Catch Up

I'm back from the great white north.

I went up this weekend to Gaylord to visit my Grandparents for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. We had a party for them, my mom and my aunts put it on. It was all in all a very good time. Full of turkey and beer and more cream puffs than any one person should eat. The mornings that we were up there we were greeted by the roaring motors of airshows from the airport just south of town (I saw a parked F-18 when we left there this morning), and in the evenings we were annoyed by the obnoxious thump thumping of a concert which (according to my grandparents) was over a mile away, but prided itself on the volume of its music, which we could hear clearly.

I figured out what I'm reading at my first reading next Monday (see my previous post for more information). I'm doing a short excerpt from The Rider, all of Interlude, and all of another short story I've yet to finish titled "Bern Corwyn and the Society of The Miracle Workers," though I'm thinking of shortening the title to "Just Jazz." Now I actually have to finish that story, let it cool for a couple of days and then run a second draft over it before I read it. And this is how I still procrastinate even when I'm not at school.

There should be an interview up on the website at http://www.twilighttales.com in the next few days.

I have an interview with Target on Tuesday for a super early morning job (4am-8am) stocking shelves or some nonsense. It's crazy, but it should pay well, and it'll line my coffers while I attempt to really do this thing we call writing.

Holiday Break, Day IV

Writing was absolute shit tonight.

It's the first time I've put pen to the page, or fingers to the keyboard in this case, in like three weeks. Everything is feeling truncated and abridged. I'm hoping the mere act of starting will be enough to get the ball rolling again. If this is what it's going to be like over the next month or so, than it's going to be a long long slog to the finish line. But reaching the finish line is what's important. For a first novel I can definitely do some serious editing and re-editing.

I only got about a thousand words and everything felt flat. I want to watch noir murder mysteries to get inspired, but I'm afraid that if I do than I'm going to be just rehashing what was already done.


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We got hit with a nice blizzard last night. Not as bad as what you'd imagine a blizzard to be, but at least I'm going to be getting my white christmas! There are about 6-8 inches on the ground, hopefully more is on it's way this week. My dad got out and used his snow blower. I was hoping he'd let me shovel. I need the exercise.

I took my dog for a walk today, and she enjoyed the cold weather. We'd bound through the unshoveled sidewalks and she would grin and then bury her head in the drifts, bringing it up again covered in white.

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I saw a cart in a parking lot on Friday that said "Do not Oogle someone else's cart."

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I'm still waiting to hear if my friend can go to my cottage for the week to be all writerly. If he can't than I'll probably head back to Chicago earlier. We'll see.