9:25 a.m.

Heather says I look like the epitome of a stay-at-home writer today. Something to do with the uncombed hair and scruffy, three-days-unshaven face. Well, good. Today, I am a stay-at-home writer. My little once-fortnightly full-time-writer simulation.

Coffee's brewed. Laundry's in the washer. Music's on. Let's roll.

(By "let's roll" I mean "let's read journals and check the news and e-mail for a while." Lest you think I was actually writing already.)

Wow, this is cool -- Caitlín Kiernan went to a used bookstore and found a library book she'd checked out -- and scribbled marginalia in -- as a child. I love stuff like that. So much dumb matter floating (and smart matter walking) around this planet, it's amazing when related pieces reconnect.

9:50 a.m.

Well, that's a suitable amount of journal reading and general procrastination. I should write now.

Or, alternately, wash dishes. Yes. Yes, that's a good idea.

11:00 a.m.

Dishes are done. Laundry's in the dryer. Um. I'm running out of writing-avoidance behavior. But it's really gorgeous outside, so maybe I'll grab a beer (note to self: take a walk to buy beer) and sit on the back patio and write in a notebook and get sun (and alcohol)-drunk. I don't know why I'm feeling unwriterly. Writing this story intimidates me today. It's random. I'll just have to get over it and start scribbling, though.

Or I could always sweep the whole house and clean up the living room...

11:09 a.m.

Interesting essay by Charles Stross, mostly about tenses/viewpoints in writing. Good stuff.

12:48 a.m.

Managed to write a bit. Then talked to my agent about business stuff, and am now preoccupied with that. It's a shame I find the creative side of writing and the business side of writing so oil-and-waterish. I can think about one or the other, but not really both simultaneously. Gotta shake it off and get back into a putting-words-on-the-page headspace.

2:32 p.m.

Well, the writing isn't working so well, for whatever reason, so I'm going to get a drink and sit on the patio and take notes on a bunch of stuff for the workshop next month. Reading seems much more appealing today.

4:08 p.m.

Reading was a good plan, as was taking a little walk. On a day this beautiful, it's hard to fret, even about something as fretworthy as publishing business. Being out back was very pleasant until the sun went behind a cloud and it got cool. Clouds. My old nemeses. So I relocated to the couch under the windows in the living room and basked in sun and read some more. Not the most astonishingly productive day off I've ever had, but I ticked some things off my to-do list, and the house is cleaner, so I'm declaring it a success.

Tonight Heather and I will take a walk in the bright evening, then cook some curried vegetables and chicken for dinner, and generally try to have a simple happy night.