Hey folks,

2006 has been a very tough year for me, personally. It's been difficult to find the time and energy to do creative things. One of the things I do miss about being younger is having a bit more free time. As you get older and responsibilities grow, free time all but goes out the window. I also have an elderly mom to look after. My dad died back in 2001.

Still, you must forge ahead. There's a short story I'm shopping around, trying to get published at a magazine. The first magazine I sent it to wasted six months of my time, never even getting back to me as to whether they accepted it or not. Even though this seems to be fairly typical, I also find it highly unprofessional. If you're not going to accept a writer's work, fine-but at least have the decency to get back to that person and tell them. Eh-I suppose that's expecting too much of some folks. Whatever...

I'm assembling notes for another piece I'm working on now, which is a thriller. For some reason, I enjoy writing dark stories. The last two, "A Trick Of The Dice" and "In The Name Of The One" were particularly dark. "In The Name Of The One" was the first story I wrote after 9/11 and my father's death. My father died on September 2, and the attacks on the World Trade Center happened nine days afterward.

"In The Name Of The One" was the hardest, most painful story I've ever done. I was still raw from my father's death and 9/11-not to mention that my mother had to go under the knife in early January 2002 for an aortic aneurism that came dangerously close to killing her. I don't think I have ever written anything under more painful circumstances. I consider this story my personal exorcism. All the angst I felt about seeing the World Trade Center crumbling, being the witness to the greatest mass murder in American history, surged into this story. It's the most personal piece I've ever done.

I would like to write a novel at some point. The proper ideas haven't hit me yet. I'm sure they will, sooner or later. Until then, I'lll just continue to fill my notebooks with ideas, until something clicks.

Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned.