Chapter the Fifth: I join the Washingtonians and write too many books at once.
As I thought, the next few months were hideously busy. We left for Ireland on Dec 15 1999. Ireland is always lovely, but that huge storm that was wracking Paris and France was hitting us first. As a result, there were days when we couldn't go outside because of the 60-70mph winds. This was frustrating. New Year's Eve was fun: we saw fireworks (a rarity in Ireland) and took part in festivites at the town bridge and watched a huge parade of people marching down the town street. (I'll scan pictures sometime soon and put them up here.)
We got back and I dove back in to the RoboHELP 2000 Bible and a new MP3 book I'd been working on simultaneously with Sandy Bradley, MP3 for Musicians. Both books are very close to being done at this point, with only dribs and drabs to be done for each.
I picked up three morewriting awards in this year's Puget Sound STC competition, one each for the Visio and MP3 books, and one--an Award of Excellence!--for the MP3 article in PC Magazine.
At this point, I'm going to be finishing the books on my desk and looking for a writing contract for a change while I consider my next few books. I'm also doing a bunch of articles for several magazines: pieces on running Technical Publications departments, something I haven't determined yet for another magazine, and another review of accounting software. There are more trips planned this year, I'm pleased to say: I'm taking Constance off to Seaside in March some time, we're going to Orlando for the STC Annual Conference, and there's a regional STC conference in Honolulu in October that we'll be at, too. I'm also going to upstate New York sometime this fall to take part in a good friend's wedding. I may also be in Tucson this fall, too. We don't have any overseas travel planned this year at the moment, but the year is still young. :)
I'm currently in rehearsals for the March 10-12 shows of The Washingtonians, a large chorus that does light music. The show in December was entitled "So Many Love Songs, It'll Make You Sick!" The March show (which I'll be in) has a tribute to the 70s singing sensations, the Carpeters. (That's not a typo.) Hey, this is my kinda group! I'll sing bass and also be doing some great schtick with the banjo and a barbershop quartet, too. Expect more news on this. Be sure to show up--show times are listed on the Washingtonians' web site.
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