Loremaster...done

It has taken a while but I am pleased to report that Loremaster is finally re-written. I finished yesterday but was too whacked from the battle to do anything else. It took just this side of forever but I am happy with the result. Many thanks to Bruce and Roy and Dawn for their suggestions and editorial input.

Today I paid a visit to my local printer and had the manuscript printed in two formats. One was double-spaced, single-sided for submission. The other was reduced to 9pt font, single-spaced, double-sided and spiral bound for me to read and for additional proofing.

The manuscript for submission will be sent to DAW Books on the morning of August 9th.

August 9th??? Why wait?

Well, the family and I are going on vacation. We're heading up to the wilds on Northern Ontario for some much needed rest and relaxation. We'll be camping and swimming and fishing and maybe, if I'm especially lucky, I might get some golf played, as well.

A little rain must fall...

We finally had a break from the near-drought conditions we've been facing here. It rained almost all day Saturday. The rain was fantastic but we still need more and more may be on the way. I could almost hear the garden sigh yesterday as moisture fell from the heavens.

Loremaster rewrite continues to plod along.

I'm still waiting to hear from Analog magazine about The Platinum Ticket - it was submitted about 5 weeks ago so I should hear soon.

Here's a bit of fun. Visited the website for the upcoming Simpsons movie. Once there you can build your own Simpsons avatar. This is mine. His name is Mr. Radium Ion. Go make your own.


That's about it for now. I have some stuff going on that I can't talk about just yet but I'll keep you posted on any developments.

Dragon my ass...

The Loremaster re-write is going very slowly. It is going well, just a lot slower than I would like. The result is a much improved story but it is a lot of work. If I change something early in the story I need to consider the impact throughout the book and that means going ahead directly after I make the initial change to make other changes. It's like falling dominoes, but if I don't do it right away, I know that I'll forget and it'll just be that much more work later on.

In other news, I submitted a story for the essay column in the Life section of the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper. With the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the dollar coin I decided to share my first encounter with the eleven-sided seven gram hunk of coinage.

A while back I mentioned I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I have been receiving treatment via something called a CPAP machine. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure keeps the soft tissue in the back of the throat from collapsing and blocking the airway. Using a little machine and some great bondage head-gear my snoring is a thing of the past and I am actually beginning to notice increased energy and alertness. Here's a picture of the mask - very sexy...and it keeps me breathing.



We finally had a break in the weather. Brief showers came as a welcome relief from the near-drought we have been experiencing. Everything is greening up a bit but we could use a lot more rain. The forecast calls for more rain late tomorrow or Friday. I'm thinking I'll chance cutting my ratty lawn - grass hasn't been growing but weeds are doing just fine thank-you - and see what happens.

Anyway, an episode of Deadwood - Season Three awaits.