February was a difficult and frustrating month for me. Life threw a lot into my way, and I felt like I couldn’t keep my head above water on a number of fronts.

I got a few things accomplished, but nowhere near what I needed to get done; a few glimmers of hope on the horizon, and a wonderful new cover for my next Jain Lazarus mystery, OLD-FASHIONED DETECTIVE WORK. So, there were some bright spots.

Teaching at the CWCO was a wonderful experience — I was thrilled with the quality of student.

Here’s the wrap-up, and tomorrow comes the next to-do list for March. Let’s hope March is better on all fronts!

Completed:
Pitches/Queries — 19
Taught at the CWCO
SDR blog – 1 (possibly a second post up today)
Work for Confidential Job #1
February Newsletter
Guest Blogger at Urban Muse
Contributor at Sole Struck Fashions
Juggled multiple site jobs

In Process:
Billy Root story
The Lucy Gothic (no schedule for this; work on it piecemeal)
Revision for ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT
3 Men’s Monologues
Mick Feeney story
FEMME FATALE
CHANNELLING JIM MORRISON
F/U on 2008 log – not complete
Work on brochures
Creating the Jenny Storm web presence
3-5 backlogged stories – got out two

Dropped/Incomplete:
2 Women’s monologues – rolled over
ANGEL HUNT revisions – rolled to March
HEEBIES JEEBIES – rolled to Marc
OFDW edits – because they weren’t sent to me to work on
DDR edits – because they weren’t sent to me to work on
Start Project S – rolled over to April
Complete the Big Project – rolled to March

Unexpected Additions:
Developing the Ocean Fantasy Novel
Bedtime Louie Racetrack Tales
Corporate Proposals

Frustrations:
The banks
Congress
Cancelled trip to Montreal
McAfee
Not a frustration, but a stress: Elsa’s illness

Accomplishments:
Short story accepted by THE RANFURLY REVIEW
Great teaching experience

Reading:

WRITERS AT WORK FIFTH SERIES. Edited by George Plimpton.

KISS HOLLYWOOD GOODBYE . Anita Loos. Memoir, by turns interesting and frustrating. Good background for THE FIX IT GIRL. (Re-read)

HELL AND EARTH. Elizabeth Bear. Fascinating fantasy novel set in Shakespeare’s time and faerie. Some reservations about it, but, overall, fascinating.

2 Books for Confidential Job #1. It’s confidential, so I can’t discuss it here, but it was good!

DEATH OF A BORE. MC Beaton. Hamish Macbeth mystery. Interesting for character, setting, structure.

DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, VOL. II. Dipped into here and there for inspiration.

A NOBLE RADIANCE. Donna Leon. I love these mysteries, set in Venice. They always surprise me, they always make me hungry (so much great food and wine in them), they always are a joy.

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY. Donna Leon. Ibid.

KITTY AND THE SILVER BULLET. Carrie Vaughn. This is the second Kitty book I’ve read. I like the character development. My only criticism in this book is that the character who is the “betrayer” is not close enough to the readers for us to feel the full impact of the betrayal. The character is too peripheral in the overall story, and one figures who it is, because of the character’s placement, but never why.

DEATH OF A MAID. M.C. Beaton. Another Hamish Macbeth mystery. I find it interesting where Beaton chooses to stay within the confines of genre, and where Beaton chooses to break those confines.

I think I read some other books this month, too, but I can’t remember them.