Hello friends,

I am going to write about not writing.

Basically, the real world has torpedoed the time I normally steal to read voraciously and write often. Here's what's up:

First, the great news. My four month old son Liam is doing great. He's eating solid food now, he weighs about 17 pounds and is 27 inches tall. I try to help my wife out as much as possible - constantly cleaning baby bottles, changing him, helping bathe him, holding him and playing with him. Folding laundry, putting away laundry, etc.

He loves Dino-Tren and Daniel el Tigre y el Vecindad. I've also started reading to him - Bernstein Bears and Go Dog Go.

Our Spanish language kids books are still in Managua. Doh!

Second, the home remodeling timesuck. We are re-doing my son's bedroom. The last owners of the house were lazy af - they put wallpaper over wallpaper over wallpaper. It makes me laugh because we bought the home from a well known "beat" writer for the Houston Chronicle - and I've always thought of beat writing as not fully formed, reaction pieces patched together with stats and soundbites from bland pressers.

It makes me laugh because the target audience is somebody who cares enough to know about the team without caring enough to see the game live in person or TV. So, like, it's the equivalent of those fiction legal thrillers you see in airport bookstores.

That is how these walls are. They were not taken care of with a lick of sense.

Scraping, sanding, and finishing them to be primed for paint has been a pain in the ass. We also are slowly, room by room, redoing the popcorn ceiling in the house. In the kitchen and first floor guest bathroom, we had tile floors so it was easy. We have carpet on the second floor, so it's slow going...

Lastly, there was, like, this Hurricane that hit Houston. Apparently, the bridge over the Rio San Jacinto that connects my corner of Humble to Houston is dangerous. Thus, the always behind schedule Tx DOT is doing a ton of work and the traffic is insane. I have a work around, but it adds a half hour to my commute. Also, it means I drive to work - I no longer can take the Park and Ride buses.

Normally, on the P and R, I do an hour of reading and/or editing in the morning and then in the afternoon. Thus, I now have two hours less per day to read/write AND get home stressed from the traffic.

And all that other stuff.

Don't worry - I am reporting on stadium finance stuff for a national magazine. I wrote a Spanish language specfic horror tale that is almost ready for market. I am putting the touches on a specfic comical novella also.

Still, it's weird seeing my writing NOT online. As a blogger, I'm used to writing, publishing, and getting into a conversation with my readers. With magazines and books, that's often impossible. I do get nice DMs about NOTV, but it's not the same as "news of the day" journalism or a meaty reported piece.

Eventually, though, Liam will grow up, the bridge will be repaired, and my oldest son will get his room back. Then get ready to read people!!