13,051 / 70,000 (18.6%)

Second anthology story mailed. I’m going to take today to focus on the novel. Although “focus” is not the way I would describe my brain or my ability today…

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Tonight we surprised our friend Lev at his birthday dinner. We always spend time with Lev and Gayle when we’re up here, and when we planned this trip, I saw that we’d be here for his birthday. So I e-mailed Gayle, got the scoop, and we planned to surprise him.

Thankfully he was behind in reading my journal. I’ve deliberately not said where we are (and, curiously, no one has asked. We’re just outside of Portland, OR.) because I know he reads the journal. The morning after I mentioned that we’d been to a McMenamin’s, I woke up mentally swearing because I thought I’d ruined the surprise.

The party was at Salvador Molly’s. “Pirate cooking” at its best (Caribbean food). I had a mouthwatering tamale wrapped in a banana leaf—artichoke hearts, cheese, a mild red chile sauce… Yum.

I may end up being on panels at another con, because of course I ended up across the table from one of the organizers of this year’s Orycon. She perked right up when she heard I wrote, and we exchanged cards before we’d even ordered food. I don’t know if I’ve published enough SFF for the committee, but I can certainly ramble about a decent variety of subjects in a semi-coherent and thoughtful manner. So, we’ll see.

Meanwhile, I can also now reveal that we totally surprised Kris and Dean by showing up at the weekly Sunday lunch in Lincoln City, too! Bwahaha! Only Chris Y. knew, because I had to ask somebody what time lunch was. Even better, we’re going out tomorrow for lunch, and then joining everyone to go to a talk by Ursula Le Guin. (Yuh, uhuh. Totally fangirl squealing going on in my head.)

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What Have I Done Today to Make My Writing Dream Come True? writing
Currently Reading: Pagan Heat, Monica Belle
Lately Listened To: various random
Recently Watched: pretty much nothing. Our DVR is going to be stuffed by the time we get home, though.