"The two men appeared out of nowhere..."

Those were the first words I have read so far in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and apparently final installment to the Harry Potter series. I enjoy reading Rowling's books (among many others, especially fantasy/fiction stuff), so after some die-hard Harry Potter fans have prolly read this 700+ page book in a good time or two, I picked it up without any hassle at my local Barnes and Noble bookstore in Ellicott City. The price said it was $34.99, but apparently it was on sale and I only had to pay about twenty-two bucks and some odd cents for it, not bad at all considering it's hardcover and has only been released in the U.S. for several days..
I was thinkin' of goin' to a grand release thing at the local Borders in Columbia on Friday night, but I knew I also wanted to run a strong race at the John Wall Memorial Track Run the next morning, so I passed on that. But hey, it's nice that they still have plenty of copies at the local Barnes and Noble, so I did not have to compete with anyone for it, haha! I've read all six of the previous Harry Potter novels and pretty much they seem to get progressively better (and longer), and I've heard some pretty neat stuff about this one. Although, unlike other fans who are probably devouring this novel, I prolly won't get around to finishing it until like 2008 probably, haha!
I noticed that since I've gotten serious about this running goal (and blogging it), I have not taken too much time to read. On the airplane to and from San Diego earlier this month was probably the most I've read this summer by far!
Oh well, in a sense, I guess you can say that this is part of my own writing endeavors as well. Not only have I finished the manuscripts for a fantasy novel I have been workin' on for the past several years that I hope to one day see published, but as some of you may remember me mentioning that I want to journal many of my experiences in the various races and running events I have done this year around Maryland, and maybe one day have them published in a sort of "running/travel journal" thing. That way interested runners and readers can find out about many different kinds of running events that take place year-around in Maryland throughout the different counties (hopefully I can get them all in before the year is out). I have not finished as many of the detailed journal entries as I hope too, but hopefully that can come along sometime soon.
I remember reading and hearing about how J.K. Rowling would write her manuscripts in coffee shops, and quite possibly she only had napkins and a writing utensil with which to write. Now she has become one of the most successful authors in the world with her Harry Potter material and I thought that it was so cool how she started out like that writing things down like that in a coffee shop, with probably not the most affluent means to live and work from what I hear. It inspires me when I journal and blog about my experiences with this goal. If I'm not gettin' my journal entries on the computer, I've usually been using the travel journal my friend Laura gave me for my birthday (I actually got it the same day I ran my 10K PR of 37:59 in Caroline County) back in April. I've written in that journal in various settings such as waiting rooms, waiting for races to start when I get to them early, and even on airplanes. Journaling is so great for it's portability, you can bang out some good stuff when the inspiration hits you!
I'm not saying that my journals on this running endeavor will ever be as successfully circulated as say, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or even that I will ever see them finished or published, but I know that God has plans for all of it, He'll use even the most modest means to bring about glory and victory when the time is right. I have been experiencing this often in and out of the races as a result of my endeavors with this!
Thank you all for reading, I'm gonna go eat something and try to work out some logistics for some upcoming races, and maybe get rollin' on this new Harry Potter novel (I'm already a coupla pages into it, looks interesting, only 700-and-some-odd-more pages to go :)- Enjoy the day!