Don't get me wrong; I love having a deadline. For one thing, a writing deadline often means that somebody's either waiting to pay you for your work, or else they've already paid you and they're simply waiting for you to hold up your end of the deal. Deadlines are great, but it's nice not to have one once in a while.

This weekend was like that. No deadlines. No appointments. No place I had to be. Just me, a few chores to do, and a couple of "Hey, wouldn't this be fun?" type writing projects. I was able to turn my time, attention and energy toward a few projects that I've been putting off. One was a mess of subtle, behind the scenes updates to the website. Lots of links had to be updated, which took a bit, but it's the kind of work you can do while you're catching up on all the crap you have stored on your TiVo.

Another was cutting the grass. Considering the heat wave we've been having, that one didn't seem like such a priority.

Oh, by the way, did I mention yet that football season is here, and the Bucs won? Sure, it was only a preseason game, but they keep score for a reason, damn it.

Anyway....

I mentioned in an earlier entry that there are a handful of short story ideas I've had for a bit now, which kept getting pushed back due to various other writing deadlines. A few of them were for open call anthologies, each of which had their own deadline for submission, so naturally I prioritized accordingly. It was nice to finish the last one on that list today. It's all prepped and sealed in its envelope, and waiting for me to drop it off at the post office tomorrow.

So, where does that leave me for August? One more short story I'd like to write, purely for the fun of it. I have no idea what I'll do with it once I'm finished...it's really a silly little thing I've had bouncing around in my head for a while. More than anything, I want to write it so I can stop thinking about it, but if it turns out decent enough, I might try to pitch it to somebody. I've also got an outline for a media tie-in project that Kevin and I keep talking about. That's also on my list of stuff to finish before the baby gets here.

Oh yeah, the baby. The doctor moved up the due date to August 31st. I asked Michi to see if she could hold off until at least Labor Day so I could have the joke. Better yet, after Labor Day, so it doesn't count against my two weeks paternity leave from the office.

As expected, she failed to see the humor in those remarks. My scar's healing nicely. Thanks for asking.

Anyway, in addition to that story and the outline, Kevin and I also have to start applying some brain power to another outline for something we've been asked to write. Can't say much about either pitch right now, of course, but I'll be happy to leak details once I's are dotted, T's are crossed, and blessings conferred.

But, for now, I can close out the day knowing it was productive, and perhaps read something just for fun before settling down for one of my last remaining opportunities at seven or eight hours of sleep until...oh...2024 or so.