Here we go again with a new month. The great thing about a new month is that our treat money gets recharged. This is kind of like being a kid and getting your pocket money. Admittedly, most kids get more pocket money than we do, but then they don't have to work for it.

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Today's good news is that my story Five Things of Beauty is going to be reprinted in the "Best of Strange Horizons 2003" anthology. Okay, you can read the story for free by clicking the link above, but what you really want is a beautifully printed version in an anthology of other great stories, poetry, articles, and who knows, maybe even art, right? Course you do. Not only that, but you'll be supporting Strange Horizons. You're sold on it, I can tell.

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This week's writing challenge is proving a bit more, well, challenging than I thought it would. I finished revising the chapter I was working on, and now I have to do half of the next chapter. Only I haven't really thought about what I'm putting in the next chapter. And I haven't even looked at the short story I'm supposed to be revising.

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We're getting a car. We don't really need one, and we certainly can't afford one. But my mum has offered to give us her car as she doesn't want it anymore. So, while we can't afford to run it, we're certainly not ever likely to be able to afford to buy a car, and no one is ever going to offer us one for free again. So I'm going down to Bristol at the weekend to pick it up. We're just praying that it doesn't turn out to be an expensive decision. My recollection of cars is that they always need work. Perhaps I'll have to learn what happens under a bonnet (hood, in America, I think--see I don't even know what the damned thing is called). It's been a while since I've been down to visit, so it'll be a nice trip. Steph, unfortunately, is staying to look after Nika.