Random Updates and Room to Breathe

It's a rainy Tuesday monring and for the first time in three weeks or so, I don't have a thing listed in my appointment calendar or on my to-do list.

So today I get to take a deep breath.

Mostly I've been busy with grants. Three major applications, due on three successive Mondays. Got the last one wrapped up Sunday night (I was up and working on it at 5:30 a.m.) and now have to just wait and see if I hit on any of them.

Had a meeting in Davis yesterday with a public/private institute on the Davis campus. They need good out reach and writing, and it could be a nice ongoing partnership.

Have two other projects past the first-draft phase, awaiting client feedback, and a couple of others in the conceptual or out-to-bid phase. Had a nice conversation with my book editor on Friday, and it was all of the things I've heard from other publishers, minus all the "buts." They like it, they get it and they think they can sell it. ("It'll be an easy sell," my editor said.) The contract department is slow and already on holiday time, so it'll be early January before I sign the contract and get the first half of the advance.

I do have chapters on my white board now, including one I'm supposed to finsih by Friday. (My deadline, not the publishers.) So I guess I could consider that an item on my to-do list today.

Nah. Today is a mental health day. I've been repairing/restoring a speedometer I got on the eBay for my BMW, and today may be the day I get to spend a little time on it. Unless, of course, the phone rings.

Oh yeah - the storms hanging out today and tommorow might just make this a white Christmas in This Land. Haven't had snowfall here yet, but it's falling not too far up the hill. I'll post photos if it happens.