Word count: 17292 | Since last entry: 1391 Only minimal writing for most of this week, with one missed day, but I got in nearly a thousand words today. Unfortunately, the piece shows no sign of stopping any time soon (though the very last subplot has now been introduced), so it seems that it will be a novella rather than a novelette. Oh well. And it’s clearly going to need an immediate revision pass once I’ve completed the first draft. A snippet: “The grainy image on the big monitor showed why Alpha was so late. One of the four sails that was supposed to catch the light from the boost lasers, then drop off for coast phase, was still attached — bent and twisted into a crumpled C shape. The sail had probably jammed on initial deployment, and had cut the module’s thrust during boost phase by twenty percent or more. There was some concern that the jammed sail could cause problems during the first aerobraking maneuver, as Alpha slammed into Moliere’s atmosphere at interstellar speed. But simulations showed that it would most likely come off as the module’s aerobraking balute inflated, and if it didn’t do that it would probably simply burn away early in the maneuver.” Apart from the writing, we’ve seen movies Transamerica (good, but not as polished as I’d expected from the buzz), V for Vendetta (excellent, the changes from the comic book made it stronger), and The Mummy on DVD (silly) and play Crowns (a marvelous production, I was especially impressed with the set and lighting). I’ve also suffered another recurrence of the awful fungus infection that attacks the same two toes on my right foot every year or two. Prescription antifungal ointment and Burow’s solution seem to be doing the job this time. Some upcoming dates you might want to know about:

• I’m a guest pro at the Wiscon writers’ workshop, in Madison. This is the 30th Wiscon and it promises to be a real blow-out. The deadline for submissions is April 1 and you must have a membership to the convention (which is already sold out).
• On the evening of April 6, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm, I’ll be appearing in a panel discussion at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The topic will be “Getting published and the relationship between writers, books and readers” and the panel is also scheduled to include local authors Jay Lake, David Goldman, M.K. Hobson, Damian Kilby, Doug Lain, Ken Scholes and Josh English. All good people.
• The voting deadline for the Locus Awards is April 15. Anyone can vote (I had said elsewhere that only Locus subscribers can vote, but I was wrong) and you may, if you wish, write in anything you want in any category.