So far so good

Beast and the Puppies (that'd make a great rock band title) are doing fine so far.  No signs of distress, bleeding, or otherwise going downhill.  Although Beast whines to get let out to play with the puppies, he's happy inside watching movies with me or napping while I work on writing.  I could use a nap about now myself.  I had a short night.  I'll have an even shorter night tonight, unless I'm willing to walk Beast in a robe and slippers.  The weather being what it is, I'm thinking no.  Or I could skip my bath, I guess.  You know, if these are the toughest choices I have to face all day, I'm good with that.

Everyone else, according to the weather folks, had a nice, calm day.  We still have quite a bit of wind.  When they said it was about 20mph in Washougal, I thought ha!  This is not 20mph.  It's way too fast for paragliding, never mind the gusts.  But it's not 60mph+ gusts.  It is quieter in town, or was when I went in today for a hot date and a hot caramel apple cider.  I think it's just our location on the hill, above most of the trees, unsheltered by the hills that surround downtown Washougal.  When they said it was 37 mph in Corbett, I thought yeah, that's about right.

But enough about the weather.  

I've got my latest short story on the verge of its climactic point, which hopefully means I'm close to the end.  I've gotten to the islands (again!) on Masks, and I'm taking a deliberate vacation from the manuscript so that I can come at it fresh.  The issue, as I've mentioned before, is that the beginning gets worked on and polished and beautiful while the middle, where I'm tired, gets adjusted sort of haphazardly and then left to stare at me with large, undernourished eyes.  I was going to start in the middle, but I realized a. I need a new, better map, and all the mappy stuff happens in the beginning (meaning I'd have to reread it again anyway because I can't make sense of my navigational notes anymore) and b. I got some really great feedback on the opening chapters and I wanted to make those larger cuts and adjustments before I got to the islands, in case there were any emotional changes (there weren't.)

With Cold Comfort Farm lying on the cutting room floor, I'm at a more marketable length, which is handy.  Yes, fantasy generally gets a little more room, but the shorter it is, the less likely that an agent will look at the word count and decide my gawd, this is going to be a bloated, purple monstrosity.  I would prefer that, if that is the opinion, that it come from reading the pages, not the cover page.