8:15 a.m.

I keep meaning to link to places, things, and ideas, so here are a couple:

Dave Schwartz has a good new story, "The Water-Poet and the Four Seasons", up at Strange Horizons. (It reminds me a bit of my own seasonal-personification story, "The Third-Quarter King", which is going to be in Eidolon this year; but Dave's story is better.)

SH also has an interview with Barth Anderson. Heather's reading his novel, The Patron Saint of Plagues, and I've been tapping my foot impatiently, because I want to read it myself.

Since SH gives y'all such good stuff to read, you oughta contribute to their spring fund drive. Every little bit helps -- their goal is to be supported by a broad base of donors who give a little, rather than a couple of big donors who give a lot.

My friend passing-through got delayed, so I probably won't see her today; maybe tomorrow. Ah, well. She's probably going to be somewhere in California for a while, so I'm sure we'll connect at some point, if not this week. On the plus side, that means I have today to get some writing done, and no plans to do much of anything else (except dishes, and maybe a load of laundry). But first I have a slice of banana bread to eat, and a cup of coffee to drink.

10:00 a.m.

Look at me accomplishing things! I got the axe story, "Restless in My Hand", revised, and will be sending it off later today. It didn't require much in the way of structural work, just some tightening here and there, etc. I read the whole thing aloud, which helped a lot. (I don't always do that, but I should -- I always notice clunky lines more easily when I read things aloud.)

I'm now up to five stories in circulation. For a long time? I had two. So things are looking up.

11:21 a.m.

A lot of folks are saying nice things about Jeffrey Ford and/or The Girl in the Glass over at the Litblog Co-op. And Matthew Cheney weighs in with some indisputable truths about Jeff.

(No, I haven't written any actual new fiction today. Yet. I had to start laundry! And read blogs! Hmm, it's almost lunch time. But I'm sure I'll write some fiction. I mean, I'm a writer, so it's plausible, right?)

12:50 p.m.

Well, I've written a couple hundred words, at least! Also got a call from my friend, who's probably just going to pop over to Oakland for a bit to have tea and talk with me. So that'll be fun. And I should get a little more work done in the meantime...

3:24 p.m.

Laundry done, dishes done, 1300 words written.

My friend called again, and she isn't actually popping over today after all. Instead, the current plan is for her to come over tomorrow evening and crash on our couch. I prefer that -- more time to hang out with her, she gets to meet Heather this way, etc. We'll see how it works out.

I have a couple more hours before I need to go pick up Heather, so I suppose I oughta write some more.

4:21 p.m.

Hell, that's enough. I revised a story and wrote 2,500 new words on the spelling bee story, so I'm content. Time to go sit on the couch, drink orange juice, and watch cartoons for an hour.

After I post this.