Four Minutes And Thirteen Seconds of Beauty

Tell me this just doesn’t make you happier. It makes me grin every time I see it. It’s at the end of the wonderful Bill Bailey’s comedy show “Tinselworm.” And it’s not comedy, this bit. It’s just the sheer joy of a group of musicians together.

 

What’s About to Happen

I have a PLAN. Which, according to Shepard Book, is maybe not better than having a Way, but I’ll have to run with what I’ve got.

This is the plan, in short:

I’m currently reading “The Crook Factory” by Dan Simmons and “Jurassic Park” by Michael Crichton (because I have two ladies with good taste in my life who declare I should read him, so ever-trusting, I’m giving him a whirl. I can’t bring myself to like Michael Crichton as a human being, and I don’t think I can ever forgive him for “E.R.” but…I can see why this book sold loads. It is compelling.)

Anyway. I’m reading those two, and am early on in both.

When I finish reading those two, I’m going to go into a Novel Writing Mode. What’s going to happen is, I’m going to go completely off the internet. I’ll communicate with some people via snail mail, with handwritten letters and everything. AND I’ll be not reading any more books, which is the hardest bit for me. I’ll also add into it a change in my schedule. Either staying up late (which, after a day full of toddler, doesn’t always work), or getting up at 5:00 AM or so, to add work hours into my day. I’m basically going to retreat from everything that isn’t a novel called “Save Us”.

And I’m going to stay in this form of isolated retreat until the book’s done.

And then, I’ll read freely, I’ll come back online, I’ll do short stories and articles solely for awhile. Go back to sleeping until a luxurious 7:00 AM. All that jazz.

The book’s gotta get done, and I don’t actually know if this is the way to do it, but my instincts seem to think it’s a good idea. And so do those two nice ladies-with-taste I mentioned above.

So, that’s what’s gonna happen.

I’ll have heaps of short stories send out to publishers before I leave, so I may reappear to briefly check in, if I’m told that someone’s bought something and I have contracts that need taking care of, edits that need looking over, and all that jazz. But otherwise…poof.

Fortunately, due to the memory span of the internet, you won’t miss me much. I’ve heard it said that Los Angeles is a thirty-minute-town (everything is thirty minutes away, or coming up in thirty minutes, and if you’re thirty minutes in the past, you’re forgotten). If that’s true, I’m afraid the internet’s got a much shorter attention span.

When I’m back, I’ll have a shiny new book.

It’s not happening quite yet though. I’ve got stuff to sort out and tend to. So it’s not happening until I finish reading these two books. November 1st, possibly? (Which means I’ll be writing a novel alongside all the National Novel Writing Month folks, even though I won’t be technically competing in that thing)

(or will I? Hm.)

I read fast, so those two books won’t take me long. but we’ve got a bit. And I’m sure I’ll blog before then.

This is just a record, so that when someone asks “you remember that Peter guy…? Me neither. But someone mentioned him. Whatever happened to him?”

And now…I go do dishes!