Sorry it's been so quiet. I'm working hard, with a challenging-but-not-impossible deadline of Sept. 1 for my next book.

I tried to figure out how many deadlines I've had in my working life: twelve novels (counting the one in progress); a dozen-plus short stories; maybe a dozen more freelance articles. One anthology as an editor.

Oh, and twenty years of journalism where I think I wrote at least forty-fifty pieces a year, closer to a hundred if I was covering a political campaign or legislative session. So, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500.

Fastest turn around on a story: ten minutes. Yes, I wrote and reported a page one story in ten minutes for the late, great Evening Sun.

Fastest novel I ever wrote: In Big Trouble, which I turned in three months early. While I was covering the governor's race. And teaching.

Busted deadlines: Exactly one, for Plots With Guns. Sorry, guys!

Your deadline stories after the jump, as we Fourth Estaters say.