Rainy week

Looks like we’re in for a soggy week. *shrug* I don’t mind rain so long as I don’t have to spend much time outside in it. I’m not a big fan of getting soaked.

The yard is loving it, though. I won a poinsettia plant in an office drawing in late December. The receptionist said she wanted to get rid of it before she killed it. It sat on our dining room table for several weeks. I watered it, but it gradually started losing leaves. Someone said that poinsettias could thrive in the yard, so I gave it a shot. It wasn’t going to last long in the house given the sort of benign neglect with which we treat most house plants. I found a spot at the base of a tree that gets some sun but not too much. There’s a fern on the other side—we’ve discovered that ferns love our back yard. I dug a whole, tossed in some antique potting soil and stuck the plant and its soil in the hole. Watered it and then left it to its own devices. It’s thriving. Lots of new growth, flowers. We’re astonished. If it survives July and August, I think it will last.

I wanted to start a new short story this weekend, but I couldn’t find a hook into the tale I wanted to tell. Instead, I spent the weekend brushing up old stories and getting them back into circulation. I submitted four, ranging in length from 3000 to almost 10,000 words. The latter is one that’s very unlike anything I’ve done before. Light, contemporary fantasy with randy teenage protagonists. It might have a tad too much sexual content for the market to which I sent it, but I like the story a lot. I hadn’t read it in months and have only submitted it once before, over a year ago. I touched up the language and plotting a bit yesterday, but didn’t change much. Markets for stories of that length are few and far between.

I have four or five stories left on my list to touch up and get into circulation. Some have never been submitted, one has been around the block so many times that I guess there’s something seriously wrong with it so I’m going to take a stab at rewriting it. Every now and then I drag out something old—early 1980s vintage—to see if it can be salvaged. To date, I’ve published two stories from my university years, both after substantial renovation.

Taped The Dead Zone last night but haven’t seen it yet. I might give The Closer a shot this summer. I’ve seen a few episodes and like it well enough. Other than that, there’s nothing on except Law & Order reruns, but there’s plenty of them to go around and a lot of episodes I’ve never seen.

We watched Music & Lyrics, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, the other night. Cute movie. I was impressed that Grant actually sang—I was sure his performances were dubbed, but not according to the credits. Good “Fountains of Wayne”-esque tune over the closing credits, too.