ajasont

Oh, my, my head is full.

I've spent the last twenty-four hours or so immersed in the Campbell Conference at KU. The roundtable this morning on "What's new, What's old" was very enlightening, and I probably should have kept my mouth shut. My ideas of SF (please don't say 'scifi' I was gently chided last night) don't seem to dovetail with anyone else's there, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone there is very nice, and I'm not a published author, so I really should just stay in the background and just listen.

That's a hard lesson for me to learn. I like to talk, so I'll keep the talking to the final 'reception' tonight, and tomorrow will only soak all of it in to process later.

Cory Doctorow's presentation and the following discussion on "What's New in Publishing" was really smart and informative. It was recorded on video for something later on, but I don't know what. I asked what I thought might have been a good question that I phrased badly. Overwhelmed by the company I was in, I guess.

There's more on this later, but I have to eat dinner before I head back up to the hill.

"Disconnect" part 2 (of 4) is up at JasonArnettdotcom. Come on over and take a look.

- I missed the writer's group scheduled for yesterday. This group has value for me in that I realize I'm not the only person writing into the void in Lawrence, and that there are some really, really talented folks out there around the block from me.

- I missed because I was spending the last of my holiday weekend with my son and my wife and I did do some re-writing on an old story that's coming along very nicely. I was writing this morning before I came to work, too.

- I didn't mean to miss the group meeting, it just happened that way.

- I struggled with whether to re-write this story or just heavily edit and landed on the side of re-writing. I'm glad I did. I think it's working out way better than the first four drafts did. Even the draft I previously released into the wild pales in comparison so far.

- I love books more than comics right now. It's never really been that way for me, but my post earlier today should give you the reasons why. Add in that I want to be a writer and it makes sense that I would want to read more, and books have more words, hands down, than any comic book. Even one by Alan Moore.

- Hey, check out my friend Brad's cool new website even though it's "under construction". I like the framework he's built already.

- Lastly, I'm going to the Campbell Conference this week, so I'll be all scifi'd out. That network can change its name if it wants to be a complete wuss. Verne, Wells, Heinlein, Asimov and Sturgeon are all rolling in their graves.

- Why would I give up monthly comics? I pointed to this the other day on my Twitterfeed because it struck a chord with me. Monthly comics just aren't really all that exciting any more. Not much happens. As I'm a person who really likes Story over Art, it might behoove me to look more at collections than singles. I'm not reading that many monthlies any more any way, and I don't go to my Local Comic Shop very often, if only once a month, so it won't hurt me.

- I've collected monthly comics for more than three decades, and it's hard to change that habit.

- One reason it won't bother me that much to give up some monthlies is that there's no extra content, like letters pages, that's only in the monthly books. The last great letters pages were in James Robinson's Starman and Garth Ennis' Preacher. They were killed in favor of selling ad space.

- $3.99 for a monthly comic is an awful lot of money, too. Three comics at USD $3.99 that only provide thirty, maybe forty, minutes of entertainment isn't a very good return on investment.

- Hm. Seems I'm talking myself into this more and more doesn't it?

- This doesn't mean that I'm disappointed in comics, only that if publishers are moving creators towards expanding stories so much that it's a better use of my money to wait for the trade, I'll wait for the trade. However, the backfire of that strategy is that I may wait until my local library gets the trade and I can try out series or stories that I wouldn't drop USD $20 on at the LCS.

- Why not run it for free on the web each week and then collect it on paper in a nice book? The Avatar model for Warren Ellis' Freakangels makes sense to me. Maybe that's why I'm not in comics, though.

- However, I'd read Batman and Superman this way, and those are books I'm NOT reading now. Take the risk, Marvel and DC, do something to TRY and capture new readers. Or perhaps recapture lapsed ones.

- You remember that I'm serializing short stories over at JasonArnettDotCom, right? Today a new story starts, "Disconnect" and even though, like "Teller" that ran in four parts in June, it originally appeared here on the LiveJournal earlier this year it's new enough that you might be interested in reading it again. Especially since it's running in parts that take less than ten minutes to read.

- If you like it, tell your friends please. If not, let me know.

