Cleveland. Game 7. LeBron James.

---

Added at 16:50:
So so first half. Celtics good. Role players for Cavs not getting the job done. It's still close. Game will depend on which team shows up in the second half. Ten-point difference.

---

Added at 18:16:
Three point game.

---

Added at 18:19:
One point game. LeBron steal and dunk.

You can tell when post-novel ennui finally lets loose it hold on the muse. First draft voice falls into place, scenes start to grow longer as the particular narrative voice takes hold.

Projected Goal

750 / 150,000 (0.5%)

Working title: Shift
New words: 500
Deadline: August 3
Reason for stopping: Lunch and an episode of Supernatural
Darling du jour: Charles Child was the first person in Lourdes to see the statue of the Virgin Mary come to life.

It's almost the same as the first line I posted a week or so back, but I've narrowed the story focus a bit, and I don't want to use locations as scene breaks. So, I had to incorporate Lourdes into the prose.

Today's words Word didn't recognize: keikogi
Soundtrack: Kansas -- "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"

Credit Supernatural for the above, though I still have my original Point of Know Return LP. I think some Queen will sneak in along the way, and perhaps some Journey, and most certainly Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, which I also still own in its original LP format. There's not a formal soundtrack yet, though.

Finally caught hold of the muse long enough to wrestle her to the ground. I had hemmed and hawed about the long-term project, and she kept dropping hints about how to handle Shift and how she's not ready for the fantasy yet. Mowed the lawn this morning before heading into work, and matters started dropping into place. Which is what typically happens for me when I'm doing something that's pretty much an auto pilot chore.*

So, I've modified the first sentence she suggested a few weeks or so back, adding a bigger hook in the second sentence/paragraph, and I've knocked out the first page. I'm still trying to figure out the broader scope, because I want this to seem more personal than the initial snowballs.**

---

* -- I keep track of fingers and toes.
** -- My earliest attempts at writing as an unseasoned teen were longhand and frequently scrapped, resulting in drifts of crumpled white paper surrounding me.

... to think about writing.

Post by Richard Morgan, who just won the Clarke for Black Man this week, about attitudes within the genre. There's a good section where he references an argument by Ian McEwan that good writers write for themselves, that they're lucky enough to share similar tastes with book-buying readers and publishers.

And varkat discusses the secret life of agents, offering several pieces of wisdom, including one from Finding Nemo that fits nicely with the McEwan/Morgan outlook.

When I wrote yesterday that good and bad reviews were the bane of a writer's existence, ironically after writing and posting a review of another person's book, I started thinking about the interaction between writer and reader (which encompasses editors, publishers and reviewers along with the general public). Especially since I've spun my wheels for the last month or so in regard to long-term projects. I've kept telling myself that it wasn't a good plan to write a sequel to Only The Dead, as I'm still writing for myself at this point. And OTD took me years to complete. Here, at the base of the thumb in the good old Lower Peninsula of Michigan, I'm trying to figure out what kind of writer I am.

And I come back to the realization that it doesn't matter as long as I write, as long as I enjoy what I'm doing. Sure, it would be nice to sell sell sell, but that wasn't the reason I had to write, when I finally sat down in '96 and got serious.

Since today is my anniversary (21 years) and since there are 91 days until my summer vacation (exactly 13 weeks, an ideal "novel in 90" time period for me to track), I think it's appropriate to use these "signs" and accept that I'll write what I write. Especially in light of the lukewarm response to "Ye Shall Eat in Haste." I liked the story, the magazine editor liked the story, I'm going to get paid for the story, and the book editor liked the novel that used the story as a starting point. So, I'm satisfied.

I ran a poll last time I hit a project roadblock, letting readers decide between the sequel to OTD and the fantasy version of Doe. The writing group liked my attempts at an SFnal version of the latter, but I need to really look at what I want to say with that story, and set aside all the false attempts. I still think it's one of the things I need to write, just as the sequel to OTD is something I need to write. But I'm still not ready to tackle either project.

Shift is going to require a lot of research -- and plotting. And I'd rather not spend months and years in false starts when it comes to novel-length projects. I've a couple days to get my house in order. I'm at a crossroads, and I think that's enough time to figure out what's right. I'm pretty sure I'm leaning toward Shift. It falls into my wheelhouse, and plays to my strengths, but I believe I need to control the scale. The world as we know is going to end in this book, but I need to end it in the right way. The act of just writing some of these thoughts down helps, so I'm grateful for that at the very least.

