Things have been pretty quiet on the writing front. I haven't had any new story rejections lately, and I've been rather lax as far as putting my nose to the grindstone. I'm just enjoying having some time off, taking care of various errands, and doing some reading and painting, among other things.

Last weekend I did some editing on Keeping Time, adding the new plot development and casting the protagonist in a slightly different light. It doesn't seem to be turning out as great as I'd planned, but I'll keep going with it until the draft is finished. I've also added references to a certain natural disaster that occurred about a month after it was written. That's the main reason why I haven't worked on it in awhile--the tale was just a little too eerie as written, and I wasn't keen to work on it in the aftermath of such tragedy.

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I got a set of oil paints and supplies for Christmas, so I had fun with that yesterday. I'd done a lot of reading and discovered there were several items the basic kit lacked, so we went shopping before going out to dinner on Monday night and picked up a few things, including a table easel, decent brushes, turpentine, and a palette, among others.

Oil painting is yet another of those things I'd always thought I'd like to do some day, but never actually got around to doing. Now that I've gotten started, I wish I'd picked it up sooner. The down side is that now I have yet another hobby!

My first attempt at an oil painting came out about what you'd expect from someone who has never painted in the medium in their life ;) I was trying to replicate a landscape example in the book that came with the kit, except I couldn't get the colours right, and I had a great deal of difficulty with fine detail. I painted on cardboard-backed canvas paper which probably isn't the best surface to work with, but it's cheap! The paint has probably dried by now, but I'll see if I can keep working on it anyway. There's still a lot of detail to add, and those colours need work. I'll see what I can do....

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2005 Stats:

2005 Word count:	41,592
Stories written:	9
Total submissions:	52
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	45
Waiting for response:	7
Books read:	10
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	9
Audiobooks:	60+ (lost count!)

What I'm Reading:
Jarhead, Anthony Swofford
Polyphony 4, Various (anthology)