A shot in the arm

I’ve been invited to speak to the creative writing class at the local high school next week. The day before Halloween, actually. They’re going to read my Halloween story “Harming Obsession,” and I also sent them “One of Those Weeks” from Borderlands 5, since that one engendered some discussion among a similar class a few weeks ago.

This morning I rewrote the first chapter of the new novel I began on Monday. I hadn’t quite recaptured the voice of the protagonist. Since this book uses characters created earlier this year, I want to make sure that I keep certain things consistent. My agent is getting married this weekend, so it will be some time before we get back to looking at the previous manuscript, but he’s told me on a couple of occasions that he likes what he’s seen so far.

Someone injected dead viruses into my arm today. No, it wasn’t a tryout for a scene from Fringe—it was time for the annual flu shot. But seriously. Dead viruses. In my arm.

From watching Boston Legal, one would be inclined to think that William Shatner and James Spader are the best friends on the planet. At least their characters are, and one would think that would somehow bleed over into real life. A statement Shatner made recently led me to think that they get along professionally but aren’t friendly at all. That’s the power of acting.

The “clue” on The Mentalist last night about Peter and the Wolf was a little thin to hang suspicions on, I thought. I liked the bit with the piece of paper stuck under the “safe room” door—that was a good observation that anyone might have gotten but probably would have missed. Not a terribly inspiring episode, all in all, though. If one holds the show up against, oh, say, Dexter, it’s a little pale. And Steven Webber (Without a Trace) needs to take acting lessons. Or un-acting lessons. Nuff said.

I always like the NCIS episodes that bring back Joe (Hill Street Blues) Spano. The way his FBI character and Gibbs get on each other’s nerves is highly entertaining. And it was a nice bit of misdirection to have Abby come up with the crucial clue that will fix everything only to have it prove moot. The show is goofy—federal officers futzing around on personal business when there are serious matters at hand—but it’s still good fun.