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...