I have finished rewrites on both my novel Dark Water Blues and my novella The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn.

*falls over dead*

Carina Press has accepted the final manuscript of "Last Car to Annwn Station." I am done with edits and rewrites. I need a drink.

Developmental Edits completed and sent back to Editor Melissa at Carina Press. I fall down go boom now, K?

Finished the restructuring pass of "Dark Water Blues." Plot holes are repaired. Continuity brought in line. Cut it down to 84K. It needs one final pass to polish it up a bit, then I can start sending it out.

I finished the rewrite pass on "Cold Hand in Mine," cutting it down from 11,000 words to 8000. I am pleased by this, and the story is tighter and stronger. It's still going to be a tough sell at that length, but I'll deal with that when I need. I'm going to let it sit for a week, then pull it back out, give it another quick pass, and then off to readers for feedback.

It is lovely outside, so I walked down to the bank and post office. I cashed the check Jonathan from Fictitious Force sent me. I thought about stopping at Wendy's and getting a Baconator Burger, but was virtuous and kept walking. At the little pond I was amused by the duck enjoying the weather and frolicking in the water like silly ducks. This distracted me enough that I walked under a speeding freight train without initially noticing. Fortunately the train was on a bridge and I was on the sidewalk below!

Once I was near home I realized I was hungry and needed to get lunch, so I stopped at the local deli for a cheese-steak sandwich. It was, as is usual for my local deli, made of win (well, actually it was made of shredded steak, cheese, onions, peppers, and hoagie bread). Now I need to get back to work, either on Rija's Tale or "Steadfast."

I have an interview next week for a part-time position teaching 3-5 year old how to use computers.

Life is pretty good.

Rewrites on "Strangers on a Bus" completed and sent to the editor at Breath and Shadow for approval.

I might try to work on a little short fiction tonight.

Create a new dénouement (which I've figured out in my head but still need to write), give it a line-edit pass, and it's all done.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope it's not a train or some other stupid thing.

The Mae and Jill part of the novel is restructured and rewritten, coming it at 76,000 words. I'm going to get a hot drink and start on Fay's part of the story. I expect it to run about 10,000 words or so.

I am very nearly finished with restructuring the main part (i.e. the Mae and Jill part) of the novel. One more scene to write and that part is done. Next I will need to work Fay's diary entries on the wall, rewriting them to match the new direction of the plot and add some more insight into the antagonists. Create a new dénouement, and it's all done. You'd think I'd be sick of this novel and these characters by now, but I'm not.

I will, however, be happy to finish this novel and move on the other projects.

We are still trying to come up with a title for the short story collection. I suspect careswen and I will brainstorm this over the weekend. I might try to get some input from the people who are providing blurbs, and the cover artist as well.

I took the Christmas tree down today. I like to put the tree up with a group of people to help. It's good to laugh and talk while we work on decorating and setting up, but when it comes to the take down, I prefer to do it myself. I find the act of taking the decorations down and disassembling the tree to be relaxing and meditative. Unfortunately it took all my energy to take the tree down, so I may not get around to unpacking the new cookware (it arrived last night) until tomorrow.

The Reverend Selena was given a Furminator for Christmas. Dudes, if you are owned by a cat, get one of these things. She loves to be groomed and we've pulled off at least four more cats worth of hair from her body since starting to using it. The Reverend is sleek and plush and not hacking hairballs.

careswen received The Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft, and a gig of ram for her PC. I'm going to miss her.

Luckily I was gifted with some exceedingly cool books by people whose taste in books I trust, so I'll have something to do during those lonely nights while my wife is off killing orcs and trolls and such. (Actually, she doesn't play a whole lot. Once, maybe twice a week, so don't worry, I'm not going to be a video game widower!)

The ick is firmly entrenched in my lungs now. I'm hacking and coughing and wheezing. It is...unattractive. I need another zinc tab and some Dayquil.

We bought some mixed nuts in the shell for the holidays, mostly to see if careswen's squirrel nutcrackers actually worked (they do, but not very well). Today the real live squirrels are out and about, so I tossed some nuts out the door to see what they would make of them. You get a real sense of how sharp their little teeth are when you see one shred a brazil nut in seconds.

Okay. I'm worn out. I'm going to nap for a bit and then try and finish that last scene.

Peace,
Michael

Fifty more pages to go and the re-structuring of the novel will be complete. It will need a line edit afterward, and then I have to tackle that most dreaded of beasts, the synopsis.