Brief Update from our Not-Sponsor

Finished the novel last Sunday and promptly sliced 10,000 words out of it. Sent it to the distribution list for the first round of comments, then promptly shoved the manuscript in a drawer and forgot about it for five days. The next part of the to-do list was to meet with a producer this week about screenplay work, but suddenly the man’s vanished and I’m starting to get twitchy about it, in typical N. fashion. Not that said vanishing wasn’t halfway expected, and not that the situation won’t resolve itself, but I’ve found myself hovering over the phone a bit too much, lately.

Bought a new bike – hybrid, titanium frame, top-line tires, etc. Justified the expense (the freelance payment from Frommer’s, gone with a magisterial swipe of the pen) by saying it would help me get more in shape, pay for itself with reduced health costs, etc. Except that it’s hot outside – pavement-softening, dog-killing hot – so I’m not sure about the wisdom of biking 40+ miles every weekend. It’s a world away from last week, when the rains and flooding shut down Beach Drive, allowing dozens of us runners to trot through the downpour while watching abandoned cars bob their way down Rock Creek.