I have spent the entirety of the work day today sitting outside and enjoying this ridiculously amazing weather.

(Watching birds try and kamikazi coworkers walking from the bathroom has been a delight as well. YES our bathrooms are outside and around the perimeter of building, next to the parking garage. Aren’t YOURS?)

Anyway, if you’re not from Austin, and you’re tuning in from somewhere that hasn’t been on fire since the Spring, staying outside all day may sound crazy to you. But it’s 85 brilliant degrees outside and I’m soaking every single one of those <100 degrees. ALL OF THEM, BABY.

I’m finished with my Chronicle deadlines, and am about to embark on a fiction-writing project. It’s called Show & Tell and it’s being curated by a photographer who’s gathered about 30 writers together to use his photos as writing prompts. I haven’t written fiction in forev, so this is going to be… we’ll call it interesting. I’ve got to stretch those creative-writing muscles. (Sidenote: Might want to get started FINDING those creative-writing muscles, first.) I think I’m going to try a few improv brainstorming sessions and see if I can flesh anything that doesn’t consist of distracted clowns putting out a fire with milk in a cotton candy factory.

Cause that’d just be silly, right? I have the tiniest little kernel of spark of something to start with. We’ll see if it catches.

Fire, Fire, Fire! It’s all about flames right now.

Speaking of, I’m on the last book in A Song of Ice and Fire — A Dance with Dragons. I’m taking this one slower than the rest. Using my Game of Thrones app to keep some of the lesser characters straight. My head is divided equally into what’s happening in the Free Cities with Daenerys and all the drama happening in Westeros. When Dorne comes into play, my head is like, “TOO MUCH! WINTER IS COMING!” so I’ve got to keep my eye on the prize.

What prize is that? I want to see Brienne the Beauty and Jamie Lannister hook the fuck up already.