Sunday, 23 November 2003

A very good writing day. I woke up feeling ready to tackle that emotionally tough break-up scene, so I went ahead and wrote enough to get a handle on it, even before I had breakfast.

After breakfast and a run, I jumped in and finished the story up. I typically finish a story late in the day and let it sit over night before doing a revision and sending it out for critiques. Today, though, I went ahead and did a revision pass as soon as I'd finished. I'd only worked on a couple of scenes, so the rest of it had sat for a day or two and I felt ready to look at it.

I'm really pleased with this story. Perhaps the best work I've ever done. For a long time I said that about every story--I was becoming a better writer, so naturally each story was better than the last. I've had a couple stories lately that I was not completely satisfied with. This one I like. For one thing, it deals with an issue that I've been unsuccessful with before. For another, it covers a range of human emotion more broadly than I've managed before. That had been the next hurdle I needed to overcome, and this story makes me think I've done so.

Go me.

It was warm this morning (60°F!), but a cold front was coming. So, right after breakfast, I headed out for my run. I ran 4.09 miles at an average pace of 11:43. That's pretty slow. I blame part of the slowness on the wind. (A headwind slows you down more than a tail wind speeds you up, especially a gusty wind.) I suspect part of it is due to being tired from the amount of running I've done the past few days. I've run 12.37 miles this week, which is right up there with my highest milage weeks shortly before the race.

Tomorrow's shaping up to be much colder--there's a chance of snow. Sound like a good day to take as a rest day. (I just looked at the forcast. Tonight's low is predicted to be 18°F. Quite a change.)

I tried to sign up for the local Jingle Bells run, but their website isn't secure! They've got a Verisign link (that they presumably paid for) to verify that it's really the website it's supposed to be, but then they try to get you to send your credit card number over an unencrypted link. What can they be thinking of? I guess I'll sign up on race day (December 7th). It's a 5K race, so there's no question of being able to finish it. (I ran further than that today.)