No rest.

The Columbia Journal of Art and Literature is holding a short fiction contest judged by Amy Hempel. Submissions must be mailed and the deadline is New Year's Eve, but you can damn well bet that I am going to enter. If only so Amy Hempel can hold papers with words that came from my fingers. Which words, I have no friggin' clue. I may actually have to write one of these non-Ribcage stories that has been kicking around in my head.

In other news, I'm gearing up to write a third draft of Animal Assignments for the Chuck Palahniuk anthology that I still want desperately into. The second draft came out miraculously. It shits on the first version published in Ribcage: Volume 1. It makes me think that I should put all of the recent Ribcage stories through this much scrutiny before compiling Volume 2. Still, I'm looking forward to making Assignments that much tighter on another go around.

In even other news, my father and I are ironing out proposals for his third book. It's a ways off, as the second book isn't on the shelves just yet... but it's good to be prepared.

And still I've found time to work on my book! Even with all of this. And the Random House essay contest. And the Lulu Blooker Prize. And the four literary magazines I submitted to a few weeks back.

I'm feeling very good about this past month. Now if only I could write today's Ribcage story.