writer
Headway on the novel revisions.
PT and workout took up most of the afternoon. Had a nice talk with my bro back in Wisconsin.
K over for dinner tonight. Steak au poivre.
Worked out a fishing trip with uncle for next week
Need to crack on the N critiques tomorrow.
So. Car wreck of a day. Even so, managed to work some decent revisions and jog the stairs in the park.
PT tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
A little bit of writing interrupted by two miserably long trips out to the car dealership, only to learn the issue will have to be dealt with at some later date.
Did get a small workout in, too.
Gonna start again early tomorrow and see if I can’t do a little better.
Rome wasn’t burnt in a day.
Up earlier than usual, out the door to the cottage earlier than usual. Got in some good writing. Jogged the stairs in the soccer field before going off to PT.
Worked through the afternoon, caught up on correspondence, picked up some pork chops at the grocery, then came home and read.
Took a walk early this evening. Weather was beautiful. Trees lost some of their leaves after yesterday’s blow, but things still looked pretty.
Checked out Chatfield State Park online. Like to take my uncle up there for a little fishing. We’ll see what the week brings.
Rough night with the arm. Not sure what’s going on, but hope it’s healing.
Good work on the long manuscript today, then a short trip to the gym. Got home, voted, treated myself to a latte from Starbucks, then went back to work, making submissions.
Received a long solicitous rejection from the Berkeley Fiction Review. Might have just been easier if they’d accepted the piece.
Calling it.
Dinner’s on the table.
And then that happened.
Troubled arm, troubled night’s sleep. Even so, managed a decent wake-up time and some good revisions on the long piece.
FaceTimed with Jack and Matt for an hour or so, then went off to the gym. Had a nice quiet workout, then came home, talked to my uncle, filled up the truck and prepped dinner.
Sky was clear today, but the bad from the fires was still in the air. Ash out front are a beautiful shade of gold. Leaves were falling like snow all day.
Looking forward to a quiet Sunday.
Seems like the pace slackened today. Or maybe it was me.
Up at a decent hour, straight to work. Got a lot of revisions in place on the long piece, polished the commercial project and mailed it off, then jogged the stairs at the soccer field for an hour. Got in some quiet time mid-afternoon, including a short nap. Also got to FaceTime the boys for a while.
Hoped to go fishing today, but had a long hard night with the arm and knew it wouldn’t be very productive. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday. Have to play it by ear, I guess.
Figured to hit it hard again today, but just didn’t have the horses. Best laid plans, right?
Another good one.
Up early, made some good revisions, finished up the commercial project, and headed off to PT then the gym.
Took care of some overdue letter-writing when I got home.
Feel like I’m getting my energy back. Hope it’s for real.
Pretty good day. Had some solid revision time, got in a long jog on the soccer park stairs, drafted some new material for the Philharmonic, paid the bills and even got off a letter to Jack and Matty.
Air’s still smokey, but the temps have been kind. A little warm out there this afternoon, though nothing to complain about. Hope the good stuff lasts long enough for a late week fishing excursion.
Debates tonight.
Not sure what tomorrow’s supposed to bring, but I’d like to button up my stray projects and move on to something new. Maybe teak oil the backyard furniture.
So, kinda let this one slip by. Don’t know what happened, except that I didn’t accomplish half of what I set out to do. Did a little research, made some revisions, spent a couple of hours at the gym, then home again for a quiet afternoon.
Gonna have to hit it hard tomorrow. Meanwhile, looking forward to a quiet evening.
Did get out for a short walk, but the sidewalks were busy and had to spend half the time dodging other walkers.
Caught up with some of the neighbor folk, which was nice, but it made me wish all the more this Covid business was behind us. Tired of the smoke, tired of being cooped up. Tired of talking to people from six feet away.
Up again a little after four, young Tuck deciding he wanted to play. Hung back for an hour or so after the toe-biting game, and made a break for the cottage around six. Put in some good work at the keyboard. Think I’ve got a couple of good stories in the making. Reader draft of “Down There” ought to be in place before the end of the week. The other? We’ll see.
Jogged the stairs in the park this afternoon. Weather was cool, which helped. Felt pretty good when I got home, but took a nap in anticipation of company tonight. K coming over to watch the game.
New copywriting work came in. Happy for that. Gonna try and get a good night’s sleep, come at strong tomorrow and maybe have something ahead of deadline. Like to get in a day of fishing this week, too. While the weather’s nice. Smoke is still sitting over us in varying degrees of thickness, but wasn’t as bad today as it’s been earlier.
Owe a few letters. Need to get started on that, too. PT tomorrow. Full steam ahead.
Woke at 4:45 with a kittie sleeping on my bad arm. Got up thinking to hit the office, but laid down again after getting dressed and dozed until a little after 7:00. So much for an early start.
Worked hard at the keyboard, and got in some good revisions on the two new shorts. After, went on a long drive through the San Isabel forest looking for Christmas tree country. Saw some nice streams in the backcountry, but didn’t have my gear, so had to pass. The aspen were pretty, but not quite there yet, giving a good excuse for another long drive next weekend. Found one possible tree-harvesting site at the southern end of the forest, but still not counting out a trip to Leadville where we’ve taken our last three.
