The seasons are starting to turn here in the land of bourbon, horses and basketball. I can tell because I am not waking up in a pool of my own sweat. Sorry, but I am fat and the summers here are a little harsh on me.

Me and my twin brother Enrique enjoying an afternoon ride.

Those poor mopeds…

Taking advantage of the cooler nights, I have started walking again – not like the multi-mile affairs I did when growing up (Saturdays had me walking no less than nine miles) but just 2 miles in about 40 minutes. A little exercise here and there to hopefully get down to my fighting weight of below a teaspoon of neutron star for the swimsuit season next year and I promise you no speedos.

Enough of that – as I was walking last night, I was trying to work on a system of magic that would be fairly unique. With that in mind, I wanted to think of another way of categorizing magic – particularly magic that involved the human body (this is for my so-bad-it’s-gonna-be-great s&s books), and I had the idea of organizing everything into elements – yes, I know about the four classical elements and even about the five Chinese elements (wood, metal, fire, air, water). I thought it would be a good way to organize other magical abilities: The Ways of the Body (breath, blood, bone, flesh) or The Trials of Darkness (speaking, holding, calling, summoning). There would be different groups that would be better at such things than others, and would control that information similar to the guilds in Medieval Europe (or like the modern crime families). That would work out in giving the character known only as The Woman a bit of a rep as someone who’s very talented and the only one who could speak to these different families as equals. Just something I am tossing about.

Tyro continues along at its mopey pace. I’m going to try to get the tree out of the ground this Saturday and maybe write a little something involving Nysa and Galter to show the fear of the ‘demons’ to the normal people:

IT WILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL

There’s your spoiler for the first novel: Tyro and the other ushabit think that trees are demons that the Master keeps at bay to protect his servants. Interesting story behind that idea – which I think I’ve already discussed. If I haven’t I will tell it to you tomorrow. Right now, I just need to get that stump out of the ground, get the apples harvested and await the coming of the bandits to close out the chapter. With the writing group coming this Saturday, I am hoping that I can use some of that momentum (or sleep deprivation) to carry off this chapter and try to get back on track.

October 1^st marks the beginning of the hockey season, I’ve got my money ready to buy the season from NHL.com and finally enjoy watching all the games. My favorite team? The Phoenix Coyotes. You have to admire a man who came out to the deserts of Arizona and said: you know what this place needs? A pro hockey team!

Well, I need to get to work. I hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy