[A Pleasurable Headache] restorative endeavours
I’m still getting used to having another living thing be entirely dependent on me/us to live. As mentioned previously I have been attending a writing sprint Zoom call most Thursday nights. I find these sessions incredibly productive and my wife is an absolute saint to let me just go off into a room for an hour or so to take part in these sessions.
One shortcoming, however, is the old habit of comparing myself to others rearing its head. Most of the other writers involved are able to make progress with their respective projects between sessions. Meanwhile, I scrabble throughout the week to try and get some words (any words) added to the current project (a short story for a submission call based around horror and the sea) whenever I can. It really is about gathering those slivers of time and hoping they add up to something substantial as the end of the week nears.
I still haven’t quite perfected the best way to do this. A phone works well. A pocket notebook may work better.
If anyone has any tips, advice, etc. about how best to get some steady progress down whilst dealing with a demanding newborn feel free to shoot me a reply. I shall be forever grateful.
Links
TV News Did More Stories on Queen Elizabeth II in the Past 2 Weeks Than on Climate Change in the Past 2 Years
https://thecolumn.substack.com/p/tv-news-did-more-stories-on-queen
Of course they did.
Meanwhile, Charles P. Pierce at Esquire reminds us that climate change is the only real story that matters.
///
The Joy of Repairing Laptops
https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-joy-of-repairing-laptops-618e425a3910
As someone who has a Thinkpad E550 that still works as good as the day I got it (if not better), I can attest to the claims of Clive Thompson’s title here. Less e-waste too.
///
Unprecedented leak exposes inner workings of UK Labour Party
“The data reveals how the party’s bureaucrats, whose nominal function is to serve the interests of the party, attempted to undermine members supportive of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader from 2015 to 2020.”
Not seeing much play regarding this over here in Britain. How odd.
More on this over at Mint Press News as well.
///
Has The Zodiac Killer Mystery Been Solved (Again)?
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/zodiac-killer-paul-alfred-doerr/
Oof. Here we go again.
“As he studied Zodiac’s cryptic letters, Kobek brought a writerly attention to bear. He zeroed in on the killer’s habit of quoting forgotten bits of cultural ephemera (the well-known call-outs to The Mikado and to the 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” as well as a telling reference to an obscure 1950s comic book, identified by an anonymous online researcher, Tahoe27, several years back). Running other apparent quotations through Google Books and the Internet Archive, Kobek formed a picture of the killer as a fan of pulp novels, comics, and other nerdy touchstones. Kobek knew a bit about the early years of the sci-fi and fantasy fandoms, how these nascent communities had begun taking shape around an array of obscure self-published zines. On a hunch, he did a quick web search of “fanzines” and “Vallejo. That’s how he stumbled on a suspect of his own, one who had somehow escaped attention for five decades.”
///
No, Elon Musk’s Starlink Probably Won’t Fix Iranian Internet Censorship
https://theintercept.com/2022/09/27/elon-musk-iran-protest-starlink-internet/
Musk is making outlandish claims about his tech again. Meanwhile, water is wet. Speaking of water…
///
The UK’s water industry is broken – here’s how to fix it
https://theconversation.com/the-uks-water-industry-is-broken-heres-how-to-fix-it-190700
“A past report concluded that it would take Thames Water 357 years to renew its network. Yet pipes have a lifespan of only 50 years.”
But it’s fine. I’m sure our PM will fix it.
Liz Truss getting absolutely ruined on local radio this morning
— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) September 29, 2022
A thread, with credits
///
This is Serious Business You’re Fucking with Here: The Films of William Friedkin by Bill Ryan
This site looks to be defunct now, but I thoroughly enjoyed this overview of William Friedkin’s directorial career, separating his movies out into distinct periods/themes.
///
The Digital Age is Destroying Us
https://lithub.com/the-digital-age-is-destroying-us/
Jonathan Crary on what the intrusion of the digital sphere into almost every aspect of our modern lives has done to us.
“Any possible path to a survivable planet will be far more wrenching than most recognize or will openly admit. A crucial layer of the struggle for an equitable society in the years ahead is the creation of social and personal arrangements that abandon the dominance of the market and money over our lives together. This means rejecting our digital isolation, reclaiming time as lived time, rediscovering collective needs, and resisting mounting levels of barbarism, including the cruelty and hatred that emanate from online. Equally important is the task of humbly reconnecting with what remains of a world filled with other species and forms of life. There are innumerable ways in which this may occur and, although unheralded, groups and communities in all parts of the planet are moving ahead with some of these restorative endeavors.”
///
Short stories: How much do you make? How do you sell one? How long does it take to write?
https://superamit.substack.com/p/short-stories-how-much-do-you-make
Finally, in Amit Gupta’s newsletter he runs through the entire process of selling a short story to Tor.com. It runs from idea generation to the story itself being published and highlights just how long such projects can take, how difficult it is to find the right home for a story and how glacial progress can feel when you’re in the trenches.
///
Right, I’m off to shave for the first time in two weeks. See you in two!