writer
Steaming ahead with the long piece. Who knows, maybe I’ll finish it some day?
Spent most of the morning taking care of correspondence, billing, and the like. Hit the gym mid-afternoon.
Feels like I worked more than I’m admitting to, but maybe not.
Anyway, M comes early tomorrow. Need to get a good night’s sleep and see if I can start fresh.
Could use a cup of Starbucks.
Beat. Worked hard all morning, took a break to talk to mom and suddenly it was afternoon.
Made dinner, cleaned the house…
Wow. Where did the weekend go?
Long day at the keyboard. It’s come time to force things a bit, demand more in terms of the narrative’s shape, and that makes for slow going in places. Still, the work is progressing overall an getting tighter and stronger with every pass.
Got an early morning text from D. He’d been out fishing the Guadalupe River and caught himself a lunker rainbow. 22 inches. Man, I’d have liked to be out there with him!
Wandered off to the big train show at the C.S. Event Center, only to find it wasn’t that big, and a long way from eventful. Left after maybe half an hour and came home again for a little more time at the keyboard.
No gym today.
Superbowl tomorrow.
Probably be the first time in forty years I don’t watch at least part of it. I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I’m getting smarter, or maybe I’m getting more discriminating, but three hours of fatuous yakking by ex-jocks is more than I can stand anymore.
Got a pretty good jump on the day, but didn’t get as far as I’d hoped. Gonna have to give it another shot tomorrow. Happy with a lot of the revisions I’ve made, but still have work ahead. Was dealing with some simple edits and feeling cocky about it before I ran into a mine field of ugly. Serves me right for thinking this new pass was going to be easy.
Hit the gym a little later than usual, but got in a nice workout anyway. The new heavy bag came in, so got to catch up on my boxing. Yeah. Back to the old routine. Felt good.
Read a nice essay by Rick Bass. He talked about the losses you have to suffer to live the life of a writer. Wasn’t a dark piece by any means, but it did do a chilling job of calculating the returns on one’s investment of time.
More later.
A pot of beef stew needs tending.
Well. Up early but not time to write. Baby arrived under a full head of steam, and the day went forward from there. Got some good outside time thanks to the break in the cold spell, so the action was non-stop.
Had a presentation to break up the afternoon. Nice to get out for a while, hang with big people. A lot of project work looming. Hope it comes through. Could use the change of pace—and the money wouldn’t be bad either.
Looking forward to a bit of sanity tomorrow. Some quiet time. We’ll see what the day brings. Meantime, going to enjoy a little reading.
This one got away pretty handily. Didn’t do much of anything but chase the young one around. Had a brief excursion with the sled, but the temps were pretty low and he refused a hat and gloves so we kept it to spin around the neighborhood.
Experimented with some of the later pages in the long piece, and think I may have hit on something. Have a bit of restructuring to do to see if it’ll work, but might as well chance it. Can always go back to the old version if it doesn’t work out, right?
Found a draft of a story I was working on last fall. Some good stuff in it. Read it over and thought, good, something to keep me busy between edits. Gonna try and sort out its failings in my head before I leap in on the keyboard, but I think there’s enough decent material there to maybe make a good story.
Finalizing my plans for Albuquerque in March. Looking forward to the drive; always reminds me of my dad. Be nice to catch up with D and the rest of the crew.
Too early to be tired of winter, but I’m tired of winter. Don’t think it’d be that way if I could manage to get out more, but right now that’s not in the cards. Too many commitments. Gotta start taking a harder look at the way I spend my weekends. Start looking for ways to get away.
Went out to the cottage to work early this morning, and had hardly hit the keyboard before the snow began. Must have gotten two or three inches in the course of an hour. Wild!
Caught up with our wonderful neighbor, R, while shoveling. A nice surprise, as we don’t run into one another very often during the winter. Made my day.
Gym was overrun with folks, presumably because of the snow. Still no heavy bag, so had to forgo that part of the workout. The rest went as it usually does, but with few alterations. Looking forward to spring when all the resolutionaries go back to whatever they do when they’re living their REAL lives.
Read a nice story, “Obsession” by Josip Novakovich in Narrative. Been following the guy for a number of years. Was good to see something new. Need to find more of his work.
