"Eyes of the Octopus"


1000 miles driven in 36 hours!

Back in LA ... haven't written a word in two days, with six days to finish.

Sunday was the "Oregon All-State Write-In" held at the Oregon Coast Aquarium ... a beautiful establishment which is, coincidentally, only a five minute drive from the house. The day was spent surrounded by five dozen other novelists - and seals, sea lions, otters, sea-birds, many many fish, and the most pro-active and metamorphosey octopus ever to cross my path.

Our writing room sported an enormous window into the shark tank, and taking this motif a step further many of us went and wrote in the glass "shark encounter" tunnel as the hours wore on (it was here that I introduced politics to the story). Long stretches of time were spent peering at puffins, interacting with an adorable otter who seemed to be in love with me (only later seeing the sign declaring that the otters were very hormonal this time of year and should not be interacted with through the glass), and also meeting the aforementioned pacific giant octopus - which defied the hiding-in-the-corner tendency of her brethren by dancing about the enclosure, changing shape, color and texture, and gazing at me as though she held some inscrutable message from beyond.

I wrote almost exactly 2,500 words ... far below my goal for the event, but still more than enough to feel proud of. It was a pretty spectacular day.

Alas, when I got back to the house gravity beckoned, and I started cleaning ... the place had to be hotel-sterilized prior to departure because we have a family renting it for Thanksgiving. This took many, many hours. Early the following morning I departed Oregon, heading south for Berkeley, with a heart both saddened and renewed.

Words to date: 43,037
words to go (?): 6,963
days until Australia: 5