Every Hour

March 16

12:00 p.m.

I probably ought to be working on my book right now (and get used to hearing that for the next few months! I should always probably be working on my book!), but I wanted to write a nice leisurely weekend entry.

I've been pretty good about working on the new book. I did 800 words on Thursday, then slept in on Friday, but yesterday I wrote about 2400 words, so I'm on track (assuming my track is 1,000 words/day, which seems like a reasonable pace. Not that I'll complain if I produce more). Did another 700 words on other stuff (in case you're wondering how the word-count over on the left adds up...) And maybe I'll write more today -- though I should really work on Star*Line stuff, as I've almost finalized the next two issues.

I sold two more "A Bestiary" poems to Strange Horizons! "Nidhigg", about the corpse-tearer, a primordial dragon in Norse mythology, and "Ts'its'tsi'nako", about the Spider Woman of Laguna myth (as made famous by Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony). These two are more ambitious and personal than previous entries in the series.

I guess everyone's heard by now that Terri Windling is leaving the editorship of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to concentrate on her own writing. Sad, of course, but also happy, since I love her fiction. The Wood Wife is a favorite. And with Gavin Grant and Kelly Link taking over, the quality of the anthology certainly won't suffer in her absence; I trust them to continue her tradition of ambition and eclecticism.

The only other news is that I got my latest check from Realms a couple of days ago, and actually put it in my usually-cobweb-filled savings account. We'll see if I can avoid spending it -- I don't need it desperately, and it'd be nice to gradually accrue some savings, you know?

Yesterday Heather and I did our usual amble up to Piedmont Ave., and hit the comic shop. We got the third of Caitlín Kiernan's "Bast" series, which was pretty good. I picked up another Hellblazer collection ("Hard Time"), which I liked a lot, except for the artwork, which was almost family-circus-level cartoony. Everyone had chipmunk-cheeks, which is especially distressing when the characters are, say, gang-raping someone. Picked up the first two issues of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2 (they didn't have #3, and thus #4 was useless to me). It's not as immediately engrossing as the first volume was, but by the end of the second issue I was getting pretty interested. Love that crazy Invisible Man, and Hyde is already a far more interesting character than he was in the first series.

The big fun last night was a celebration for Susan passing her exams and advancing to PhD candidacy! She and Matt gave Heather and I a ride to the Albatross, and soon all sorts of lovely people showed up, including Jed, Teddy, Dan & Nadya (sp?), and various others. Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt. I drank Harp and pear cider (at separate times, mind), and talked to Jed, and finally had a chance to chat at length with Dan, something I've wanted to do for ages, as he's always seemed very funny and smart and personable when I've met him in the past (he proved to be all three). I can't remember the last time I spent so many hours in a bar, and it was a blast. Susan was suitably celebrated.

Otherwise, I've been reading Guy Gavriel Kay's upcoming poetry collection, Beyond This Dark House, and watching episodes of Six Feet Under with Heather, and writing, and reading a lot about poison dart frogs, snakes, and San Francisco history.

More later, when there's more to say.

10:00 p.m.

This afternoon we watched some Six Feet Under (which I thought was okay but not outstanding for the first three episodes, but which is gradually winning me over and impressing me more). After some considerable dithering, we decided to go to Berkeley and walk around. We caught a bus up to Telegraph Ave., and Heather and I wandered our separate ways. I hit a couple of music stores, seeking music to write by, and found a used copy of Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, an old favorite that my long-time housemate D. owned. ("I never felt like this before / I say that every hour." Mmm. Love this CD.) I found a copy of Jawbreaker's best album, Dear You, too, but the bastards wanted $20 for it! So if anybody has that and wants to burn me a copy, I'd probably do a joyful little dance. It's funny, listening to this music, which refers often to the East Bay and Oakland -- I first listened to these guys before I ever even thought of living out here, and now I'm where they were... I thought about buying some King Missile, because I always like John S. Hall, but I can't really write to that -- I want to listen to the words too much.

I ambled in a couple of bookstores, too, but didn't find anything I absolutely had to have. Frankly, the book I find most interesting right now is the one I'm writing.

We had dinner at Raleigh's (I know, I know -- what about the pact? The New Frugality? Well, for various reasons, Heather and I had a rough day, and we decided that it would do us good to have a little treat, so we dined in the lovely courtyard). Our frugality will otherwise continue. Then we walked through Berkeley campus, and down University Ave., arriving at the good comic shop two minutes after it closed, so no new comics for me today, sob. Then home, and some errands, and a nice frolic, and now I'm writing this, here, to you.

Hope everyone has a nice St. Patrick's Day. Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of the first time I met Heather. Cause for celebration. So celebrate!

Words written since February 1, 2003: 16,500

Words written since last entry:
3,900

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