Well, I'm back

I think anyone who has ever had a blog that they haven't written in for awhile should be allowed to crib Sam's last line from Lord of the Rings (just once, mind you) as a blog post title when writing their obligatory-sorry-I-haven't-updated-this-in-awhile-but-I'm-starting-up-again-and-will try-to-post-more-faithfully post.

So, yes. I finally figured out how to switch my blog Patrick's Stories from my old hotmail address to my current gmail. I know my Google-employed flatmate Matt is pleased that I've done away with the last of my old obsolete emails. Anyway, now that I can post in the blog under my current gmail address, I think I'll be posting a bit more.

So, now that I've quoted Samwise and promised faithfully to try and update regularly, etc., etc., lets talk about what's happening in my life.

What are the latest stories? Well it turns out quite a lot has gone on since I posted last.

I ran another marathon.

I went to France and Scotland for two weeks.

I finished the first draft of my fantasy/mystery/science-fiction The Constable of Bridge. I'm just now starting the dreadful task of editing it. Its going to be a lot of work.

I also wrote two new short stories "Quotable Magic" and "Frozen" and am in the midst of trying to decide which of all these works to begin editing/polishing. I plan on polishing at least one story and submitting it for my dream school Clarion Writer's Workshop which George RR Martin will be teaching at this year.

Work at Great Books Foundation is actually going pretty well.

I've been really enjoying guitar lessons at The Old Town School of Folk Music, an organization I cannot recommend highly enough to anyone interested in learning any kind of music. I can now play all the 12 major chords pretty well, play and sing with confidence about 4-5 songs, finger-pick one song really well. Right now I'm in the middle of barre chords--which are really fucking hard, by the way. I can play them, if I'm given about a minute to position my fingers. When I get really frustrated by it, I tell myself that I used to feel the same way about forming a C or G chord and now those things are easy, so hopefully barre chords will go the same way.

I'm surprised to find myself really enjoying my 30's so far. I felt like I was in a bit of a funk these past few years. Maybe that happens at the end of every decade and once the new decade starts, each of us is infused with a fresh dose of energy and perspective to enjoy all the advantages that this new decade brings. Or it could be that a combination of music classes, lots of running, and working on stories with some regularity has made me into a happier person.

Anyway, I plan on doing a more detailed post devoted to each of the things I've mentioned above, plus of course, any new and exciting stories that come my way.