Via e_underwood

Comment and I'll...
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, I ask that you post this in your LJ.

Not necessarily in order of importance ...

The good news, as indicated by the subject, is that I lost another 2 pounds to finish April. It's not the 15 that I recorded in March, but I'm shifting from fat to muscle again, so I look and feel better. So, I know the weight is coming off, even if the scale likes the 200s. Muscle just weighs more. As the weather improves and I'm outdoors more, the cardio portion of my exercise routine should fall into place. And I know from past experience that it's the cardio (the running or the cycling) that will burn the calories and drop the pounds.

The bad news is a review over at suite101.com that didn't look kindly on my story. I think good and bad reviews are the bane of a writer's existence. The fantasy novel is looking more and more attractive. Or the multiverse invasion thriller. Anything but the sequel at this point. Perhaps someday.

The belated news is a shout out to maradydd. Her birthday was yesterday. Make sure to drop by and wish Meredith a happy, if belated, one. :-)

If you haven't found your way over to the Tor website yet ... what are you thinking? Cherie Priest posts about one more reason to go now and get some goodies. :-)

This is the 7th book in this year's challenge, and I've made the April deadline with a few hours to spare.

This was a free book, sent by Sandra herself in return for a review. I compared the first book, The Outback Stars, to Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, except there weren't any dragons. And that assessment still holds true, I believe, but its sequel moves further afield than the earlier book.

I've read some reviews, and they slighted the second, and I can understand where they're coming from with those opinions. This is not a sequel in the traditional sense. Where The Outback Stars provided readers with a different viewpoint of life aboard a ship (a space ship, with smuggling and alien cultures to spice the mix), The Stars Down Under isn't another sailing yarn. Anyone coming to it expecting more of the same, you're going to be disappointed--but you will find something more. Perhaps something better.

The first book gave a brief glimpse into the alien culture of the Wondjina, creators of the Spheres and the Little and Big Alcheringa, and the Seven Sisters, which are Earth-like planets colonized by humanity escaping a befouled Earth. It also provided a glimpse of an apparently abandoned transportation system that might allow humanity to move further afield throughout the galaxy and universe.

The Stars Down Under uses the latter as its jump point and proceeds to tackle questions about life, the universe and everything. Initially, I felt as if someone had cheated me. I enjoyed the first book, and found shipboard culture fascinating, and I had started the second expecting more of the same. My cultural viewpoint, which is Western, pulled back from accepting a world view grounded in aboriginal beliefs. It seemed too much a coincidence to believe in songlines or crocodile goddesses and aliens visiting and choosing Earth (and Australia) as the place where humanity meets the stars. But then, about halfway through this well-crafted book, I realized I had it backwards. If this was real, if this was how the world was set up, and Wondjina and Spheres existed, then aboriginal culture springs from the early exposure to alien technology.

Which definitely coincides with the first book's nautical theme. Rather than only focusing on shipboard life, the book examines the experience of two cultures clashing, as sailors in centuries clashed when visiting foreign ports, imposing their world view on something with which it could never mesh. That's what science fiction explores, and I've got to say I'm happy being left with more questions than answers after finishing the book.

Truthfully, the culture really doesn't matter. Swap aboriginal for Asian or Indian or African, and the message here is the same: exploration of the unknown and the interaction of different ways of looking at the world. We sit here on our little blue planet and believe that aliens can't visit the earth. It's unfathomable that anyone or anything could cross such vast distances. And why would they? But that's the magic of this book and those questions. I'm reminded of the idea that any technology, so advanced that it is beyond our comprehension, would seem like magic. So, who's to say that alien life can't come here? And who's to say that our exposure to it wouldn't be informed by our culture? Or that the "science" it uses wouldn't seem magical?

Some answers are offered by The Stars Down Under, but there are more questions, and the mystery and magic of the unknown, which is the best thing SF can offer.

Plateau week. Though I've got a lot of workout and running left for this weekend. Lots of work to do outside if the weather holds, which should help with next week's tally. I'm shooting for another 10 before month's end, which will allow me to remain on track for 15 each month until our vacation. So, I've a lot of work cut out.

