This is RJE With The News...
And Tracey with the Weather...

I'll bet some of you thought that perhaps I'd finally made true my dreams disappearing into the icy peaks between Bhutan and Nepal...well, maybe i have...but the point is, I'm sure some of you were rapt with excitement when I posted that survey the other day. Proof that I was alive, well, and still making asinine answers to even more asinine questions. It made me proud to do it.

Things have been...well, things.

Thus far, two of my three goals have been achieved before the onset of August that will determine how much longer I invest in southern California. I made a quick jaunt over to Texas to visit with family. I bought a book on boobs. I wrote the opening of a music video. And I've eaten six packets of blueberry flavored applesauce. Sounds like a pretty full plate, does it not? (Even if you don't know what the two out of three goals mentioned above was...)

Most importantly, my art show came to pass. Through a twist of fate, I was able to show two pieces, although I could only sell one of them. Ah, the exposure. Did I sell the one? I have no idea as of yet. This Sunday, I either pick up the check or the painting.

But a show. A real show. I had a piece in a really real show. That was exciting as all get out. Prior to this, I've only done things privately, or on commission. No one, until now, had ever thought to stick something I'd painted up in a gallery for strangers (well, some of them) to see. The whole thing was rather thrilling.

True, I was but one of 30+ artists who through something up...but it was a big piece...people were bound to notice it. (If you'd like to see it, it's in my photos section...the one with the big Bruce Lee at the bottom). And though I tried not to be obnoxious about it...I did occasionally hang out nearby to see if people were looking at it. They did.

I've been invited to participate in another show in October, which is a thrilling prospect. I know it may seem suspect to the more jaded among you out there (who are clicking your tongue at ME for daring to refer to anyone else as jaded), but that's a huge thing. Someone wants me to show this goofy stuff that I occasionally splash on canvas. They're actually asking me to show it.

Alright. I threaten to gush.

The next great piece of creative triumph is that I finished the first wave of my fiction experiment over at my Friends of Junior blog: One hundred pages of original fiction for four to five days a week. It's a helluva lot tougher than it sounds. Orginally, they were all going to be single page entries, but over time, if I managed to write two full pages then I counted it as two entries. I figured that was fair, and only a few went for three. No sense in stopping yourself when you're on a roll.

Now I've got two issues to face with the blog.

The first is what to do next with it. It was both a huge help and something of a heavy yoke to get an entry done every day (although in the last few weeks I was writing them two at a time...it was something of a streak). I said I'd do it and I did. Overall, it helped as a warm up or a cool down to the rest of my creative endeavors I'd worked on during the day. Also, as they were short and without a larger framework, it allowed me to let my mind wander and the old imagination fly a bit as well as provide a vehicle to do some exercises in other styles. But where to go from here? I'm thinking of doing a serialized book...although more like a comic strip without drawings (or maybe I will do some drawings....)...and just fill in a page a day. I don't know what the subjects going to be. Some have suggested doing a full-length adventure of the joke sci-fi character, Mash Jordan, that I'd already "created" (let's face it...haha...he's thinly disguised...and he's what I fell back on when I couldn't come up with anything else and the clock was ticking). Others say, do something new. And a minority thinks I should keep doing the completely different short stuff. (Anyone want some more of my poetry?!?)

The second is what to do with the material I've already done for it. Originally, I intended to put it all together for an anthology that I could put up for sale. Part of me still wants to do that, but my concern is that a few of those ideas I'm thinking of expanding into full length short stories I could submit to contests or magazines. Sometimes they aren't so keen if it's already been published. Guess I'll find out. I'll let you all know either way.

Finally, I'm putting together my materials to try to find me a lit agent to sell one of these goofy novels I've written. If anyone has any suggestions, chime on in. So far, it's gotten some good reviews from the couple of people I've shown it to. Also, I'm almost a quarter of the way through my fourth book. It's finally taking some shape, and starting to come together.

Well...wish me luck. I wish you luck. Back to the snowshoes.

Cheers.