I had a good day off yesterday. After taking Heather to the train station, I returned home and did my freelancing. By 10 a.m. it was already getting incredibly hot and stuffy in the house. By noon I was done with my essential work, so I took off for a walk, reading Brian Francis Slattery's Spaceman Blues as I strolled. (The writing is good, but I want something with a little more actual plot now, so I'm putting the book aside.) The novel has a vivid description of Red Hook in Brooklyn, which reminded me of an unfinished collaboration I was working on with Nick Mamatas ages ago, set partly in Red Hook. We sent the story back and forth a couple of times and then it just sort of sputtered and died, but I started gnawing over the idea again on my walk, and during lunch, and by the time I got back home I had actually figured out an ending. So, after setting up a couple of fans in the office to create a wind vortex that made it possible to actually sit and work in that roasting room, I spent a couple of hours on the story. I finished and sent it off to Nick, and a few hours later he returned it, having added some great stuff -- he made the ending a lot stronger, and built in a whole additional layer of complexity. I did a read-through to catch typos from our cross-editing and then sent the story off into the world. Very satisfying to have another story out there. I might try to write more stories before the baby arrives, since I'm not yet ready to start the fourth Marla Mason novel.

Today, back to work, but the issue is done, so it should be a mellow day. I'll do some layout stuff, edit an interview, write some obituaries, and enjoy the novel experience of not having any looming deadlines stressing me out.