Last Wednesday I finished the first draft of my book. What’s a book without a cover, so I did a first draft of one of those as well. I’ve sent it to a couple of literary agents and to friend Bill who edited both my other books. There will likely be a lot more work to do but it felt good to let the thing go and have someone else look at it. I have no idea if anyone will like it, much less want to publish it, but I’m glad I wrote it. The other books were written in pieces and read that way on the internet whereas this was almost all written without being shared with anyone. In other words, the traditional way books are written. It feels strange not to be working on it anymore actually.

I haven’t done very much since sending those manuscripts out. There’s a new oil painting underway but it’s not far enough along to share yet. I’m hoping to get into something new this week. We’ll see…

A few weeks ago I was working door at the Skylark when a guy named Keefe came in. I’d met him at my friend Bill’s birthday party and he recognized me. After drinking awhile he came up and asked if I wanted to be part of an evening of improvisational performances with him. The rules of the night are that you don’t plan or rehearse and you don’t work with anyone you’ve worked with before. Keefe had worked with just about everybody in town. He didn’t know much about me except that I wrote books so he figured I’d do something with words on stage. I told him I’d do it but only if I could paint instead. Having few other options he agreed.

So tonight I’m bringing a big pad of paper, a bottle of Sumi ink, and some brushes and we’ll see what happens. Come by if you’re curious.