Happy birthday, Steve. :-)

All this week, reading the posts on my F-list, I wished I was able to go to Penguicon this weekend. It's spring again, however, and in our house that means weekend volleyball tournaments. Youngest daughter plays in her second one on Saturday. Oldest daughter is coming home today with as much of her school stuff as she can back before the semester ends, and she needs help with her term paper and college loan applications, so that's Sunday's itinerary right there.

Hope everyone who's going to the convention has a good time. Last year was fun, even though I only got to spend Friday afternoon. Caught up briefly with matociquala, sat behind netmouseat a panel that seated autopope and truepenny, among others. Not bad for the only panel I caught. I was I know I missed lots of other people, as I was only there the one evening, but I'm not jealous. No, not one bit. Not at all. I'm happy for you all. :-)

First review I've seen of issue #4, over at The Fix. Looks like they found this go-round impressive as a whole. It's hard to describe the feeling of relief to see the following comment about my story:

"This piece is better than gold; it’s pure silver."

This is book 6 of the 2008 challenge. I can already tell I'm likely to fall well short of 52 books. Unless I cheat and give myself over to Doc Savage reprints and The Destroyer novels I've left to read. The only problem with that plan, however, is that I wouldn't get the opportunity to read books like The Outback Stars by sandramcdonald/affinity8.

I picked up the mass market when it came out earlier this year, fully planning to tackle it this spring so I could determine whether it was worth picking up the second book, The Stars Down Under, just released in March in hardcover. I switched to hardcover when I started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch as part of my World Fantasy reading. It's all a matter of timing, cost vs. value, and the story.

Especially the story, because The Outback Stars fares quite well on the value side. It's well worth the hardcover cost. So far, The Stars Down Under is holding up well. There's a love story in this first book, involving Sergeant Terry Myell and Lieutenant Jodenny Scott, but I can already see trouble on the horizon in the second book with Jodenny referencing Terry by his last name in the early chapters.

My only complaint about the first book is I needed a roster so I could tell who was who and where they worked. I felt quite lost in the early going as I tried to figure out the players, their ranks, and the departments where they worked. AT and RT and AM are fine as shorthand descriptors, but I had to go a ways into the story before the Jodenny explained the system to one of her civilian employees.*

Maps and blueprints would be nice as well. There's lots of fodder here for Star Trek/Star Wars manuals and engineer handbooks. All the details that you can seriously geek over for hours on end. Because the milieu feels real. You're not in the glamorous flight or bridge operations here. The book drops you down in the bowels of Aral Sea, a cross between a colony ship and trading vessel wending its way down the Alcheringa, the "river" linking the seven planets inhabited by humanity in McDonald's future.

I kept thinking of the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian and the Temeraire books by Naomi Novik. This is a very real future, populated by real people with ordinary (and not so ordinary) problems. That it's setting is interstellar space seems incidental. You could easily drop the story into any seafaring era, and it would still work. The Australian/aboriginal culture and mythology serves as another entry point. It's alien (to this Westerner, at least, who only knows about Australia from a few friends and Crocodile Dundee), and yet it's familiar enough that it makes the Wondjina and their Spheres understandable. I'm sure there's more to come about the absent Wondjina, whose artifacts litter the landscape of the Seven Sisters like loaded guns.

I could go into details about life aboard the Aral Sea, but that would spoil the fun. There aren't dragons, but that's all right. Life in The Outback Stars and The Stars Down Under already seems complicated enough Terry and Jodenny. But that's how life, isn't it? If it's not terrorists and smugglers, it's lovers and aliens.

---

* -- Hopefully I've got this right and in correct rank order, from lowest to highest. AM is Apprentice Mate. AT is Able Technician. RT is Regular Technician. I believe Sergeant is the next rank up, and then Chief, with Chief Petty Officer topping out the enlisted ranks.

Give or take a pound. Up and down week. Monday night I showed a -14 on the scale before bottoming out at -19 after this morning's exercises. Need to improve the running routine over the weekend; Saturday and Sunday were cold and wet, so I did more walking than running. Targeting Sunday again this weekend for a jog through the neighborhood. Still sans pop, though.

see_brownie_run is racking up impressive numbers, hitting the 13-mile mark as of her last report. She works out of the same office I do, and I'm very impressed with what she's accomplished so far. I'm at the point where I can't imagine running 2 miles, let alone 13. There's an article in the current issue of Men's Health about learning how to run, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

---

There's still no news on the submissions. Reading front is going well, however. Finished The Outback Stars last night and started the sequel, The Stars Down Under this morning. I'll post a review of the first one this afternoon.

