Wednesday: A good day

Back again. Can't stop this. You can't stop this. I'm thinking of Hitch right now. You've seen the movie, yes?

So, yesterday (sorry I didn't post) I had no real time to write. The kids had appointments and I had to take the scooter in to get fixed. Oh well. I did, after much research and work, finally find a couple of places to try sending It's Not Tomato Sauce, my new picture book to. I sent it to Viking Books, to an editor I met a couple years ago. The response time will be at least three months, and possibly never! That's okay. Like I said, you can't stop this.

That's pretty much all I did yesterday.

Today, however, was great. I finally made it in to the Rec Center this morning and exercised for an hour and a half. I really am enjoying it more these days. The pants are a smidgen (merely a trifle) looser, and I am building good muscle. Then I got back and helped my second boy, Hintze, deal with being pukey. He was on the mend by noon, but he had to stay home from Spanish School.

Anyway, I was able to put about five hours into The Cabin, finally and I hope to put more into it tomorrow. I am at a little under 20,000 words, so I got about 6,000 done today, which was actually my goal. Tomorrow I was gonna shoot for the same, but Blake of ChartedCourse finally got back to me with stuff for the finalization of the User Manual. So I'm gonna get that done as fast as I can tomorrow and I hope to still have time to get at least a couple thousand words done. I am really enjoying this process, even more than with Brothers in Arms. I find I am getting to know my characters better, and I am also finding that I need to be more open for them to come alive and surprise me. This book is becoming more autobiographical by the page, and that's fine, but it is bringing up a lot of old feelings.

In any case, I am going to stay on target to get the first draft done by the end of this month. Which means by the end of next week. Friday, February 29th in fact. I think I can do it, even if they contact me again to work on The Mars Betrayal. Initial rumblings, by the way, about the latest outline I submitted, called simply Thief, are good. It would be great if that picked that one up too.

Apparently I qualify to join the National Press Corps, by the way. With all the articles I have on www.helium.com, they are inviting me and others like me to apply. Which makes sense for them, since yearly dues are at least $150 and probably more! Holy smackers! I think I will simply put, "Invited to join National Press Corps" on my resume. That'll be fine.

Anyway, all is well in Zion. Not really, but the writing is settling down finally. I am making the time to be more disciplined and it feels great. I really don't think I will be able to avoid going back to a job by the end of this year, but at least I jump started the writing. This way, hopefully, I will be able to permanently quit and write sooner. It's my dream, I'm gonna live it. I won't sleep my dream.

carpe somnium!