- Since it's running only in four parts, this means that there'll be a 'skip' week at the end of July that I'll fill with some notes on the two stories so far. I promise that it'll be something you might not want to miss. Unless you don't like what I'm writing and in that case what are you doing here any way?

- The last couple of days I haven't really wanted to go walk, but I did and I'm glad I did. I won't fall back into the trap of NOT exercising because that's easy. It's best to just do what you know you have to do and get it done.

- Someone will need to remind me of this in November during NaNoWriMo.

- So, June wasn't a good month for actual writing of short stories. Some of the problem was that my car lost its engine and I had to make a two-day trip back to Colorado to pick up the healed machine. Some of it was the frustration at the expense of healing the machine, and the itinerant frustrations that go with the credit cards that did the paying of the expense. Some of it was also that the last story I completed, "The Insulated Man", was quite a drain on me stylistically. It was a good challenge that requires some recharging of batteries.

- I did that by killing the TwitterFeed I was pushing here and posting a bit more regularly. This kept me wanting to have the LJ still be relevant and thus forced me to write a little every day. Not all of it came up here, but enough that it's significant to mention. Any way, you can seethe results in the sidebar of the LJ here. (If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll have to click over to www.ajasont.livejournal.com to see it.)

- This doesn't mean I haven't done any planning, plotting or research for the next batch of stories, though. I mentioned this a bit in the last post, but I've begun work on writing "Sender" and today came more plot elements for "She Has Become Like They Are", so that will begin soon, too. The first five stories came pretty quickly with "Two Hands" only taking two weeks to write, which is very fast for me. "The Insulated Man", by comparison, took a little over five.

- I have solid plots and notes for not just "Sender" and "She Has Become Like They Are" but for three more stories, which brings my total to twelve. One of those is the last story in this cycle I'm writing. So I only need one more plot to finish out and then of course, I must write them.

- By my estimation, I'm doing pretty well. I've got six stories written, I'm in process on two more and have plans for more. This is the most together I've been in terms of storytelling since I did my minicomics run back in 2000 - 2001. If you remember that, I was very determined to complete all fourteen issues. I'm feeling the same about this.

- Transformers 2 is bloated, simple, manipulative, big dumb fun. Don't expect much except explosions and slo-mo marches for emphasis. The cool bits and minimal story weren't enough to draw me back to the theater for a third one.

- That's all today. I have writing to do.

- So I've got some weeding and wrangling to do in the garden, but it's just been too damn hot to be outside in the evening. Another SCORCHER today with heat index around 105. Hoping I can get out there this weekend.

- I'm reading Ian Fleming's Casino Royale for the first time, but this is the second Fleming book I've read after getting Quantum of Solace for Christmas. I am enamored of Fleming's writing. As my friend Rob Schamberger has pointed out previously, Fleming can make birdwatching interesting. That's quite an acheivement.

- I'm really seriously considering giving up the regular single-issue comics I love. Reading Warren Ellis' Freakangels for FREE every week, it seems to me that compelling stories told in a serial format and made freely available will still sell paper collections. I bought the first two collections of Freakangels, and re-read them immediately. I think this model can be made to work with other comics.

- Seriously, it's what I'm doing with my own work at JasonArnettdotcom because I want to be Warren Ellis when I grow up.

- Alternately, if I could subscribe to digital comics from DC or Vertigo for $1 a month (or give me a deal and charge me $20 for two years all at once) I don't see any need to go to the Local Comic Shop after that. I can then order paper copies through my favorite website or perhaps get a deal from the publisher if I'm a subscriber.

- And by subscriber I mean that I would get access to all the DCU titles or all the Vertigo titles for $1 a month. This would still allow the big publishers to pay creators something up front, though it would be a reduction on that end, and then maybe pay more on the back end. I'm pretty sure that the Ellis/Avatar deal is back end, but hey, if it's working...

- I meant to start writing on "Sender" this morning, but I had these ideas rattling around in my head and thought I'd just get them down here.

- If you've ever near Aspen, Colorado, check out: The Buena Vista Roastery.

