I am virtually done at 8:17. Not quite completely done, because I saw a couple mistakes, but I'm letting everything sit for a few hours, then taking a look again before it goes live.

And now, it's time to get back to writing! In fact, I'm hoping to get quite a bit of writing done in the next few hours. I probably won't since my mind isn't quite switching from editing to writing, but we'll see. I do have notes for Muse. That should help, along with some wonderful Battlefiled Band on the CD player (New Spring). I haven't listened in a while, but it's always fun to go back and pull them out.

Starting count is 36,896. Huh. Novel feels a lot longer than that, but only because so much has happened.

It's nearly 6pm. I've been working on Vision since about two, and I think I'm almost done. It's amazing how, no matter how often I do this (Issue # 11), I always forget how much time it takes just to do the little things, like properly setting up the two TOC's (one for frame, and one not). I still have one big page to do -- About This Issue. I'm hoping to be done no later than 9pm.

And then it's a mad race to get some writing done for the last day of the month!

Working, working. I have a good amount of Vision done and ready to go on to the final step. This is very good. I have not gotten any writing done yet, and that's not so good. But I'll get to it. A bad mood coupled with problems with the Agenda, and then having Vision to finish up just pretty much quashed my hope of writing this afternoon. Might do me a little good, though. I'm anxious to get back to it.

But I can feel the time growing closer. I'll likely get most of Vision set up and then write for th enight, and finish up the work tomorrow. It should be up sometimes on Sunday.

I messed around enough. Time to go do some work.

Just doing a little messing around while I try to get over being very annoyed at everything and everyone...

I'm here. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here, but I'm up, working for the third day on the rewrite of a short story that I need to get off for a deadline. It's a funny story, but I'm not feeling particularly funny today. That doesn't really make a lot of difference in this round of editing, but it doesn't make it fun either.

After that it will be back to Vision for a few hours, and then into the next round of Muse. I have some notes I jotted down last night that should help me get moving with that one.

Oh, and there will be an agenda from the city sometime soon. I have the first part of it. I'm waiting for the rest.

Not exactly an exciting day.

I am running out of time...

Today, though, we went on a nice road trip to check out a few places on the Lewis and Clark Trail. Nice to get away for a few hours, that's for sure. I bought a bear. Actuailly she's a Bearifairy with wings. Cute. And it did help cheer me up...

But nonetheless, I am running out of time. I need to finish the rewrites on two short pieces and get them out. I don't really need to worry about word counts, of course. But I do have the rest of Vision to put together.

So, I'll be throwing myself into my work for the next few days, which might just get me through being depressed. Well -- that, the teddy bear and the bag of M&Ms.

A good many of my friends are at World Con or heading there now. Sigh. Not this year for me, for very many good reasons -- but still, sigh. I've missed all the conventions this year, except for a few hours at ConQuest. Even skipped the one in Minneapolis where I had been talking with people about being on a panel. Didn't go to the little one in Wayne. No WorldCon, which is a very expensive convention. The only way I went last year is that I had $2000 from a web site.

One of the great things about the SF/Fantasy crowd is that you can go and see your friends as these cons. People who live on one coast or the other -- it doesn't matter for the big cons. We get together for the big weekend. Long nights 'pitting' in the hotel lobby. Fun at the sff.net suite. I know Eggplant as a suite this year as well. And The Liaden Universe Party...

I don't like to go out much to visit people. Most of the time I just get bored. I have little in common with most of the people in my area, and the few discussions about kitchen curtains and baby teeth have really broken me of trying to go on with that kind of waste of time. Sometimes its better with the men, but even there... I write. I love reading. I like talking to people with similar loves, which you can find on the Internet and at the conventions. And many of these people I only see once a year...

Sigh.

I'm going to be miserable for the next few days. I'll get over it, of course. It's not the end of the world. But last year I had such great fun -- people came to me and said what a great ezine Vision was, and I spent a good amount of time in the SFWA suite with all kinds of fun people. I put out flyers for Vision, Forward Motion, and some of my work.

Somehow, I suspect that I'm going to have trouble getting writing done for a while.

Bad attitude. (slaps fingers) Okay, back to work.

Have you ever found yourself about to write something and giggle so much you can't quite get your fingers to work? That's the part I am to in Muse right now. Silly, fun... If I can get myself to write it, I think it's going to be great. I'm up to 29,321 words on the story, and I think I should be able to make 30,000 without a problem, if I can just get myself to work on this...

I have not gotten much writing done on Muse yet. Instead, I have been working on an article for Vision to fill in what I feel was an important part. About 1300 words, but I can't quite get the ending down. Argh. I think I'm going to call it a night on that one, and turn my attention back to Muse for a while, and at least get 1000 words down on it.

Actually, even as I wrote that paragraph, the ending came to me. Isn't it funny how that can happen?

Now I feel much better. Time to get back to work on the novel!

You know, I'd forgotten how much I love Steeleye Span...

That yawning turned into a long sleep. I had taken some pills and they just knocked me out, but I feel better for it now. I've only written about 300 words so far today, but that's a good start. I'm having a good time. And I have the next step worked out in the story, so that helps.

Oh, and I think I just got a little inspiration for an off scene from a bit of music I just put on. Boys of Bedlam by Steeleye Span. In fact, I suddenly want to write a story... no, no, no. I'll just use this bit. Really.

In the mean time, I'm off to write this scene and see how far I can get tonight. I would like to have this entire chapter done if I can.

101,865

So far, so good. I am not going to be able to finish Muse by the end of the month, though. I lost all track of time, and I have way too much other stuff to get done. Still, it's moving along well, and I don't have anything to complain about. I did a snippet set in chat last night, and that went over well.

Russ has been reading each section as I get it done, and he did get a laugh out of last night's work. I'm up to what should be a funny scene, too.

If I can get some other work done, I shouldn't have any trouble making 30,000 tonight on the novel. I'm looking forward to it.

Except that I'm suddenly tired. Ack. Must fight the sleepies away...

(Yawn)

Russ is working on his article. The cats are all lining up, demanding that I feed them right now, even though it's at least an hour early.

(Yawn)

I think they're going to have to wait for awhile...

I got some good writing in tonight. Introduced my final important character -- two of them today, in fact. Now I'm going to head for bed and sleep for a few hours, and then come back and write a fun scene. I just can't quite face it tonight.

Have fun!

I have gone over 100,000 for the month.

Going to have a really good count by the 31st, I bet!

