I feel like that’s what I should be hearing whenever I update my website, these days. It’s been one of those everyone-all-at-once sort of months; nothing terribly huge, per se, just lots of little things that threaten to overwhelm my schedule.

On the bright side, after this weekend, things slow down a bit. I already had my final long-training-run of the season (a 22-miler) this past Sunday, which went pretty well aside from a relatively recently problem with a foot cramping (and some nasty heat). I did head off to the podiatrist to talk to him about the foot, and he diagnosed it as a strained muscle in the arch of my right foot. So right now I’m not running (as to let it heal) but fortunately the elliptical and swimming are both doctor-approved forms of exercise so that I don’t lose too much conditioning. I’m hoping to start running again on the 21st but like so many things I will play it by ear.

The other big time sink about to vanish is the Small Press Expo, which is this weekend. Even though I’m no longer first or even second-in-command of the show, it does take up a lot of my time. The nice thing is that the one big thing I’m in charge of (the Ignatz Awards) seems to be all under control, and more importantly it means I can get rid of all those boxes of books that were submitted to the jury (we’re auctioning them off) that are cluttering up my office.

(Oh, and my picture project continues to move towards its conclusion. Some days I get irritated with the whole, “Oh great, stop and think of something to photograph” aspect that it can create. Other times, like very early this morning, I find myself glad that I have my camera with me as I got to see the morning sky over a church in DC. The shot may not come out quite as I’d wanted, but with each photograph I still feel like I’m really learning.)

There are a bunch of things I kept meaning to write about, like going to the opera for the first time ever (it was nice), or an overly-friendly employee at the CostCo (the fine line between being outgoing and flirting and how to recognize the difference), or the terrifying person who really was flirting with me at a Baja Fresh (next time I’m faking a seizure). But after long days of running, or e-mailing jurors, or scanning and scanning and scanning in covers and excerpts, it’s just felt like there’s no real energy left. Things definitely came to a head last week when I finally ended up crashing (energy-level that is) and having to stay home because I had finally hit empty.

So while I’m looking forward to SPX this weekend, and Karon’s birthday party at the RennFaire next weekend, and the marathon in November, and continuing to spend quality time with Charlie, I’m also looking forward to some quiet time. Scaling back on running (although I am in taper mode now anyway so that’s happening), actually getting some reviews written (I literally have three half-written reviews all begging for an ending), doing a little redecorating (new bookshelves in the living room), and just sitting down and reading.

Speaking of which, I must say that one of the things I’ve loved doing the most lately is reading the two Jaime Hernandez Love & Rockets re-issues over the course of the past couple weeks. Dave introduced me to the comic back in 1991 down at JMU and it was pretty revelatory. The new reprints are beautifully designed, an easier size to handle, and most importantly they’re just full of amazing material. I thought I’d read Maggie the Mechanic over the course of a month or so, but a week later I was picking up The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S. to head right into. Gilbert Hernandez will be at SPX, so I’m looking forward to getting copies of Heartbreak Soup and Human Diastrophism from him with which to do the same thing. It’s so great to re-discover an old favorite.

Anyway, yes, I am alive. I really will try and update a tiny bit often with something of vague interest. In the meantime, you can imagine me looking at the lovely gray skies and cool temperatures outside, sipping some green tea, and just giving a sigh of relief because I can finally push my office chair back without smacking into boxes of books. A small victory, but a great one.

Over the past couple of years, with the embarrasment of books already in my home, I’ve tried to get a lot better about getting books from the library. (Especially with book club, since if I’d actually bought copies of John Varley’s Red Thunder or Greg Egan’s Teranesia I’d be pretty angry. I’m still a little scarred by briefly owning David Gerrold’s Blood and Fire, for that matter, but this is all fodder for an entirely different entry about hits and misses from the book club.) I’m regularly taking older books to the library for donation, in fact, trying to thin things out, re-evaluating what needs to stick around.

As it is, I’ve still got a bunch of amazing books just waiting to be read (some ones I chose, other ones that friends wisely picked out for me), and so I’m trying to minimize the inflow to ones that are really important/interesting to me, ones that I feel are worthy of making the cut. I have actually bought a couple of books recently; these are ones that “made the cut” and were considered (not yet read at the time of purchase) good enough to not just be a library borrowing. So, let’s see:

Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs. To be honest, none of his books have really captured my attention in the way that Dry (his story of alcohol addiction and recovery) grabbed me and was devoured over the course of 48 hours. They’re good travel books, though, especially since his last two have been collections of short essays/stories.  Fun, but with diminishing returns. Having just finished this one, I think any future books by Burroughs will be via the library for me.

The Rules for Hearts by Sara Ryan. I first heard of Ryan through her also-talented husband Steve Lieber; her first novel Empress of the World was the sort of book I wish I’d read when I was a teen, and her first comic (with Lieber) “Me and Edith Head” was sheer elegance. I had a gift certificate burning in my pocket from Lambda Rising, and I’d just decided that in addition to Possible Side Effects I’d finally buy one of the Love and Rockets re-issues that I’ve been eyeing for ages. Then I saw they had The Rules for Hearts in and you’d have thought L&R was on fire I’d dropped it so fast. Oh, and Ryan’s got other great comics out as well. If you haven’t already, go check out her short story “Click” (drawn by Dylan Meconis) and see what you’ve been missing. I’m about halfway through the book now and am absolutely loving it.

The Devil You Know by Mike Carey. I’ve enjoyed Carey’s comics in the past (Lucifer and Crossing Midnight in particular) and Karon had said good things about his prose novel debut. Since he was in town a couple of months ago for a signing tour connected to it, I decided it was a good a time as any to buy a copy, say hello to him again (we’d met a couple years ago), and give it a whirl. Hopefully I’ll be starting it soon.

The Selected Stories of O. Henry by O. Henry. Ok, I have to admit I haven’t actually bought this yet, but only because the last time I was at the store the line was so long I decided to go back. But it’s part of Barnes & Noble’s “Classics Series” which are bargain-priced; in this case a nice 432-page trade paperback for $5.95. What little I’ve read of his short stories I’ve enjoyed in the past, so I figure this is as good a way as any to give it a whirl.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners by James Joyce. And last but not least, also from the “Classic Series” we have another inexpensive trade paperback. I read Portrait when I was in high school and I loathed it, pure and simple. But I am a bit wiser now and I want to give it another shot. More importantly, though, the only story from Dubliners I’ve ever read is “The Dead” and I think it’s a truly amazing piece of writing, one of the best out there. So that is what really attracted me to this book; the chance to read the rest of Dubliners and to have a more easily-accessible copy of “The Dead” for my Christmas Eve tradition of reading said story. (Normally I have to dig out my college textbooks and figure out which one contained it.) This will be an interesting journey to see just what else of Joyce’s I actually like.