I am back from Arizona, where I spent about three weeks with Jenna Jameson, her fiancee Jay, and her three dogs. I was there to gather the material to "ghost" write her autobiography. I had a great time and work on the book is going great. Jenna is so articulate and has such great stories to tell, it's been a pleasure doing the work. The book will be out in May 2003 from Reganbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. I'm not sure what the title will be just yet, but it is the sexual education of Jenna Jameson. So everything from the tales of her sexual experiences to advice she has on everything from plain vanilla sex to doing those wild and crazy positions you see in adult films.

While I was in Arizona I finally read Jacqueline Carey's "Kushiel's Dart." Brava, Ms. Carey! Toss out those old John Norman books--here's the best and most poignant depiction of female masochism in all of sf/fantasy. (That includes my own work!) The book is not erotica, which makes it all the more impressive. The flow of the plot and the depth of the characterizations were top notch. Then, when I couldn't find the sequel at the bookstore in the mall in Scottsdale, I bought Fiona Patton's "The Stone Prince," which has been out for several years but I never had a chance to read it. My rationale was, I was in the mood to read another big, fat fantasy, and I had heard good things about the book, though I couldn't quite remember what. As soon as I started reading, I remembered--what a neat vision of a medeival world that also had gender equality.

The postseason is here, and I had the good fortune to attend Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium. I have tickets to the first two games of the ALCS, too, thanks to an hour on the phone to Ticketmaster. Poor corwin couldn't come with me, as Permabit has asked all employees not to take any more vacation until December 31st. That might put the kibosh on our plans to go to Mexico for Christmas with the Tans and Stockhams (our in-laws via my brother's marriage), but we'll see. I'm trying to wangle a way for us to at least go to Game 2 together, assuming that the Yankees make it that far. I might sell the tickets to Game 1 and then we'll try to do Game 2 round trip in a single day so all corwin would miss is maybe 2-3 hours of one workday. Weeeee'll seeeeeee.

So here's a mystery. "Baseball Weekly" started showing up at my house a few weeks ago. I didn't subscribe, and if it's a gift subscription, no one's stepped forward to take credit for it! I really like Baseball Weekly. Actually, I have one complaint. Baseball Weekly has now doubled in size so that they could add an equal amount about FOOTBALL! Gross! Yuck! It's now called Sports Weekly, and I have the urge every week to tear it in half and find a birdcage to line with the football pages. Bleagh! Phooey! I know they did it for economic reasons. They couldn't sell enough ad space to keep BW profitable. But, yuck. Not only am I crushed that the only weekly national publication devoted to baseball had to sublet space to stay alive, I'm especially tweaked that it's football. If I were going to read a general sports publication, I wouldn't mind reading about soccer or the Olympics, or a bunch of other sports topics. But football? Grrrrrrr.

I just returned from a very short but very nice vacation--our almost-annual trip to the Jersey Shore and Yankee Stadium. Seaside Heights can't be beat for a cheap, relaxing, low-pressure vacation, where you can do a minimum of planning and just follow your whims. Skee Ball? Eat a pizza? Play mini golf? People watch? Waterslide? Nobody cares what you wear or who you are. We made fools of ourselves trying to play "Dance Dance Revolution"--a Japanese video game where you step on special pads in the correct order to imitate dance moves. Damn that's fun, but tiring! We stayed one night in a classic fleabag motel, one of these places that has no soap, no garbage can in the room, but does have a pretty big refrigerator and 100 channels of cable tv. When we checked out of there we drove into New York City and checked into a four star hotel--the type of place that has custom made cotton swabs and high speed Internet access, but has only 20 channels of cable. What is up with that? (ESPN2 is a necessity, not an amenity, as far as I'm concerned.) We saw a game at the new ballpark of the Staten Island Yankees, and then two games at the big ballpark in the Bronx versus the A's. And had an incredible seven course tasting meal at "Next Door Nobu"--much delicious sashimi and such, fluke, arctic char, tuna tartare, miso-crusted cod, etc... unbeatable.

