At least it rained

Yesterday was a bitch of a day, don’t you think? The news that greeted me when I got up to start writing was the passing of one of my favorite authors, Evan Hunter, also known as Ed McBain. Our shelves are full of Precinct novels. I also have all the Matthew Hope books and wished that he would have returned to that series at least once more. I was fortunate enough to meet him briefly at the National Book Awards ceremony a couple of years ago, and to converse with him by e-mail a few times. He was always congenial. Though I’m sure there will be a few more books in the near future–the man was certainly prolific–the end is near. At least I still have his entry in Transgressions to read .

Then, of course, there was the terrorist attack in London. I fired up BBC World Service on the internet and listened while I worked the rest of the day. In spite of all the havoc, death and destruction the IRA caused in the second half of the 20th century, this was the worst attack on London since the end of WW II, they say.

At least it rained, which is about the only good thing that happened yesterday. It was the first time since I bought my new car on Memorial Day weekend that I’ve had to use the windshield wipers. I think the rain missed the airport, so technically it didn’t rain yesterday according to the statisticians, but we had a really good soaker that left about a foot of water in the ditch when all was said and done. Not enough to end the drought, I suppose, but the lawn and the flowers seem to perk up after a good rainstorm far better than they do after any amount of watering I can do for them.

I woke up this morning with a really cool idea for a short story. Just the basic premise, actually. However, by the time I was done with my morning revision session on Missing Persons, the story had percolated even more, and by the time I was done with my shower and ready to go to the day job, I knew the story’s arc. The beginning, the vague shape of the middle, and the ending, which is more than I normally know before I start to write something.

Trouble is — when am I going to find time to write it? I’ve got two big things that are occupying my time at present — the novel revisions and one other project — that take priority. I may try to sketch it out this weekend between revision sessions.

I watched most of the 2-hour making-of feature that accompanies the 30th anniversary DVD of Jaws. Very cool to see Spielberg, Schieder, Benchley, Dreyfuss and the producers and many others commenting about how tough this film was to put together. Hours and hours on the open water waiting for the shark to work and for the sailboats in the background to clear the shot. I must have been asleep when I’ve seen this film before — I had no idea that Peter Benchley played the part of the interviewer in the movie!

This time next week I’ll be at NECON, getting ready to screen Gotham Cafe. It’ll be at a mid-afternoon session, so the audience should be awake (finally) and sober (for the time being). I’ll be the warm-up act for Phil Nutman and David Morrell. More than any other conference, I’m really looking forward to NECON. It’s just plain fun, that’s all there is about it. Sure, you talk with other writers and swap war stories, but you also play softball and miniature golf and roast someone. How cool is that?