Well, this day isn't going a lot better than yesterday for writing, but I'm getting there. Slowly. 889 words so far, and a lot of just bouncing around, looking at other stuff. My head, quite obviously, is not focused on the current work. I'll get at least 1000. I'm hoping to get (checking Excel File) 2,919 and stay on target for a million -- but if I don't, well that's the way it goes. I'll catch back up when the Muse kicks back in from her days off.

But, you know, my bad days are better than a lot of people's good days, so I'm not going to get too upset.

A couple hundred over. A quarter to six in the morning. Time for some sleep, I think.

206 to go...

Less than 300. And my two are getting much closer. A shame about the neighbor walking in about now...

Less than 500 to go...

Less than a thousand to go for the night. I have a scene in mind, but I think I might want to do the majority of it tomorrow, when I might be in a better mood. I think it will be a fun scene, but right now I keep getting closer to it and losing the feel. Just one of those nights when things are not quite falling together. Tomorrow should be better.

Counting down the words...

Slowed up by something very serious this time -- another novel to a publisher that Russ and I have been trying to edit. Just got it done and off to Embiid. This was an extremely difficult piece to get through, but we did well together. And it's done, and gone, and I still have another one to do there. A rewrite from scratch one, that is now up on my list since the previous one is in.

I have made it to 1782, though. Still about 1,200 to go to stay on track. I hope I can make it, but I've had so many distractions tonight that I fear I won't really pull it off.

Major roadblock in the story today. Just could not quite see how to inch things a little forward. A long bath finally sorted some of it out. I'm just going to sit down and write now. And I'm right at the half way point for what I need to do to keep on line for the 1,000,000.

Just not my best writing day, but still not horrible. Well over 1,000 words. I'm not really complaining, just wondering why it stopped dead here for a day. Maybe I just needed a little break since I'd just gotten through the first of the plot point/change scenes. Focus is slightly changed now. I think that threw more more than I expected.

A little better. Made it up over 1000 words, got a bit of info dropped in again, and now I need to get my couple back to her house. And I need to find the fun side of this story again. Right now it's elluding me.

Oh look. 251 words.

I'll just go pound my head against a wall for a bit now, all right?

I managed 4383 words yesterday, had a great set of lines at the end of what I wrote...

And come back today totally cold to the story and unable to get moving. I will, of course, but for the moment it's just sitting there staring at me. You want to know how bad it is? I went and did web work instead. So far I've written 45 words -- and I just deleted 39 of them. I have two funny bits coming up. I'm just not feeling particularly funny at the moment.

Huh. Web work done. Cats fed. I think I'm pretty much stuck with the work at this point.

Tough writing today, so far. A set of scenes that are... well, they're all right, but very little inspired there. So I'm going back to the start of today's work and redoing parts of it. Not the way I usually work, but this is also not my usual type of book. I have done 1622 words, but I know I'm going to cut part of that and save it off for a later conversation. Too much information there all at once.

But my MC has finally had things explained to him, and he's not feeling nearly as paranoid. Don't worry, that will pass.

Okay, I have really slowed down here. I had a problem scene, but I wrote it out. It will need a lot of fine tunning, but at least I got somewhere with it.

It wore me down, though. Wore me down, gave me a headache -- ack.

Oh, I guess I haven't done as badly as I thought. I'm over 3,000 words for the day. Believe me, as much as I fought with this beast, that's pretty good. And reading it now... not bad. Time to go on to chapter three and one important revelation.

Or maybe it's time for that wonderful pecan sticky roll that Russ bought home for me. Yes... I think I might need the extra energy before I try for this difficult next chapter. Right...

I've already written about 1000 words today. And good, fun words at that. I do have some changes to make in the outline, though, so that's going to slow me down a bit, unless I just 'wing' it. We'll see. But my MC is about to find himself in all kinds of trouble -- and beleive me, he isn't even trying.

I thought I ought to drop this in here today, in case I get caught up in stuff and forget to update later. This is the kind of novel you can get lost in, so to speak.

When it finally kicked in, it went well. I finished the first chapter, and got my MC squared away for the night, though he's not real happy about it. Chapter two should be a bit shorter, introduce him to a few more minor characters, and bring out the crime.

Storms, small towns, odd characters... so far it looks good.

I did take a little time to work on Vision too, though. Otherwise I would probably be half way through chapter two by now. (grin) I also need to go do a couple other little things for web sites, and then get to bed for a few hours.

So far... I'm pretty happy with the Muse. I hope it keeps going like this.

Slow going. Intro of the MC's future love interest is proving a little difficult, but I think I've got the feel. Nice and normal, at least at first. It feels like this is taking forever, but I have done over 2000 words in the last two hours, so even with the problems, it's going well enough.

I am not through chapter 1 yet, though. But close. Just another scene and I'm done with it. Just need to get on with it!

Long day. Nothing done yet -- well, at least not in anything that counts. With the exception of a few notes, I've done no work on Muse yet. I'm about to change that, however. I've got the work open, and I have my notes (with more notes penned in on them), and I'm prepared to fight this chapter to the end.

I am feeling a little tired, though. I wish I didn't. I hope that getting to work will wake me up again. A few notes and a couple note cards are not quite enough to write for the entire day.

Muse has taken over my brain. 4453 words and still a ways to go to the end of the first chapter. But damn, I'm having fun with it. I'm just on page 4 of the notes, too. I hope it keeps going this well all the way to the end.

I think it's one of those cases where I was ready to try something totally different. And that's what this is.

But I have to get to sleep. Or at least take my notebook with the story and my notes off to bed for a while...

3520 and almost 2000 over what I need for the day. Going very well, I think. About three-quarters of the way through the first chapter. I'm not certain I'm going to make it all the way tonight. I can't say it works. But it's been damn fun to write so far.

I'm staying up another half hour. Russ has a speech to give to a local club at 6:45 this morning, so he's going to be up in a few minutes. I hate to wake him even a few minutes early since he went to bed so late.

So, a little more writing...

704 words. Very slow going, but I think it's going to be all right. I'm almost through the little intro scene, which is actually kind of fun. And I've stopped to do a little artwork, which is odd for me, but this one kind of evokes the story, at least at the beginning. My, if you can't have fun, what good is it, right? So now that I'm done with it, it's time to get back to the story...

My MC is about to walk in on something very odd... and he's fairly certain he doesn't want any part of it.

Okay, so 65 pages of notes, including some pictures. I think I might be ready to go. 4511 words worth of notes and outline. I've written shorter short stories -- though, granted, not many of them. I'm going to start the new novel at midnight, I think. Just because I can. About eight minutes to go. Time to print off the last copy of the notes.

