Spent
Everybody hates Mondays – hell, even I am wont to badmouth Monday from time to time… Really, though, the real day of the week to dread is Tuesday. On Monday, everyone is still getting over the weekend and catching up on crap they didn’t do (but should have done) on Friday. Tuesday is when the REAL work starts… and it’s usually when things get CrazyGoNuts in my office.
The rest of the week, I’ll be manning the office alone. I’m hoping that Tuesday is the aberration in an otherwise pleasant week. However, I’m a realist. That means that direct progress on The Project is likely going to be slow going, if not completely halted this week. Indirectly, I took the advice my friends gave me the other day and got my grubby little mitts on some of their recommendations.
I’ve started on The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. While his book is not quite the same “vibe” as what I’m going for (some of the suggestions sound a lot closer to what I’m trying to accomplish), I’ve always liked Stephenson’s style and ability to immerse you in his universe. Unlike some other writers, he purposely doesn’t use footnotes or endnotes (which I love) – he throws you into the story and lets the narrative take care of the rest. Also, he’s a master of the 3rd person perspective. Where my attempts seem juvenile and choppy, his words flow with grace and ease. I don’t think I fully appreciated his skill until now, when I’m dissecting each paragraph, sentence and word choice in order to build up this skill myself.
At any rate, this week will be more or less a wash on word-count building. I know it’s an excuse, but the LAST thing I want to do after 9 hours at a computer (did I mention I’m working mandatory overtime to cover our under-staffing?) is come home and sit at the computer even more. I’ll be spending most of my “writing work” energy on reading and learning.
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