Okay, so my crazy new schedule is sort of catching up to me. I've been flying around like an oversized human hummingbird all week (there's an image for you), and really haven't stopped since coming back from California last week. I'm starting to feel the effects of a lack of sleep and a lack of... focus.

Here I am at Cup-A-Joe's (in Chapel Hill this time -- if you're looking to invest your money in a coffee shop's stock, this may be a good time!), trying to figure out where to start. I have three projects going right now -- the Wannoshay novel, which is sitting at 78,000 words and is waiting for me to get going on Part 3; the romance novel, which needs to be outlined and needs the first chapter to be finished soon so I can send it to the contest by the end-of-month deadline; and the collaborative SF/Horror story I'm working on with a writing friend that I'm trying to get jump-started (codenamed "Bloats").

And then there's this idea for a short-short that I want to send to Infinite Matrix. And the revision of "Top of the Stacks" which, after reading some of the incredible stories in Polyphony, I'm thinking of making really weird and... slipstream. I plan on studying this sense of weirdness and experimentation by reading the rest of that antho along with the latest Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. That should mess with my head nicely.

So yeah, just a couple things going on today. Not to mention the various part-time job prospects coming up in the next week or so, and the book review coming soon for the Philip K. Dick story collection (did say "messing with my head"???). Having all these things going on at once is a lot of fun, especially because I'm doing what I want to be doing, which is crucial to me, but it can be tiring.

Anyway, I'm in Chapel Hill again because Lizzie and I are "commuting" on Thursdays for the time being. I drop her off at class at 11 a.m., write all afternoon, and then pick her up at the end of class at 4:30 p.m. It gives me a nice chunk of time to write without distraction, and it saves her the hassle of walking all the way across campus to her parking spot and then getting stuck in traffic on I-40 at the start of rush hour, and best of all, it gives us some time to hang out together and talk. We also get to learn more about our plans for next summer, and where Lizzie may be doing her Occupational Therapy fieldwork (Denmark? the UK?). So that'll be fun. Temporary relocation is good.

Although, I must say, our commute this morning was a bit ruined when a slow-ass truck threw a rock out at us and put a star-shaped crack in our windshield. Needless to say, Lizzie was m.a.d. (me, I've been driving around with a three-foot-long crack on the passenger-side section of the windshield of the Esquart since 1993!). But I called insurance, and it's all taken care of -- they'll replace the windshield for free. We'll see what that does to our payments... Ah well. What can ya do? At least the car wasn't damaged, and we didn't get into a wreck!

Mmmm... I'm starting to catch my latte/coffee-induced buzz. The old leg is twitching, and I'm starting wake up. I still haven't nailed down my sleeping habits yet, as I'm getting up at 3 a.m. but still going to bed at the usual 10:30 or 11 p.m. I've started taking naps after I get back home, but that doesn't work the best, 'cause that's my prime writing time (usually), and I miss my 11 a.m. workouts before lunch. And I've been finishing the route late the past 2 days -- today I didn't get done until 7:30! Ouch.

Okay, I'm procrastinating now, talking about the paper route! Must get focused...On writing...

I think I'm gonna get started on some crits for friends first, then dive into my various writing projects. Right now I'm thinking of jamming out 1,000 words on the "Bloats" tale so I can send it on to my tag-team partner (tag me, tag me!), and then get all mushy and spooky with my haunted romance in Ocracoke... Later!

P.S. Came home to a nice letter from Susan at Strange Horizons, saying how she would like to join us SH veteran writers for wings and brews at our next get-together (but of course!), along with a lovely check for my story running in the next 2 weeks there. Yeehaw! Lovely timing, just lovely!

Today's Quote:
"Good midday," Miulla said. "Your skin is looking especially spotted and moist today, Master Squibble."

Fertig's smile grew wider at the compliment. "Such a sweet otherworlders you are." He tilted his dorsal fin and let loose a fart that echoed in his metal box. "Buy me a drink, and I'll tell you a tale."

"Just what I was hoping for," Miulla said, and eased into a bar stool next to Fertig, glad that her people lacked what humans called smell.

Now Reading:
Polyphony, Wheatland Press

Now Playing:
"Time (The Revelator)," Gillian Welch; Big Head Todd & the Monsters

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