the orange leaves are everywhere - not only orange, but the ones which have turned brown already, and a few reds, and some greens that are also turning brown. they make a lot of noise under your feet. they're glorious, a splash of color.

our street is brick - actually, they relaid the brick a few years back so it's really classy brick that fits well; other nearby streets have the older brick, sometimes covered over. we're in the historic district. even the streets themselves are historic.

a house nearby has gone up for sale, and it caught my wife's eye, because they want about three times what we paid for ours. it's about the same size, same square feet, same three stories, but no doubt the attic is fixed up, or the basement remodeled, or some such thing. it's very victorian on the outside, like a lot of our neighbors. a kind of two-toned, pretty victorian, with the fancy kinds of things they put all over these houses. turrets, bay windows, that kind of thing. it's actually kind of amazing to study it.

in fact the whole neighborhood is full of such houses, in different shape, some falling apart, some kept up very well. some i think have already been completely torn down, leaving only an empty lot. our own house is kind of plain on the outside, no hint of two-toned painted glory, but it has a good wood floor inside and the feeling of the neighborhood, which we like. we hear the cars on the bricks outside. there are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood which of course sets ours on edge.

my writing is heavily slowed down by an enormous writing block. I started writing a novel that i had on my mind for a while, only to get a few chapters into it and realize i had no plan, i had no idea how it would turn out or even what the main action would be. you have to have a plan. you know where it's going, you can write it. i was an idiot to get so started that i didn't even think of it. one more for the "unfinished" pile which at this point is extensive.

my marketing however is showing signs of improvement. i feel like i do have readers out there and my numbers show that. i have a writer's block there too because i haven't really settled on a genre. as i read a wide range of stuff - mostly genres i don't care so much for - i get a sense of what's out there but also a strong sense that i shouldn't be wasting what little time i have left flailing around different genres that i don't care so much for. what am i doing messing around? i should get right to the point and do what i really want to do. but there is the problem. even in that regard, i really want to do half a dozen things.

i'll line them all up for you as soon as i can. i have two or three that are more than half done. the one i just started, unfortunately, may not make it past four chapters. the plan just isn't coming, and if it doesn't, it won't get written. the big one is the language book. if i do that before i die, i'll be happy.

i'm walking the dogs a lot, all four of them, most nights about a mile each. i'm watching all the baseball playoffs. i am taking kids to school and bringing them home. i'm doing dishes and my laundry. but a lot of times, i just sit here in my chair, reading some romance or fantasy, and getting the sense i'm throwing away my time.

then there are these blogs. you'll notice a little updating in the template - this is the big one - it has to have an updated template. right behind it is the professional blog which also needs a lot of care. but what i should be working on is the writing blog which is sadly undeveloped. wish me luck, so many blogs, so little time.