For those of you who don't read the comments, the forced open house on Monday did not rob us of our stuff or our cats, and, in fact, netted us a bottle of somewhat nice white wine. It's amazing how much a little peace offering can soothe -- just that acknowledgement that, yes, this is intruding on our lives makes me feel more comfortable with our landlords tromping through while we aren't home. Not happy about it, but more assured that they think of us as people.

I should also note that I had had WAY too much caffeine when I wrote that last entry, so I was a little more wiggy than usual. Sorry 'bout that.

This week has gone ok so far. Busy at work, what with the shipping boy out very sick (poor Richard!) and the other two jobs still not filled. I have a headache today that is annoying me, but otherwise I seem to be in a good mood. Could probably use some more sleep.

I've been cranking on submissions at work, which means that I haven't been doing any computer work on my own stuff at night. Sigh. Still, I spend a lot of time thinking about both "Immolation" and "Skatebirding" and I think I'm about ready to do a major pass on the latter. "Immolation" needs some tweaking before I let it marinate, though, so I need to do that first.

Too bad I'm not all pumped about the novel at the moment. I think I'm in that place where I need to type in what I have to get reved up again. That's a lot of typing, unfortunately.

And I have a story idea that is nothing but structure. No plot. No setting. Not one character (other than knowing there must be at least two). Nope, nothing but a concept, a form I'd like to fill with all those good things that make a story. Tim's comment, when I told him about this, was, "Jesus, you're such a top-down writer." Sometimes, this is too true. Not always, I don't think, but occasionally all I want to do is find a good story to play with a form. I think it works for me as long as I don't do it all the time.

Flytrap 4 is open to submissions. So, if you have any fiction that's too weird for other markets, send it to Tim! I'm doing a featured poet this time around, so I'll be reading any non-fiction slush we get. Should be a lovely break from all the erotica I read at work :-)

This weekend we're going to Santa Cruz and everytime I think about it, I relax a little. Santa Cruz is so laid-back and fuzzy, and we hardly ever have to rush while we're there. Scott & Lynne are scheduling a hot tub excursion, too, so it's extra special relaxy this time. Should be fun.