Well, instead of running yesterday, I took a long walk down to the Borders bookstore on 4th street. Downtown Seattle has some really interesting areas, especially around the area of the bookstore. We had lunch at the food court of some mall that was right across the street, and I had to laugh at the selections of food. Not your typical mall-food-court fare, at least in my experience. They had everything from sushi to mediterranean wraps--stuff that no respectable mall in the south would ever have in its food court.

Then later, Burke went out and rented a couple of movies: "It" and "Alien." Karen C. had never seen Alien, so the others talked her into watching it. She agreed to stay, but only for two deaths. (She actually stayed for three, then claimed that she was tired and had to go to bed.)

But most of the day for me was spent beating my head against a wall trying to come up with a story. Premises I have. Many premises, many settings. But actual stories to go with those premises are evading me. I finally managed, at 11:30 last night, to type in about 300 words of something that I can maybe work with, so I'm hoping today will not be as frustrating as yesterday. I even did all the things that people say to do when you get stuck. I went for a long walk, I did my laundry, I ate dinner, I read other people's writing. And then I came back to stare at a blank screen. A most frustrating day.