I think it was about a month ago that I was watching TV during a weekday, probably during the big ice storm since I didn't have to go into work, and I saw this show where these people were interviewing Tommy Lee. He was in the kitchen of his enormous house, his gorgeous girlfriend was off camera cheering him on, and he had a big fat grin on his face. He said, "This morning I had amazing sex, ate eggs benedict, and am now doing an interview on television. You know what, life doesn't suck." And I laughed hard, because he was right. My girlfriend may be on the other side of the world, and I may be carrying more around the middle than I would like, but I got a decent amount of writing done today, which definitely doesn't suck.

After thinking about what was said in my first novel-writing class, and after reading an excerpt from Cory Doctorow's second novel Eastern Standard Tribe (which will be out in Fall of 2004), I realized that I needed a stronger beginning for my own novel. So I'm setting up a frame for the story in three parts: "Prelude", "Intermezzo", and "Coda". (Thanks go to Janet for refreshing my memory with musical terms.) I wrote the 400 word prelude this afternoon, and it's indeed stronger than what I had, with a better hook.

I read The Tain by China Mieville this morning and (as with all his works) really enjoyed it. It takes place in a war-torn present-day London, where the enemy is an unexpected surprise. And the ending is a totally wonderful anti-anticlimax that comes out of nowhere but is absolutely logical and believable. I don't think anyone other than a Brit could have possibly written this story. It was incredibly good. Go to PS Publishing and order yourself a copy. You'll thank me.

Now I'm off to work on some more fiction. I got a haircut today. It looks nice.

---

Now Reading:
Numbers in the Dark by Italo Calvino; The Tain by China Mieville

Stories Out to Publishers:
11

Novel Word Count:
15,800