writer
Here, Monday.
Long involved nightmares made for a short night’s sleep.
Put in time on a new short most of the morning, then worked out, went for a walk, and headed off to Starbucks.
Cold again, but sunny. Not a bad day if you stayed out of the wind.
Going in for the first of my Covid Vaccines tomorrow! 8:00 am. Hurrah!
Slept in this morning.
Fielded a FaceTime call from the boys before going to work, and got a chance to talk to both.
Jack finally lost his front tooth—the first. Very exciting. Matty? On his own planet.
Worked through the afternoon. Took time out to skip rope and lift, then went back to the keyboard again.
Cold. All day. Temps started out minus one, hit a high of seven, and have gone back to near-zero again.
Snow flurries, but that’s all.
Got a chance to talk to my bro, Joe about a trip to the mountain. Looking forward to it.
Okay.
Made it through.
Another chilly morning.
Worked out a decent, near-reader draft of the new short I’m calling “Born Blue.” Providing I can get the kinks ironed out, think I might have a story here.
Hit the workout early this afternoon. Broke my jump rope midway through, but shadow skipped and lifted to a pretty good conclusion anyway.
Later, pushed some paperwork, and went for a three-mile walk downtown.
Saw our neighbor, R, today. Been a while. Always worry about her, so it was good to get a visual, make sure she was doing well.
FaceTimed with young Jack this afternoon. Wild as usual. Matthew? Invisible again! Gotta make time to hunt the boy down.
Woke up to cold that only got colder.
Temps supposed to be below freezing for the next few days, but so far no sign of snow.
Getting closer and closer to having a reader draft of the new short. Think it’s gonna be a decent one if I don’t blow the ending. Have another short in the wings, but haven’t looked at it in a few days. Maybe tomorrow.
Braved the cold long enough to get in a workout, then spent the afternoon picking up the pieces of yesterday’s life. Well, that and going to the post office.
Impeachment trial in its second day. If I live long enough to look back on this post, I wonder what the world will look like?
Managed to get through the weekend unscathed, and back in the saddle early this morning. Figured to make hay before the rest of the world got up, but had my plans derailed by a couple of surveyors searching for a metal corner marker.
Won’t go into a long rant here, but there are certain people in this world who insist on making it hard on the rest of us, and at the moment—you know, a year into isolation and all— that sort of BS doesn’t play especially well. Our house is one hundred twenty-five years old. The neighborhood is even older. Looking to redraw boundary lines that have been here longer than the city’s sewer system so you can gain an extra foot of fence just doesn’t make you many friends.
Okay, enough.
On the bright side, had a nice walk this afternoon followed by brief but exciting FaceTime call from Jack, followed by a decent workout with the jumprope and weights. Everything comes to balance, I guess. Just not necessarily when you’re hoping for it.
Up a little later than usual this morning.
Coffee at the keyboard while I worked through revisions, submissions, and all the rest.
Forewent a workout today, and stole off to the movies instead. There were only six people in the theatre besides ourselves, and no one within rows of us, so it was probably a good deal safer than going to the grocery store, which we also did.
Tried taking a nap this afternoon, but no luck. The arm started speaking and never let up. Funny, but I think it hurts more the one day a week I don’t work out.
Coldish day. We were off the hook for snow, but the days ahead are supposed to be wintry too, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
New lotto daydream: A guided, week-long fishing trip in Montana.
This one spiraled out of control, but it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment. I know I got up. I know I went to work. But the rest is a blur.
Wrote, worked out and all the rest. Even took a trip to Costco to stock up on water and fruit. Still, it seems a big chunk of something is missing from the middle. Liked to have made more progress on the new short, but maybe two days back-to-back will help. Gonna put together a reader draft, for sure, before getting back to the novel.
Weather cooled off today. Think there’s supposed to be snow tonight. Maybe all weekend.
Sometimes the day just gets et up. This is one of those days.
On the good side, I got in some decent work at the keyboard, caught up on a few much-needed phone calls, FaceTimed with the boys, had a nice a workout, went for a walk, and took a late-afternoon break for a latte at Starbucks.
Looking back, I may have done better than I thought.
Weather took a turn. Twenty degree drop from yesterday. Not sure what the weekend’s supposed to bring, but it feels like snow.
The groove goes on.
Another good day a the keyboard. Another good day with the rope and weights.
Still fighting off the blues, but so far it’s a draw. Which makes it a win.