- Dunno why the label/band won't let users embed this, but here's a link to a song that's probably still relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN9qdgdFrZY

- Speaking of which, if you're Aerosmith and you're on iTunes, why not have your entire catalog available? I don't want a new version of Train Kept A'Rollin', I want the one I grew up hearing.

• I have four stories in various states of ‘done’: “Teller” (obviously) is running through next week on the site, then “Disconnect” comes up the following Wednesday. “Two Hands” and “The Receivers” are nearly edited down. I’ve gone through the red pen stage on those and I’m really happy with how they’ve come out.

• “Don’t Take Me Alive” is ready for the red pen, as is “The Insulated Man”. We’ll see how those work when I get there.

• I’m re-plotting “The Well” to make it better, flow more evenly with “Don’t Take Me Alive”. Having read some Raymond Chandler and following up with more Ian Fleming will certainly help inform that plotting.

• This is because “Don’t Take Me Alive” is a direct sequel to “The Well” and it’s important that the story fits in with the meta that’s made itself apparent to me as I’ve been going along.

• “Sender” is plotted and character sheets are done. This means I begin writing this story early in the coming week. Yes, it connects directly to another story.

• I’ve a loose plot for the final story in the cycle here, “How To Read Short Stories” (the title may change but it’s a good working title). It ties up any number of ends that are currently loose, allowing me to finish the other four stories that make up the bigger work.

• What are those stories? Well, there’s “She Has Become Like They Are” for sure and probably “Honest Work” if the plot comes along as the others have. I hope so.

• I have yet to sell a digital copy of “Teller” and I’m okay with that. I’m a completely unknown quantity on the internet and only a few people know I’m out here serializing my short stories. If you’re of a mind to please tell your friends about me and the stories I’m putting out there.

• That’s really all for now, except to drop a hint that even though each story runs only four weeks out of each month I will have notes on the stories so far on July 29th. There will be content every Wednesday on www.jasonarnett.com through June of 2010. I promise.

• Yeah, yeah, I know, that was in the past. This time it’s for real.

This is what I wrote last year for Father's Day:

My Dad is one of the hardest-working people I know. He spent eighteen years working third shift in a factory taking the benefits and profit-sharing he earned to open a delicatessen featuring my mom's recipes. He built a house on his family's land and was visionary enough to build it passively solar, allowing the sun to heat a good portion of the house in winter. He learned a new business enough to work for himself for nearly twenty years now. He takes more pride than the average American in his work and backs it up with his current customers.

Dad is an inspiration and a leader by example for me. He taught me an awful lot, and I'm glad he's been there for me.

See you at lunch today, Dad, and happy Father's Day!

To all the fathers out there: you make a difference every day even if you don't know it or even see it. Any man thinking about being a father needs to understand and realize it.

I've been thinking a lot this week about what my Dad has done for me in my life, and the list is far too long to go into here. Lots of good advice is the minimum, and too many jokes and pranks to recall. He taught me the value of just about everything and as I get older I find that I understand his point of view more clearly.

The big thing is that Dad taught me to be a good father. Not just by his example, but by being a good grandfather to my son. It's the being there in the moment that does it, and my Dad is a really good listener.

That's a big deal.

Happy Father's Day to all you guys who are fathers. Take a bit of time for yourselves today and just bask in the wonderfulness of your position.

The garden is in full swing, and our little tomatoes aren't so little any more. All four plants are better than three feet tall, all have blossoms already and a couple are producing fruit. The first Big Boy to come up already has some rot to him, which is just a little disappointing as he's very green and nowhere near what I want to eat. The cages I bought last year from Ace Hardware are these sort-of adjustable square affairs that I wanted to give a better chance to be effective this year.

I'm not having a lot better luck. They are not very stable and honestly they're just not a very good product. I'll have to retire them for next year and see what I can come up with that's better. I am, however, staying up with making sure the branches of the plants are going upward in the cages. Last year we had tomato bushes that were nearly as wide as they were tall, and that we even more difficult. Lost a a lot of fruit to ground contact and rot and bunnies as well as other local wildlife that really enjoyed them.

