Been a while since I've written. My friend Ben, who momentarily resides in Hawaii though will soon be back in Seattle, urged to me to write some more. Apparently my diatribes were exactly what he needed to read before falling asleep.

Ok, the falling asleep part is not true, but we'll see if Ben is reading this anymore. (I expect an email, and please no baby pictures--my inbox is full :) We know you send them because YOU'RE in them, not because of Vanessa. I'm sorry to tell you, but Vanessa is cuter than you, Ben, even though you can talk and often write tremedously witty emails.

Work at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore truly sucks. It is the HELL of the National Park Service. It is a very big and crowded park that thinks its a small obscure park. Management will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new radios (when the old ones work just fine) but refuse to pay anyone to work at the park, unless they work in management for some ridiculous rate. The park is an inverse pyramid. Two more seasonal park interperters (the rangers who give hikes, etc) were essentially "cut", though backhandedly, So four does what six did last year, with minor program cuts. Plus a permanent position has now been cut and so two people must now do what three did previously. This only cuts a "stepping stone" position from anyone trying to work there way into the higher park services rungs. It's a sad day when National Park Service employees care more about themselves, than the parks. As long as management gets their large paychecks, who cares who else does. It's not like that everywhere, but it sure is at Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Welcome to the 1950's. (unrelated to anything written above). The state of the states boils my blood. Political commentary is to be kept to a minimum in this space. It's more about writing, though I suppose this is writing, so i guess it would count, but I won't let it count.

I need to send out more query letters and more stories. My energy is low.

Still editing for Battlelords. I look forward to a small paycheck next March.

I'm sending off my first few chapters of "Mists of Manitou" to SFWW and to my SCBWI Traverse City writing group. We shall see. In rewrites, I'm discovering it's better than I thought. I put it aside for five months with great dread, but I've been surpised at my stressed writing during Nanowrimo turning out fairly well.

I'm going to sleep now. Vote.