New Developments, Apologies for Sporadic Posting

Hey sports fans,

I know it's been almost 3 weeks since I had an update for you, and here's why. I'm writing another book. Whoa! Where did that come from? Well, where most of my ideas come from, out of a nether orifice. My great friend Anne, who is also a great writer, invited me and another of her friends on a "writing retreat" to celebrate the end of her semester. I was like, "Sure, I got nuthin' in my pocket as far as writing, but I'll come to Sea Ranch with you and see what happens." So we up and went to Sea Ranch for a few days, and next thing I know I've written three chapters of a novel. I've never written a novel, or even part of one, or even thought very seriously about writing one. The idea of going on a writer's retreat, though, made me think, "Hell, I'm a writer. Damn straight! Maybe I'll write a novel!"

Now, there's no way I get this thing going without Anne. She is an absolute fountain of plots and ideas and notions, and I've always felt, for some reason, that I can't figure out a plot. But we sat down and started throwing out crazy ideas, and words started to flow. It was fun. And writing for fun is one of the funnest things I know. The flow was flowing big time.

A cool place to write a few chapters.

I don't know if this story will ever be published, and I don't care. I mean, I do care, and I will work to get it to the largest possible audience, but right now I'm just squeezing in a hundred words here and a hundred words there. So when I have a few moments, I've been pulling up that "manuscript" and not the blogspot URL. The flow has slowed a bit since I no longer have the great luxury of writing for several hours a day just for fun, but it's still trickling along.

It was a great few days for BFFC reasons, too. We walked, we hiked, we swam. Linda gave me some pointers on the butterfly, which remains my Everest. Very hard, very enticing, potentially very beautiful. Someday I will reach it, but I may need supplemental oxygen or a Sherpa to help me.

We ate great food, we watched some cool movies, we all got along great. I saw a grey fox trot up almost to the window, pounce on something, miss it, yawn, look into the sun, and walk away.

Highly recommended: a few days with extremely congenial people in a beautiful, stress-free spot where you can reconnect with something you really love in a way that's not too structured. You never know what may flow.