Because I didn't finish writing my pages before heading to the bridge tournament, so I put the last couple of pages on my HP Jornada (handheld computer) and brought it along. We finished our bridge a little before 5 and my Tae Kwon Do class is at 7:00 so I went to the library and spent a bit over an hour working on the book--ending up with 17 pages for the day (plus a bit because I had to subtract a couple of pages from previous days writing when I realized I had my margins wrong). I'm now up to 10,129 words.

Maybe I should give up writing at home and spend my life in libraries with my head down and no Internet access to distract me--except that some of my speed was because I skipped over research, leaving blanks that will take time to fill in. Oh, well.

Speaking of writing, the Expresso Book Machine (try here--the website was up this morning but seems down now http://www.ondemandbooks.com/) sounds like an interesting idea. My friend and writer Vita sent me details. Unfortunately, I can't see spending $50,000 on a book printer. First, I really believe in eBooks and second, $50,000? Ouch.

Bridge went okay--we finished about 50% which is always cause for celebration. Although we're playing in the '299er' (which means non-life-masters) group, there are still some really excellent players there. I saw one of my students but it looked like he wasn't able to get a partner. I felt a little bad about that.

In Tae Kwon Do, we had a black belt breakout class tonight on knife defense. A couple of interesting things. (1) knife fighters will sneak up on you. If you're in a conflictual situation, try to give yourself/take/demand five feet. If they're five feet away, they'll have to cross some distance and give you a chance to get ready. (2) If you're defending against a knife and you don't have one, you'll want to get up close and personal. Trying to grapple at a distance is almost certain to get you killed.

I'm going to make KINGMAKER by Rob Preece the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Ellie Winters wants revenge when her parents are murdered. But when she follows the killers through a dimensional portal, she finds herself in a world where magic works, where her martial arts skills have practical value, and where she might make a difference. She might even become Kingmaker--if she can put aside her desire for revenge. Only $3.99. Learn more, read the excerpt, or buy the entire eNovel here: www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_05/kingmaker.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Palm Reader/eReader, and Microsoft Reader formats). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

rob