Saw my shadow this morning

…so that means six more weeks of writing short stories.

That’s about right, I think. I have one that I hope to finish in first draft this weekend and another that I’m still doing research for that’s due in mid-March. One other on my wish list that I don’t think I’m going to manage because I don’t have an idea for it.

Then I have two that are by invitation—one for the next Apex antho which is a perk of having won their contest—and a couple that are for hypothetical anthologies (editors and themes, but no publishers). I figure I’ll stick to short stories, columns, essays and book reviews until the end of March, when I might start thinking about another novel. We’ll see.

Now that Harry Potter VII is on the publication schedule for late July, maybe it’s time to start reading the series. I would if I didn’t have about a gazillion other books already in the queue, with more being added all the time. I just requested two new ARCs from Knopf, including a new Haruki Murakami, and Harper Collins UK is sending me the new Michael Marshall (Smith). Gah! I’m hoping to finish reading Grotesque this weekend. I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s overlong by about 25%.

Just had my eyes tested a few minutes ago. Where does the time go—I was flabbergasted to discover that it’s been nearly two-and-a-half years since my last checkup. No big surprise, my eyes are worse now than they were then. New graduated lenses on order. Yippee. The optometrist promises that I’ll have fewer issues with needing more light to see fine print with these new ones, which are designed digitally so that each spot on the lens is unique. I also have a couple of small optic drusens on one retina, a lipid deposit that bears watching in years to come.

So, I hear there’s a football game on the telly this weekend…