Packing it in

The suitcase, that is. We're off to Santa Clara, Calif., after a drive and sleepover in Albany, N.Y. Santa Clara, part of the Silicon Valley complex, has been about as warm as Montreal lately, although historical weather trends should hold in the long term. Still, it's a green and brown Chanukah in Montreal this year.

I asked for and received a one-week extension on my travel article, which will help make up for the number of people who either don;t return calls in December or take the month off. that left me with some Webs time yesterday. I reworked the beginning of "Sheep's End" from those notes I'd written in November. I like it more and more. I do have to boost some stakes in there, but I need to finesse that somehow. I could have the villain beat up the female lead, but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the thing. She is already kidnapped, but offscreen. Perhaps I can put that in front of the audience. Ah, I'll figure it out. It's a goal for the next three weeks.

Other goals include reading at least seven TriggerStreet screenplays, reading Cornelius Ryan's "A Bridge Too Far", work on "By the Book", and finishing this "Sheep's End" boost. At some point, I'm going to grab a coffee with fellow 101 Squadron researcher and author Alex Yofe. And if I can convince myself to drive three and a half hours, I might go take a look at this tarted up Mustang replica.