Got some good news the other day - I've been accepted into the Critical MS online critique group! I heard about this group through Joseph Haines' journal, and it sounds like a great group of writers.

I'm hoping my participation in the group will help me take my writing to the next level and get that bit closer to publication. Just to keep me on my toes, I'm aiming to finish a new story by late March and another by late April, in time for my assigned critique slots. If nothing else, this group will certainly boost my productivity ;)

Now I'm not sure what to do about Critters (the other crit group I belong to). I'll probably submit crits there every once in awhile just to keep my participation ratio up. As for submitting stories, I reckon I should receive enough good feedback from Critical MS, so I most likely won't be submitting much to Critters. I could always say "bugger it!" and make my Critters account dormant...

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In other news, I've been spending the past few days listening to some motivational CDs by the author of The Now Habit. There's some good stuff in there! The things I've learned should complement The War of Art nicely :)

This evening we finally got a call from the cable company about arranging our broadband connection. We've been playing phone tag since Friday and unfortunately the staff on the day shift weren't privy to the Best Buy deal. Those in the know start work after 5pm, which seems a bit odd to me! Anyhow, they've arranged for a tech to drop by on Monday with cables and so forth, and then we should be up and running! I can't wait to ditch dial-up >BD

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After my previous journal entry, we watched yet another movie. Bravo was playing Being John Malcovich and I was keen to check it out. The verdict? Loved it!

The weird s*** quotient was high, and the movie seemed to follow its own brand of weird internal logic. It was more comprehensible than Mulholland Drive (now there's a bizarre flick), yet still outlandish and very entertaining. I honestly can't see why some people hated it! Maybe some folks just aren't into magical realism or unconventional stories *shrug*

I'm looking forward to seeing Secret Window at the theatre this weekend. From the trailer it looks good, although I find it interesting that they're not highlighting that it was based on the Stephen King short story Secret Window, Secret Garden in his Four Past Midnight collection. Perhaps it's an attempt to avoid the curse that seems to befall so many Stephen King movies? (ie they mostly suck!) Of course there are exceptions, but generally the movies don't translate from his novels very well.

The Dawn of the Dead remake opens next week, but we might give that one a miss and wait until it hits the video store. I haven't seen the original, but I have seen Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead. It'll be interesting to see how it compares to another recent zombie flick, 28 Days Later, and whether a rumoured 4th Romero movie will be made.

Now I'd better go and do some fiction writing!