Wish me luck...

50 pages of notes. A lot of blank spots, but I think I can fill them in as I work -- in fact, some of them will work better if that's when I do it. So... I'm going to print the notes out. Look them over. Get a couple things from Russ again on the car problems, and then... go for it. I think. You know, it's been a long time since I've had this kind of build up to a new book. I wonder if that's good or bad?

I won't know until we're done with the thing, I suppose.

Better. Later, but better. I took a long bath, then an unintentionally long dinner (nice big salad). Russ and I discussed Muse stuff. Things are looking very good. I'm going to put some more notes together... but I might just start the novel tonight. I'm not sure. But it looks good.

I just need my wits when I dive into this one. It's not like anything I've considered writing before, and that's why all the prelim work. I need a good, solid understanding of it -- not because I can't rewrite it later, but because I want to not get completely lost this time.

Okay. Off to do a few notes. And then... we'll see. Maybe a little more work on Dacey's Dream before I leap in, and maybe not.

I woke up in a bad mood. No real reason for it, but there it was. I snarled at the cats, I fought with the computer. I grabbed Tylenol, which seems to be helping the sort of dull ache I had that I'd only barely begun to notice. Russ fed the horde so they would stop bothering me. I think things are looking better now.

I worked on the notes to Muse last night. I think I've got just about everything worked out. But probably not a good idea to try and start it right now, not in this mood...

Okay, off to do something else for a while!

40,324 to the end of this draft. It's done.

Some good stuff to work with, too. I really enjoyed that ending. Now I'll let it sit while I finish up Dacey's Dream, and by then I should have a better grasp of the subplots and new problems I want to add into this one. I can tell now that there are themes I need to stress a little more.

But it hit the 'mythical' SFWA novel length, which surprised me, given how much I cut from the original. This one had so many overblown, unneeded emotional scenes that I started gagging before I got through the first third of the story. The odd thing is I think the actual plot is one of the stronger ones, when I finally unburied it from all the angst I had piled on.

And it's done for the moment. Now I'm going to work on my Muse outline -- this is actually part of the dare, since I did the world building one. Oh, and I'll count Eliora as a short story, I think. It is, in a sense, barely more than a novella, at this point. And I think it would have made a good novella, if it weren't part of a larger series. Or maybe not. We'll see.

What I really think I'll do, though, is take a bit of a break, and let my mind switch gears from one story to another.

39,006. Good bits. Working, finally. And close to the end.

I've also gone over what I need for the day to stay on track.

I've nearly completely abandoned the original ending. There is a set of lines I want -- nothing more, though. Oh. Yes. Just had another revelation. Good. Must go back to Eliora's World...

38,098 and working on the last chapter. I should be going faster, but between my ear and my upset stomach, I'm a bit slow. And I'm having a little trouble just... working through the last steps here. Ah, but I'll get it. I'll get it soon. This isn't so difficult to write, it's just that my mind is leaping around to other parts now, which I wish it wouldn't do before I'm done with this one. But that's the way my mind works, sometimes. And it doesn't help that I want to write the new notes up Muse as well.

Now see, this is the problem with having a mind that find stories everywhere. I can't get through to the end tonight, because my mind is leaping over to two other things, and I can't call it back for some reason. Probably just not the right music. The Best of the Waterboys might be a little too wild.

Or probably not. It's really my head that's not tuned in tonight. Time to lock it in. Time to get done. Right?

Why is it easier to type this tonight than to do the work?

No, not a lot of writing yet. I got about 1000 words done, looked at the calendar, and pulled up a bunch of Vision work.

But I've done a few pieces to it, and now it's time to go back to work.

While I was sitting here my ear went completely numb again, just like it did when it started getting problems last week. Argh. I took some pills again, and I think it's holding the trouble at bay. I'm going to try and ignore it and get back to work on Eliora's World so I can do more notes on Muse.

Word count is 37,135

I have more worked out on the novel. Russ pointed out that part of it happened too soon, and some of it had to be given more of a push, etc. Story thoughts spun off from that, continue to grow. I'm going to have this worked out before long.

But right now I'm going to work on Eliora's World. A friend is coming over with his LOTR DVD to watch... but I think I'm going to pass tonight. Three hours of a movie doesn't really appeal to me right now. Writing appeals to me, if I can just start feeling a little better. I hate the fact that I can't eat without feeling ill afterward. You'd think that would help me lose a little weight, wouldn't you?

Ah well. Time to finish up Eliora. Starting count is 35,850. And I see from what's left of the original that I'm probably going to use only three thousand or so more words worth. I will then go back and look for somewhere to expand it at least to 40,000 for this draft. That's just a personal thing with me -- 40,000 for a first draft and expand it into a real novel after that. It's an easy number to aim for.

Time to write...

I know some of the writers who stop in here will understand this... the excitment when you have a book that is just falling together so well that you don't even want to go to bed. That's the new one for me. I've done twenty pages of outline so far. I'm not even half way through the book. I need to get Eliora's World done tomorrow (today!) so that I have a free spot for this one. It's already taking far too much of my time.

But it flows, it sings. It's going to keep me awake at 5:30 AM. But you know... it's worth it sometimes...

Of course I got started too late on my work tonight. I'm fighting just to get to the 3,018 word mark so that I don't lose ground. Even so, it's been a good day for writing. I've worked out a good part of my new novel outline, and I'm inching closer to being done with Eliora. If I could fall into it, I would do just fine. Unfortunately, I've had some stomach problems tonight, and it's just put me off.

Ah well. Stop complaining and write something...

770 words on the outline. Oh, this is fun. But I'm a bit stuck and going to have to think how to deal with the next parts. So back to Eliora's World for a while, which is also good. It's close to having all of the original story redone... but ack. The new one keeps calling to me.

Oh yes, and what about those other novels,huh? What about Dacey's Dream, or Ada Nish Pura? You know, I think it wouldn't be so bad if my muse napped now and then, just for a few hours.

But not right now. Right now I want the rest of the new novel worked out. And the last bits of the new stuff for Dacey's Dream. And the next chapter for Ada Nish Pura, which is just about the best thing I've ever written.

Ack.

And, fourteen hours later, I'm back at work. Sort of.

Had other things that had to be taken care of today. Pesky damn real life... well, not all of it pesky. Russ and I had a nice dinner where we talked out part of the plot to a new novel. I'm quite happy with it so far. I'm going to start doing some serious outlining, and character creation tonight. Do I need a new novel?

