My journal entries have been a little long-winded recently, so maybe this one will turn out shorter. Or maybe it won't. But, the sun and warm air are back. The tree outside my office window is green.

Yesterday, I did 1,216 words on Chapter One of The Red Tree. Sarah Crowe, I fear, is going to be one of my most autobiographical characters to date. The novel is being written in the form of her journal, which has been edited for publication. That might work, and it might not. Right now, I'm struggling with a desire to use "editor's" footnotes. Also, I determined yesterday that if I can write a minimum of 1,200 words a day until May 1st, I might have a chance of getting this novel done by September 1. Truthfully, I'd like to get that up to 1,500 words per day.

"The Wolf Who Cried Girl" (Sirenia Digest #24; November 2007) has been selected for the 2008 edition of Horror: The Best of the Year (edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz; Prime Books). You'll recall that "Pony" (Sirenia Digest #2; Jan. 2006; but also in Tales from the Woeful Platypus) was chosen for the 2007 edition of Horror: The Best of the Year. It pleases me that the digest is being noticed by editors.

Lots of income tax chaos yesterday, of course. Spooky handles most of that. I just sign my name on the dotted line. Regardless, it did nothing to make yesterday more pleasant. But! I went Outside! All the way to Videodrome and the market with Spooky. I was so proud of myself. Anyway, on something far more perverse than a whim, we rented Kevin Lima's latest Disney outing, Enchanted. You'll recall that, after the Oscars, I had nothing but foul words for the three songs that were nominated. I think "insipid" was one of them. Well, to my surprise, the film itself — with the songs placed in their proper context — is peculiarly charming. And bizarre. And quite charming. And, well, it just sort of works. Also, it is an extraordinarily gay movie (you know, in the homosexual sense). Amy Adams gives an absolutely toe-curlingly creepy performance as a cartoon princess come to life. Timothy Spall is always, always a joy to watch. Susan Saradon seemed to be having fun, hamming it up as the villain. And kudos to Pip the chipmunk. No, I did not smoke crack last night. I did not even have a wee glass of absinthe.

Okay. The tyrant platypus (Ornithorhynchus tyrannus) says it's time to have coffee and make some doughnuts.

So, no small part of the exhaustion which I'm presently trying to recover from resulted from a seemingly endless series of rewrites to the Beowulf novelization, stretching all the way into June (the book was "finished" in February). These rewrites (and cuts) were made at the insistence of the studio folk, who were concerned that the way I'd written the novel gave too much away, spoiling the big reveal. Imagine, then, my surprise at finally seeing a trailer for Beowulf, which does a pretty good job of giving away a lot of the same things I was told the novelization couldn't divulge until the very end (and some not even then). More than that I will not say. No, I'll say one thing more, because I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to demonize anyone. While I was forced to cut a lot of stuff I'd have preferred not to, I was ultimately allowed to leave in a good deal of material that does not appear in the film or in the screenplays.

Yesterday, I did 2,120 words and finished "Anamnesis, or the Sleepless Nights of Léon Spilliaert." I am very pleased with it. Also, I should note this is the most I've written in a single day in a long time. Since sometime back in the late winter, I believe. Please keep in mind, however, that I do not measure whether or not a writing day has been "good" by the number of words written, but by how I feel about the quality of what I did that day. There is no ideal daily word count, and if I have previously given that impression, I'm sorry. More is not better, unless you happen to be able to write a lot without sacrificing quality. Anyway, in this case, it was at least fortunate that I wrote so much yesterday, as I am now able to include "Anamnesis, or the Sleepless Nights of Léon Spilliaert" in Sirenia Digest #20, which will also include "In the Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection," which I wrote earlier this month. And if you are not already a subscriber, you can subscribe this very day and start off with #20. Speaking of which, I hope it will go out this evening, but subscribers will get it tomorrow at the latest.

Also note that Wyrm Publishing has announced a new anthology, Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine, which can now be preordered. Edited by Nick Mamatas and Sean Wallace, the book will include a new story from me (as yet unwritten), along with fiction by Holly Phillips, Elizabeth Bear, Jeff VanderMeer, Catherynne Valente, Ian Watson, Sarah Monette, Paul Tremblay, and Many Others.

