• Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Alive and Still Moving…

    Wonderful Dinner… At Resorts World (location of the anthology workshop in July) with Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. Anf, of course, Kris. My first real outing. Back with the doc tomorrow to see how things are going and to start PT on my new artificial shoulder. I learned tonight that in the hospital the first time and other times along the way someone would look at my age and ask Kris if I could stand, did a I fall trying to get the remote or something like that, and she would have to tell them over and over that I tripped and fell running full speed in a 5K…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    News Flash!!! Editor Caught Kicking Writer off Titanic!!

    David H. Hendrickson Still Selling Stories to Pulphouse...   Dave and his wonderful wife, Brenda, are in town for a few days and the three of us caught the Titanic Exhibit at the Luxor again. Second time for them, third or fourth for me. Place is just stunning and worth your time, especially if you understand the massive ramifications in business and society of that ship going down. There is a full-sized replica of the grand staircase and also a full-scale replica of a section of the Promenade Deck that night, plus a third class cabin and a first class cabin. And a ton of stories and artifacts. Worth the…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Blast From The Early Days

    Early Freelance Days… The picture below was taken by the great fantasy writer Nina Kiriki Hoffman on Christmas Eve, 1988. Professional writers used to gather in Eugene, OR on Christmas Eve every year and it was a wonderful tradition for a good decade. The tradition started in 1986 and we would start off at my place (and later Kris and my place just outside of town) where I would cook a turkey dinner for everyone. Then we would all drive over to Jerry and Cathy Oltion’s apartment (or later house) to open dollar gifts, then we would drive to Nina’s place to read aloud stories we had written for the…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  publishing

    Something Fun…

    Listen to Me Babble for 45 Minutes… Live… At 10 AM West Coast time, I will be on the Draft2Digital Spotlight talking publishing and writing with super writer and editor Mark Leslie Lefebvre, who also works for D2D. It will be live and could get silly, because Mark and I tend to get silly at times. For those of you who don’t know, for a number of years now, Mark has been our anchor at both the Master Business Class and the Anthology Workshop. His depth of knowledge of fiction and publishing and his willingness to help writers goes beyond any words I might say. And he likes beer. And…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Some Pictures

    We Had A Great Holiday Season… So thought I would post some pictures of a couple of the events. First off, on Saturday, Kris and I were joined by Val and Steph and we did a 5k charity run. Cold, but turned sunny. I walked a large part of it to take care of a strained muscle. Then we headed for a wonderful breakfast. So that’s the first picture. Then on Christmas Eve, Kris and I went out for a special dinner and the concierge in our building took a photo of us. Wonderful meal. Today I cooked us a turkey and while it was in the oven we went…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Promised Pictures of Craziness

    10,000 or More Santas… In one place. Running and walking 5K. At one point about four blocks into the run, I climbed up on some courthouse steps. As far as I could see in both lanes of Las Vegas Blvd, headed toward the Strip, were Santas. And as far as I could see, stretching back into downtown Las Vegas and Fremont Street, there were Santas. Kids in Santa suits, dogs in Santa suits, all sizes of humans in Santa Suits. We did this last year and that was one of the first moments I knew I was going to love this crazy city more than I already had over the…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Cat Troubles Posting

    Darned Near Impossible… To Write with a 19 pound cat wanting to cuddle on your lap. Gavin decided that he either wanted to be on my lap or force me to give up and go to bed. All 19 plus pounds of the big lug. So here are two pictures I managed to get of him in the middle of his cuddle campaign. As I type this now, he is making rude bathing noises under my chair. Maybe it is time to go to bed and let the cat win.

  • Challenge,  running

    13 Plus Miles

    A Half Marathon… That’s what I mostly ran tonight on the Strip in Las Vegas with about 35,000 other runners from all over the world. I had left it up in the air if I would try for the full marathon, even though I had signed up for the full. The full marathon leaves the half marathon course at 11 miles. The full marathon has a very tight time on it because they have to open back up the Strip and if a runner is falling behind, they divert them ahead and still give them credit for running a marathon. I was not in good enough shape to really run…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    35,000 Close Friends Went Running

    Kris and I Joined Them… That’s right, what better thing to do than run 5K with 35,000 of your closest friends on a Saturday night in Las Vegas in the dark on narrow streets. (This was the run I fell in last year and got so badly damaged.) And tomorrow evening is the Rock and Roll Marathon that shuts down the the entire Las Vegas Strip, from downtown to beyond the airport. Tomorrow no one in their right mind will get in a car in Las Vegas. Not only is the Strip completely closed from 2 pm until after 10pm for the run, but on the Strip at 7 pm…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    The Promised Pictures

    Completed the 10K… (6.2 mile run) It wasn’t pretty, but I did it. Actually, the course turned out to be 3.1 miles uphill to start, and it turned out to be a ton warmer than I expected. All desert and concrete. So I got overheated, which for a person with my heat history, is not a good thing. And the hill made it harder for a person like me who is still too heavy. I managed to stay hydrated just fine and slowed down some to even walking and running, so didn’t hit the time I was hoping for. But finished alive and without heatstroke. Win. So here are some…