What a day -- lots of running around, picking up this and that for a get-together tomorrow with friends, followed by a big old meltdown by Mr. Drew. He did not want to take a nap. Daddy thought otherwise. The battle of wills was not a pretty sight. Whew.

One of the errands was a trip to the Post Office, where Drew and I picked up the amazingly lovely painting by Alan Clark that's the cover to my Wannoshay novel. Wow! What a sweet painting, and it's much bigger than I'd imagined. I can't wait to get it framed and put on my office wall. Now to see it on the actual cover of my book... Can't wait!

I'm finally caught up on all my nitpicky edits to my Sixteen Miles novel, and now I have to sit down and sort of map out how all the various plotlines and threads all come together to form some sort of meaningful whole. I was sort of winging it with this book, trying to just tell the story and see what happens -- no outline, really -- and as a result it's a bit fast and loose.

Speaking of writing, big congrats to fellow writing pal Tim Pratt, who won a Hugo, the SF and fantasy equivalent of the Oscars. It was for his story "Impossible Dreams," which I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't yet read. I mean to fix that shortly. Congrats, Tim! Keep up the amazing work -- we're all proud of ya.

I also wanted to note that we watched the final episode of the final season of "Deadwood" last night. Good stuff. A bit abrupt (and I admit I dozed off a bit in that final one), but it all made for a fairly satisfying ending. I was hoping for a bit more of a battle, but I don't think it was necessary. A very interesting series, the closest a TV show has gotten to being on the level of a really good novel. The dialog on this show was amazing, even if I was always asking "What'd he say??"

Now, to read some more early Tim Powers. Later!