Also read a curious interview with Sam Lipsyte in the Columbia Journal of Literature and Art. A reference to a piece called “The Death of the Author.” Need to check that out, too—but for entirely different reasons.
Still plugging along on the long work. Feel like I’m getting closer all the time, but now the last forty or fifty seem inadequate to the purpose. Need to rest up and come at them fresh. See what’s needed, and get to it. No deadlines, but I’d like to have a reader’s draft before long.
M tomorrow. Hope the weather improves.
Au revoir!
Mixed bag today.
A bit of revision, a bit of composition. Some time at the gym. Must have been more going on, but either I missed it or it missed me. Not sure which. Not sure it matters, either. Just glad to have had a productive day.
Boys coming over tomorrow for a sleep-over. Both of them. That’ll be a first—and with any luck, not a last.
Slept later than I wanted this morning, but couldn’t help it. Big energy drain. Hope to get an early start tomorrow.
So, yeah. Another early rise.
Still cold, below freezing, but some warm weather’s supposed to blow in soon. Hope so, anyway.
Spent the day going back and forth between the baby and the new projects that’ve come in. Got a couple of things out the door and even had a chance to wander off to the gym for a while.
Surprise text from D last night. Wants to meet in Albuquerque in March and go to a concert. Didn’t have to think about that one. Said yes right away. His grandmother will be thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. We haven’t seen one another in a while, so it’ll be nice catching up. Can’t wait to pass the news along.
Read a couple of stories in the new issue of Ploughshares. Enjoyed them both, but neither as much as I wanted to. That’s how it goes, I guess.
New issue of Whiskey Island arrived with my latest story in it. “Dancing with the Devil.” Seems like a helluva long time ago since I first put it in the mail, but it was worth the wait.
Got another good jump on the day. Out the door, in the cottage, and at the keyboard before 6:30. Hit the long piece hard and managed some pretty good work. The stuff that was driving me crazy back in December is suddenly making sense, which in turn is making the edits feel less desperate. Still a long way to go before the end, but a lot of what lies ahead is already in good shape. The next start-to-finish read-through should prove interesting.
Took a break a little after noon and went to the gym. Good workout. Their heavy bag finally gave up the ghost, so had to forego the gloves, but I’m told a new one is on order and should arrive by Friday, pending a signature from The Money.
Wrote more when I got home, made a couple of calls and dug in to a little research. Feels good to have things in motion.
Young M tomorrow.
Gotta get a head start.
For now, that’s all.
Early rise, figuring to get in an hour or two at the keyboard before the baby came. Met with two or three inches of fresh snow on the way out the door to the cottage. That and a stiff, cold breeze.
Put in some good work, then went out to shovel and de-ice the walks.
School put classes on hold due to the weather, so instead of one boy we got two. Killed a couple of hours romping around the house before dad came to pitch relief, and after that had a long meeting in Old Colorado City over some new business.
Nice to see a bit of commercial work roll in.
Day never did get a whole lot warmer, but happy for the moisture as we haven’t had much this winter. Don’t know what sort of accumulation might have come to the mountains but, who knows, might be some snowshoeing this weekend if the temps hold.
Quiet around the hood. Too quiet, sometimes. Hope everyone’s doing okay.
Sunday already. How’d that happen?
Fell out of bed earlier than usual, made a pot of coffee, and went straight for the keyboard. Revisions. Revisions upon revision. Funny getting to a page where none are needed and looking at what’s there and thinking, there’s hope. You can do it. Just keep pounding.
Hit the gym mid-afternoon and enjoyed a long, paced workout. Afterward, went grocery shopping.
Read a nice story in Narrative today, and remembered an older piece by Robert Stone that appeared many years ago in the Best American Short Stories. A joint called “Under the Pitons.” Bookmarked it to read tomorrow. It’s a piece that’s haunted me for years.
Gonna watch a game tonight. Or part of one, anyway. Hope to get up even earlier tomorrow and make even more progress on the long piece.
Supposed to be nice Monday, then cold again the rest of the week. February’s not far off. March. April….
Up earlier than usual.
Worked on the long piece, then wen to a movie.
Nice break.
