Okay, I'm over all the Nov. 2-3rd stuff. Got most of it out of my system reading journals all day yesterday, and then spending last night talking to Elizabeth and downing three of my latest concoctions, a trio of "M and Js" -- a mix of (mostly) Mike's Hard Lemonade(I was too lazy to go to the ABC store for real likker) and orange juice (to help fight off my cold, of course!). Just going to continue educating myself on the world and try to make the world better one small bit at a time whenever I can.

And part of that is continuing to write. As Steven kindly pointed out in yesterday's comments, fiction has an impact. And the topics I like to write about -- the "other" and the forgotten people in our world, which I cover in my baseball novel -- hopefully get people to THINK. These topics make me think, which keeps me coming back to the old grindstone.

And telling those stories is what gets my ass out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to work on 'em. I'm really close to finishing up the overhaul of my very problematic opening chapter (always my worst chapter in any novel I've written). And I'm pumped up -- I can't wait to get back to working on the novel. I'm figuring out my characters and feeling eager to get back to researching the pre-WWI era of the novel.

It helps that there's lot of cool shit for me to enjoy, like the team's super-agile centerfielder who climbs up a ten-foot fence to make a catch that prevents a game-winning home run (but almost causes a riot in the process). Lots of reader cookies, I hope, for a reader to nibble on.

I just hope I can stay awake for our latest baby-related class tonight. I think I'll be all right -- it's a breastfeeding class. (Huh-huh huh-huh-huh!!! Uh, you said "breast"!). Later...