Now, all that said, there's been some negatives as well.

My first published Short Story, "SF" (appearing in Guardian of Order's "Path of the Bold" anthology) came back for proofing. I'm happier with it after some rewrites, but damn did it seem heavy-handed and amateur when I saw it again after a month. Do all writers have this much self-doubt? And I very nearly blew the deadline (apologies to both my ever-suffering editor James Lowder and the good folks at GOO). Now I know more how the process works for fiction, I'd like to keep on trying my hand at it. But at this point in time I'm respecting my writer friends far more than I ever have before. The book's now at press.

Some problems with mis-listing the Political Cartoonists book's ISBN number made for a fraught day, recently. The more I get drawn (no pun intended) into the publishing biz, the more I realize I'm a cartoonist first, and a businessman second (or third, fourth or tenth, depending on my mood)...

It's becoming more and more likely that I will not be able to make CONvergence (Minneapolis, over the 4th of July weekend), due to the few weekends at home Judith and I seem to have home together this summer.

I may have to pull out of one of the large summer cons, as someone close to me will be undergoing some serious surgery, and I sure as heck want to be there for that.

Obviously, all this took its toll on the web comic last week. I hope to be back up to speed this week, but today's cartoon will most likely be late.

Is that it? Well, let's be frank, I know I've most likely forgotten some things. But what MOST people want to know about is the Peahen Saga.

Yes, she's still in the back yard. The farm never returned my call (although the DNR left a message saying that Peacocks and Peahens are not "protected species" in Wisconsin, as if I was waiting to shoot the thing or something. Weird.)

She's going through Peacock Chow (aka birdseed) at an alarming rate, although it is kinda cool (if initially disconcerting) that she's found staring into the bedroom window every morning.

Still, she'd probably be happiest in an aviary or on a farm, with other Peafowl. So the search for a Peahome continues...