If one strikes me this strongly, and keeps nagging for months (this since June), then yes, I obviously need it. It's a romance/murder mystery set in present day. Totally out of usual range of writing -- but the more I think about this book, the more I want to write it. I will complete this draft of Eliora's World before I actually start the work on it, other than some outlining. But considering how close I am to having EW done, that could be just a few hours from now.

This one is going to be fun -- filled with strange characters, odd location, somewhat bewildered MC for the first chapter or so. Ah, I can't wait to throw myself into it...

Unfortuantely, the food made me tired. I hate when that happens, but I might end up napping for a while again. Ah well, it allows me to do a lot of writing through the night.

Nap, write? Nap, write?

Well, just a little bit of writing first...

Oh yes. Good writing night. Topped 2,000,000 for Project Dolphin and wrote 10,011 words. I like nights like this. The story flowed. I could keep going, except that it is late, and I want a little sleep again.

This has also brougth the daily word count down to 3018. Ill drop below 3000 soon, and if I can keep it there, I'll feel good. I suspect that I'll have a few days of 1000 and 500 though. Ah, but if I can have a few days like this every month, that won't matter a lot, will it? I've already written over 61,000 words this month.

It's good. I'm happy with the work. Not perfect, but the feel of it was right -- it didn't fight me at all. I could wish to write like this all the time, except that I don't think I'd survive it very well.

Eliora's world is almost up to 40,000 words. I doubt it will go much over that in this draft. (Haven't we heard this before?) Once I'm done with it, I'll work on Dacey's Dream for a bit again, and get it to the end. And then I'll go on to the first draft of the next novel while I work on the rewrite of Eliora -- going to have to about double the word count for it. But again, as with almost everything else, this is a very straightforward, single plot line story. I might have a little more trouble drawing in other subplots though. Except for one minor one, they are not immediately obvious.

But I can worry about that later. Right now... bed for a few hours.

I hope everyone else has a wonderful day, writing or whatever you do!

A good night's work, and I'm not done yet. Well over my numbers to stay on track for 1,000,000.

I may also hit 2,000,000 keystrokes for Project Dolphin before I go to bed. I can't tell for certain yet. The work is going well, but I never know when it might just die out.

We've had storms, too. Sounds as though they were rough just south of us. I got to listen to the thunder, though, and I always love that.

Back to work. It's been a good night for writing.

The agenda is about half done. Need to start thinking about dinner, though, before I go over that line where I can't think at all. It's an odd feeling.

It's hard to believe that August is half past. I'm not sure why this keeps surprising me, but it does. I think I'm amazed this time because I've not felt the usual pressure. I should feel it -- I've a lot of work to get done in the next two weeks -- but I haven't so far. Ah, my server is answering me. Back to work!

And a very late start. I got up at noon, but we were having a massive storm. So I went back to bed and just rested there, listening to it. Very lovely, even if the thunder did keep startling Pip. And then the rain... and then I slept some more...

And Russ finally came and woke me up at 5 PM to make certain I was all right. Ack. Well, it's not like a little sleep will kill me, but now I'm really off on my time. I should start with the agenda, I suppose, and get it out of the way. Yes, that seems like a good plan. Agenda, web work, Vision, Writing? Maybe I'll hold Vision for tomorrow, since I'm getting such a late start. I didn't see any work for Estand, but I haven't checked for Good Read yet.

This entry is just to make certain that I have my fingers moving again. What an odd day!

Ha. I did it after all. Managed an extra 200 words, in fact. Good stuff, too.

Six in the morning. Time to post this, post a bit at Forward Motion, and then get some sleep!

Long night of work, with very little writing... not good, but I'll get that covered tomorrow. I realized I had other things to get out of the way, and went to work on editing instead. That's always good, but now I'm looking at barely 1000 words for the day. Ah well.

I think I'm just too tired to concentrate on the novel tonight. So, I'm heading off to bed, and tomorrow I'll start working on it a lot earlier.

Although, now that I look at it, I only have a few more paragraphs to go and I think I'll be at the end of this chapter. I can make it that far...

I did some work on my latest web site -- The Good Read. Starting to get a few nice reviews there. I think it's a good looking site. (grin) And as soon as I get a few more reviews, I'll be breaking the book list up into smaller portions.

It is a bit of work, though. Still, I think it's a good site to have. Yes, it can be misused. So can any other review site, including ones where only one person does the reviews. But in this case, people get to tell others what their favorite books are and why. I think, in the long run, that will win out over others.

We'll see.

But now, finally, it's back to work. I don't expect this to be a very good word count day. I hate to lose ground again already, but it's bound to happen sometime.

Off I go in my silly quest for 1,000,000 new words...

I am not going to start off with a rant today. (grin)

I've had to do 'real' work! How awful! But the agenda work is very nearly already done, so I can't really complain. Now I'm doing the slightly more tricky web work for it, and then it's back to life in the 'un' real world.

I've had two excellent writing days, and I'm hoping to do well today as well. In fact, I feel a breakthrough on Dacey coming on. I hope so. I can see a little bit of what needs to be done, but it's slowed a bit. Little bits of the secondary plot line coming together... I can see it working out, and I know where it's going -- but it still gives me a few little twists and turns that I don't see at first. I think that's the most fun about writing -- the surprises. I have this novel heavily outlined and plotted -- but it can still throw a surprise at me now and then.

Just started the last part of the Agenda work. It may take a few moments to import the data I need. So, I'm off to do other things. I think it's going well!

During the last week, seeing responses to both my post and watching other discussions, I've realized something about writers, word counts, and meeting personal goals that really hadn't sunk in before. It doesn't matter how often you say 'this works for me,' someone is going to come along and tell you why you are not doing it right -- because that's not how it would work for them. Not all the writers, of course. Many of them understand perfectly well that we are all individuals, and that just because one of us does well listening to soothing nature sounds while he writes, doesn't mean that others won't do well listening to people pounding tin cans together.

I have always told people that how I write is not going to work for most of them. Most writers have full time jobs, families, and other commitments. I have a wonderful husband who thinks I should write, a few cats, and because of some serious back problems, not much else for other work. So I get to do the one thing that I absolutely love. I get to write. Sometimes I write well. Sometimes I write utter drek that ends up cut in the next rewrite... if it ever gets to another rewrite. But the big, important thing is to remember that one writer's approach is not going to work for everyone else. That's good. That's important. You cannot force writers into a mold any more than you can force any other artistic group into one.