Black Static 4 is out now!

Very stark cover. All artwork by David Gentry, and there's a new layout for my story. Looks like there's lots of good stories and columns to read. It should show up on Fictionwise with the other TTA Press magazines, so I recommend that you either purchase an individual issue or subscription there or head over to their main website and purchase a subscription.

---

Fiction
Cleaning the Western Kittiwake by Tyler Keevil
Atwater by Cody Goodfellow
Zombie by Conrad Williams
Salt by Nicholas Royle
Ye Shall Eat in Haste by Steve Nagy
This Much I Remember by Barry Fishler

Columns
White Noise (news compiled by Peter Tennant)
Electric Darkness by Stephen Volk
Blood Spectrum by Tony Lee (DVD reviews and contests)
Case Notes by Peter Tennant (pages and pages of book reviews, facts and figures, plus an interview with Conrad Williams)
Japan's Dark Lanterns by John Paul Catton
Night's Plutonian Shore by Mike O'Driscoll

Thought for sure I was going to plateau this past week. Scale didn't drop at all, and actually climbed back by about 5 pounds at one point. Stuck to the exercise routine, switched to a walk Saturday and Sunday. Two miles the first day in about 39 minutes. One mile the second, walking back and forth in the Target plaza, while the wife and youngest daughter were shopping for a sewing machine. Twenty minutes for that round.

Had a bit of a "calorie crash" Sunday evening. I felt famished and Melissa made a portobello lasagna. I was certain I was going to either see a gain this week or the same mark as last week. So, I'm very satisfied with the two pounds. Still going without pop, and that's getting easier every day. And I'm slowly making the switch over to Splenda rather than sugar with my tea and coffee. Though I did have one oatmeal cookie after the UWG meeting last night and a sprinkle of sugar on my morning bowl of cereal.

Today's a lower body workout day. Lots of bicycle crunches and Russian twists. And there's lots of cardio on tap with jumping jacks and jump rope work (without the actual rope; just a lot of bouncing in place that's murder on the calves). I can knock out about 60 jumping jacks or 120 "jump ropes" in a minute, which is the current time frame I've got scheduled in my workout routine. So the goal is going to be upping those numbers as the weeks progress.

I'm going to tackle a 1.5-2 mile jog tomorrow morning to contrast with this past weekend's walk, especially now that I know I can make it three miles in about an hour. My walking pace isn't much faster than my jog, but I'm setting attainable goals here.

I toyed with different ways to start The Sun Also Sets or the fantasy version of Doe, and the muse proved especially fractious. She's finally agreed to work from the seat of her pants on the multiverse invasion thriller and give me a first line I can accept. The story starts off in Lourdes, France, before jumping halfway round the world to the Jiulong Cave, which is near Tongren in the People's Republic in China. I'm off to parts unknown. I think this is going to be fun. :-)

First Line & Darling Du Jour: Charles Child was the first person to see the statue of the Virgin Mary come to life.

Week 1 of 19 starts tomorrow. The timing is right, because Saturday is my cardio day, and the serotonin rush that hits during my post-run shower is going to lay a nice foundation.

Looks like the calorie counting, Saturday's 1-mile run, and the brief spurts of exercise are paying off. And this shouldn't be water weight, as I'm drinking like a fish. Yesterday, I knocked back at least nine 8-ounce. glasses of water. And after a marvelous grilled chicken and salmon dinner at Damon's, I worked in an evening routine of push-ups, crunches and leg lifts. The part I'm really happy about is the water. I still haven't had a pop since the end of Lent, and I don't miss it.

News from the writing front comes in several doses.

Muse is so intractable, I'm going to set aside the sequel and let her loose on a new novel project. Of course, I'm still writing on spec, so I'm hesitant to commit, but I've spent so much time in the past with Only The Dead, I believe I need a change of pace and I need to focus on the fantasy that's interested her for a while now focus on any book that will let the muse flow. I've totally dropped the ball with 70 Days of Sweat, which is typical for most of my challenge attempts. However, I'm taking a vacation in August (part of the reason for the exercise and diet) and I've 18 weeks/154 days to write between now and then. More than enough time to finish a book. Hopefully.

