I'm finally feeling like writing in the ol' journal again. Ever since early May, when I got buried in work with my new role at the day job, I haven't so much as looked at this journal, much less wanted to write an entry.

All those journal entries would've been was: "Sat in front of my work laptop and worked. Sometimes at my office at work, sometimes at the kitchen table." Not very exciting stuff, though things are improving at the day job, and some intriguing events are in store... some out of my control, others in my control. We shall see...

In any case, let's do the cool news first -- I got the cover art for my Wannoshay novel, coming out in January '08. Here's the painting, by Alan M. Clark:



Pretty cool, eh? The design department at Five Star Books is still working with the fonts; you can see a tentative version at my revamped Home page. I'm buying the original painting, so I'm excited about getting it matted and framed and hung on my office wall.

Other nifty news -- my story from Aeon Magazine last year, "A Brotherhood of Trees," was given an Honorable Mention nod by Gardner Dozois in his most recent Year's Best antho, which was awesome. I'm especially happy about that, because it's motivating me to get back to the Sixteen Miles novel revisions -- that novel and that story have a lot in common, including weird, spooky shit going on in forests.

I'm also gearing up to revamp the baseball novel, thanks to some kind words in this mini-review of my All Nations story from Electric Velocipede from May. I feel the good writing mojo returning! I've been thinking a lot about these two books in the past few months, even if I haven't so much as opened up the Word files that contain the novels. I've been jotting down ideas and notes here and there, and I'm excited to get back to them.

I just need to figure out which one to fix up first. The tentative plan is to get the opening three chapters for both novels back in shape by the end of the month, then write some brand-new three-page synopses and one page cover letters, and submit both novels to some various agents and editors. I have NOTHING out anywhere right now, and I need to get back on the ball. These are all things in MY control.

Finally, I finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road, having really got sucked into the book after the slow opening, and while I can't say I enjoyed it, I really, truly appreciated the book, especially the sense of dread I felt throughout, especially as the ending approached. I could've read more -- I felt the book ended too soon. Good stuff -- the father-son stuff was really well done, and again, really ties into my own Sixteen Miles novel, adding to my desire to get back to my own writing.

So now I'm reading Tim P's latest Marla novel, and enjoying the heck out of it, and gearing up to get my own writing schedule back on-line. I may be hauling my carcass up at 5 a.m. tomorrow, at last. Wish me luck! Later...