And the same goes for writing communities. A number of people have dropped out of Forward Motion because it didn't work for them. Some, rather than admitting that this wasn't the place that could help them with their writing, spend their time telling others how bad the site is for writers. And that's sad, really -- and pathetic, in some ways. 'I couldn't fit in, so they have to be wrong.'

I thought, at least with a few of them, that they had just gotten worn down, and that real life had brought such pressure that they found the most convenient target -- the one that they knew wasn't going to cause them any lasting harm if they lashed out at it. Which is also sad, because in all of these cases, the people at Forward Motion had offered nothing but support and encouragement for their work -- and would have offered any other help they could have, if the person needed it. (Others at the site have learned this, when they were in serious need.)

Like writing every day, or writing huge numbers of words, or creating the perfect words, or making certain you have the proper music and the light is just the right color ... or any other 'this is the way to do it' advice, Forward Motion will not help everyone. Some people will learn from the site and move on, as many people already have. Some of us will remain and offer what help we can, encourage others to do the best they can, and do what we can to help new writers.

That's what Forward Motion is about, and anyone who thinks that we're trying to turn out writers who only work in one way, or who only write a certain type of material, should really look at the works of those who are associated with the site.

We all work in different ways. And while some of us can offer help to others, and are willing to do so at places like Forward Motion, others will not have the time, ability or inclination. Some new writers will look for places where they can slip in, ask questions, join in conversations and fun that only writers would enjoy. Others will work far better without those distractions.

There is no right way, and there is no wrong way, but there should be, at least, a sense of understanding.

25,616 and done with that story, ending on a little bit of a lead in to another, if I want to go that way. I wrote 5273 words tonight. Obviously feeling better, although right at this moment my ear is starting to bother me again. But I did well. I got one of the stories finished and out of the way.

I'm heading for bed in a couple minutes. I almost feel like I should keep working, but I want to get this story out of my head before I go leaping into another one. I'll be back to work on the others tomorrow.

Nothing more to say tonight. Time to rest...

Finally... I see the last step in Game of Time. This isn't even going to take long to write now. And the work is going well tonight, so I'm pretty pleased. I would be happy to get this one out of the way since it's been hanging around since last February. Not it's fault. I sold nine books that month, and this story kind of got lost in the crowd. If I had had a better feel for what I wanted, I probably would have run through to the end with it even then, but it was obvious that the story I had in mind was just not going to work.

Ah, but I'm having a good time. I've found a couple ideas here that I like, and it may be that at a later time the story does fall together the way I imagined. But I'll be glad to have it done right now.

Better tonight, but worn out. I'm trying to get some writing done, and it's going well enough, if not exactly the most inspired stuff I've ever written. But I'm getting some work done on Game of Time and looking, finally at the end. I don't know that I'll get there today, but at least I can see it.

I also charted out some major changes for Dacey's Dream, including a few more chapter. I woud like to get through this run on it so that I know how it falls, and can do the final writing on it. I've inserted these chapters without really laying all the background for them that I want.

Eliora's World is going well, too. It's my 'easy' work right now, so I sort of leave it for last most days.

And then there is Ada Nish Pura. I want to throw myself into it. But first I'm going to get Game out of the way, and maybe even Dacey. Ada is the carrot at the moment. It's out there waving around, luring me on.

So much to do...

I've written a little over 2000 words. A bit over 1000 more and I will be on my goal still. It's going well, actually. I'm almost to the end of this chapter in Eliora's World, and I might switch over to some other piece after that for a bit. Maybe back to Dacey's Dream, which I really need to work on again, since it should be turned in soon.

I'm starting to get tired again, which kind of amazes me. It's probably the pills.

On the other hand, my ear feels considerably better. If sleep is what it takes, well I'm not going to complain. Especially if I get another 1000 or so words in first.

Ah. That's much better.

I'm always amazed at how good writing makes me feel. I've writen 1161 words on Eliora's World. It's going better than I could have hoped, considering how I am feeling. Some nice Alan Parsons Project for music, the cats quiet. I'm sucking on Cinnamon Altoids, of all things, and they seem to help. The ear stuff is draining and had been giving me an awful taste in my mouth. Nothing can stand up to Cinnamon Altoids.

Did I mention that I have a new story up? Dangerous Patterns It went up yesterday, I think. I've updated my pages to show it, printed off my copy for the files, and still gotten some writing done.

Now, if the ear would just completely clear up, I'd be a happy little kitten.

Back to writing...

I'm finally back up out of bed, mainly because I couldn't stay there any longer. It helped with the ear, but my back is killing me. The ear still hurts, of course, but it does seem to have gotten past the worst of it. This has been a very troubling problem. Hearing and balance were both off, and my head in general felt like it would explode if the pressure didn't ease. But it's going down now. I'm hoping that by tomorrow it will have cleared up.

I was going to write in bed with the Visor, but I kept going to sleep instead. I did read a bit, though. I love the Visor for that. I could lay on my side, prop the screen in front of my face, and read, just pushing the button to change the page now and then. Very comfortable and relaxing.

But it is time to write now. At least 500 words before I crawl back off to sleep again....

I made my goal last night. I'll be lucky to do 500 today.

My inner ear is swollen shut. It alternately hurts like hell or itches to distraction. I can't do anything to help either. I'm taking some Tylenol and going back to bed for awhile...

Well, not nearly enough done today so far!

I did get the TOC worked out, at least as far as I can without seeing the rest of the articles -- I have a few more coming in. I'm now trying to access the freenet website to upload some things for the city council meeting tomorrow. That's background work, though.

I've written most of an article too, so the day hasn't been a loss for word counts. (grin) But I want to get back to some of the fiction now. The Game of Time would be a nice one to throw myself at again, since I know it's not going to take that much to finish it. Yes, that sounds like a good plan right now. So off to work I go, hoping to get basically anything done right now.

And here I am, ready to start another day of this madness. Actually, I have several things to get done today. The first will be to lay out the TOC for Vision. I still need a few articles for it, but it is, finally, falling together. Late again, but I'm getting used to that. I'm reworking the schedule for next year, I think.

Ooops. Forgot to post this. Well, I'm working out the TOC and I see that I need a few more pieces. So off to do some emails!

The story title changed to The Last Days. Not as lovely as the original title, but it fit better. And yes, I have it done. 1244 words. Done and posted, and out of my hands.

And now, at a bit past 5am with a storm blowing in, I am going to call it a night. It was a good one, though. I like being able to finish something that quickly.

AAAIIIIEEEEEE....

I looked over the Genre of the Month at Forward Motion.