Second bit of news is that it looks like the release date for Black Static 4 is mid-April. A lot sooner than I expected. So, it's more real that something I wrote will come out this year. As a sidebar, I haven't heard back on the two submissions I've got out. The market that has "Sacrifices" has a turnaround time of about two months, so it's still too early to engage in any rejectomancy, but I'm also still waiting to hear about "Some Roads" and I don't know whether I should think my email is playing havoc with me and I received a response and missed it or whether it's still under consideration.

The last bit of updatery involves the assessment that I know some really cool people. I'm reading The Outback Stars by sandramcdonald/affinity8 and the first three of The Hinges of Tomorrow by darkfantasist. Thoroughly enjoying both reads.

Finished A Cold Heart by Jonathan Kellerman early this morning, which makes five books so far this year. Next up is The Outback Stars by sandramcdonald/affinity8. I've got the paperback version of that book, and it's sat on my To Read pile since it came out in February.

I still haven't received the HC copy of The Stars Down Under she was kind enough to offer in exchange for a review. As I'm usually a bit behind where it comes to new books, writing a review is a good way for me to get to a book sooner. So far, so good on TOS, though. :-)

---

1900 EST:

The Stars Down Under arrived in the mail today. :-)

Andy Cox reported today that Black Static 4 is off to the presses. I'm really looking forward to seeing "Ye Shall Eat in Haste" in print. There's nothing quite like seeing your work in print.

Ran about a half-mile this morning before heading into work. Snow looms in the forecast and it was sunny enough and warm enough this a.m. to try out the new sweats. I'm really impressed by people who run miles. I've got a long way to go, a long way to go.

Ran a note into school for younger daughter on the way into the office (an excuse for a doctor's appointment earlier in the week), and I happened to overhear a Coca-Cola delivery as I was walking into the main entrance. He had dropped off 70 cases that morning, but there was a problem with the order. Something about the bottle size, but what I tweaked about was the number of cases. If I'm doing my math right, 70 cases, 24 bottles each, amounts to 1,680 bottles. Melissa had foregone pop for Lent, and I joined her in a show of support; it's not easy giving up pop (Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper are my poisons of choice), and my interest in dieting and becoming healthier could benefit from the boost.

The number amazed me, and I'm glad I haven't had a pop since Lent ended. I had the chance to drink one; I opened a bottle, inhaled the misty, sweet carbonation that forms at the top when you first open a "frosty, cold one," and I immediately closed it.

I couldn't make myself do it, not after struggling through the 40 days. I'm reminded of a scene from The Biggest Loser a few weeks back. We're watching the season during its initial run for the first time this year. It involved one of the trainers, Jillian Michaels, and one of the female contestants, Brittany Aberle, who had stopped five seconds short of completing a treadmill run. Jillian talked to Brittany about those seconds, trying to point out how any successful change in behavior comes down to those turning points. Why wouldn't you run for five more seconds? Why wouldn't you cross such a fine line, when that's all that separates success and failure?

I think the answer is pretty simple (though it's extremely difficult to give, even though you know it), and it relates to how people routinely take the path of least resistance. Success sets the bar higher, implies greater struggles to achieve the next goal.

Though it was only a half-mile this morning, though it's only pop -- though it's only first chapter blues -- it's madness to embrace personal failure. So, here I go, off into uncharted territory. I'm gasping for breath, but I'm smiling.

Congrats to all the nominees. Some nice competition.

Best Novel
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace)

Best Novella
“The Fountain of Age” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s July 2007)
“Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb. 2007)
“Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius Shepard (F&SF July 2007)
“All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007, Subterranean Press)
“Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (F&SF April 2007)

Best Novelette
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: a Fairytale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham (Logorrhea, ed. John Klima, Bantam)
“The Merchant and the Alchemist”s Gate” by Ted Chiang (F&SF Sept. 2007)
“Dark Integers” by Greg Egan (Asimov’s Oct./Nov. 2007)
“Glory” by Greg Egan (The New Space Opera, ed. Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
“Finisterra” by David Moles (F&SF Dec. 2007)

Best Short Story
“Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, ed. George Mann, Solaris Books)
“Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s June 2007)
“Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” by Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera, ed. by Gardner Dozois, and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
“Distant Replay” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s April/May 2007)
“A Small Room in Koboldtown” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s April/May 2007, The Dog Said Bow-Wow, Tachyon Publications)

