It's Dead Week, that strange quiet time between Xmas and New Year's. The roads are nearly deserted when I go to work in the morning. Work itself is strange, since *all* the big NY publishers are closed and most of the other people we talk to regularly are away for the holidays too. The office is kind of a ghost ship, with people missing here and there on vacation, etc. We're all going home a little early each day. At least it's not stressful.

I got together with my old friend Aubrey on Wednesday, for coffee in the afternoon. I haven't spent enough time with her since she moved out here, and it looks like she's leaving in another six months, alas. I'll try to see her more often between then and now. We had a very nice talk about art and insularity...

Otherwise, I've been reading a bit (just read my friend David Cleary's novel, to critique in writing group this Saturday), and playing lots of video games. Katamari Damacy, of course, and Destroy All Humans (which is pretty fun, and very funny, if rather repetitive in terms of action). Haven't started Final Fantasy X yet, though I will... I'm just afraid of what it will do to my productivity!

I've been pretty much deliberately slacking off all month, writing-wise. The holidays, my 30th birthday, etc. all seemed like good excuses for relaxing. I've done very little in the way of fiction writing, and though I've been writing, it's almost all been non-fiction freelance stuff. I've been thinking about stories, and some of them are nearly ripe, and I expect to get back to work after the new year. In the meantime, I'm revising Poison Sleep, and will have it in a state to send to first readers in a couple of weeks, I expect.

I feel kind of like I'm waking up from hibernation.

At least the days are getting longer again. It wasn't even dark when I left work yesterday.

Maybe it's time to make a batch of chili, now that winter is well and truly upon us.