Notes from a Tropical Storm

Eduardo is in the house. He’s brought with him such much-needed rain and very little by way of wind, so he’s entirely welcome, from my point of view. The past month has been very dry, except for one brief shower that accompanied the periphery of Dolly. Some parts of Houston have received 3-5″ so far, and the county where I live is under a flash flood advisory for the rest of the afternoon, but that’s par for the course during any heavy rainstorm. I took a few precautions last night, moving indoors anything that might turn into a projectile from the back yard, but that’s it. Almost everything is open and operating as usual except for the local universities, which closed as a precaution.

I started a new short story this morning based on my early morning ruminations yesterday. I don’t expect it to be much longer than two or three pages, as it’s the sort of idea that is better served by brevity. I could probably build something more elaborate around it, but I think that would only serve to dilute the ending. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it when I’m finished. Probably go shopping for some flash fiction markets. I think it’s hilarious, personally, but whether I can get it down on the page and preserve the sensation of a funny-horrific ending remains to be seen.

I have a new assignment, an essay to write for an ITW project. I first pitched it at NECON a couple of years ago, but the project has been on hiatus for a while and has just now been relaunched in earnest, with an actual deadline and everything. I finished up my Storytellers Unplugged essay and posted it on the dashboard so it will magically appear on the 17th.

Last night I watched In Plain Sight, which still limps along. Only two episodes left in this summer season, so I guess I’ll stick with it until the end. This main storyline this week was feeble compared to recent episodes, and the sidestory with the drugs was just plain lame. And having Mary always walking in on her “boyfriend” and sister is pretty weak, too. During the hiatus, I think they should find a new batch of writers.

The Closer was better. It finds a way to have a sense of humor without being daft about it. The bit with Tao and his personal hygiene kit was amusing, and I always get a kick out of Provenza. The ending I’m not so sure about. I understand what they were shooting for, but I’m not sure it hit the mark. Brenda is driven, but she’s smart and I didn’t quite buy her qualified and dim-witted apology for treading on her boyfriend’s case the way she did.

I’m still reading The Last Patriot. He has an occasional issue with point of view, and has fallen prey to the use of “told characterization” and short chapters intended to ramp up the pace, but the story is interesting enough to keep me going. The book treads the line with racism, casting Islamic extremists as the hugest threat to the world and belaboring that notion. I was intrigued by reports of Solzhenitsyn’s reaction to western Democracy, which he disdained almost as much as the Communist regime that persecuted him. It was a different perspective on something we take for granted. Is this a non sequitur? I’m not sure.