This past weekend was slightly productive, slightly expensive, and mostly wet. It started raining Saturday late morning and didn't really stop until Sunday afternoon. But in the midst of that, I managed to get some things done.

After a haircut Saturday morning (which I desperately needed), I sat down at the computer for three solid hours and revised the story referred to in the previous journal entry. The ending works much better and I tightened the prose considerably, so I hope it's better. I sent it off to my lady for a quick perusal before I email it back to the editor who possibly wants it. Wish me luck.

I also had to contend with barking dogs the entire weekend, which really pissed me off. The girl that lives in the apartment one over and one up from me has three dogs (two medium-to-big-sized ones and one little yappy dog) that she leaves on her balcony. She apparently does this when she leaves, but she might also do it when she's there. And these dogs bark at anything that moves, including the wind in the trees. It's really damn annoying, especially when I'm trying to work on a story that might get published. I've called the apartment complex office several times to complain about it, and so far they haven't done anything to help, which is interesting since three dogs is one too many according to the lease agreement. If it doesn't get cleared up in the next few days, I'm calling the cops. I'm sick of this shit.

Okay, end of rant. I also managed to go to a few bookstores this weekend. I headed over to Quail Ridge and bought The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque and The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories by Jeffrey Ford in anticipation of his upcoming reading/signing there. His "The Empire of Ice Cream" still rattles around in my head (and big thanks to Mike for pointing me toward the story). I also picked up The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto, since I really enjoyed her story in the Witpunk anthology. After that, I went to the Borders near my apt and got the latest issue of Asimov's, which contains John Kessel's short story "Under the Lunchbox Tree". That evening, I traveled to Barnes & Noble and actually found the book I was looking for, Brighten to Incandescence, the newest collection from Michael Bishop, with cover art by this guy. I also found, to my surprise, The Silver Gryphon, which I didn't even think was out yet.

There are also a bunch of books coming out soon which will further deflate my wallet, though I may have to start waiting for the trade paperbacks to save some money: Circle of Cats by Charles de Lint and illustrated by Charles Vess, The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce, The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean, Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, A Place So Foreign and Eight More and Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow, Fudoki by Kij Johnson, The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson, Low Red Moon by Caitlin Kiernan, and Air by Geoff Ryman. Whew. You know, I spend too much money on books.

Saturday night, I also headed out to the Six String Cafe for the CD release party of Show and Tell, the newest EP from my buddy Taylor Roberts. The EP is all acoustic stuff with his trio, which includes Mark Nippert on violin and Brian Tavener on various percussive instruments. The show was great as always, full of good music and bad jokes. I got to talk a little with Taylor afterward, though he was bombarded by everyone at the show and couldn't talk long. But I got a free CD (since I'm reviewing it for GMR as soon as I can get to it), and he congratulated me in person on the engagement.

Yesterday I spent doing some mundane things, like paying some bills, balancing my checkbook, updating my writing log to reflect recent rejections (and my fiction page as well), and writing a bit of the story I hope to send to Leviathan 4 by the end of this month. I also started thinking about my next story, and how I'll be able to send it to Polyphony 4 in September. Then I went over to my parents' house, and we talked about wedding stuff, ate some hummus on pita bread, watched The Usual Suspects (which was very good; I hadn't seen it before), ate salmon steaks and macaroni salad for dinner, and watched part of the Tony Awards.

Overall, a pretty productive and fun weekend. Except for the dogs next door.

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Now Reading:
Polyphony 2

Stories Out to Publishers:
7

Books Read This Year:
21

Novel Word Count:
9200