I'm at work, where I've been reading the blogs of SF writers, which is part of my job. Bruce Sterling is sitting in the other room being interviewed. Yesterday we had cake. I'm told we'll have pizza later today. Monday, there will almost certainly be champagne. Some days I love this gig.

Last night we went to see a FIRE ballet -- Romeo & Juliet -- at The Crucible, the local collective of fire-dancers, blacksmiths, glass blowers, welders, etc. (I capitalize FIRE because I was more interested in the FIRE than the ballet, I must admit.) It was a good show. Tybalt was good, the Nurse was good, Mercutio was good, Romeo was good, the Apothecary's shop was awesome, full of weird bubbling jars, etc. I'm not qualified to judge the dancing, but the FIRE was nice, lots of big booms, a flamethrower near the end, a flaming spiral staircase, lots of cool fire dancing, etc. Fire eaters. Hydraulic lifts. Spinning chandeliers, also on fire. We were about three rows from the front, which was good in some ways -- great view of the action, and we could really feel the heat -- but sometimes too close, since there was often a lot happening onstage simultaneously, and from our vantage it was hard to take in the totality of the display. Still, I had more fun than I expected, and Heather loved it, which was the point (it was half her birthday present).

The big debate about fast writing vs. slow writing has reared its unstoppable head again -- Toby Buckell has a good round-up. When I sit down to write, I produce words quickly. But I spend a lot of time thinking about my novel, story, or whatever before I write. I don't know if that makes me a "fast" writer or a "slow" writer. As long as I'm happy with the work, and enough readers like it for me to keep publishing, I guess I don't care. The stories of mine people like the most were written with exactly the same process as the stories people like the least, and the ones so bad they were never published? They were written the same way, too. Speed doesn't seem to be a major factor in the quality of my work. But I'm glad I can produce words relatively quickly. It makes me think I might be able to make a living by words alone at some point.

For everyone who has incredibly strong opinions on this subject, I would just remind you: it's a mistake to assume that your personal experience is necessarily identical to some objective, universal truth.