We planted marigolds all around the garden last year to keep the rabbits at bay and that worked pretty well. This year, the rabbits have noticed a dearth of clover in the yard and have taken to tearing apart my marigolds and sunflowers. I think I've slowed them down by sprinkling cayenne pepper over the tops of the plants, but it washes off in the rain or if I'm not careful in watering. (By contrast, the zinnias on the back wall are coming up like wildfire as are the morning glorys, which pleases me no end.)

I saw one evening about two weeks ago a bunny with a mouthful of marigold and I couldn't believe it. The little bastard ran away when I came out the door and ever since it's been a kind of war between me and them. These rabbits are brave and stupid and I will win. I hope they get a mouthful of fire. It's the best way for me to take care of the problem because I don't want to have to invest in rabbit fencing, I don't want to spread animal urine in the yard and I'm not about to humanely trap them and take them somewhere else.

Anyone reading this have any experience in defeating rabbits in the garden? I refuse, as well, to buy a robot and go all Elmer Fudd here. My neighbors won't appreciate it.

Tomorrow - Father's Day in La Villa Ajasont. Hope yours is nice and goes well.

As much as there were problems with The Dark Knight, it's still a great film adaptation of a comic book character. The performance of Heath Ledger is obvious, but the quiet stability of Michael Caine's Alfred is underrated. Morgan Freeman's righteous and sardonic Lucius Fox moves the plot forward nicely. The tension in the boats is nicely played, too.

Yes, the lowlight is definitely Christian Bale's Batman voice. It's terrible, but it's earnest and reflective of the early part of Batman's career to be sure. Still, us comic book guys were disappointed. So many were wiling to buy the hype of the internet games that ran before the theatrical release and were then quick to tear it apart. It's fun to dissect something we had no part in, were never invested from a creative side in.

There are some really terrific lines in the film that deeply define the relationship between Batman and Joker, and those lines are what make the film great. A couple of gems:

Bruce Wayne: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.

Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he's after.

Alfred Pennyworth: With respect, sir, perhaps this is a man that *you* don't fully understand.

*******

[stumbles out of wrecked truck]
The Joker: [to Batman] Come on, I want you to do it, I want you to do it. Come on, hit me. *Hit me!*

*******

Bruce Wayne: What about getting back into the plane?

Lucius Fox: I'd recommend a good travel agent.

Bruce Wayne: Without it landing.

Lucius Fox: [smiles] Now that's more like it, Mr. Wayne.

********

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?

Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.

*******

Batman: Then why do you want to kill me?

The Joker: [laughs] I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You... you... complete me.

Batman: You're garbage who kills for money.

The Joker: Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.

Batman: Where's Dent?

The Joker: You have all these rules, and you think they'll save you.

*******

I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority of really enjoying this film as a riff on Batman and not a literal translation. I appreciate all the little story points and the posturing and the histrionics and the overly-romanticized archetypes. These are comic book characters played by real live human beings for dramatic effect. Don't believe me? How about Barbara Gordon's reaction to the news of her husband's death? How about her blaming the Batman for Jim's death?

That's drama folks. It's the kind of drama we like in comic books and the kind of drama we should expect from an adaptation of the medium we love.

At least until Ken Branagh gets Thor into theaters. That'll be Shakespeare to the extreme.

Obviously only looked at the front page, didn't they?

This morning, I've figured out which crazy writer I'm most like. Guess what? It makes sense and I like the result:






This morning, I will try to walk in the ending/flooding rain and I'll do it as long as there's no lightning. Wet doesn't bother me; being electrocuted does. I may be crazy, as the saying goes, but I'm not insane.

I've got more, but I won't hit it until later tonight or tomorrow. Work is building up, I've got to get the July story finalized and ideas keep coming up for more stories. This is all good, in different ways, so I really can't complain.

Stay dry.

Yesterday I 'discovered' that I was most like the fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, which actually pleases me to no end as Moorcock has been with me since my formative years. Like most of his fans, I came to him first through the Elric books, then Corum, then Jerry Cornelius and Oswald Bastable before discovering Von Bek. I've gone through quite a bit of his catalog, enjoying even some of the comic book adaptations of his characters and works. (Elric even showed up early in Roy Thomas' Conan run with Barry Windsor-Smith!)

This test claims that Moorcock isn't all that romantic, to which I responded in typically eloquent fashion with a 'Bwuh?' Gloriana and the Von Bek books are far more romantic than I think he perhaps got credit for. I wonder if the creators of the quiz are aware of the underlying romance in most of Moorcock's work, even in the Elric sagas. Romance is not just love, it's not just flowery language. It's a kind of worldview, the opposite of cynicism that they give Moorcock more credit for being. His characters can be very cynical, again especially in the Elric worlds, but it's always within a romantic setting.

Am I really quibbling with a silly internet quiz? No. I'm just thinking about what's romantic fiction and what's not. As far as me being like Moorcock, I'm very cool with that. The only thing that worries me is that romance is not in fashion at the moment with booksellers or readers because the only works by Moorcock that are readily available in my area are the Elric series. That just isn't fair.

Some selections from the roadmusic that got me from Lawrence to Salida and back:

W*A*S*P - I Don't Need No Doctor: I know it's silly to like a singer who has the blade from a table saw glued to his crotch, but Blackie Lawless' boys were a helluva lotta fun to listen to, and this song in particular still is. From their live album recorded in Long Beach.

Ministry - Just One Fix: I remember part of this album, Psalm 69, was recorded in Lawrence because Al Jourgenson was infatuated with William S. Burroughs, who was still alive at the time and living here. There are some stories floating around town about that week that have probably taken on the status of Urban Legend. However, this song with the huge drums and finely controlled rhythm guitars, is a fantastic driving song. Thank god for cruise control or I would have been going 100 mph or faster by the time it was done.

The Police - Every Little Thing She Does is Magic: Yeah, it's a silly pop song and seems out of place with the other two songs above, but it's catchy and always makes me happy. Easy to sing along with when you're the only one in the car.

INXS - The One Thing: I miss Michael Hutchence. He was one of the best rock singers ever who just oozed sex in everything he sang. Devil Inside was also in the mix coming back from Salida, but this is the song that I first heard from INXS and it's still one that makes me smile. This song got me thinking about what makes a hit song. I'm still thinking about it and I'll share my thoughts another time.

Zebra - Who's Behind the Door?: Another fave song from my youth. The video is stupidly 'concept' and screams out 'early 80s!', but the song is still brilliant from a musician standpoint and even lyrically is still interesting. I always get something out of listening to it, often at high volume.

Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper: Yes, yes, yes, more cowbell. I can't hear the song without thinking that, but one line this time hit me and caused me to put together some elements that I needed for a story. The line "she had become like they are" will be the title of an upcoming story on my other site: www.jasonarnett.com

You're aware that I'm giving you free weekly installments of short stories, aren't you? Teller Part 3 (of 4) goes up on Wednesday, and you can still read Parts 1 and 2 (and you'll be able to for a good long time) there, too. Tell your friends to come over and check it out, if you would. Also, let me know what you think about it.

The rain and lightning today are keeping me from walking, although it appears they've moved on already. My window for walking is relatively small and I've missed it this morning. Probably have to go out this afternoon as long as the rain permits. I'll have to make up later in the week, I think.

So there it is. A bit more from the road, and a bit about my process. Your mileage may vary.

Funny, this, because I thought I was more romantic than cynical. I also thought Moorcock was more romantic than cynical, too. I agree with the test, though...

via black13

I am comfortably ensconced in a hotel room having had a hot shower and a bit of a snack.

I spent about 15 hours travelling 900 or so miles today to retrieve the (thankfully) now healed car. It 'sucked a valve' in the mountains when I was on vacation and that cost me the engine. A semi-local mechanic took good care of the old man and installed a very good replacement engine for a more than reasonable price. The only kick was that my car was in Colorado and I was in Kansas for two weeks. Today was the retrieval mission where I launched at 5 am and made it there in ten and a half hours. All running around and breaks aside, I hit the road and I'm about a third of the way back home. I had to stop because I was just too tired to go all the way home.

But back in Salida, where the car had been healed, I had some very nice people helping me out. Craig Anderson of Anderson Motor Company sympathized with my situation and rented me a car and then cut me a really nice deal. On top of that, when I returned the car he had the very lovely Elizabeth drive me back to the healed car.

Moral of the story, I guess, is if you're in Buena Vista, Nathrop, or Salida, Colorado, and need a car please go talk to Craig. He's got quite a few Kansas connections and is just one of the good guys. I can't say enough good things about him.

Now I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Gotta get the rest of the way home tomorrow.

I like the separation of Twitter and my LiveJournal. It seems liberating and keeps me from being lazy. Of course as soon as I think about separating my LJ from Facebook, I get a comment on the note here that pushed over there. Someone's reading, yay!

I also like those TV ads where the guy gives the little boy a toy car and then takes it away citing the 'fine print' that it was a limited time. The one with the girl and the bicycle is a hoot, too.

I'm leaving for Colorado early on Friday morning to pick up my car. It's a relief and a stress because I'm turning around and driving right back. I can't afford to stay more than overnight.

The news around the world and my country is grim and I wish we could focus more on positive things. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be great if the good far outweighed the bad?

All right, that's all for this morning. More maybe later or even tomorrow. Gotta go walk, get ready for work and then prepare for the road tomorrow.

Be good and encourage others to be good, too, will you?

Some random bits of thinking...

: I've stopped the LoudTwitter push of my Tweets (there's got to be a better word for them) to the LiveJournal. No one was ever commenting on them and they don't serve the purpose I wanted them to anyway. If you're interested in seeing what I Twitter about, you can alway click on the follow link in the sidebar. They were also pushing automatically to my Facebook after they showed up here, so I'm sure my friends there will appreciate not being bombarded with inane musings from me a little less often. (This post will show up at FB, too, but that's not necessarily going to continue too much longer, either.)


: I dislike overt tries to push me to websites from established media outlets such as NPR, major newspapers, PBS' original programming, the Lawrence Journal-World, the Weather Channel, and nearly every other form of entertainment. If you're telling me a story, give me everything. If it's not important enough to include in the main story in your presentation, then a simple notice that there are many 'extras' on your site is enough. However I understand that because I'm a 'liberal intellectual' I'm going to take the subtle hint and check it out if I want to. They have to play to the lowest common denominator, which is lower than ever before. There has to be a way to make Americans 'smart' like our phones, our cars, our technology and all the other things we love to consume.

: I think, therefore I am. Too many people don't, so they simply aren't.

: Teller Part 2 (of 4) is up at Jason Arnett dot com. Please take about ten minutes on your lunch break to read it and let me know what you think. There aren't any extras, only the second part of the story.

: I walked a little more than 26 miles last week. I feel really, really good again. I need to figure out how I'll get this done in the winter months. Thinking ahead...

• 04:58 no power as of 3 am. #
• 06:24 Hey Westar robot: can you be more specific than 'historically' 1.5 - 3.5 hours to get my power back on? Especially after 2 hrs off already? #
• 20:55 RT @thecreativepenn:#writers Submit guest post or Creative Work to great site @PubRen short.to/eh08 #
• 20:56 @WritingHannah RE: video on writing - How much advance plotting is too much? #
• 20:58 @HopelessDent SiP is beautiful and brilliant in spots and well worth the read. #
• 21:31 Reminder - You can read Teller Part 1 (of 4) at www.jasonarnett.com and Part 2 drops on Wednesday just after midnight (Central US). #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Actually wrote some plot points last week for Sender, the new short story, and then today began taking those plot points and blowing them up but good. This is a building process for me so that I have a good roadmap before I start writing.

I wonder sometimes how much is too much preparation for writing? I can't imagine that at this stage of my writing 'career' that having notes to work from is a bad thing, but maybe having too many keeps me from actually writing. I need to be aware that I might be using them to procrastinate, but I don't think I'm doing that yet. I'm a little behind on my self-imposed schedule for writing, but I'm not procrastinating. I needed the vacation.

Back to reading Raymond Chandler's The High Window then probably on to Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man for some variety.

Stephen King's short story in the new issue of Esquire is brutal and v e r y troubling. Some of his best work, I think.

Also thinking about writing a short story for a contest. I have an angle and I think I know how it goes. Needs some more processing, though.

First episode of the new season of Weeds was good, and the first episode of Nurse Jackie shows some promise. More on these as the respective seasons go along.