I did it. I finally did it. My nerves were shot, and it was the last straw. My stupid neighbor left her dogs out again on Friday night, and of course they started barking again, so I called the Cary Police. I told the woman who answered the phone (the dispatcher, maybe?) what was going on, how my apartment complex hadn't done anything significant (even after I called them five or six times about it), and that these stupid dogs were driving me mad. She said she'd send an officer out right away, and half an hour later, there was silence. Ahhhhh. I hope it stays that way. The dispatcher said that if it keeps up to call Animal Control. I'd prefer not to do that since I really like dogs, but their owner may not leave me a choice.

I got a lot done this weekend. I revised two stories, and they're much better. One of my fatal flaws is trying to make a story too big and introduce too many elements within a relatively short amount of words. "One Less", one of my Clarion stories, is an example; I tried to bring in a lot of concepts at the end of the story, like a Celestial Beauracracy, and a foul-up in the number of souls born into the world, and I had to deliver it in a big info-dumped chunk of dialogue while the main character sat there and listened. So I got rid of all that. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Words to live by. So I did some revising, got two stories ready to send by post today, and emailed five more yesterday (this wasn't all fiction; two of those were poems). So my submission total is back up to an even dozen again.

I also had to pay estimated taxes for the quarter, which are due today. Which meant getting out all my invoices for the last two months and seeing how much I owed. Bleh. Stupid taxes. My bank account is limping this morning.

Saturday night I went to a couple's shower for a friend at the day job getting married in August. I hadn't been to one of these before, but it was fun. It was like a bridal shower, but for the couple. There were drinks and appetizers, then we got fed dinner (which was an unexpected treat). They opened a bunch of presents. There was lots of hanging around and talking. I got to meet the wives of several of my coworkers, and they all asked about my lady and how we met. One wife in particular was really cool; her family is from the Philipines (though she was born in the US), and she was just fascinated that I was a writer and had traveled to all the places I've traveled. It was a fun night.

Last night I went to my parents' house to celebrate Father's Day. We went out to dinner, and they asked a bunch of questions about Chinese culture, to make sure no one got inadvertantly offended at the wedding (though from what Janet was saying, it doesn't sound like that will happen). When I got home, I looked over the big batch of INS paperwork that my pal Kim (the woman whose couple's party I attended Saturday) was nice enough to copy for me. It has checklists and instructions, and is really easy to read; I'll be sending it Janet too, since there's stuff in there that she'll specifically need to know.

There were a lot of things on my mind last night, and I couldn't get to sleep until around 2:30 a.m., so I finished reading The Mount by Carol Emshwiller, and was just amazed at what a good writer she is. I'm reading her newest short story collection next.

So the goals for this week are to finish the story I'm going to submit to Leviathan (since it's due by the end of the month), start writing the massive omnibus review of the Small Beer Press book line for Green Man Review, and start writing a few music reviews.

(Speaking of, I heard from my friend Kyler, that her new CD is just about finished, and that she's having a release party at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh on July 25. I'm planning on being there; she'll be performing with her full band, which will be a treat since I've only ever seen her perform solo, or with a few people backing her up. If you can't go, you really should buy the album; she has a phenomenal voice and a great songwriting talent.)

Those are the goals anyway. I'd like to get the Leviathan story finished this week so I can run it past Janet and maybe Mike before sending it off. At least now I won't have any barking dogs to contend with while I'm trying to write.

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Now Reading:
Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller

Stories Out to Publishers:
12

Books Read This Year:
23

Novel Word Count:
9200