Pretty day today, or would have been if the smoke had cleared a little more. Still, nothing to complain about. Temps were nice, the air smelled of fall, and winter can’t be far off.
Eager to get back to the gym tomorrow. Tonight, just gonna take it easy.
Late to the keyboard this morning, but not too late and not to any real detriment. Came close to putting the final touches on a new short, and made good headway composing the draft for another.
Meanwhile, did a little pruning and cleanup in the back yard. Got in a trip to Rocky Top, too, and cleaned out the back bed of the pickup.
Cut the lawns when I got home—first time I can say that in a while—and managed to do it without screwing up my arm. Biceps still a little sore, but shoulder’s coming online.
Beautiful fall day, by the way. Even the smoke backed off a bit.
Stepped away from the novel this morning to work on a new short piece and make a few overdue submissions. In short, a quiet day.
Smoke rolled in again from the border fire, and hit as hard as anything we’ve had in a couple of weeks. Went to the gym to work out, and had a pretty productive time despite not pushing myself too hard. Tried skipping rope for the first time in three months and had to quit owing to the biceps. Shoulder’s coming along, but the arm still feels like it did pre-operation. Doc says that’s normal, and to keep pushing.
Might go for a drive in the mountains tomorrow. We’ll see. Meanwhile, gonna hang back and take it easy.
Read a couple of good short stories today.
Astonishingly, didn’t win the lottery.
Another early rise.
Made it to the end of the new novel this morning, then went off to jog the stairs at the park. Arm was sore as hell today, but everything else was clicking.
PT mid-afternoon, then home again for more work at the keyboard.
Want to get into a new story tomorrow. Catch up with correspondence. Read a couple of new short stories.
Feel like I made a pretty smooth transition back to work after the long weekend with the boys. Hope I can keep the momentum going.
Nice cool day, in the sixties. Felt good to get outside and not have to face any smoke. Warmer tomorrow, I guess. Will have to wait and see.
Anyway, good day.
Did it again. Up early, wrote well.
Abandoned the keyboard around nine and drove out to the orthopedic’s office to have the shoulder examined. Ahead of schedule. Doc expects I’ll be back in good order by December. Meanwhile, new exercises.
Worked out this afternoon, came home and wrote two N reviews.
Looking forward to quiet night.
Put together a decent day.
Up around 5:30, and off to work in the cottage. Made a nice run at the long piece. Took a break around noon to climb the stairs in the park. Four plus miles up and down.
PT this afternoon. Still a little stiff in places, but the worst is the biceps. Maybe I can get a few questions answered when I see the ortho-doc tomorrow.
Home in time to catch up with submissions, and get a couple of bits of correspondence out the door.
Cooking tonight. Omelettes. After that, settling in to watch the debate.
Flew into DIA a little after seven. Spent a long weekend with the boys in Pittsburgh. After all the soul-crushing events of the year, I finally got something to smile about.
Had a terrific time all around. Went fishing on Saturday in Canonsburg. Matty caught his first fish—a bluegill. Went out again on Sunday—this time in a row boat—on Raccoon Lake. Didn’t catch any fish, but had a great time casting and trolling the lake. Playing on the beach afterward, too.
Needed that. Boy did I need that. Can’t wait to see them all again.
Tired. Gonna have to turn in early and come back hard tomorrow.
Sent back the proofs for Rock Mountain Sweetheart Murder Ballad this afternoon, but didn’t do much in the way of work otherwise. Need to send in my N reviews, get back at the keyboard.
Worked out this afternoon, then came home and cleaned the cottage offices. Hope this unexpected spurt of energy carries into the rest of the week.
Leaving for Pittsburgh in the morning. Long day at the keyboard. Lots on the mind.
Had some PT this afternoon, trying to catch up from the missed session earlier in the week. Spent a little time on the elliptical, too, but by a little I mean a little. As in half an hour. Need to revisit this workout stuff when I get back. Fires through me off schedule with the stair jogging in the park and I never quite got it back. Guess that isn’t much of a surprise, but even so it’s still a drag.
Gotta get packed. Not worried about rest—I’ll manage that on the plane.
Up at the crack of dawn, strapped to the keyboard the entire day. Got the script out the door, but just barely when the client moved the presentation up by half an hour. Haven’t worked a project as massive as this on deadlines as short as this for longer than I can remember. Hope they pay fast.
Way behind on my correspondence, N reviews and everything else. Need to pick up a few more fishing supplies too, before I get on the plane. Can’t believe I’ll be in Pittsburgh the day after tomorrow.
Looking forward to getting few things done tomorrow, but tempering expectations with PT moved to the middle of the day. We’ll see what the morning brings. Might get lucky.
Wondering about D lately. Been forever since we’ve seen one another. Forever since I’ve seen anyone, come to think of it, but a helluva long time since he and I have even talked. Need to remedy that when I get back.
Nice day today, despite the smoke. Air was a little cleaner. More like fall.
