While pecking out my last post, I was undoubtedly wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Today, I'm wearing jeans and a quilted flannel shirt. It was also an anniversary as is this week (four years in the "new" house). The last five months allowed me to work on 30,000 (approximately) words in another medium. That averages to a pathetic 200 words per day, but with a few vacations and most weekdays consumed elsewhere it isn't quite that tripey. Call it short stories, call it a novella, call it stupid, but it was something I had an idea for and wanted to do. Something realized in a sea of false starts. At times, it was much harder to do than I thought it would be. I definitely had to be in the right mood, the right frame of mind to work on it. There were several times where entire sections were scrapped with a quit hit of the "Delete" button, bringing me back to the scary blank page. Remember how terrifying Word Perfect was when the program was started? It really was just a blank page with a blinking green cursor. The Function Keys on our keyboards lie there as relics of that era, fossils of the dead dinosaur.
The project isn't done at this point, but the bulk of it has been created.
The big question is: Now What? I'll definitely spend time self-editing; a process I really enjoy. I may let one or two other people read it. But, ultimately I'll probably let it sit, terminally ill in Google Drive. Like most things done outside my paying job, this was done for myself. I may also go the route of self-publishing. Since this is a fairly permanent thing to do,even if it is almost by definition done quietly, it is not something to be done lightly. There is always the option of doing it privately (vanity publishing).
A lot has happened over the last five months, both in real life and the outside world. I've missed spouting off, but nobody has missed me - which I'm fine with. My page hits are well over 5000 at this point which I'm pretty shocked by. Even assuming many of these are automated hits, I'm still quite surprised.
Thanksgiving is over and we're into the "Holiday Season." There is a stack of Christmas Cards and a letter on the desk behind me, idly waiting for addresses. Past history has told me these are not actually read by very many people, despite their being succinct (1/2 page, both sides, no more, with space enough for a quick note at the bottom and a font my older relatives can read). It is important to not take anything too seriously.
So now I can return to pecking out words every week or two (or three). I often scroll through Blogger's "Next Blog" feature. Sometimes it brings me to really interesting places. Other times it brings me down an incomprehensible road. Ik begrijp niet hoe " Volgende Blog " kan plotseling veranderen languge?
Maybe the Next Blog will be better...
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