Explanation and Contests

First, an explanation of the progress bars to the right:  the top bar indicates how far I've gotten on a full draft of my thesis (I'm currently working through the second draft).  The remaining bars indicate progress on individual stories, which make up the thesis as a whole, and the numbers next to each title indicate the draft I'm currently working on for that piece (2.0 = second full draft, 4.2 = fourth draft with some other minor changes, etc.).

In other news, I'll wax update-y and tell you how I've sent stories in to three BYU writing contests in the past day or so.  We'll see how things turn out; during my undergrad I was 2/2 for the contests to which I submitted.  Last year was less encouraging (0/2, to be exact).  So we'll see how things unfold this time around.  I'm also in the process of submitting some of my stories to various literary journals--nothing but rejections so far, but rest assured I'll holler as soon as I hear some good news.

Oh, and happy Valentines Day.  I happen to have the best wife in the world, so yeah, I bet you're jealous of that.