Goddammit. This was the one part of my writing life that I thought I could be proud of. I've had some time-intensive things keeping me away from the novel I'm working on in the morning, and that was where I was focusing all of my energy, but it was so reassuring to know that I was at least keeping up with these posts once a week. They're not exactly short, and they're written in as pure a voice as I've got, so that was something.

And last week I just totally spaced it.

In my defense, I've been ill. It's a small cold that's had me down, but it had me down pretty good (not pretty well, for obvious, play-on-word reasons). I haven't done a damn thing on my to-do list in probably a week, between interviewing and getting a new job (woohoo! Day job!) and avoiding the charges of this awful rhinovirus.

That being said... I still feel like a failure.

And I was doing so well! I was actually keeping and using a to-do list (I'm a hopelessly forgetful guy, and it's the only thing that keeps me productive). I was writing every day. Hell, I was even spending an hour or so a day learning a second language. I was on a roll. But alas, such things never seem to last long, do they? It was like the montage in a movie where the protagonist is really getting his shit together, painting the house, fixing a busted door, pulling himself out of the chasm of debt he'd fallen into in a vain attempt to impress the woman who ended up leaving him for the personal trainer. But that montage only ever goes on for, what, maybe two minutes at the most? And that's a pretty indulgent montage, really.

Oh well. This week I'm writing this to get myself out of that hole a little. I still think I'll be able to get the first draft of The Tinkers (real title pending) done by the new year, and I even thought I would dabble in some short stories - I had an idea for a series of them that would be fun to do, maybe just to put up here on my site, but only if they don't get in the way of me finishing a damn novel. It's been too long since I've gotten to admire a stack of finished story before plunging in with a blood-red pen. I love that feeling. I want it again.

I started another short story that I think I'll put up here when I'm happy with it. I might even shop it around, see if I can get in on some other cool site somewhere. We'll see.