August 27, 2004
A year ago, on the eve of opening at the college I work for, I experienced something traumatic and life-changing. The group with whom I went through the event ended up being bonded forever in an almost magical way.

Tonight, my staff and I shared the experience of karaoke. We've been bogged down in serious mode for about 3 weeks straight, and we've got to keep up the pace for another week. While I have an almost masochistic longing for the communal bonding, I must say that felt a certain amount of joy in tonight's revelry. Someday, I'd love to make a documentary about the marathon I call August. A couple weeks ago, the 50 people on my staff didn't know each other. Tonight, we were singing, dancing and just loving the moment. After the college swings into action tomorrow, we'll all go our separate ways to complete our different tasks, but I think we've wormed our way into each other's hearts.

Tomorrow night, I'll return to my KISSfic tasks. I'm looking forward to the routine.

August 29, 2004
I suppose I'll just be tweaking away at my manuscript until I hear from Mr. Simmons. Tightening up my manuscript never bothers me.

Tightening up my ass, on the other hand, has never been my favorite chore, but tonight I ran a mile for the third time in my life and second time this summer. I walked two additional miles just because I'd missed rolling around with Gym while I was in training the last three weeks. He's as good as he ever was. I'm looking forward to returning to top form and spending some more quality time with Gym soon.

August 30, 2004
This is the first month I've had over 2000 different viewers check out my website. That's a pretty cool number. Now, I want to double it. What I really need to worry about is making sure my book reaches retail shelves. My fingers are crossed very tightly.

I got through about 25 pages of tweaking last night after the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. How awesome is it that my sister was in the crowd in Athens? Almost as cool as my book. Here's a picture of my sis and me hoisting the banner for one of the hottest new bands on the scene (see banner above) when we were in West Palm. I love hotties who are nice, and their lead singer is. He's sending me a picture of me with the band from one of their concerts. Like he has nothing better to do. Please love these guys!

August 31, 2004
50 more pages of tweaking. That's a euphemism for twiddling my thumbs.

I'm glad my sister is back. She whooped it up in Athens during the Olympics and she only read through 25 pages of my manuscript! C'mon, she couldn't have been THAT busy.

Apparently, back here in the States, public floggings are back in style. Ouch. Good thing I'm getting all my copyrights the legal way...

September 1, 2004
You could pretty much say I've been living under a rock when my sister calls to say, "I've packed up the cat and I'll be heading out of my condo soon."

"Uh, why?" I asked.

"I'm about to get hit by a hurricane."

"Oooooooh. Well, I'm glad you're taking the cat. Did you make sure to pack a copy of my manuscript so you don't lose your editing momentum?"

September 2, 2004
53 more pages of tweaking. Only 40 more to go, then I start all over again. Isn't this reminiscent of the story of Penelope? While her husband Odysseus was at war for many years (and presumed dead), many suitors pressured her to marry. She said that as soon as she finished her weaving project, she'd wed. All day she weaved, and all night she unraveled her work. Finally, her hero came home and rescued her from the evil dude who had caught her sabotaging her needlework was going to force her to marry him. Here I am working and working on my already completed manuscript, waiting for Gene Simmons to return from the Rock the Nation tour (where he sang "War Machine") and rescue me from a publisher to demands permission licenses.

Ancient Greece is just plain cool.

I keep getting cosmic signs that everything will work out. Yesterday at the pizza shop where I had lunch, a little boy named Jackson was there. Today, I received a package in the mail with an owl pendant (an owl is a key plot element in Won't Get Fooled Again). Yeah, I'm stretching the "cosmic" thing, but I'm just so darn hopeful...

September 4, 2004
I fell asleep at 8:00 last night. Probably good for me, but I need to find something constructive to do with my waking hours while I agonize over how long I should wait before calling Mr. Simmons's office for an update.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Frances is bitch-slapping the Florida coast, where both my siblings live, and where I picked out the house I want to own when I become a famous novelist.Our collective karma must be itching for a call from Gene. I have a date planned to listen to hair metal with a punk guy to get me stoked for the call.

September 5, 2004
I finished another round of tweaking last night, and I think today I'm going to rewrite the final chapter of Won't Get Fooled Again. I'm not changing the ending, but I need to do some desappification so readers don't go into diabetic comas.

What on earth would lead me to start cleaning/organizing my condo for the first time since I started writing my novel? Stay tuned. Maybe I'll be starting a new chapter of my own life soon... (Continue)