I should have reread some of my earlier posts: my how I've crucified Calgary lately! Okay, I've packed away the vitriol with a label that reads, DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DOOMSDAY (trivia note: guess which classic 60s TV series I stole that from?), so now I can focus on positive aspects in my life.

Like my writing. I've been fortunate to have had articles, interviews and reviews published in print and online, so now I'm going back to my shelved novel manuscript and reaching into the dark to find my narrative voice again. Writing is the one constant in my life that gives me immeasurable joy and utter frustration (often at the same time). I've spent the summer eating bad foods (like chicken wings at the Regal Beagle and those amazing hot dogs at Tubby Dog!), viewing popcorn films at the downtown multiplex and reading Batman and Superman comic books, so I'm dying for the intellectual challenges involved in creating a novel. Okay, smart guy, you've trashed other books in reviews in the past, so let's see you do better. Gulp. I hope I at least fail spectuacularly in my attempts to create a literary work people would actually want to read, let alone buy from a bookstore (even from Chapters).

So it's time for me to crack open some Herman Melville, Donald Barthelme and maybe some Kevin Canty to see how superior writers tackle prose fiction. But only after I finish the final season of Arrested Development...