And an idea came to me. I tried to push it away. Really I did. I even went off to the bathtub for a while

But there it is, lingering. No lingering is not the right term. The damned thing is pounding at the inside of my head trying to get out.

Well, hell. I need another short story for the Dare anyway.

Starting count for The Game of Time is 19372. I don't expect this to go more than 25,000 at the most. And I expect it to go very quickly now that I'm not agonizing over how to add twice as much material to it than it will sustain.

Another possiblity has come to me -- that's a series of novella length adventures in one novel. I did that with The Good People of Coralville (which will be out soon!), and it worked very well. But we'll see. Right now, the trick is just to get this one done.

I'm sitting here working on The Game of Time. The story is just not quite right. It hasn't the depth or the power to sustain a novel, even a short one. I'm up to 20,000 words and the ending is looming just a few pages away, and right at this moment, I can't see any thing else to do but to let it find it's natural length and then put it aside.

The more I look at it, the more I think I want to use these characters in something more contemporary. The first part of the story, where I had them in this time and place, worked very well. It was only when I made my first time leap that things went badly.

So... I'm going to finish this version. I will later look at a different version where they are involved with museum work and stay in this time. That, I think, will work better. I set up a number of relationships... and then just took them out of those. I think I was doing much better before.

You know, I feel much better now. (grin)

Back to work, back to work. I've been waiting too late at night to get my writing done, I think. While I can do a lot of writing between midnight and 5am, it does get harder to get a running start on it if I don't begin until 3am. So, it's back to doing some writing earlier in the day.

The problem is that I don't feel particularly up and inspired just now. My fingers don't want to type properly, and I keep getting sidetracked. If Russ didn't have such a bad headache, I'd suggest we go out to the park or something for a few hours, just to get a change of pace. But then that would stop me from writing again, wouldn't it?

Ah well. Off to do a few posts and then get to work! I need to write at least 3097 words today to stay up with my goal. It shouldn't be too much work.

I just posted this on Forward Motion in answer to some emails that I will not answer personally:

I have received three emails in the last two days on a subject that I need to address. I'm not certain these people are from the site -- I didn't recognize the email addresses (one hotmail, one AOL and one odd one). I purposely did not look for names. I scanned the notes and deleted them, and deleted them from the trash folder as well. I have no intention of getting into a 'discussion' in email with people over this. I will, however, address the main problems because I think it is something that people at the site need to consider.

It is not my job to tame the way I write to suit other members of the site. Nor should anyone else on the site be expected to. I have repeatedly said, both here on the boards as well as in chat, that we all write in our own ways. I don't care if people write 10,000 words a day or 10 words a week. If you achieve your goal of completing a manuscript, then you have done everything that you need to as far as word count is concerned.

I write in a way that suits me, and yes... writing one million words in one year is excessive. I still hope to do it. I don't think it reflects badly on Forward Motion any more than the people who write 1000 words a year reflect badly on the site. It doesn't matter that I'm a Moderator or Assistant Site Host. I am a writer who works in my own way, as do we all. Yes, I encourage people to write more words than they do. It helps some writers, and not others. Some try it and find they work better in other ways. There's nothing wrong with pushing yourself to achieve more words. Just keep in mind that if you intend to make a living at this craft, you cannot do it on 10 words a week.

This is a site created by Holly Lisle to help people who are interested in becoming professionally published writers. We will not all get there on the same path, or at the same speed. I am taking a rather roundabout way myself -- but I love what I am doing, and I am making progress.

I saw mention of writing perfect words instead of masses of words in two of the emails. Well, you want to know what perfect words really are? Here is the big secret, and one you should all keep in mind: Perfect words are whatever words work best in your manuscript to move the story line forward. They are not always going to be 'take your breath away' perfection in prose. Some of them will be utilitarian little snippets that get your character from bed to the kitchen on a dull gray morning. Yes, you can make it a lovely set of lines, and such beautiful prose that it sings... but that won't always make the story better.

Writers can sit and stare at a blank screen for days waiting for the perfect prose lines to appear... but chances are, the more they worry about the perfection of the prose, the less they'll worry about the story itself -- and that way lies... well, unfinished stories, and hackneyed plots. Not always, and not for every writer. If it works for you, I'm envious -- and you are among a very rare breed of writer. If, however, you are using 'oh it has to be perfect prose' as an excuse not to write, you would do much better to get over it.

I would love to always find the perfect melding of prose and plot. I'd love to find the perfect melding of life and writing, for that matter. Failing in both of those -- as nearly every writer will -- I will go on and write in ways that suit me and work on both the writing and rewriting of my work to make it the best I can create.

People who want to write do not always love writing every day of their lives. People often need a break from the sheer intensity of working on manuscripts, creating people, places and events that are not real. And sometimes 'real life' makes writing more of a task than a joy. That's understandable. But there is no reason to blame it on someone else. Take responsibility for how you feel toward your work.

And now, having spent far more time on this than I intended, I am going to go do some serious writing. I expect to enjoy every moment of it, and I wish the rest of the you same joy, no matter how you work.

I think the chorus of frogs scared the cricket out last night. No sign... ummm, sound... of him today. I'm glad, because I'm working on an Agenda, and they already put me in bad moods.

Russ unexpectedly had work tonight. That's always good, except that I suspect he would probably rather be writing. It's very odd to live in a house with two people writing almost all the time. And our conversations at dinner are interesting, too.

Argh. Can't reach the web site. I hate when that happens. I'll give it a few minutes and then try again.

And in writing? Ah, it's going very well in general. I've been happy with a good amount of it the last couple weeks. I hope to get some more done soon tonight, but I think Russ said he might be home about 8. Or maybe not. I wish I could rememeber, so that I'd do something about food...

Oh, I did have one odd moment, though. I needed more tea. So I reached over and hit pause. How very odd, to suddenly pause nature...

Fight fire with fire.

I got out my Echoes of Nature CDs. The frog chorus has the little beast quiet at the moment. He didn't much care for the songbirds either, or the mating calls of the elk. But then, everything pretty much shuts up with the elk start screaming.

There is a cricket behind my desk. The incessant chirping is driving me mad. It's even driven the cats from the room, which is not entirely bad thing. But still... I don't know how much work I'll get done like this.

I watched the Harry Potter movie tonight, finally. Quite enjoyable. A pleasant 2.5 hours and a good way to get rid of that headache (which is now chirping its way back into my brain...)

Russ bought me something neat tonight. I have a modern day mystery novel that I intend to write soon. We've talked about it quite a bit. A good amount of the book takes places in houses. I wanted to have a real feel for them.

