For the first time in a long while we had some decent weather over the weekend! We took full advantage, going on a couple of walks and playing a bit of tennis (or at least our version of it). We also watched Red Dragon, which I thought was on a par with Silence of the Lambs, and a fair bit better than Hannibal. I don't know how it compares with the 1986 version, though.

Now the weather is almost too hot, and we're heading into that lovely time of year in Illinois when the air is getting unbearably humid. And we haven't even hit the 90s yet! I guess that means more thunderstorms are in store for this week.

This week saw some good and bad news. There is a promising development with the job hunt that I hope pans out, but I won't say any more than that--I don't want to jinx it! I've also been dealing with the bureacratic nightmare from down-under yet again, after a month or two of hibernation. This thing has just about caused more stress than anything else, and I really hope things are close to resolution. We shall see...

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On the writing front, I'm getting way behind. The last story I wrote was before Wiscon, and since then I've been getting stuck into the job hunt and trying to catch up on sleep. I've felt oddly uninspired lately, despite being keen to get back into writing after meeting a bunch of cool writers at Wiscon. In the time I'd normally spend writing, I've been catching up on reading and worrying about things instead.

It doesn't look like it'll be any easier in the coming weeks either, what with the aforementioned development and my desire to continue studying some computer stuff.

I achieved my original goal set back in April to write a story per week until the end of May, and at the time I said I'd revisit that goal at the end of May to see whether I could keep it up for the rest of the year. My reasoning being that I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew and find that I'd have to abandon the goal before I even got started :)

Despite being behind, I still think writing a story per week is a worthy goal and one that I'd like to continue for the rest of the year. I've got a bit of catching up to do and it'll be quite a challenge to get back on track, but I think I'll give it a go. Already I'm getting irritable after not writing in over a week!

Wish me luck :)

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I'm way behind with the mag reading, but I did manage to get through the September 2003 issue of Analog this weekend. This is a decent issue, and includes the first part of a new serial by Edward M. Lerner, entitled Moonstruck. So far it's a good yarn, although a bit confusing at times.

My other favourite stories this issue are Richard A. Lovett's Tiny Berries (a humourous tale where spam is even worse than today, although the romantic angle is a bit formulaic), and Pete D. Manison's The Watering Hole (a Mars story with an interesting premise).

Sooner or later (probably later), I'll get through the rest of last year's Analog issues and provide a rundown of my picks for 2003 as I did for Asimov's back in January. Then there's F&SF and a whole stack of others to get through...

2004 Stats:

2004 Word count:	20,103
Stories written:	8
Total submissions:	18
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	15
Waiting for response:	5
Books read:	8
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	13

What I'm Reading:
Science Fiction 101 by Robert Silverberg
Little Gods by Tim Pratt
Locus, May 2004
Realms of Fantasy, December 2003