And I Still Got a Little Writing Done… Which I find stunning. I was hoping to have the Marble Grant novel done tonight, but not going to make it, so going to switch to another book for the next ten days, then come back to Marble Grant. I will explain my reasons as I go along. Today was a day of running around, a ton of errands, meetings, then finishing up some workshop stuff on the March Pop-Up Weekender workshops that start this Thursday morning at 12:01 a.m. Then finished up the February regular workshop assignments and the first week of the March regular workshop assignments, then watched an hour…

Yes, Not Even Two Weeks Ago… Fantastic writer and now editor, Ron Collins has decided to take a look at the very whacked-out Anthology Workshop we do every year. And this year we just finished it not even two weeks ago. This year he and his wonderful daughter, Brigid, were co-editing a volume of Fiction River. And they did great and it was great fun having them in the mix. Ron has also attended as a writer for about six years and Brigid for three or four at least. So they had an idea what they were walking into. Sort of. It is always different on the editor side of…

LAUGHED MYSELF TO THE WRITING COMPUTER… I found myself tonight in one of those myth areas that just kill many beginning writers and some professional writers at times. Here is how it goes… (I bet a bunch of you will understand and recognize this one. (grin)) I got jammed with all sorts of things today and ended up at WMG offices until 2 a.m. tonight working on stuff. So got home, rested for a short time, then came in here and did assignments and cleaned up my email and such. Worked with Kris some before she went to bed on the plans for tomorrow, and made sure I had my…

Kate Wilhelm Has Left Us… I just want to spend a minute tonight remembering one of my mentors and a fantastic person. (No reason to send me sympathy. Save that for her family at this point. And go buy her books, the greatest way to honor a writer. I first met Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm at a convention in 1981. And then again in the summer of 1982 at Clarion writers workshop in Michigan. Then later that summer Nina Kiriki Hoffman and I made the sixteen hour round-trip drive from Moscow, Idaho to Eugene, Oregon, to sit in Damon and Kate’s living room every month for a workshop they…

Found a Fun Book Tonight On the Shelf… Kris and I were going through a shelf unit in our living room that held mostly books we had no idea where they came from, but they had been there a long time. And bingo, up popped a hardback in good dust jacket of Stephen King’s The Stand. First printing, first edition. Guess what is headed quickly for eBay? (grin) We found a bunch of the Grant limited editions of King’s Dark Tower series as well. A fun bunch of discoveries. And we are finding original art we didn’t know we had in other areas. Amazing how things get bought, treasured, then…

I Bet This is Familiar To Most of You… Going along just fine one moment, into the story, and then suddenly I could barely keep my eyes open or see the screen. Something to do with about four hours sleep last night I am betting. (grin) But got about 1,600 new words on the Marble Grant novel, so closer to finishing so I can start the new book, whatever that might be. I ended up today getting up way early, then spent the afternoon in meetings and doing some exercise for the first time in a while as well (That might have contributed to the suddenly loss of a brain…

I Said I Would Start Reporting… So I actually have something to report. SHOCK!! I was worried for a time there earlier. But got in here around 2 a.m. and worked for over two hours on the book I have been playing at off and on for a while now. And I also got the next issue of Smith’s Monthly ready to turn in as soon as I finish the novel. No point in actually reporting word count on this book, so the new book I will be starting shortly I will report every word. Got a couple ideas on how I might be able to frame the reporting as…

Spent the Night Cleaning Up Stuff… We all know how that goes to get ready to write after a while away. Got all the March workshops started up, all assignments done, my brain back over on the book I hadn’t done much with since before the Anthology workshop, actually a week or more ahead of that because of all the reading. So tomorrow night I will start tracking the writing. It will be a slow start I am sure. I can warn you all right now, this will not be the easy, smooth process I sometimes make things look like here. First off, I have a huge orange cat that…