Not much else to say about yesterday (a familiar refrain). We had a good walk at dusk, when the rain stopped. There was a spectacular number of swallows darting about Freedom Park, and a swarm of enormous dragonflies. Today will be spent reading back over both "In the Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection" and "Anamnesis, or the Sleepless Nights of Léon Spilliaert," and signing a bunch of eBay stuff, and getting the digest ready to go out this evening.

The current eBay auctions end on August 1st, which means it's not too late to have a look.

And I'm once again posting a link to my entry about the Bush Administration's proposed grey wolf hunt and how you can help try to stop it. 700 grey wolves, half the population in the northern part of the Rockies. Let's see — if we were permitted the "harvest" the same percentage of the human population from Idaho and Wyoming, that would be about 893,867 people...

Yesterday, unexpectedly, I wrote 1,128 words on a new vignette, which I'm calling "Anamnesis, or the Sleepless Nights of Léon Spilliaert." Years ago, Jada emailed to say that she'd come across this wonderful word, anamnesis, and that it had to be the title for one of my stories. All these years, I've been looking for the anamnesis story, and yesterday it finally occurred to me. And if I can finish it today, I think it will even make it into Sirenia Digest #20. After the struggle with The Dinosaurs of Mars, and then letting myself not write for a few days, the words came suddenly yesterday. And they seemed to come with only a little struggle. And, mostly, it felt good to let them flow. And I think that's the way it's supposed to be, which is something I forget sometimes.

A few days ago, Frank Woodward sent me a teaser banner for the HPL documentary, which I've been meaning to include in an entry, but keep forgetting (behind the cut). I do not yet have a release date:

( Fear of the Unknown )

My thanks to Bill Schafer for the package, Neil's M is for Magic, illustrated by Gahan Wilson, and a copy of the new subpress edition of Bradbury's I Sing the Body Electric.

Other than the writing, there's nothing much to be said for yesterday. It came, it went. There was Second Life and work on the Palaeozoic Museum. After dinner, we tried to take a walk, but it started raining. We re-watched a couple of episodes from Season Two of Deadwood.

If you didn't see my entry last night on the Bush Administration's plan to permit the murder of 700 grey wolves in Wyoming and Idaho, you may reach it here. And just for the record, I do not personally consider grey wolves — or any other species of living organism — to be "resource," valuable only because of some extrinsic quality beneficial to human beings. It is wrong to slaughter these animals, period. This isn't about humans somehow benefiting from restored ecosystems. This is about trying to restore ecosystems because humans had no "right" to dismantle them in the first place. And yes, if you would, please repost this.

This from National Resources Defense Council:

The gray wolf's extraordinary comeback from extinction in Greater Yellowstone is one of America's greatest environmental success stories. But the Bush Administration is now pushing a proposal that would authorize the killing of some 700 wolves — more than half of the current population in the northern Rockies. Speak out now for wolf protection and help shield the wolves of Wyoming and Idaho from the coming crossfire.

We must stop the Bush Administration's plan to declare open season on the wolves of Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho. Once approved, Wyoming and Idaho intend to begin exterminating up to half their gray wolves — by aerial gunning and other cruel methods — as early as this fall.

Submit your Official Citizen Comment, opposing this disastrous plan, before August 6.

Is it even necessary to justify an objection to this crazy, sick shit? Please, take a moment to read and sign the comment that's being sent Ed Bangs, Western Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator. You may find it here.

The statement is as follows:

I strongly oppose your recent wolf management proposal — the 10J rule — that would give states a license to kill wolves in areas where big game populations are below objective, possibly leading to the extermination of up to 700 wolves in Wyoming and Idaho combined. This would reverse the welcome gains in recovery of this magnificent species in the Greater Yellowstone and central Idaho regions.

I am especially outraged that your proposal would empower states to begin slaughtering wolves as early as this fall — even before wolves are taken off the Endangered Species list. It is scandalous that you are circumventing your agency's own process for delisting a species.

Wolves once thrived in much of the lower 48 states. Today, they reside in only five percent of their former range. If there is one place in this country where they should be allowed to flourish, it is in and around Yellowstone — our nation's oldest park — and the remote Selway Bitterroot ecosystem in central Idaho.

I urge you not to decimate a wolf population that has only recently sprung back to life and is world-renowned as a symbol of the American West.

I call on you to withdraw your proposal to allow the massive killing of wolves in the northern Rockies.

Please. And thank you.