A couple years ago someone said they'd bought one of those house layout programs and it helped them. I thought I might like to do the same. So Russ bought me 3D Home Architect Deluxe 4.0. It not only has layout, but camera views and landscaping and all kinds of fun stuff. I'm going to go load it in right now and play with a bit. Yes, even though I have not done much writing at all. This is going to be a short night. Oh well. I'm looking forward to designing a house or two. (grin)

I just did an update to The Good Read. It's going to be a while before I get the feel for how to put them together, so it's taking me a bit longer than it should. But before long I should have it down, and get things up much faster.

I have mentioned The Good Read here, right? it's my new web site, and so far I've gotten a lot of good feedback on it, though I could use a few more reviews. (grin) Although maybe not right away since I'm still getting the feel for how things will be set up.

But on a funny note... I sent a children's manuscript off to a publisher back on 6/28/01. I had not heard anything at all, so I finally sent a query about it last month. Today I got the postcard saying the manuscript had arrived. Obviously, when they got my letter asking about it, they went and hunted it down. I don't expect anything to come of it... I look at how much improvement I've made in the last year and I kind of cringe at the idea of having sent it out at all. But obviously a nice, polite note asking about the manuscript paid off.

What else? My cats are swarming, looking for food. I best handle that right now before they really annoy me.

Off I go, looking for more trouble...

Got some serious writing done tonight. Lots of words on Eliora's World, and feeling better about it. Now I'm looking at an insert for Dacey that had been giving me trouble, but I realize now it was because I was trying to shove it into the wrong spot. I'm going to take my note book and go take a bath, working out some of the problems. But it moves again. That's always good for me.

Is too much of my life centered on writing? I wonder that sometimes. But then I think what I could be doing instead. Working in some office? Oh, the money would be nice, of course... but I went that route for a long time. I got lucky. I should not have been able to leave the work before I could supply the money to cover it, but here I am.

And my life centers around writing. Sometimes I even get it right...

Today is Russ's birthday. We've not done much. He's been watching some of his favorite movies and had lunch with a friend. We had pizza for dinner and watched some more shows, and then had ice cream...

I feel like a slug.

But I finally made it all the way through the first chapter of Ada Nish Pura. I've not done much else today, and I only wrote a little over 1000 yesterday as well. But I hope to start picking up the pace again. I'm just in one of my little lag times. I think I can get through it soon enough if I get my mind focused on something.

But right now... I think I'll find out what movie Russ is going to watch next...

A long day with very little done. I'm not going to make my goal, I fear. Even the story that should be 'easy' is barely 600 words into it after more than an hour.

Well, there are bound to be days like these now and then. I'll make it to 1000, at least, I hope. And then I'm going to get some sleep. I think my brain is trying to tell me something...

I did get the writing done last night, but really after hours and hours of watching music stuff from the collection. That was fun. We don't do things like that very often.

Today I'm just fighting to get to some work at all. Edge of a headache, some minor annoyances on other things, and a general feeling of snarly-ness has made it seem rather unwise to pull up any of the books just now. It can wait a little while longer...

So there I am, telling Russ that I really haven't done any writing. And he tells me I need to do at least 3500 words tonight. Why? Well because he wrote that much today, and he knows that I just wouldn't be able to stand it if he wrote more than me in a day...

Do you think he maybe knows me a little too well?

Going to go write now...

Write? Why would I do that when there's all this other stuff I could do instead, like... well, other stuff.

Pounding head on keyboard now...

I've managed about 150 words. I'm sure I have more of them stored up somewhere...

Good afternoon people!

Yes, I'm somewhat in a good mood. My back is still killing me, and I still haven't received word on a couple submissions that I would like to hear about... but hey, life is good. I have things done and in the mail and email. I have four projects that are all moving along nicely, I have a crazed goal... and except for this flood watch, all is well. No, I don't expect the flood watch to be a real problem. It's just that the ground is soaked and we have more rain on the way. I do live within walking distance of the Missouri River -- this is the flood plain -- but it has not flooded since 1952, as I recall. At least not enough to be of a real worry.

But, back to the four projects. The Game of Time is giving me the most trouble. I really didn't expect it, but for some reason I cannot fall into the story. I get a few hundred words on it at a stretch, and they're not bad words -- at least the story is going in the right direction -- but you know... the story just doesn't feel right. I'll have to rethink the premise in the rewrite and see where it went wrong. I should hit 20,000 words on it today, though. If I let it fall to novella size, I could be done soon.

The inserts for Dacey's Dream are going very well. I'm up to 60,000 words on that one, and I know I can manage another 20,000 or so without much trouble. (Probably cursed myself by saying that, though.) The subplot has certainly added a lot of depth to the story, which is as it should be, of course.

I've started typing up Eliora's World, even though I am not done with Dacey's Dream yet. I wanted to add some pieces that lead more directly to book five (Eliora) than I have in previous pieces, because there is something the enemy is setting up for Aubreyan this time, and I want to make certain I have the steps right. It's actually working pretty well, and gives me a head start on the next book in the set.

And the last project is Ada Nish Pura. This is my 'don't rush it' project -- a kind of experiment to see how changing the way in which I write changes the outcome. I'm only 2372 words into this writing. I have a longer piece that I'm working from, but it's not finished. I'll be interested in seeing how I do when I finally get to the end of the material and have to go on... but at this rate, that's going to be a very long time. I think it's a good opening paragraph so far, though.

Time to get to work. I also have some web stuff to do and some editing for Vision to get to. But over all... not bad so far!

There, that story is done. 9296 words -- about 4,000 over what I had intended to write, of course. But done.

I'm amazed how caught up in writing a story I can be... and then how tired I am after I'm done. I could go sleep right now for a while. I feel like my brain turned to mush for a while, and needs to reset. So I'm taking a break. Then I'll be back to do a some more writing. We'll see how far I get later...

I'm very nearly done with the short story, but had to step back for a little while so I could look at the ending conflict and get it all aligned right. I need more soliders. There's no reason they wouldn't take more soldiers into this conflict, and it would not change the basic ending that I want.

So, I'll go back and rework that little bit.

Russ and I were messing around with one of my printers, and we found how you can beam material from the Visor or Palm to it and print. Pretty neat. Not that I can't hotsync and do it that way anyway... but Russ isn't set up to hotsync to my computer, and he just wanted a few notes... so hotsyncing, copying to disk, bringing it back here, printing it out... beaming was much faster and kind of neat.

