…I have a new poem, "I Can't Get the Smell of You Out of My Skin" up at Calliope Nerve and here under "Words In Print."

…It's raining slogs of gunmetal gray walls. The sound of it, like a million tapping toes, is rhythmic and soothing. If I'm not careful, I very well could fall into a trance, slap my head down on the keyboard and get the upraised letters (my keyboard is ergnomic) g h t y b imprinted on my forehead and face, and then relatives and strangers would wonder what message I was trying to impart with my weird tattoo. It could happen.
The deluge is picking up even as I write this. There's a sense of urgency to it. "Get out of my way.." Stiff arm to the face. "I'm in a hurry." All that frantic pitter patter code is trying to tell me something, or not. If you follow a certain swath of rainfall you'll see that it has a fog shadow behind it, a wispy sheet of cold air, flapping like laundry on a windy day.

…Sometimes I get sidetracked when I look out my window. Especially if it's raining. But then, you knew that.

…I'm out of the running for the NaNoWriMo competition. No way I'll get to 50,000 words in a month. Instead, I'm shooting for 75,000 in two months. I'll call my competition LoNoDeWriMoze or Local November-December Writing Months. I'll be the only one who knows about it. I kind of like the sound of that moniker -- LoNo-DeWriMoze. Not sure what language it resembles, but it's fun to say and would likely be even more enjoyable to say if one was a little sloshed.

…I don't know why, but I try to do too much sometimes. I like pressure because it makes me perform, but it can lead one to defeat and a sad sense of failure.
Here, I'll share some of my 2010 Resolutions with you:
1.) Write and complete an edited novel (Check. I'm actually 20% through the second novel.)
2.) Get 100th story published by year end (Check. I'm at 224 stories/poems accepted through yesterday.)
3.) Run a marathon (Check. I ran Cleveland in May and now I'm doing another, Tuscon, next month.)
4.) Read 100 books (I'm at 80 with five almost finished.)
Do you see a pattern? I set what's a pretty lofty goal, meet it, and then tack on an even loftier goal. I'm just never satisfied. That must be some kind of disorder.
Unaccomplished 2010 resolutions are these:
1.) Get an agent for my novel .
2.) Run a marathon with a time fast enough to qualif for Boston
(I was going to add "Learn guitar" again, but I suck and it's just another time-sucker.)
It's nice to be busy, but maybe it's better to achieve all of one's goals. I don't know--what do you think?

…I just ordered xTx's chapbook, "He Is Talking To The Fat Lady." That's a good title. She is good with titles. I wish I was. Her last chapbook was called, "Nobody Trusts A Black Magician." Clever, huh? xTx is one of my favorite writers. You can find her here under "Writers To Watch."

…I like these:
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm." -- Sam Levinson
"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles" -- Frank Lloyd Wright