Not so sick today. Saturday was spent afloat on a cloud of cold medicine, but today, I'm doing okay with only my native body chemistry. A little tired, throat a bit sore, but the achy parts have passed.

I wrote a bit over 3,000 words today and finished a story, "Impossible Dreams" (it's about 5,000 words long, total). It's not my "lost things" story -- it's the alternate-reality video-store story that I first thought about writing back in 2002 (there's at least one factual error in that entry, in that David Lynch was approached to direct Return of the Jedi, not The Empire Strikes Back). The idea has been bubbling away in the back of my head ever since, and a couple of things came together recently and helped me see how to write it (specifically the news that Tom Stoppard had been fired from his screenplay-writing gig for The Golden Compass, because the new director prefers to direct films he's written himself, thus robbing the world of a potentially brilliant Stoppard screenplay; and a recent episode of This American Life that talks about death and media in act two). I've been working on the story for the past few days, and I think it came together quite well. Sometimes, every once in a while, everything aligns nicely, and I can really bring it.

The story's still a couple drafts short of true completion, but the whole shape of the thing is down on the page. This is the first story I've written in months, and it's an auspicious beginning to my month-long short fiction festival. I have notes for three more pieces I hope to write in the coming weeks: a Mr. Li story (set a few years after the events of "Captain Fantasy and the Secret Master"), a Rangergirl spin-off (set in the world of the comic book from my novel), and the "lost things" story (which is looking more and more "epic" and less and less "mini," alas -- I'd planned to submit it to David and Susan's Twenty Epics antho, but I suspect it's going to end up being too long). I have other ideas bubbling, too, but these are the three that seem ripe and ready, and I hope to get them all written before the New Year. I might not finish them all, but it won't be for lack of trying.

Today was great, actually. I woke up and wrote for an hour, and then Heather and I went out for lunch at the Lakeshore Café. After that we strolled a bit and wound up at a coffee shop, where we both wrote (she finished major revisions on a story -- whoo!), then back home for, yes, more writing. I took a break to wash dishes and begin listening to Life of Pi on my iPod (it's good so far), and along with reading, hanging out, eating, frolicking, playing with the cats, watching television (Arrested Development is still an incredibly funny show), and doing yet more writing, it was a full and fabulous night.

And this is my birthday week (Edited for clarity: I turn 28 on December 12th, next Sunday). Things could be worse. Outlook is sunny. Prospects are bright. And so on. Hope you're all doing well here in the bleak midwinter, too.