Good news! I found a critique partner for Hand Magic! Bad news. I found a critique partner for Hand Magic.

As part of my commitment to living a creatively nourishing life, I made the decision to take full advantage of my proximity to New York City and go down there to inhale life and culture whenever I can.

On March 5, I wrote the speech in Chapter 5 that I'd been putting off, and that marked the completion of Hand Magic.

Last August, I had the incredible good fortune of moving into a gorgeous, third-floor Boston apartment with two lovely women, one of whom is a writer. This roommate has deep ties to GrubStreet, a fairly well-known literary organization in the Boston Seaport.

Seven days. Thirty-thousand words. One third of the book's projected length. This is the fastest I've ever produced any writing of any kind, let alone an original novel.

Thought Number One: “Hm. It’s much warmer here than in Prague.”

They say time slows down when you experience new things. After half a month in Europe, I can confirm that to be completely true.