I have been mostly off the radar for the last week, attending a family reunion in New York, which was a lot of fun. I got to see people and places that I haven’t seen in a very long time. One of those places was Bear Mountain. It was a great time of year to visit, too, with the fall colors just starting to spread over the hills.

It was relaxing, and fun, and now, I am back. Here are a few things I wanted to mention:

1. I am behind in reading email. If you send me email over the last week, I will be catching up over the next few days, but expect a delayed response.
2. Part 3 of my Building a Writer’s Toolkit series on Medium is also delayed. I was hoping to get it out last Thursday, but vacation had priority. I’m hoping to have it out before the end of the week, although I don’t know exactly when yet.
3. I am slowly making my way through Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves and enjoying it. First new SF book that I have read in quite some time.
4. On the recommendation of a friend, I started watching Gotham while on vacation. It’s pretty good.
5. I will likely be offline much of this weekend. I am scheduled to participate in a writers retreat, although there is a possibility that schedule will change.

Also, it is fall! It’s starting to cool off here. I can’t believe how quickly the summer passed.