Day: August 3, 2022

Blogging first thing in the morning brings me a (albeit brief) sense of accomplishment. It means I got up, did something of value or note, and moving forward I can at least say that I did a thing. Now that last part is the double edge of the sword. I can say I did a thing, but will it be the only thing I did? Occasionally, yes. Not today though, Satan. Well… Maybe today. This waffling conjecture lies at the heart of being productive as a human–let a lone a writer. For me there is often that moment where I don’t want to get up and deal with the routine that has become my life. Largely this is because I don’t like the routine. I live three different lives. I live the one where I am home with two grown kids and a partner, I live the one where I am home with three grown kids and 2 not quite grown kids and a partner, and there is the one where it is my partner and I. The last is more energized and the most loving and by far the most productive. The 5 kid life is the most demanding and yet the most likely to get me out of bed. The 2 kid life is the toughest by far for reasons I won’t get into here.

I’m living that 2 kid life as we speak and I am in that bed of mine and I have the laptop and I am pecking away at these keys in search of ten minutes of accomplishment that can jumpstart my day.

Some Thoughts:

1. If there is life of a sort beyond death, do we carry who we were with us to the next? If so, are we happy with who we are? Are you?
2. Pre emergent is a gift. It keeps the weeds at bay better than anything else I’ve tried. This is most clear when you notice you missed a spot… Or half a yard. And then there was a storm.

Just finished Scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society. The afterword ought to be required reading for authors. In it he sums up the entirety of the industry from a writer’s perspective without much trying to do so. He understands. He lives it. He also is honest about his own issues and failures and relationships with editors. All this in under fifteen minutes.

What I’d like to say with the rest of my ten is Write. Write what you want and feel and make sure you give time to that. I sometimes don’t. I all too often get caught up in expectations thrust on me by people who are not me–editors, students, fans, other writers. It sucks to feel like you’re writing what they want and need you to put out but not putting yourself into it. That lack of self shows through the page. It makes all the words feel hollow.

Don’t let your words feel hollow.

Some Thoughts:

1. Arizona sucks for weather several months out of the year, but it sucks for feeling you are part of a diverse community full of interesting and inventive and farflung creative ideas all of the time.
2. Three of the new owners of the Denver Broncos are black. Not only are they black but they are by far the most notably ignored black people in their own ways. Condeleeza Rice is a straight up baller who should be the centerpiece for so many modern black professionals, but she isn’t. Lewis Hamilton has one more F1 races than anyone ever. He’s the GOAT of formula one and most Americans have no idea who he is. Melody Hobson is a 53 year old black woman who just happens to be the CEO of Starbucks. Yep, unnoticed by the general public. Reminds me of a joke Chris Rock used to say…