Found out another grade. I got an A in my upper-division English linguistics class. Still waiting on the other 2 parts of the qualifying exam, but I have to go into town tomorrow to pick up a library book, so I'll look again.

I spent part of the morning doing errands and research for my paper on Underworld and paranoia in postmodern literature. I'm worried that I may have bitten off more than I can cram into 20 pages, because my professor asked me if I wouldn't like to do it as a Master's thesis. As if! I'm not even studying literature this time around. Sheesh!

When I got home I took the most-important first step in writing: organizing. I dug out all the pieces of paper and notebooks and notecards and post-its and sorted them. So now I have a stack of 8-by-11 envelopes and folders and notebooks, each containing one and only one story. There is a surprisingly big stack, so I guess I have been kicking around more stories than I remembered. Oh my. But I fully intend to finish 2 of them, and to tweak on my project-story, over the summer vacation. The others will still be in the compost pile when I feel like getting around to them. Or glancing at them today will force them to start bubbling in my subconscious, and they will start jumping out at me when I am doing mindless things like washing the dishes and showering. Which is par for the course.

I guess I have been tweaking "Late Night Radio" more than I had realized, because I had several printed drafts sitting in the pile. So I stapled them together and crammed them in an envelope. I am not a nostalgic person and will probably shred the whole thing when I am done. There is something so wonderfully final about shredding. Except Hannah broke the shredder. But I will score a new one soon enough.

Once everything was sorted to my satisfaction, I found myself unwilling to sit down and work. I guess I know in a kind of academic way what I would like to do with "LNR" next, but actually doing it takes a level of bravery that I don't seem to have today. I haven't quite managed to put into words why, but maybe writing about it here today, even in abbreviated form, will help me open up and write on "LNR" tomorrow. At least I hope so.