What a wacky morning. Just trying to get myself focused, once again. I seem to have too many side-projects going on all of a sudden, all of which I'm really interested in diving into, but having so many things on my To-Do List overwhelms me. So I end up doing bits and pieces here and there without making a lot of progress.

Oh well, what can ya do? I figure things are just going to be crazy until the end of the month, until after Labor Day, after I get back from California and the World Con. I'm getting pretty pumped up about that, let me tell you. I'm hoping to get more writing done before then, but work at the Day Job's going to be busy, and I have a bunch of odds and ends to take care of 'round here, so we'll see.

I got a bit sidetracked by the romance novel, to be honest. I wrote about 1,000 words on it today (I need to have a really strong first chapter and outline by the end of September, so I'm starting early). Having hashed out a lot of the details and character motivations with Elizabeth earlier, it was a cinch to do some drafting. I also started doing some research about Blackbeard and Ocracoke and the ship Queen Anne's Revenge.

I figure I'll pound out a really rough draft pretty soon, then tweak it in the weeks to come to make it as strong as possible. Got to remember to have lots of cliffhanger-type endings to keep the reader comin' back for more! I also need to read a couple romance novels by Kristine Grayson and Nora Roberts, but I wanted to get my draft of my first chapter done first so I can compare my style to theirs to see if I'm on the right track...

And this week I must finish chapter 16 of the SF novel! Then the interlude next week, and I'll be up to speed on that project. Not sure if I'll get 'round to the story about the Space Mercs before WorldCon. We'll see.

Sorry to be so random today. Got a million fun projects and ideas floating around, including an email I got from a friend of a friend who directs movies. He's looking for material for a film, and I sent him some of my stuff. I'm excited to hear what he has to say about the two stories and the novel chapters I sent him. Could be a lot of fun.

And that's about it for me. I'm hoping to sit down tonight and just read for fun, checking out some Ian MacLeod stories (I loved his "New Light on the Drake Equation"). I'm sure reading him will put me back into SF mode. Later!

Now Playing:
"Play," "18," Moby; "Charlotte, NC," Pearl Jam

Today's Words:
1,200

Novel Words:
73,400

Today's Quote:
Ally Trang would never forget what happened when the little girl with the thick glasses touched the fence that surrounded the Wanta ship, because it was at that exact instant, not counting the truck hitting the Buick or the presence of the fence itself, that her entire mad desire to get to Iowa City evaporated.

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