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I've grow increasingly unhappy about winter in the last decade or so. The cold seems more inescapable than ever. The lack of sunlight starts to depress me by January or February (though it's been better with my biking in recent years).
When Cobweb was particularly sick, there were at least two winters when I thought she wasn't going to make it to spring. But she did each time.
I learned that my Grandpa P., my mom's dad, died last night. He was a nice man, but not one that I ever knew particularly well. That's because my family left Missouri behind when I was just a few years old, moved all the way from the Midwest to California when I was 6 or so. I visited the grandparents some summers when I was young, but my Grandpa was still working then, so I spent almost all of my time with my Grandma. I mostly remember my Grandpa watching the TV, reading the newspaper, and smoking cigars.
He was an engineer who worked on the railroad. I know he took me out to see his rail yard once, when I was young, but I sadly don't remember that trip at all. He was in his 80s when he passed, so he'd been retired for a good long time if that's any consolation.
My American Indian blood (scant as it is) came from him. Of all my muttled heritage, it's the one little bit that makes me believe in something bigger than me. Mind you, it's probably also where I got my lactose intolerance and my baldness, so there you go.
So, Grandpa. Sigh.
Any other day I would have just written about Thanksgiving. It was generally a good holiday. Restful. And that's ironic, because it was full of busyness, including: (1) visit with Lisa & Jason; (2) visit with Eric R.; (3) hours of Downton Abbey; (4) Thanksgiving dinner; (5) A Little Princess at the Berkeley Playhouse; and (6) A Trip to Lafayette for Baja Fresh. Still, I was really getting into the hang of the whole vacation thing by Sunday — feeling like I was ready to go a few extra rounds.
The Lafayette trip was undertaken by me by bicycle. I've been feeling like I've been letting that go a bit in recent months, so I did the 20 mile ride over the hills and down through Contra Costa. Some of the steepest hills gave me problems, but it was overall easier than I expected. So I'm not quite out of shape yet.
I did surprisingly little writing over the weekend. A little bit of work on Designers & Dragons, the first draft of some histories for D&D Classics, but that was it. Oh, actually, I wrote a complete well-researched and long history for Wizards of the Coast too. Still, it was an amount of work that I could have gotten done in two days instead of four.
Which is probably why I felt relaxed at the end of it.
Fortunately, I've gotten enough lead on all my projects for this not to be a big deal. I'm done with WotC projects through the end of the year, and have just five more D&D Classics histories (including the two I first drafted). It's going to be mostly Designers & Dragons from here on out — which is good because I'm entering the home stretch.
Amusingly, I started writing a new book last night. It's a project for 2014, but I needed to get the first 1500 words out, so I did. It should be awaiting me after I'm done with Designers & Dragons (and have taken a few weeks break). It's an exciting project that I had previously pitched to a single publisher, then put aside when I didn't get a thumbs up. Now I'm thinking I could get a literary publisher to pick it up, and if not, I could always Kickstart it.
I guess life goes on ...
When Cobweb was particularly sick, there were at least two winters when I thought she wasn't going to make it to spring. But she did each time.
I learned that my Grandpa P., my mom's dad, died last night. He was a nice man, but not one that I ever knew particularly well. That's because my family left Missouri behind when I was just a few years old, moved all the way from the Midwest to California when I was 6 or so. I visited the grandparents some summers when I was young, but my Grandpa was still working then, so I spent almost all of my time with my Grandma. I mostly remember my Grandpa watching the TV, reading the newspaper, and smoking cigars.
He was an engineer who worked on the railroad. I know he took me out to see his rail yard once, when I was young, but I sadly don't remember that trip at all. He was in his 80s when he passed, so he'd been retired for a good long time if that's any consolation.
My American Indian blood (scant as it is) came from him. Of all my muttled heritage, it's the one little bit that makes me believe in something bigger than me. Mind you, it's probably also where I got my lactose intolerance and my baldness, so there you go.
So, Grandpa. Sigh.
Any other day I would have just written about Thanksgiving. It was generally a good holiday. Restful. And that's ironic, because it was full of busyness, including: (1) visit with Lisa & Jason; (2) visit with Eric R.; (3) hours of Downton Abbey; (4) Thanksgiving dinner; (5) A Little Princess at the Berkeley Playhouse; and (6) A Trip to Lafayette for Baja Fresh. Still, I was really getting into the hang of the whole vacation thing by Sunday — feeling like I was ready to go a few extra rounds.
The Lafayette trip was undertaken by me by bicycle. I've been feeling like I've been letting that go a bit in recent months, so I did the 20 mile ride over the hills and down through Contra Costa. Some of the steepest hills gave me problems, but it was overall easier than I expected. So I'm not quite out of shape yet.
I did surprisingly little writing over the weekend. A little bit of work on Designers & Dragons, the first draft of some histories for D&D Classics, but that was it. Oh, actually, I wrote a complete well-researched and long history for Wizards of the Coast too. Still, it was an amount of work that I could have gotten done in two days instead of four.
Which is probably why I felt relaxed at the end of it.
Fortunately, I've gotten enough lead on all my projects for this not to be a big deal. I'm done with WotC projects through the end of the year, and have just five more D&D Classics histories (including the two I first drafted). It's going to be mostly Designers & Dragons from here on out — which is good because I'm entering the home stretch.
Amusingly, I started writing a new book last night. It's a project for 2014, but I needed to get the first 1500 words out, so I did. It should be awaiting me after I'm done with Designers & Dragons (and have taken a few weeks break). It's an exciting project that I had previously pitched to a single publisher, then put aside when I didn't get a thumbs up. Now I'm thinking I could get a literary publisher to pick it up, and if not, I could always Kickstart it.
I guess life goes on ...