Easy day. Didn’t accomplish much, but nobody got hurt either.
Thinking I’ll get a jump on things tomorrow and make some real headway.
Tired. Don’t know why. Old, maybe?
Let YouTube roll and it landed on It’s a Beautiful Day’s “White Bird.” The right song, somehow, for a hard week.
Long piece is coming. Worked hard on it most of the day. Short trip to the gym followed by a shorter trip to the grocery store, followed by a bit more work on the keyboard.
Was wrong about the snow. It came blowing down this morning in what looked might turn into a decent fall, but checked up in the end. Just wind now and an overcast sky.
Slow day.
Pushed a couple of projects out the door, answered a few emails, looked after the baby and did a little reading. Missed the gym altogether, though I saw that coming from two days back so it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is.
Pretty day today, though I didn’t get out to enjoy any of it. They say snow for tomorrow (or did) but unless the weather changes drastically between now and three A.M., I kinda doubt it. Have a feeling it’s all going to turn to bluster, judging from the wind. We’ll see.
Glad tomorrow’s Friday. Between the cold and everything else that’s gone on this week, I’m happy to bid it goodbye.
Looking forward to working on the long piece again. Get lost in something. Anything.
Tough time concentrating today.
My long-time cat buddy, Sam, passed. What a sweet, sweet soul.
Another attempt at productivity foiled. Actually, managed a couple of decent edits before the little man arrived, so the day wasn’t a complete wash, literarily speaking.
Long afternoon, but snuck in a trip to the gym and, while I didn’t have much energy to spare after a sleepless night, put in a decent showing.
S passed along the famous letter from Hemingway to Fitzgerald regarding Tender Is the Night. The one that says “we’re all bitched from the start.” Hadn’t read the piece in many years and found it curious on a number of different levels. Hemingway criticizes Fitzgerald’s depictions of Gerald and Sara Murphy as untrue, and suggested it weakened the book. I told S it’s held up well over the years, despite Hem’s dislike of the material and that many a critic believe it’s still Fitzgerald’s best novel. Not knowing a great deal about the Murphys—at least on a personal level— I don’t understand what Hemingway found lacking in the characters of Dick and Nicole Diver. I’d sure like to explore the subject. Maybe it’s just a personal thing. Hemingway was notorious for co-opting real people (himself included) into his work, so maybe he held others who did it to a different standard. Anyway, not sure what makes his “art” and Fitzgerald’s only “marvelously faked case histories.”
Was going to write more, but a bit of dark news just came my way.
Calling it a night.
Well. Things moved forward, so it was better than most Mondays. Thought I was up early, but it was only that the sun had a hard time rising. Made it to the keyboard for some decent work anyway. Revisions moved forward, letters were posted, the Woodward book was (mercifully) finished, and even a trip to the gym got made.
Wrote my first N review of the new year and fixed dinner. Feel like something else should have happened, but have to say I would have been too tired to notice if it had.
M back with us tomorrow. Early. Need to get a jump on the day.
Could have used a bit of Starbucks this afternoon.
Oh, well. On to green woods, as the poet said, and pastures new.
Yow. Not sure where the day went. Only know it’s close to over and it feels like I sleptwalked through the entire thing. Gotta hope I get more out of tomorrow.
Don’t know what’s going on inside this head of mine, but haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in a week. Bad dreams, coughing, more bad dreams. Rolled out of bed later than usual, got a slow start at the keyboard, and eventually gave up and went to the movies.
Did manage to get a letter written to D. I’ll get that in the mail come Monday. Meantime, need to get back at the long piece and start hacking away again.
Haven’t been to the gym in three or four days. Too beat up from the cold or whatever it is. Still feeling pretty punk, but don’t think I can put it off any longer. Makes me crazy, not going. Only exercise I seem to get anymore, and one of the only excuses to get out of the house.
Gotta try and finish the Woodward book in the next two days. Can’t have it contaminating my mind any longer.
Snow flurries coming down tonight. Kinda pretty. Dodged a big snow last week but, who knows, maybe something unexpected will drift in. Be nice to see some white on the mountains. An excuse to snowshoe next week.
Game on tonight. Maybe I’ll watch a little of it.
