Where am I, and how did I get here?

It's been a long winter, kids. Long, as in, "will it ever end?" As some of you may know, my dad's been sick, and that's been tough on everyone involved. He just finished up a course of radiation therapy, which really dragged him through a knothole. We're hoping that, as advertised, it will actually help him going forward, and that he'll feel better once his body recovers from the relentless assault of the treatment.

I've been trying to write, though it's been slow going. I wrote a story called "Don't Explain" last month, and I'm pretty pleased with it, but it didn't get over the fence, which is a bummer. I'm hoping I can find another market for it. I'm also mostly done with another story for that same market called "Too Delicate to Withstand the Storm". I'm trying a new methodology on that one, and hoping that it pans out.

I'm still wrestling with my "All These Violent Heirlooms" story. It's big now, up over 12k words and going strong. I'm hoping to finish the draft this week, but who knows?

I only got to go to one day of LTUE this year (it's the Sci-Fi convention at BYU), but I did enjoy myself while I was there. It was marred slightly by the fact that my dad was really, really sick that day, and I was worried about him all day. Oh, well. Such is life.

I got to hear Eric James Stone read part of a neat novellette that'll apear in one of the big markets soon (forgot which), and I absolutely ADORED the segment Dan Wells read from his sequel to "I Am Not A Serial Killer", "Mr. Murder". I can't wait until it comes out, really. I'm literally counting down the days. I'm doing the same for "Passing Strange" the newest Generation Dead book by Daniel Waters. Man, I think it's going to be awesome.

Okay, I'll stop nerding out (about that particular topic).

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In other news, I've done some bending lately--probably ten or twelve nails last Friday, and on Saturday, I bent twenty nails in a row. That, sadly, was due to me having to blow off some steam to avoid kicking holes in the walls. I've been prone to bouts of ill-temper since I was a kid, and I've usually got it under control, but I really, really didn't that day. I'm not proud of that. Still...twenty nails in a row. Probably five minutes, tops, to do the whole thing.

I have to get back to my workout regime. It seems that there's always something making it tough to stay with it. Life is hectic. No excuse, but there it is.

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I've been watching the TV series "Farscape", and I'm almost done with the whole thing. Man, I love that show. I'll be sad when I've finished "Peacekeeper Wars", the coda mini-series, but it's been a great ride.

I've been reading a lot, mostly escapist stuff to keep my mind off things that aren't fun. I have also enjoyed watching the Olympics a lot. I guess, with Lake Placid in '80 and LA in '84, I almost have to be a sucker for the games. I just grew up watching them. I was very proud of our kids, who were generally classy, even while having a superb performance at the games. I have to say that the Figure Skaters, all of them, had a fantastic performance. Nearly all the top skaters performed at their potential. It was something to watch.

Well, there's my late, but rather thorough update. Hope you're all doing well (if there's anyone out there after my spectacularly poor blogging performance of late).