Best Related Book
The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer; appendix by David Bratman (Kent State University Press)
Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium by Barry Malzberg (Baen)
Emshwiller: Infinity x Two by Luis Ortiz, intro. by Carol Emshwiller, fwd. by Alex Eisenstien (Nonstop)
Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Enchanted Written by Bill Kelly Directed by Kevin Lima (Walt Disney Pictures)
The Golden Compass Written by Chris Weitz Based on the novel by Philip Pullman Directed by Chris Weitz (New Line Cinema)
Heroes, Season 1 Created by Tim Kring (NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions Written by Tim Kring, Jeff Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Natalie Chaidez, Jesse Alexander, Adam Armus, Aron Eli Coleite, Joe Pokaski, Christopher Zatta, Chuck Kim. Directed by David Semel, Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Ernest R. Dickerson, Paul Shapiro, Donna Deitch, Paul A. Edwards, John Badham, Terrence O’Hara, Jeannot Szwarc, Roxann Dawson, Kevin Bray, Adam Kane
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Written by Michael Goldenberg Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling Directed by David Yates (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Stardust Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Battlestar Galactica “Razor” Written by Michael Taylor Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose (Sci Fi Channel) (televised version, not DVD)
Doctor Who “Blink” Written by Stephen Moffat Directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)
Doctor Who “Human Nature’ / “Family of Blood” Written by Paul Cornell Directed by Charles Palmer (BBC)
Star Trek New Voyages “World Enough and Time” Written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree Directed by Marc Scott Zicree (Cawley Entertainment Co. and The Magic Time Co.)
Torchwood “Captain Jack Harkness” Written by Catherine Tregenna Directed by Ashley Way (BBC Wales)

Best Professional Editor, Short Form
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Best Professional Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton
Phil Foglio
John Harris
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Best Semiprozine
Ansible edited by David Langford
Helix edited by William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, Liza Groen Trombi
New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kristine Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney

Best Fanzine
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Challenger edited by Guy Lillian III
Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
PLOKTA edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott

Best Fan Writer
Chris Garcia
David Langford
Cheryl Morgan
John Scalzi
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered on their behalf by WSFS)
Joe Abercrombie (2nd year of eligibility)
Jon Armstrong (1st year of eligibility)
David Anthony Durham (1st year of eligibility)
David Louis Edelman (2nd year of eligibility)
Mary Robinette Kowal (2nd year of eligibility)
Scott Lynch (2nd year of eligibility)

My muse hates me. Nuff said. :-/

eeknight posted a link to an article about Arras in his LJ today. It's nice to see current and archival pictures of the town, as the first third of Only The Dead is set in and under the city.

Since I'm a firm believer in synchronicity and with the short story/prologue slated to see publication soon, I think it's time to ping the agent who requested the full manuscript. It's about two months now, and said agent should be in the office if I've got her schedule right. Crossing fingers.

Three more pounds to add to last week's total. Slow but steady, slow but steady.

I had missed exercising Monday morning. Just couldn't get out of bed when the alarm rang at 6 a.m. I didn't get to sleep until shortly after 11 p.m. the night before because Melissa and I watched Dexter on CBS and she caught the early weather on CBS. So a little less than 7 hours sleep isn't enough for me to jump out of bed and do the "rise-shine" thing, especially with the recent time change kicking the sun back below the horizon at that hour.

I did work out last night, though, rather than just veg. And when the craving for a Burger King croissanwich breakfast hit this morning, I locked it down and stuck with my previously planned breakfast of oatmeal. I've got think the hunger cravings are my body/subconscious believing that it needs food/fuel, and the key is changing my habits. I like oatmeal, so that helps.

The workout was the first half of the Jillian Michaels "backside" workout. I'm definitely a beginner, so I'm working up to completing all six circuits in one pass. I believe the routine will get easier once I get the hang of the 6 a.m. wakeup. I noticed several "cold" spots after the workout, which Melissa says is a good sign that you're burning through that area. Not sure of the science/reliability of that. I've always taken it on faith. The cold spots were in problem areas, however, where I hadn't noticed them before. Areas where the workout focused, so there seems to be some correlation. Lots of rowing, so lots of back work, engaging the delts, lats, trapezius and rhomboid muscles.

Weighed myself this a.m. to find that I'm down eight pounds after two weeks. The weather improves, though, so I'm planning to start running this weekend. Easter is always a good time for me, marking either the start or finish of projects. A complete circuit of our neighborhood is approximately a mile, and there are some slight uphill portions, so I can easily track my progress.