I went to the zoo yesterday. It was just what I needed. I came home exhausted (I'd only slept three hours the night before), and woke up today feeling great. Well, except for the sore legs. I'm not used to being on my feet for six hours, and trudging up and down hills.

The odd thing is that I woke up today feeling far less harried than I have for days, even though I'm farther behind. I still have to get the pages set up for Back To School for Busy Writers. I have to finish Vision. I have another novel to read for DDP.

On the other hand, I have another 170 some pictures from the zoo to go through. And there is that writing stuff to do.

I did get three outlines done, though. They're not as full as I like, but I think I can go with them. I'm looking forward to it.

Okay. It's 2:30. I'm going to mess around on the boards for a few more minutes and then start doing some real writing work. It looks good.

Had a busy few days. Not a lot better today, mostly because of a blinding headache that's make it very hard to work. I really do hate days like this. I need to get things done. I'm not getting anywhere.

Ack. Ick.

I have, at least, the basic outline for Mirrors done. Which is a good thing because I can't make my hands type for more than a word or two without stopping. They don't want to remember words. They hurt.

Time, I think, for a break.

The good news today is that book 3 of the Dark Staff series, Crystal and the Stars, will be out this week. Yay! I just got the cover art and it looks very good!

Forward Motion is hosting a NaNo chat party on the 15th. We'll see if anyone is interested in showing up. It's an interesting little experiment anyway.

Beyond that... Got a few more notes done on one of the outlines, but I have to organize and type them into something coherent still. That seems daunting. If I could get at least one outline done, though, I would feel a lot better going into NaNo.

Although, quite honestly, I could go with any of the three I have right now. I know the basics of the stories, and I write well enough without any outline. I just like doing something like NaNo without any of the pauses that come from not knowing exactly what's going to happen next. Having a good outline will save me from that.

The question is still which one to do:

Journey to Winter (Traditional Fantasy)

Mirrors (Urban Fantasy)

Farstep Station (SF)

I should probably be thinking more about getting the other things done rather than focusing so much on NaNo already. Vision is coming together well -- we have some very funny and fun articles this issue. Great for ending out the year! I have a couple more pieces to go through for DDP, and I do need to look at two things to get ready for my own submissions in November.

Everything else looks very good!

Things are going well!

We have a very good turn out for NaNo this year from Forward Motion -- it's good to see all the people from the site who really enjoy getting into the fun side of writing. Yes, yes. Warped, silly, and only crazed people like us would really think something like this is fun... but there you are. I never clamed to be anything but crazed, and it's pretty obvious that I'm not alone.

There's been a lot of people showing up at FM, new ones finding us for the first time (to the tune of 50 or more a week again) and long time members wandering back in and getting involved in the aspects of the site for which it was created -- writing. I'm glad to see it happen. We've got a lot of really great stuff going on again, and people who are interested in writing really ought to take advantage of it.

I put out two submissions today and wrote a short story, and did some work on Badlands. I've had the first word from one of my beta readers on Glory, and so far so good.

(Nazir just came up to me and I gave him a kiss right on the nose. He's been a bit standoffish, but he's getting over it. The little girl is doing sligtly better too. She actually stands by the chair and has been known to climb up on the edge of the desk.)

Tonight I found the old synopsis to Badlands, and I'm going to go over it and see what I think. Actually, I found two versions, which seems odd. One must have been for Ace and the other for Baen. Maybe their guidelines called for different types. Or maybe I just didn't know which kind I should write and did them both. I do things like that, even with those dreaded synopsis things.

And I sent a bio off for my chapbook, Honorbound. I've had an email from the cover artist and a couple very nice notes from the publisher, including the one that said Jane Fancher and C.J. Cherryh said they will do cover blurbs for it.

Oh my. I am, of course, in heaven. Two of my favorite writers. Can a person get more lucky than this?

I believe Honorbound will come out sometime in or after January.

What else? Pip is sitting here with the two Siamese less than a foot away from him and everyone is calm and quiet. I've had the door to the office open all day and there hasn't been more than an occasional hiss in the entire house. The three new kits are not happy about the dog yet, but they'll get used to her. She so badly wants to just meet them.

And that is my news tonight. Time for me to get some sleep, I think.

It's going well...

Now, is that just too cute or what?

I have, unfortunately, created a monster in the house. A 'hold me, pet me, pay attention to ME monster named Wind. He's adorable. It's hard to believe this kitten could ever have been wild. But it's getting difficult to work.

There's only one answer, of course... food. Which I have to do now before I go nuts.

Let's see... feed herd outside. Feed herd in rest of house. Feed herd in office. Don't forget to feed dog...