Distressing Synapses

June 4

Got back into the gym tonight, and oh, it was hard, stretching again after nearly two weeks. But the cardio was actually fairly easy, and my abdominal muscles haven't completely liquefied, so that part of the exercise wasn't bad, either (I mean, it hurt, but in the good way). Nice to be back on track. We'd planned to go to the gym last night, but Heather worked a couple of hours overtime, so we put it off until tonight.

Work is busy but not brain-breakingly so; I have enough to occupy my hours without having too much to do; a nice, if precarious, balance.

And that's it. The boring factness of my day-to-day. I'm reading Skin by Kathe Koja, and various short stories, and cursing the heat, and revising some stories, and thinking about/working on Rangergirl, and enjoying my (too little) time with Heather. And all's well, really.

Finally got to the Post Office tonight, after a couple of weeks without checking the box. Had lots of lovely Star*Line submissions, and some review copies from Miniature Sun Press... and a gift from a reader in Hawaii, a long-time reader of Heather's journal, a more recent reader of mine. It was the most caring care package ever! He sent a toy car (a totemic replacement for our ailing vehicles), and chocolates, and a lovely postcard of a gorgeous beach, and -- I feel like Henry Miller, here -- some cash. A non-trivial amount. Enough for a very good sushi dinner (with sake), and there'll still be some left over.

He is, hereby, reader of the year. I don't know how privacy-minded he is, so I won't print his name, but man, he rules.

Patrick (late of Iteration and, before that, Inside) has returned to us! His new journal is Are You Happy NOW?. Yay, Patrick! He's been much missed. Reading his journal archives kept me alive during my long, boring days at the old day job, and I was saddened when he stopped journalling. Sad no more!

Let's see. Not much on the writing front. Sent some stories out. Sent Asimov's an e-mail copy of "My Night with Aphrodite" (so they needn't retype it, you see), and they say galleys are forthcoming, so I assume that'll be the next one to appear. It's one of my favorites, and probably my crowd-pleasingest poem when I do readings, and maybe it'll get a cool illustration, right?

And that's all for now. I did a bit of revising tonight on a horror story that's better than I originally thought but still needs work, but no new writing -- after getting back from the gym, having dinner, and hanging out with Heather, I find that bedtime is perilously near, synapses snapping distressingly slowly. Good night, all.

Words written since February 1, 2002: 78,120

Words written since last entry: Nothing, really; just revising, which is necessary, if unglamorous.

We got such good stuff in the mail today, I feel bad asking for anything more.

Tim Pratt
P.O. Box 13222
Berkeley, CA 94712-4222

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