Stormy Weather

7 March 2002

It's still not quite spring here yet, thank goodness -- I wasn't quite ready to be done with the rainy season. Even if it is just sort of a drizzly season. I'm happier when it's precipitating, generally. At Gustavus, I wasn't always thrilled with snow (although sometimes I was) because I knew I'd have to walk through it to get wherever I wanted to go. But rain was -- and is -- pretty much always good. Even if spring rains in St. Peter made the whole campus smell like dead earthworms.

It's kind of a sick feeling, missing the smell of dead earthworms.

Mark and I had an elegant candlelight dinner last night. Mac 'n' cheese. We were trying to turn the dining room light fixture on, but it won't go. We changed the bulbs. No dice. So I've got a call in for the maintenance people. We have candles on the table for if we really need them, but even with the overcast skies today, I think I'll be fine with a kitchen light and a living room light. (My computer desk is at the intersection of the dining room and the living room, with easy kitchen access.)

Yesterday I finished "Drops of Yesterday," which is in the same universe as "The Flask of Today." I've had this idea for awhile and just haven't gotten around to committing it to paper, so down it went and out it goes. In some ways, it's the opposite story to "The Flask of Today." Definitely a companion and not a sequel or prequel. It's also a much more thoroughly adult story than "Flask," which may or may not make it easier to sell. We shall see. I've been writing more classifiable stories lately -- not on purpose, it just happens that way. Maybe it's a reaction to the Not The Moose Book, which is a spy/science fiction/historical/fantasy novel.

I also did the edits for "Small Talk," making it -- of course -- longer. All these people who say that you should cut the rough draft by 10%...sheesh. Even when that's true, I also should add 10% at least, usually. I just tend to write short on my rough drafts.

Timprov and I didn't get around to doing the last edits on "Portrait," so that's on the schedule for today, along with trips to the grocery store, the pharmacy, and the P.O. I'm trying to decide which story I'm going to try to finish today, since the "I'm not going to be obsessive" resolution is, well, weak at best. Three drafts in three days so far...surely I can do four more, with the ideas and outlines and scenes before me. Surely. If I don't, I'll be okay, but...well, if I do, that'll be okay, too, right?

Mostly. I had to order myself away from the computer last night, even though there were things to discuss, people to update, plans to make. Back was too knotted up. Bleah. But I'm trying to be a good kid and be conscious of time stretching my arms and hands and back, and the rest of me, too, while I'm at it.

So. "Endgene?" "Letters to the Ancient Living?" "Lupercalia?" "The Un-Wisher?" "Glass Wind?" "Window Shopper?" I just don't know. But I'll figure it out pretty soon.

In the meantime, I'm going to read the newspaper and The History of Danish Dreams, which has just now gotten particularly Danish and/or dreamy, but has been much more readable than The Centurion's Empire all along. Enjoy your day. I'll be enjoying mine.

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