Somebody else’s sandbox

I reviewed the page proofs for Doctor Who: Destination Prague last night. Only my story and bio so far—that’s all I had time for as I also had to read my daughter’s seven page essay on Milton. I found a couple of typos and a new paragraph! The range editor added an “establishing shot” of sorts that helps fix this story relative to the other Doctor #5/Peri tales in the Short Trips reality. I had added some breadcrumbs to accomplish that at their request, but I guess I was too subtle. That’s what happens when you play in someone else’s sandbox. Honestly, the first time I’ve ever had new prose pop up in one of my stories.

Got word yesterday afternoon that my rewrite for the Rue Morgue piece met with their approval, so that’s done, I guess. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to do more writing for them, since this has been a thoroughly pleasant experience so far.

I spent this morning’s writing session downloading and printing a ton of research for a new story I plan to write this month for the MWA anthology. The deadline was extended from mid-March to mid-May, which gave me a little breathing room. I thought I knew the sort of story I was going to write, but on the way toward one story another one came along and stuck its nose in my business. I love/hate it when that happens. I’ll be reading through the material, about 250 pages in total, for the next several days and then plan to get started on the story early next week. I picked a good time to grab John Grisham’s book from my TBR stack the other day since the concept for the anthology is The Prosecution Rests. Courtroom stories, in other words, and I’ve got a whopper. Ripped from the headlines, though not exactly NY Times or USA Today. Small town drama but interesting in its own way because of one peculiar set of circumstance surrounding the accused. Yippee, I’m excited. I thought I was going to have to push this story uphill, but it’s gained its own momentum.

So, what about 24 last night? Of all the things I expected President Palmer to do (including drop dead), his final executive order wasn’t one of them. However, I think they mitigated the decision’s impact in the previews for next week, when it’s clear (to me, at least) what Palmer plans to do with his action. And how about old coyote ugly chewing off his arm? Might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but not a few minutes later. And go Tom, your sniveling rat turned flag-waving hero. Redeemed yourself yet again. I think if anyone endured a real 24-hour period like this, they’d get mental whiplash.