Happy Australia Day to those Down Under, as well as fellow ex-pats around the world! Actually, I'm a day late given the timezone difference, but I couldn't let the day go by without commenting on it. We didn't do anything special today, though. One of these days we'll have to fire up the barbeque while it's snowing and have us an imitation Australia Day in our own backyard ;) In case you're wondering what it's all about, I talked more about it in an older entry here.

It has been a busy month! The writing is going pretty well, with one story completed and another in progress. The finished one is a period piece based on an idea I've had floating around for a few years now, and I finally got around to writing it. That turned out well, I think. All that remains now is to incorporate some critique comments and send it out. My current project is for a forthcoming anthology inspired by the current pop-culture zeitgeist (one of 'em, anyway).

I sent out a bunch of stories last night after noticing the submission tally was looking a little anemic. As always, I'm striving to write more and get more stories doing the rounds. Naturally, finding time continues to be a challenge....

This month feels more like winter after the heatwave (50F!) that was December. For anyone still unconvinced of global warming, they should take a look around at the wacky weather and think about what might be causing it. Incidently we watched An Inconvenient Truth near the end of December. It's a real eye-opener, although some may find the inclusion of Al Gore's political and personal life a bit annoying. Personally, I thought those aspects helped establish where he was coming from and why he made the documentary in the first place. It's worth a look, if only as a springboard for further reading.

With the arrival of winter comes flu and colds, and we got hit by both this month. I'm on the tail-end of a cold right now (I hope). That, along with travel, has wreaked havoc with our workout routine this month. Just as I was starting to make progress with the weights again! I'd been benching 175 until I pulled a muscle in my right arm in November last year, and I've had to take it easy ever since. That'll teach me not to let a month go by without lifting weights!

We've done our fair share of travel over the last month, with two road trips to Michigan. The first was over Christmas, and the second was for a wedding last weekend. On this most recent trip we also attended the Detroit Auto show, which was fun. I mostly like to check out the sports cars and take lots of photos. We were concerned over how well Jack would travel, but it turns out he's a great little traveller and handled the journey well. That reminds me, he's much bigger now than in the previous photos I posted! I'll have to post some more recent ones soon.

-----<>-----

2007 Stats:

2007 Word count:	7,139
Stories written:	1
Total submissions:	6
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	2
Waiting for response:	9
Books read:	0
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	0
Audiobooks:	3

What I'm Reading:
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates, David Cordingly
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny