🚀The Dark Age: Little baby robots

Hello, friends!

Well, look at that, would you? It's a new year. In past years I've thrown resolutions at the wall to see what sticks; this year I'm just trying to show up for myself each day. To focus on practical things, like money management or organizing the house, or on relationship things, like being a better partner, or soul-satisfying things, like appreciating what I have and wringing enjoyment from it.

The last time we talked about The Dark Age I shared that I've been writing by hand, and that's still true. It's been a satisfying experience, feeling closer to the story, to the words, simply by drawing each letter and sentence with my hand. I still feel the urge to type: I want to move fast. But I'm bringing myself back to that place of slowing down, sinking into the words. I'm trying to get lost in the work.

I began this fourth draft on the screen, writing new chapters in Ulysses, one of the nicest little writing apps. I got about five chapters in before I made the decision to write longhand. So for the last six weeks or so, writing longhand has been an act of both transcription and editing: I've been moving those chapters onto the page, tweaking and rewriting and discarding and modifying as I go. As of a couple of days ago, however, I've caught up to where I was previously, and now I'm writing into uncharted territory, with only my loose outline to guide me. What I'm loving about this is how freeing it is: I find it easier to discover new things. A character does a thing I hadn't planned on; a surprise reveal is made.