I need to get back to work. Russ is working on his article, I'm finishing up a short story... I have such a great house!

Well, there's my first 1000 of the day. And I have officially announced the 1,000,000 word goal at Forward Motion. Why not? I've already met all my other goals for the year as far as sales and such go. I might as well have fun.

The Price of History (I keep typing PRINCE, by the way... far too much fantasy writing these days...) is very nearly done. Of course it has gone to novelette rather than short story, but that's not much of a surprise for me. And I just pulsed for Project Dolphin at a bit over 10,000 key strokes. I imagine having this goal is going to help with that as well.

I'm going to finish Price now. That will take me back down to four projects, with Dacey's Dream the next closest to completion, though that's about 20,000 words or more away. Still, that's not too bad.

Okay, back to work...

One of the reasons I should never make big decisions in the middle of the night is that I'm apt to make odd big decisions. That's what I did last night. I looked at my total word count for the year so far and realized a 'dream goal' of mine was actually within reach. I could, if I pushed myself a bit harder, write 1,000,000 new words this year.

I've always wanted to do just one year of 1,000,000. Just to say I had done it. I figured up the totals and found out that if I did 4006 words a day for the rest of the year, I could make it. Doesn't sound too terrible. I've done well over 4000 words a day for some pretty good stretches.

So I decided to give it a try. As it happens, I have four more books that I have to transcribe/rewrite from old material for the eight book set, so that is going to give me some pretty good word counts anyway. I had thought to wait and do each one as I finished the previous one... but the last three overlap far more than the previous ones, and I wanted to get some lead-ins from book five in book four, so I started on it.

Then I got up today and looked at the idea. Ack. Well, let's look at my Excel spread sheet and really work out the totals. I can talk myself out of this...

For some odd reason when I was looking at all of this last night, I thought there were only three months left in the year after August. I don't know why. I'm usually pretty much aware of September in real life...

You know what that means, right? I had 30 more days to spread the writing out over. When I keyed in the numbers from yesterday's total (5370) it gave me 3105 words per day for the rest of the year.

Well, why not? If I could do it for 4006, 3105 shouldn't kill me. And if I can knock that number down into the 2500 mark it's not bad at all.

So it's official people. I am going for 1,000,000 new words this year. This does not count line editing and such, and that may slow me up since I still have several sold novels that will be dropping back my way some time soon.

Time, I think, to get to work...

My total tonight was 5370 words. I hope to do as well tomorrow. Oh, make that later today and tomorrow. At any rate, it's time to go to bed for awhile and see if I can get my mind around the ending of the short story. That will be one of the items done and out of the way.

Sleep. That would be a good idea, too, but I doubt it will happen...

I've gotten a bit done. A few hundred words on various things. Obviously my mind is not focused on any one piece, but I'm still doing better than I had been in a while. Thinking things through, which is always a good sign for me. I tend to leap into work, and then fight my way through it for good or bad. (grin)

I'm still only about half way through my writing, though. Well, I'llg et to it. I always do, after all. A few hours break isn't exactly going to kill me.

But I do get awfully surly...

Ill through today as well. I've spent far too much time in bed. I would have spent more, but I have a back problem, and the longer I stayed there, the more it hurt. I finally forced myself up and back here. I'm not quite as physcially ill as I was, I still feel pretty miserable. At least I have my voice back, which I dind't have this morning.

I'm going to do the same round of stories today -- 250 each. And if I feel well later, I'll do another 250 each. It is not the best way to work through the material, but it will have to do for today.

I ended up with 1700 words last night. Not bad for someone who is having trouble getting her fingers to find the right keys...

I am ill. There. I admitted it.

Ill enough that it's difficult to get anything done tonight. I'm writing 250 words on each of my four projects -- two done so far -- to reach 1000. That goes very fast because it's easy to do the next 250 words on anything. It's thinking deeper than that where I'm getting into trouble tonight.

Two down, two to go. A bit of reading after that. A nice long rest in the bathtub again. I think it will help.

But just get through the writing tonight and hope for a better day tomorrow.

And today...

I'm working on odd things. Web page updates, of course. I should have another agenda dropping in soon as well. I have not done any actual writing yet, but I can see it out there on the horizon, calling to me.

I have many things that I really should get done today, though. The update for my newsletter that is way late, for instance. In fact, I think I'll go do some work on that right now. Otherwise I will just forget it again and go off to other work.

Sometimes stories just call to you...

Unfortunately for me, they almost always call at the wrong time. This is the case with a novel I started early this year -- I think for the March Madness. The novel is Ada Nish Pura, which means 'mistake from which there is no going back' in the language of the locals.

I really enjoyed this novel when I started it. I hated to stop, in fact, but I had books for the Dark Staff series that I had to get done. So I went back to work on them.

Every now and then I would open Ada and write a few lines. Unfortunately, this is not a novel I can just pick up and start working on again, like I can most of mine. I'm not certain if it's must more complex or if the characters just need my full attention, but I had to stop writing it.

I re-read it a few days ago. I liked it... but even having read it, I could not seem to get the feel when I tried to write again.

So today I started rewriting it from scratch. With luck I'll get all the way through it this time. If not, I'll have a far 'cleaner' first half than I usually have. But I have to say that even just a couple pages into it, I'm far happier with the new version. It's not that different, there's just a bit more depth to it.

So, time to get to work. I still have work on Dacey to do as well, and the new short story to finish. But it all looks good.

I'm having a problem getting going on writing today. Not a surprise. This happens, I noticed, when there are changes in my routine. I was just getting settled into the 'Russ is not here' routine when he came back. All in all, I think I'll manage to get over it. (grin)

I also have a headache and a backache, so that's kind of put me off as well. I'm going to go start some of dinner and get that out of the way. I think that will work well for tonight. Beyond that, I don't have much to say at all tonight.

Russ is home, has wandered around the house in a daze, and is now off in bed. It's good to have him back home.

Tomorrow life goes back to normal... not that you'll really notice a lot of change, I suspect. (grin)

I had to take something for my headache, and I suspect that I won't be long before I go crawl off to bed as well.

All-in-all, a productive week for me. Not as much writing done as I would have liked, of course, but sometimes it's good to get other things done instead.

Mark this day. You aren't likely to see me say that again any time soon....

Any moment now the dog will go nuts. That's the sign Russ is home. Unless the dog can't hear the car above the AC units.

At any rate, he emailed me from Omaha, so I know he's on his way. That was almost exactly two hours ago. He should be pulling in at any moment. Time to go make one last look over the house to see if I can straighten anything else up. (grin)