Le rhume continues to plague me, but I’m carrying on. I started writing again yesterday.

Total number of words since March 23: 60,770.

Not bad for having missed four days in the month, eh?

I briefly reconnected yesterday with an old friend, the author and playwright Christina Hamlett. We met working for the California State government up in Sacramento back in 1989. I went to one of her first book signings. In addition to a writing and directing a bizillion plays, Christina has now published a ton of books, optioned four scripts and runs a script consulting business in Pasadena. I’m really looking forward to seeing her when I get back home. Way back then, she read my undergrad short stories and urged me to write books. Sage advice I ignored until just recently, unfortunately.

Back to the speeding train…

ETA: As for Bayrou’s “Finger of God,” the newspapers all proclaimed that the incredible showing of 18% for his Centrist candidacy marked an historic shift in French politics. When he eventually spoke, he kindly and enthusiastically thanked his voters for their support and desire to build a new France and break into new political territory. Right now, Francois Bayrou is arguably the most powerful man in France because he can influence at least part of that 18% of the voting population to crush either Sarkozy or Royal on May 6.

He’s chosen for the moment to remain silent…