…because I’m not listening to anything anyone says. So far today, Doug Clegg has retired, Scribner announced plans to publish King’s Sword in the Darkness and Locus announced that a new Heinlein novel would be written.
I was going to start on revisions of my new novel today, but I decided to get everything else out of the way for the time being. That means an essay I promised Kathy Ptacek I’d write for Gila Queen and my Storytellers Unplugged monthly contribution. Once they’re in hand, I’ll put everything else on the back burner and begin editing in earnest. This past weekend I wrote a 950-word story for a contest (no entry fee, the only type I’ll consider these days). I’ve had the guidelines on my desk for about six weeks and I had a pretty good idea of the central premise of the story but I kept putting it off until the deadline approached. It went through about six drafts on Sunday and another two or three on Monday morning before I sent it off. The winner will be announced on tax day.
I also got three stories back into circulation, leaving just one on my unsubmitted list. That one is a bit of a problem, though, because of its length, so it might lie around for a while.
I’m enjoying the Alexander McCall Smith novel I mentioned yesterday. The cultural snippets are as interesting as the main plot. In one scene, flying ants materialize in the air after a rare rainstorm. I thought this might be an omen of some disaster, but instead it was treated with delight by the children, who plucked the ants from the air, stripped off the wings and ate them, as if that was the most natural thing in the world to do. Apparently they taste “peanut buttery.” Imagine that.
Last night’s trio of comedies was in good form. I enjoyed the Planet of the Apes joking and the way the writers revisited the Odd Couple trope of the sick roommate laying heavy demands on the other. And Two and a Half Men finds new ways to skirt the bounds of common decency in funnier ways every week. I still LOL.
