Publishing Update
My academic journal is to be published in a few weeks, and I did get a copy of the table of contents -- there I am! Very good news. I can now almost beleive that it is ging to happen. This is a big career deal for me, as I march towards tenure. And of course tenture would give me the freedom and stability to pursue creative work in a more serious manner. Good news.

My creative work is to be published in about a month or so. Not quite as important for the career, but important for me personally and as a writer. Will be nice to get a publication under the belt.

This is one of Cameron's ideas. I have not done many writing exercises lately, so I thought I would pull out one of these.

50 things I like about myself:
1. My sense of humor
2. My sense of style (no, really)
3. That my parents like me
4. That I have never given up on my writing career
5. That my daughter likes me
6. That I can work pretty well by myself
7. That I have never been in a fistfight
8. That I have never had a bad relationship with a boss
9. My ability to teach
10. My hopes and dreams
11. My imagination
12. The amount and diversity of what I read
13. My ability to do puzzles of many kinds
14. My self-directed nature
15. My ability to cook
16. My eclectic tastes in music, TV, and movies
17. My theological insights
18. My POV about the world and humanity's role in it
19. My steadfast independence
20. The amount and quality of the chores I do around the house
21. That I am in pretty decent health
22. That I am in pretty decent shape
23. That I work pretty hard
24. That I have worked out my salvation with fear and trembling
25. My choice of fashionable glasses
26. My history with ministry and service
27. My intellectual curiosity
28. My ability to hold a position and defend it
29. My ability to plan . . . and then change the plan if I need to
30. My knowledge of pop culture
31. My ability to make good first impressions
32. My ability to mange money and invest wisely
33. My computer skills
34. The fact that I can set the clock and timer on my VCR
35. The fact that I know my many limitations
36. The fact that I am a pretty decent guy
37. My interest (not so much ability) in bowling and golfing
38. My ability to manage my time
39. The fact that I never gossip
40. The fact that I do not engage in idle chit-chat
41. My taste in food
42. My comic book collection
43. My musical tastes and knowledge
44. My relationships with people
45. My ability to listen
46. My trust-worthiness
47. My career path
48. My family
49. My cats
50. My ability to work on my own

Hello friends, it's been a while. It looks like my two publications will be out in a little more than a month. The academic work is scheduled to be published in the middle of Spetember, per an email that I just got. I have put off following up in that work until it is published, but I have to get on with it soon. Like this week. Anyway, the literary magazine that is scheduled to publish me has stated that the issue that will include my work is "coming along nicely." I consider that good news indeed.

I also submitted a work to the magazine "The First Line," but have not heard anything back from them yet. This is the magazine that every quarter publishes stories that share a common first line. Mine was an email / chat / online relationship story, part of what a novel of mine is also about. I am considering doing the same for the next issue of the mag, and am now trying to figure out what context to put the story in. It will be one of my novels, but I have not figured out which. I like this idea, and I hope the mag is OK, and that they take my work. I will let you know when I hear, good news or bad.

I am also in love with "Found Magazine," and am actively scouring the world for lost (and then found) items to submit. I love the concept, am a nosy "finder" of things myself, and would love to be a part of it.