Wow. For no really particular reason, I feel great today. Perhaps it's because the sun's out and the air is warm. I sat outside at lunchtime and read a couple of chapters of a novel I'm critiquing. Good stuff.

I've also got the highest number of stories out that I've had for a long time. Nine at the moment, I think. Okay, that's not much by many people's standards, but it is for me. I think I've once had ten out, but that's the most. One of my current ones is an almost definite reject. It's been at a magazine for over six months, and the magazine no longer prints stories of the type that I sent them them. I'm just waiting for the official reject on that.

I'm also declaring myself half way through my new YA/children's novel. I hit 15,000 words last night, and my target is 30,000. I'm a little worried that I may have used up more than half of the plot, but I can probably throw in a few more complications. :) I wrote perhaps another 500 words on a new chapter this morning at the cafe. Steph and I were both exhausted, so we took a little while to get going.

I've got a job interview next Monday. It sounds like a great job. Wish me luck!

Also, the Strange Horizons Readers' Poll for 2003 is now up. My story, Five Things of Beauty, is available and hoping to be voted for. If you like it, then vote for it. Of course, there are a whole bunch of other great stories up for voting too. As well as voting for my own story (something that made me feel a little strange, but I'm sure everyone else does too), I voted for stories by Greg van Eekhout, Beth Bernobich and Ben Rosenbaum, and art galleries by Janet Chui and David Deen. There were plenty of other contenders last year, though. It was a good year for Strange Horizons.

Now I have to resist the temptation to go outside again, even though I can see the beautiful weather outside my office window, and get on with my work.