Getting my groove back.
Up early making revisions on the new short. Putting in time on research. Have almost all my submissions in place now, with a few more to go before the weekend.
Got in some reading later in the day, and returned my proofed ms of “Astray” for the folks at the Westchester Review. They tell me the story will be out in March. Something to look forward to.
Not a whole lot else going on at the moment. Looking forward to some homemade tomato soup, and a relaxing read before bed.
Low hanging fruit, for sure.
One of those days that started out like a bunch of other days I’d rather not remember, but redeemed itself in the end. Put some nice edits on the new short, and got in some reading and research, too.
Arm was a little sore after a tough night’s sleep, but managed a decent workout and a walk afterward. Trying to up my weights. Have to keep reminding myself I’m starting from zero, and take it easy. Looking at all the hashmarks I’ve penciled on the garage door, it’s hard to believe surgery was seven months ago. Have a new appreciation for what it takes to mount a comeback.
Need to order my fishing license, like, this week. Wanna be ready to toss my gear in the truck the first nice day that comes my way. Also need to shake off this black attitude.
There. I’m good now.
Ready for tomorrow.
Went to bed with a touch of the blues, woke early and pounded out a draft of what I hope to be a decent story.
Been stalled out for a while, so it felt good looking at a new piece and knowing where to go with it.
Took a long walk around noon. Helped clear the head, and kept me from dinging up my shoulder with the weights.
Jack and Matt called late afternoon and we had a long, goofy chat. Chased away the clouds, for sure.
Tomorrow, back at it. Only better.
Oh, yeah. Early coffee with my buddy, G. Late afternoon phone call with my buddy B. Rest of the day ran a close second.
Worked out, put in some research time, blew the rest of the day goofing off reading.
Back at it tomorrow.
Tonight, who knows?
At it early.
Scripts off, critiques off, a new short in the drafting.
Weather cheered up, too. Sunny. All day.
Got in a good workout, and a long walk. Also picked up a reader draft of the new book. Somewhere in the middle of all that, intercepted a FaceTime call from Matty.
Also, a long talk with my bro, Joe.
Pretty good day, all in all.
Need to be up early tomorrow for coffee with G at the Broadmoor. Run a few errands afterward. Also need to get on the new submissions.
More snow this morning!
Up a tad later than usual, but hit it hard and made for a productive day.
Drafted four critiques, put the all-but-finishing touches on the commercial piece, and did a little research.
Spoke to my sister M about an upcoming project, and capped off the afternoon with a FaceTime call from Jack and Matty.
Even got in a workout.
Hope to make even more headway tomorrow. Felt good branching out.
Woke to snow this morning. That, and another story in my N queue.
Worked on revisions early, then off to a new draft. A bit of research.
Got in a nice workout with the rope and dumbbells, then back to the draft. Arm’s making improvement, though more slowly that I hoped. Same could be said of the writing.
Gonna put everything into the commercial piece tomorrow, and try and free up the rest of the week for critiques, etc. We’ll see what kind of progress I make.
Till then.
Made it here in one piece.
Productive day, writing-wise and otherwise. Got in a walk and a good workout, too. Later, spent an hour or so with Jackie on FaceTime.
Clear skies through most of the afternoon. Heavy cloud cover later in the day. Looks like the weather folks might be right for a change. Snow overnight and maybe into the morning.
Gotta say I’m getting more and more curious about the tree repairs we put in last year. I know it’s a long way off, but I’m hoping the locust in the back yard can find a way to come back around.
Some new commercial work came in today. Need to punch it into high gear tomorrow, get some drafts going and a start on the N reviews.
All or nothing, right?
Good day.
Made some nice edits, read three N stories and made notes, set myself up to hit the ground running on Monday.
Got in a decent workout and a walk, too.
No complaints.
Finished another pass on the book. Calling it a reader draft. Can’t stand to look at it for a while, so I’m going to pass it off onto someone else and get back to the short fiction for a while.
Got out for a long walk today, and it felt good. Did a loop around the kids’ old house, up to Safeway and back again. Weather was a little cool, but not bad when the sun was out.
Got in a nap, read one of the N stories in my queue, and caught up on some paperwork. All in all, a pretty okay day.
Big sigh. K got the first of her Covid vaccines today. Who knows, maybe 2021 will get even better.
Read some guy in the Midwest won MegaMillions. A billion dollars before taxes. Yeah.
