Okay, this was embarrassing

I was WIPED this morning. We drove John and his roomate to Orlando to catch a plane back to school, and got home late. I went to bed even later to allow the caffiene I had drunk to stay awake to drive to wear off. Big mistake.

This morning after I drove James to school I was exhausted, so I decided to turn the radio on low and lie down for a bit. I fell asleep. Big mistake number 2.

A few times I woke up a little and heard Perky barking, but they are delivering fill to the property next door so I didn't think much about it. However, at one point his barking sounded like he was outside, so I got up and checked.

The front door was ajar. I have no idea how it got that way. I called for Perky and he came trotting right up to the house. I decided to get the mail.

At the end of the driveway, I heard one of my neighbors call me in an alarmed tone of voice. He said he had chased Perky to the house, seen the door ajar, and tried ringing the doorbell (which I obviously didn't hear). He assumed the worst and called the cops.

Now, on the one hand, I am thankful we have such good neighbors. On the other hand, the cops might STILL find a dead body here if the embarrasment I'm feelling kills me.

Anyway, it's not boring around here...

Nano update and college kid home

Well, as I continue in the insanity that is Nano (National Novel Writing Month) I have passed the 28,000 word count milestone. That means I need to write a mere 22,000 words between now and November 30th. I'm pretty sure I can do it, though I might have lost what's left of my mind by then...

Meanwhile, John is home for Thanksgiving Break, and that has been great. I'm not sure who missed him more - me or the dog. I've been spending some time with John in the evenings - bad news is that sometimes means I've been up with him until 3 am or so, and am exhausted - I've slept away the past two mornings. But I'm not sorry. I'm glad to spend time with him.

Hopefully things will approach normal next week, and I will be back to working on short stories and getting them into the mail. Meanwhile, back to work...

What I've been up to...

Yeah, bet you've been wondering...

Well for one thing, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, where the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. I've been meeting with some friends in a local coffee house to help motivate me (and vice versa) to grind out those words. I have good days and bad days with it, up to nearly 12,000 words now (I think). Will keep plugging away...

Earlier this week I sent off three short stories that had been rejected by various markets. Currently I have 10 Star Trek stories submitted to the anthology Strange New Worlds and 6 short stories sent out to various editors. I have another short story partway done that I need to finish up and mail somewhere.

I am also playing World of Warcraft and trying to get in and chat with with my IRC friends.

At some point I am going to finish organizing my office so it doesn't look like it got hit by a hurricane....

Anyway, still alive, still nuts, still trying to do my best.