Day: August 11, 2020

I am working on the second of two novellas to be released in the coming months. The due date for this one is, well, saturday. I won’t pretend I am in any shape to feel good about hitting the date, but a good today will be a huge step in that direction. What does it take to have a good writing day any day? Well, that is what I am taking ten minutes to figure out.

I don’t expect all the answers in 10. I do expect progress. Lets start with what I already know: Having a good writing day starts with having a positive mindset and a wealth of energy to put towards the task. This means being fully awake and limiting distractions. For a long time that meant putting on the sounds of water and closing the door. Now it means more of a pregame. The blog helps to serve as my mental calisthenics. It gets the mind blood pumping. I need that. And coffee.

I also need to have structure. That is a blog for another day… Thursday maybe.

Some Thoughts:

1. Being on the beach makes me extremely happy. While there is the obvious and undeniable enjoyment of being surrounded by beautiful people, the major joy comes from the sounds of the waves and being able to put my feet in the water and feel like I am surrounded by openness–even on a crowded beach. That is the thing about the ocean: the vastness of it is heartening.
2. Also, I watched Vast of Night last night and it was really well done. It was shot and felt very much like a radio play. It was beautiful and dark and the characters were powerful. The ending… Just watch.
3. Reading Critical Mass–the last of Craig Alanson’s Col. Bishop & Skippy series. With under 15 hrs left, I have no idea how he could even begin to end this thing in a way that does NOT leave me wanting another volume.

Lately I have been spending more money than I make–more money than I should spend. Part of the issue is supporting two homes (as we transition from one to the other). The rest of the issue is entirely about building out this new home and making it a place I am happy to inhabit each day. It is working. I am happy every time I look at the place. At the same time, I am concerned that I have repeatedly gone the route of ‘pay for the best’ instead of finding alternatives to make it beautiful on the cheap. Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of that as well, but facts being what they are, I bought stuff. I bought nice stuff. It costs money.

Normally this is not a blog about money, and tonight is only a slight deviation. This is a blog about understanding the things that make you happy and understanding the things that steal moments from that happiness. I am happy in a nice space, but I am unhappy when I (or my partner) am stressed about money. I am edging towards that difficult void of spending concerns, and I can only stay back from the void by slowing down. For example, I bought the mid kid a bed frame on offer up and he’s going to use a mattress from a bed we already have–a rollout bed for guests that can be fitted with an older mattress.

This dropped the cost of remaining ‘stuff to buy’ down to roughly 1500. Once I get through that glut of spending, I will be done! I think. I didn’t calculate in the moving truck, so there’s that.

Some Thoughts:

1. Enjoying a change of pace in the lifestyle, but with all change it takes time for things to take. So, I didn’t get a lot of writing done today. This feels like it does when I end any project. I go dormant like a bear in winter.
2. Interesting thought: Aren’t we ‘hibernating’ in a way? Going Covid dormant as a society?
3. The truth is, I need to be writing two or three stories at a time to be able to switch over to another as the difficult one hits a wall. I have no others on the table, so I will be putting two there.