Remember the elbow that has been bothering me since last December? (aggravated by typesetting, really wrenched in January in the Las Vegas airport, no doubt tweaked by all the throwing I did trying to make a baseball team) Turns out the tendon may be a bit torn. I went to the orthopedist and he poked at it--I've already done two months of enforced rest and Ibuprofen and it still hurts. Now it's time for physical therapy. Sigh.

I've been working like crazy lately, doing a lot of extra hours at tae kwon do to fill for vacationing people. Circlet work has been quite hectic and I've hired a terrific intern to help with that. Her name is Cat Chen, and she's proving to be a godsend. And I'm scrambling trying to finish writing the book "Ecstasy Now" --the book of sex tips from the porn stars I'm doing for Vivid Video and Citadel Press. I hate the title, but Barnes & Noble told the publisher they hated "How to Make Love Like A Porn Star" so somehow this is what we ended up with. The book has been great fun to work on--I've interviewed all these Vivid Girls (plus some directors and male stars) about their sexual experiences, tastes, and advice. Writing the book though is less like knitting, which I am used to, and more like quilting, trying to piece together all these different interviews and quotes. As soon as I'm done with that, it's off to San Jose for the Worldcon, and then in September I am off to Arizona to work on a book project with Jenna Jameson! I will be there almost three weeks and will miss the first month of King Richard's Faire, but will be back in October.

Man, I just can't seem to remember to update this page these days. I keep thinking I've done it and it turns out I haven't actually done it, I've just THOUGHT about doing it.

Let's see, updates. Sadly, I did not make the cut onto a women's baseball team. I was really awful in tryouts this year, though, so I can't say I blame them. In a weird way, I think I did better last year, when I had less experience and was just going on athletic instinct. This year, between getting hit in the eye with a ball one day and feeling like I was going to throw up another day, I didn't do anything to help my cause. There's also the fact that I couldn't throw the ball far enough--a major concern for everyone. I've been in denial about the tendonitis in my throwing arm for several months now (I injured it in January) and now that I know I wont' be playing, it's sinking in how much my arm hurts. I hurt it yanking my suitcase through an airport and it's basically similar to the tennis elbow/repetitive strain injury I had several years ago. Well, I cured it then, I'll cure it now. It does mean minimizing typing, maximizing ibuprofen, and probably no trips to the batting cage for a month or two. Damn.

Perhaps it's just as well that I've been unable to find a softball league to keep me busy (ha, I used the word "busy"). Every league I have contacted has been like "no, there's a waiting list, you need to get on a team in February." Geez. The organizer in me thinks, man, I can't be the only one, there must be people who just come to Boston for the summer, too... why not organize a league for those folks? But, hey, I don't have time to organize a baseball, softball, or wiffle ball league. corwin and I have had time to play Wiffle exactly once.

My brother is married. The wedding was super-lovely and we had a great time in Denver.

Both my cats have ailments -- Tai Gau with the crystals in his bladder again, so he's on a special high-acid dry food, and Renki with constipation, so she's eating canned food with Metamucil and water mixed in. So what happens? Of course they each prefer the other cat's food! So I have to sit between them at feeding time and watch them eat. As my friend Eric put it last night: "That goes up there with watching paint dry and grass grow."

I'm interviewing porn stars for this Vivid Entertainment sex how-to book I'm writing (for Kensington Publishers). I won't tell you the title because I really hope we don't settle on what the publisher wants to call it. The working title had been "How To Make Love Like A Porn Star" but apparently the feeling is that Barnes & Noble will gag on the word "porn." Instead the publisher prefers the confusing and inappropriate title of "Ecstasy Now." Bleagh! Well, regardless of what comes out as the title, the interviews are really fun to do. I've interviewed Jenna Jameson, Savanna Samson, Kira Kener... and also directors like Chi Chi LaRue and Paul Thomas. I suppose it is saying something to admit that even with the wild and varied sex life I have had, I'm learning a lot!

My parents seem to be loving retirement, though we were shocked to here the following words come out of my dad's mouth: "I think I am getting golfed out." My mom sent me a cryptic note the other day (with wedding photos) saying something about Dad working on Sundays, but I don't know yet what it is he's doing. I owe them a phone call.

