Scrabble update: I managed to come from behind and take second place in my division at the Redeye tournament this past weekend, winning $250. It definitely gave my Scrabble ego a much needed boost since the only thing I won at my last competition was the sad sack award for coming in last. This was a crazy tournament. It's called the Redeye because it involves playing 29 games of competitive Scrabble in 41 hours. Play started at 6:45 in the morning and went until 11:00 at night both Saturday and Sunday. But everyone there remained chipper, friendly, respectful, and polite (not always the case at these events) and I look forward to meeting my fellow word nerds again soon.

Now it's back to focusing on those other words I play with, the written ones that form a novel. I've been editing for the past two weeks and not writing much new stuff but I'm close to the end of my edits (for this round) and ready to start tapping the keys again.

Okay, so I'm not great at keeping up with posts here. That's because I've been busy, busy, busy with work, writing, and life in general (including the removal of the many feet of snow that has fallen on us here in Wisconsin.) But things are moving along. I now have confirmation of the title for the first book in the Mattie Winston series. WORKING STIFF is scheduled for release in September and the title of book number two will most likely be SCARED STIFF. The second book is well under way; I have about two-thirds of it done and I'm really enjoying revisiting these characters.

I haven't been very focused on writing the past few days because I'm heading out this weekend for a hard core word geek fest. I'm playing in a weekend long Scrabble tournament in the Twin Cities called The Redeye. The name is appropriate given that there will be 29 games squeezed into two days, with play commencing at sixish in the morning and going until after eleven at night both days. So in preparation I've been studying anagrams all week, trying to hone my skills. The last two tournaments I played in didn't go well so I'm hoping to do better this time out. We'll see. Even if I don't, it's always fun to play mad Scrabble with my fellow word geeks. And what better way to spend a weekend of single digit temps?

After that it's back to writing, a whole different kind of word play. Wish me luck!