WAKING UP IN BALLARD

My mornings in Ballard are almost always the same. I’m awake at about 4:30, get up, shower, take my pills and freshen Rookie’s food and water, then fix a light breakfast for myself, load the laptop, power plug, and whatever I’m writing at the moment into my carrying bag. Then open the sliding door and look outside to determine what kind of day it’s going to be. To my left I can look past the neighborhood houses toward Phinney Ridge and see lights sparkling a sea of green trees. It’s a wonderful view and makes me glad I’m back home again.

At 5:30 I go downstairs, pick up the morning newspapers and deliver them outside the doors of the other residents. Then, just before 6:00, carrying my computer, its out the door, across the street and wait for the early bus that will take me to downtown Ballard and Tully’s Coffee Shop, where I plug in the laptop and use their free WiFi to go online, read my email, then settle down to write for the next few hours.

My current projects are primarily scripts: Cybernet is a TV series that has a Seattle background, which was once called Silicon Valley, a Dallas style primetime soap opera that was originally written when the computer boom was just beginning. Upon reading it I think it still works for today in Seattle. My other script-in-work features Magnus Ridolph, a far future detective created by my friend Jack Vance and set in the background of his Alastor Cluster books. Would make a great TV series. I also hope to do screenplays based on his Demon Princes and Planet of Adventure series of novels.