My first day of work went pretty well. I have an office in D.H. Hill Library on campus, which is pretty cool, even if it's a bit small and the walls are cinderblock painted white. But I'm bringing in some posters on Monday to spruce it up a bit, to make it look less like an institutional prison cell. My first assignment on Friday was to get a list of all the publishers and presses in the South so that we can write and ask if they want to be exhibitors at the festival. I also have to remember how to work PowerPoint, since my boss has a presentation on Wednesday.

I gathered up all the short stories I've written in the BlueGreen Quietus universe and created (an incomplete) Part One of my novel. It's nice to know that I'm starting off with 22,000 words already written.

If you like M.C. Escher, you'll love Snakes.

Sleep has been elusive lately. I can't seem to turn off my brain at night, what with classes, job, and wedding on my mind all day long. It also doesn't help having asshole neighbors who blast their stereos past midnight, shaking my walls and floor with bass rhythms to songs I don't know. I bought some over-the-counter sleep aid stuff, which seemed to help last night, though I'd prefer to use more natural methods. If anyone out there knows of some, I'd appreciate it. I've tried the warm milk, herbal tea, white noise machine, and wearing myself out (not all at once), but none of these methods are having much effect.

I read Mario Vargas Llosa's book Letters to a Young Novelist in a day and a half, and recommend it to all you writers out there. He does a really good job of not only explaining the fundamentals, but also talking about why we write at all, and how much enjoyment we can get out of fiction. I might track down his novels after this.

Friday morning before work, I decided that I was tired of slipping and sliding on the icy sidewalk just to get to my car (since the sun still hasn't melted all the ice yet), and I got out my shovel. I shoveled and chopped at that damn ice for an hour, and cleared a good amount of the sidewalk. When I came home from work that night, it was pretty satisfying to see that nice clean walkway.

If you haven't seen Big Fish, go do it now. Drop whatever you're doing and head to you local multiplex, because this movie is phenomenal. It's a story about how we tell stories, and how those stories can often overshadow and become our true selves, in a new reality that will live on beyond us. It's about a man's insecurities as he deals with having a child as well as his dying father whom he feels he's never really known. It's about seeing the magical among the mundane, and it's about true love. Go see it, right now, and bring some tissues.

Now Reading:
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

Stories Out to Publishers:
6

Books Read This Year:
4

Zines/Chapbooks/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
4