Circlet Press is still in business, though we have been limping of late. LPC is definitely going under and I am doubting we'll see any of the money they owe us. Mind & Body is at the printer, but is a month late, which is painful. But orders for the title are pretty low, too. Interest in the Fall season of books seems better, but I have some tough editorial decisions to make about the future and our direction. It has been hard to keep up with everything, lately, with no money in the bank leaving me trying to do everything single-handedly. Triage has made it necessary to cut back some of the things I usually accomplish. We are definitely not growing right now, but at least we're maintaining an even keel.

And the Yankees are one and a half games behind the Red Sox. And we're not worried about that.

Double oops--I thought I had updated this page more recently, but it looks like I skipped almost two months. Well, to say it has been busy would be to state the perpetually obvious.

The Velderet won an Independent Press Award! It is a Finalist in the Sex/erotica category for 2002. It was beat out for first place by "Tickle Your Fancy" from Tickle Kitty Press, which is also a very neat book. (Congrats Sadie!)

Hmm, I'm loath to put down my one complaint for fear it will seem like sour grapes, but that is not it. My feeling about these type of awards is that whenever they combine the fiction and nonfiction judging together for "Sex/Erotica" (as they do in the Foreword Book of the Year awards, the Firecracker Awards, and many other book awards), the fiction work is always going to be beat out by a nonfiction work. Thus far my theory has been borne out if you look at the award results over the past ten years, but the awards organizers' reactions to my complaints about this have been basically "well, we have too many categories already and you're lucky we have an erotica category at all." Well, I am a little bit annoyed that erotica has to be considered a second-class category that is only included as a tack-on to the nonfiction/sex how-to division. Harrumph. End of complaint.

Tomorrow I find out if I made it onto a baseball team for this season of the New England Women's Baseball League. I know I don't have the same skill level as many of the other players in the league, and that there is still so much about the game I do not know, but I am still hoping I can make a small contribution somehow, while learning and improving this season. Fingers crossed.

It would be nice if the weatehr would get warm, and if the cold I have had for more than a week would go away. It's a weird one. Last weekend I had the usual cold-type symptoms, runny nose, stuffy head, etc... then by Wednesday those symptoms had cleared up and I was left just being as weak as a wet dishrag. I could barely standup in the shower or climb a flight of stairs. Over this weekend it turned to nausea and I could hardly eat anything Saturday or Sunday. Today I'm back to just feeling wiped out, like I could hardly get out of bed. Does anybody know how you tell if you have mono?

This is going to be a busy month. Book Expo America is at the end of this week, in New York, Lauren's wedding is mid-month, I'm teaching an erotica writing class at Grand Opening!, and my brother's wedding is at the end of the month in Denver. Oh, and I'm writing this sex how-to book for Vivid Entertainment. I'd be writing it faster except they have not yet put me in touch with the ten people I'm supposed to interview for the book. So it is hard to make much progress. Well, you know what they say -- control the things that are within your ability to control, and don't worry about the rest.

Christmas was lovely and quiet. With most of my close family in Mexico for the Holiday, including the newly-relocated-to-Florida parents, I didn't have to travel to visit anyone, for once. Mostly just had parties and meals at friends' houses. We decided to have our usual New Year's Eve/Holiday Party again because it's too damn cold to go out and do things this time of year! I learned to make a new thing i've never tried before: chocolate eclairs. The secret? Use a pastry bag to get the cream inside! I made about 40 mini-eclairs for the party and they were good. Definitely something you have to make for a party since you're not going to eat a lot of them yourself--they don't keep.

The year's 1/12 over and thus far it seems like an improvement over last year, though that wouldn't be hard. We're preparing our taxes and corwin realized he earned half in 2001 as he did in 200. I looked at my own total and, gee, I also earned half what I did in 2000. No wonder we're having so much trouble! All prospects for earning this year are looking brighter, though.

The depression we suffered quite intensely from late August up to about Thanksgiving definitely seems to have lifted. The trip to Aruba and the easing of some problems (like money) certainly helped. Also the lessening of some personal strife in our lives, especially as corwin and Kimberly (and me) make progress on communication issues, has made life much more bearable, in fact it's nearing downright enjoyable again!

Now if only it weren't so cold and damp, it weren't the baseball offseason, and I weren't so out of shape. I know, I know--two out of the three will be solved merely by patience. The third is up to me.