Day: August 13, 2023

The things designed to keep you in place also hinder your creativity–to a point. For me that point comes about a week before the project is due and I find myself scrambling to get everything done. I tend to start any new writing project slowly. I ease into it with the research, bathing myself in the knowledge of the world and the space and the characters until I feel like I know enough to project things forward. Next I outline. Then comes the draft. Then comes the redraft and so on. The final week winds up being a matter of finishing the little bits and pieces I was never comfortable with in the beginning–the stuff I didn’t care to write. So, in theory, being so immersed in the work by then I should be able to easily handle those nasty little tidbits. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Instead I find myself slowed to an absolute crawl as I am forced to ‘eat my vegetables’ as it were. I’ve yet to come up with a better system, so I keep on doing the same thing over and over again, hoping the outcome will be different. This, it turns out, is the definition of insanity.

Some Thoughts:

1. Went for a morning walk in the sweltering desert. The movement matters. It got me to the desk faster and ready to work. I ought to keep the exercise first and foremost.
2. Haven’t taken any time to reflect on the fact that school begins in 8 days–six days after my deadline for a project. That gives me a six day ‘vacation’ to figure out what I intend to do for that job…
3. A lot to look forward to in the next few weeks. Ought to be an exciting time..

Back with another 10 minutes of fantasy football… and it isn’t even Wednesday! Tonight’s post is about the defensive options. I don’t play leagues with individual D positions, so I won’t speak about players–just units. The pundits will have you believing your top five choices are as follows:

1. San Fransico
2. Philly
3. Buffalo
4. Dallas
5. New England

I don’t buy the hype. Take New England for example: They play the Jets twice, Dolphins twice, Dallas, KC, and Philly. All of those squads are known to be built to run it up this season. NE will be giving up points. Instead I like to approach things holistically–not just from a who you play perspective, but also a ‘how much is it worth to you?’ point of view. I look at defenses who have players about to cash in on a new contract and players who play in schemes that generate turnovers and offenses that cannot generate a safe amount of points. This is why I think the Seahawks, Giants, and Commanders are going to have solid defensive performances this season. They fall into my top 5 alongside San Fransisco and…wait for it.. Jacksonville. I do not want to believe in the Jaguars’ QB, but I do believe the D will create opportunities and surprise people.

There are enough other solid D’s that I respect not prioritizing defense as draft pick. Most of the teams I mentioned can be grabbed week to week until the opposition catches on to your scheme. However, if you are picking just one, pick San Fran. They can be trusted to generate points each week.