I'm presently basking in the warm glow of accomplishment, which is good since our furnace is still broken. Of course, the fact that I accidentally had caffeinated tea at Soul Food Books this afternoon could also have something to do with my cheery, bouncy, cranking up "The Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack on the stereo and dancing around the kitchen, belting out Jack's songs whilst sweeping up fir needles episode. But I'm better now. A full belly of sushi will do that.

Yes, today I finally sent off a short story to a fantasy magazine! I'm sure that Realms of Fantasy magazine is a bit too high to aim for one's first story, but I submitted "Nullum Desiderium" (the tithe story) anyway. I should hear back from them within 8-12 weeks. I know what the response will be (thanks, but no thanks), but just getting something sent out is exciting for me. Maybe by the time I hear from them, I'll have another story ready to send somewhere. I also submitted some haiku to The Heron's Nest, and should hear back from them in early January.

Along with getting accidentally caffeinated at SFB ( http://www.soulfoodbooks.com/ ), I also talked to Sarah about having NaNoWriMo write-ins there. She said it was cool. Thursday night is the best for them, but with the Haiku NW meeting on the first Thurs., SFB poetry night on the third Thurs., and Thanksgiving on the last Thurs., that doesn't make for a lot of Thursdays that I'll be attending. Oh well. Maybe I'll see if I can organize some daytime or weekend write-ins there, because I found the coolest rubber ducks today at Tree Top Toys, right across from SFB. They have lights inside that change colors. Very cool! Beacon ducks. I couldn't resist. So now I have to go to write-ins so I can show them off in all their color-changing goodness.

Hmmm, caffeine still seems to be in the system...

OK, time to buckle down and study Portuguese for class tomorrow night. Boa noite!