I have been accepted for publication

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Happy/sad day:

-My story "Some Kind of Change" has been accepted for publication in PEN America, Issue 10.

-Clemson lost.

Very excited and honored, though, to be published with Etgar Keret and Lydia Davis, along with many others not listed in the blurb.

Earlier tonight at dinner, before I had found out about my story's acceptance, I was reading the first few stories in Keret's latest book The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories. The title story and the second story "Goodman" absolutely killed me. Three pages in and already smacked in the face and gut and chest with sad, beautiful words. Telling myself to "keep it in", there, in the tiny empty pizza place. The only witnesses two employees, your typical pair, ornery owner/chef guy with white coat and stubbly gray beard and his mistreated delivery boy, "Where is my spatula Miguel?"

Damn, Etgar. Well done.

Either that, or I'm just feeling particularly unpunk today.

Writing statistics, Clemson basketball, Whopper Virgins (part 2), The Astonishing Egg

This is, approximately, the background image on my cell phone.

Taking a break from writing. Manuscript due in about fifteen hours. The last five weeks I've been keeping track of my time spent writing.

Here are some statistics from the last 4 days:

-18.5 hours writing
-3 trips to the Anderson County Library
-2.5 stories significantly revised

-I have written around 19% of the total time I have been in South Carolina.

-Adjusting for time spent sleeping (9 hours a day x 4 days = 36 hours) and/or eating (45 minutes a meal x 3 meals a day x 4 days = 9 hours), I have written around 36% of my time here (18.5 hours out of 51 hours neither eating nor sleeping).

-I have slept and/or eaten around 47% of my total time here (without adjustments).

In other news, because I am at my parents' house, I have TV.

Some notes on TV:

-Watched a college basketball game, my first of the season. #25 Clemson (where I went to undergrad) won. We are now 12-0. Team looks pretty good -- possibly better than last year's, which was something of a watershed group. Free throw shooting has improved, defense is torrid. Oglesby still taking the really long bad shots every now and then, but he's no longer a defensive liability and his passing and driving are much better too. Stitt looking very impressive -- equally quick, better decisions, and stronger. Same goes for Booker. An exciting season ahead, I hope.

-Saw the "Whopper Virgins" commercial, as cut for TV. Hated it. Re-read what I wrote about the longer "documentary-style" video (earlier post). Still liked what I wrote, but now agree with Commenter Mike that Burger King sucks ass for their totally myopic and ethnocentric exploitation. Feelings toward Burger King have shifted greatly in the negative.

Some notes on internet:

-Read Friend Rozalia Jovanovic's blog "The Astonishing Egg". Enjoyed reading it. Linked here and also permanently in the sidebar. I admire Rozi's writing because she puts together sentences that I have not seen anywhere else while still retaining, in my opinion, both sincerity and rigor. She's also kind of funny.