I got to 5,000 words with my first Nanowrimo story, but as usually happens, I normally plod through first drafts. A first draft can take months. The exciting part is the endless revisions that follow which explain why I haven't yet published a work of fiction. However, that might change soon. In the past three/four days, I have added about 6,000 words to an already existing short story. And if I don't add anything else to it I may be able to put out a small book of short stories.

The problem is that I am tempted to fiddle with another story which would extend any such plans. Oh well, so be it.

November 2002 will go down in history as my busiest month ever. I got my butt kicked with work and having a nasty cold for a week did not help. But they took their shot and I stumbled but I'm back up and ready to rumble.

Biz-wise, St. Martin looks like it's going to do relatively well this Xtmas, recession and soft economy notwithstanding. It seems that there is enough interest in specifically Catholic goods to make things happen. There's always the inventory selection question. Do I stock high end items or just stick with mid range and low range items. I think I'll do what I've always done, get the high priced stuff. The problem is that it costs a lot to stock high end items but one thing I learned early in this business is that you can only sell a $300.00 silver rosary if you stock a $300.00 rosary. There is always the fear that you'll get stuck with excess high-end inventory that you can't move. That is possible but it has not been our experience in general.

I just bought a $55.00 humongous German-English dictionary. Why? You ask. Well if Johnny Cash can shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die, darn it, I can buy a huge dictionary just to watch it burn.