... the real reason the Brazillian economy crashed ...
February 3, 1999
5:02 a.m.
Brigid slept overnight at a friend's house Saturday night. I use the term "slept" euphemistically, of course. She came home a little on the irritable and cranky side, which, we actually thought was kind of cute and were totally okay with. I went upstairs and read one of her American Girls books to her for awhile. We sat on the couch, her on my lap and me with my arms around her, holding the book. We got through two chapters before she was falling alseep. So I quit reading and held onto her. It was just a little catnap. She woke up and wanted to play some games, so Lisa [ the copy editor/wife ] stopped the work she was doing on one of her manuscripts, and we played Taboo for an hour or so, then we taught her how to play black-jack. Yeah, yeah, corrupt them when they're young, I guess. But she wanted to learn, so what the heck, eh? We ate dinner out. Then we curled up on the couch, Lisa and Brigid reading a magazine, me watching the Super Bowl. All, in, all, it was a really good day.   It took an entire week, but I think it's fair to say I am finally over the stomach flu. I know that was foremost on your mind when you came here, so I wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. In the process of getting over this thing, I completely cut coffee out of my life. And tea. And chocolate. And about anything else having to do with caffeine. I could pause here and talk about headaches for a bit, but, you know, the horror market remains pretty slow these days, and I would just as soon not go there. So now I'm a week or more into this, and my body seems to have adjusted to some degree to being without coffee (which means I only shake a little at the thought of it). I am faced with the question, "Do I go back to the stuff, or do I leave it be?" Coffee has always been "the" morning staple for me, being good both for keeping me going, and also for a semi-reasonable reason to stop when I get stuck. You know, "Hmmm . . . not sure what's going to happen to poor Jones now that the monster's got hisjagged teeth poised over Jone's bare abdomen. Must be time for a new cup of coffee." I lead such a difficult life. I spent yesterday morning and early afternoon working on a story I originally developed while in LA for WotF. It's pretty well put together from a story point of view, which makes sense because I really felt like I was dialed in to storytelling mechanics while I was out there. But it's a little lacking in the character department. I had written it longhand, because I was lending my computer to a co-writer. And I finally decided that I ought to get it on silicon and mush it a little. I can't remember the last time I did this, but I know that I have before. I used to use notebooks a lot more than I use them now, and I know I did it with bits and pieces of the first novel, at least. And probably several short stories. It works fairly well, I think, because the first draft that you put in the computer actually becomes the second draft--hence artificially increasing the quality of what you think of as the first draft. If you haven't done it already, try it some time. You might find you really like it. So I'll spend a little time working on characterization, a process that can take anywhere from a morning to a month, and I'll get that one the heck out of here. Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" Thomas Stearns Elliot |
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