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February 3

Welcome to the year of the goat. It's a shame that it began with a shuttle disaster. I'm saddened, of course. And annoyed that every article I read that first morning mentioned terrorists. Always to say "There's no evidence terrorists were involved," true, but it upsets me that it's mentioned at all when it's so obviously unconnected. I wonder if, in the next state of the union address, the President will link the shuttle disaster with 9/11, as he has so successfully linked Saddam Hussein with that attack in the minds of the public?

Very depressing.

In happier news -- congrats to Amily! My high-school-and-a-bit-of-college sweetheart just had her first baby, Ian Cameron Glenn. That's the opposite of depressing, is what that is.

I've started over the big word-count, as you can see -- final total for the last year was 208,700. Let's see if I can do better than that this time.

In other news: My short-short "Encounter on a Back Street" is online at Horrorfind. Go read it; it won't take long. The story features Marla, who is also the protagonist of the next novel I plan to write, and one of my favorite characters. This story is just the briefest slice-of-her-life, but I like it...

I got my copies of the Love chapbook in the mail this past weekend, and it's simply a gorgeous book. I'd seen electronic files, so I knew it was beautiful, but it's wonderfully made, very impressive, very cute. Go buy some. Erin did an amazing job.

In writing news -- the harpy story isn't done. I wound up working on other things this weekend. Saturday night I did 500 words on a story I started several months ago. I have no idea where it's going, but the characters and the initial situation intrigue me. And, as we're now in story-dare territory, I'll probably get to figure out what the story's about pretty quickly, since I need to finish it before the week's out... I also wrote 900 words on the Train collab with Mike! I didn't finish the story, but I figured out something cool to do with it, and I have high hopes for its completion. It's pretty balls-to-the-wall horror, which is nice to write, for a change.

The weekend was fairly pleasant. I didn't go to work Friday -- I went with Heather to an appointment she had. After that, Heather finished up her grad school stuff, and sent the last of it off -- she's done! Then we had the afternoon free, and took it easy, watching movies. (Lilo & Stitch, which was okay; S1m0ne, which was utter dreck; and Scooby Doo, which I refused to watch, until Heather watched half of it and convinced me I might like it. And I did.)

Saturday, fair Heather and I had a date. We went to Berkeley, had noodles, watched Catch Me If You Can in the theater (it's a lovely movie, and makes me want to write about con artists; confidence men were a passion of mine for a long time). We ambled around, had coffee in a couple of different places (I had a cherry mocha in one -- mmm -- and a hot apple cider with a shot of caramel in another -- oh, yum).

Sunday we worked, cleaned house, etc. Took a walk up to Piedmont with Holly and the baby. Heather and I browsed in the comic shop; I bought a few issues of Optic Nerve and the first volume of Hellblazer, and read them when we got home. I answered a few submissions, cleaned out the fridge. We put our extra futon mattress on the bed in Heather's room, making it a shade more comfortable. I made fish and garlic mashed potatoes for dinner, and we drank wine, and later we had a snack of pita & hummus & feta. Nice.

Generally, things are good. I'm enthusiastic about the short stories I'm working on. The day job is going well. And la la la.

Words written since February 1, 2003: 1,400

Words written since last entry:
1,400

Go buy mine and Erin Donahoe's new chapbook, Love!

Buy Floodwater via PayPal! $5, includes shipping. Or send a check payable to Heather Shaw to the PO Box below.