. All in all a fun, but tiring day. The Arkansas was running clear and hard, and made me wish I’d had time to fish. The same seeing Clear Creek. Maybe next summer, right? Love to get J up there for a day.

Home late. Hoped to get the pickup in the shop for some new tires. Guess it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Edging into the holidays...

Lots of reading today. Lots of editing.

“Money Shot” is nearly there.

Read two long N pieces today, and began making notes. One story left to read before I weigh in with the critiques.

Gotta get back into the long piece. Might take the ms along tomorrow when we drive up to Leadville, scouting Christmas trees. See if I can get to the end. Decide what comes next.

Put in a brief appearance at the gym. Nice to get back. Hadn’t been there since Thursday, and was alternately dreading and looking-forward to it.

Got a text from bro Patrick while at the grocery store. Mom wants to come out before Christmas. Looks like it’s gonna be a busy month what with clients, family, and all the rest. What else is new, right? It’s the holidays.

Thanksgiving this week. Hard to believe.

Slick...

Up until after one last night. That’s a first. Or a first in half a decade. Had a great time with John and Karin last night. Slept hard, and didn’t wake until morning. Got in some good revisions, and finally found the closing graph to “Money Shot.” Not much left to do now before I have a reader draft.

Movie this afternoon. A Private War. Liked it quite a bit, though I’ve always been a sucker for war correspondent movies. Killed a dreary afternoon in the theater, then came home and made a pot of tomato soup.

Some new submissions from N for the Under 30 gig. Gonna have to roll to get them back out the door. Meanwhile, a nice quiet Saturday at home.

Misty night. Everything’s turning to ice.

Reading between the lines...

Woke early, made some revisions to “Money Shot,” then cleaned the house and took Kit to the vet. The ride over wasn’t much fun—he’s not a good traveler—but the checkup was overdue (he hadn’t had a wellness exam in four years), and the initial opinion of the doc was that he seemed fine. Nineteen pounds of sweetness and charm. They drew blood, the results of which will come in next week, but more as matter of precaution against elderly diseases than anything else. Everyone was incredibly sweet to him. In the end I think the whole ordeal was worse on me.

Guests tonight. Made three separate runs to the Safeway before getting everything we needed. Only hope I can hold up past eight after the day’s drama. Throwing game hens on the rotisserie. Uncorking a nice wine.

Note from TJ this evening regarding a NYer piece.

Things to think about...

Up early to work on the Philharmonic joint. Cold morning.

Worried about Kit. Have an appointment to take him in on Friday for a checkup. He’s been drinking a lot of water lately. Been a little aloof, too.

Boys here for dinner. Both have colds. Yeah, colds. Again.

Cold play...

Snow. Seven or eight inches. More, it seems, than we got most of last winter. Anyway, good to have it. Not sure how long it’ll last, but good to have it.

Working through new drafts of “Money Shot.” Keep finding different angles, different layers. Nice to get lost in something new. Thought I’d have a workable reader draft at this point, but it is what it is and I don’t want to give it up until I’ve explored all the possibilities.

Gonna be a busy week. Already a busy week. Have a new commercial project due tomorrow, and a handful of two-year old showing up early, to keep things interesting.

Made it to the gym today. Lots of folks running around the place today. Cold weather? Who knows.

Had a dream last night about champagne glasses. When was the last time I tasted champagne? When was the last time I slept through the night?

Seeing what isn't there...

It occurred to me not moments ago that I may have wasted the entire year on a project that didn’t deserve the effort.

I’ve written my way out of tight spots before, and maybe it I can do it here, too. But for the moment, all I want to do lie down and go to sleep. Wake up on a different day.

Breathe in, breathe out...

Well, it never did rain. Sun actually came out for a while, though the wind kept things on the brisk side. Spent most of the day chasing after the little one, but did manage to get a small window to work early in the afternoon. Pushed two N reviews out the door and started a read on a new story. Novel excerpt that, if keeps going the way it has, is going to get kicked upstairs.

Went out for a brief walk and wagon ride late afternoon. Thought it might go south at first, but everything settled and it was all right in the end. Never seen a child so reluctant to be ferried around. Never.

Got a quick look at the long piece this morning. Still have my fingers crossed I can make quick work of the clean up. Right now it feels further away than I’d hoped, but it’s tough to tell without a long critical sit-down. Don’t want to speculate at this point. All I can do is to keep driving ahead.

Elections today. Whatever comes of them, I hope it improves peoples attitudes. I’m tired of the din.

Over, under, sideways, down...

Kind of quiet, for a Monday. Thought it might be colder, too, but as November goes it wasn’t a bad showing. Blue skies. Sun. A bit of wind.

Spent most of the morning making revisions. Some of it reading. Managed a trip to the gym early afternoon and fudged my way through another early-week workout. Forearm’s been sore, but seems to be getting better. Wonder how much of that was the result of skipping the thyroid meds for a few days? Guess we’ll see.

Election day tomorrow. Be glad to have the whole circus behind us—at least for a few months. I take my hat off to anybody serious enough about public service they’d choose to enter politics without having a gun put to their head. What a blessed, but godawful profession.

Young M scheduled to show tomorrow. Need to get a good night’s sleep. Weatherman says rain or snow. Why is it the forecast always stinks when the little people show?

And suddenly, it's dark again...

Well, Daylight Saving Time came as promised, and as always the extra hour was welcomed and well-spent. Dug back into the long piece and wrote a short scene that will have a large impact on the arc of the narrative. Now I just need the time to work through the ripples it left in its wake. Also made another small but significant revisions to “Money Shot.” Feel as if I finally have the ending in place, and that with the exception of a few small tweaks will be able to put together a decent reader copy.

Cold, overcast day today. Spent most of it around the house. Made a brief trip to the grocery store to pick up fixings for beef stew, but that was the extent of my travels. Got off a letter to my sister, and another to D, who I haven’t spoken to for way way way too long. Need to remedy that.

Read a couple of new N stories late this afternoon. They were both competent, but one of them had some real promise.

Sunrise, civilized man...

Up early reading, polishing “Money Shot.” Feeling like I get closer with each pass, but the revisions keep opening new possibilities. Don’t want to let go until the last of them runs out. Got caught up on the long work, too, after weeks of leaving it alone. Felt pretty good about what I read and look forward to diving in tomorrow. Hope the energy sticks. If it does, the last pass through ought to go pretty quickly.

A low bank of gray clouds has made its way down the front range. Expect to get at least a light dusting of snow tonight despite the fact the weather folks called for a fifty degree day. Forecast is up and down for most of the coming week, so it’s tough to know what’ll blow in. Gonna have some changes in the schedule with young J spending the entire day on Friday and his bro later than usual on Thursday, but it’s that time of year, I guess. Forget, sometimes, how much the holidays turn things upside down.

No gym today. Been unusually tired and sore owing to the fact I’ve been off the thyroid Rx for days, so maybe the rest was good. Gonna get in an extra hour tonight with the change in Daylight Saving Time, so should be able to get a strong fresh start in the morning.