Yes, it must be time for a New Year to be slinking towards us. Can’t you feel it this week? I’m at work, which makes me one of almost – almost! – a dozen people outside of Customer Service that have shown up. Its the week between Christmas and New Years, when apparently normal people vacate Earth to go on holiday.
But not us dedicated True Believers, am I right? Am I? Please say that I am. Because otherwise I’m an idiot for coming in when I could be working towards last year’s New Year resolutions (there is, after all, still days left to accomplish everything I set out to do!). Alas, I can see now that it is not meant to be. The good news is that I didn’t give up.
Well, OK, I did. But not for long, and that’s what matters. In fact, the last week or two has been absolutely fantastic. My folks came up for a mini-Christmas which went great, and the week following that was awesome. My wife, who is the most amazing woman on the planet, juggled two Christmas dinners, entertaining, and gifting me with some of the best presents I could have hoped to ask for. Topping all of that off was an afternoon spent RPG’ing in Castle Ravenloft with our two oldest girls, my wife, and myself. Fantastic times. Even if Katy does now have earrings, which is a sign of maturity this old softie wasn’t ready to see.
Unfortunately, this means I no longer have any excuses about writing. I have my own personal cafe (Kuerig), new over-the-ear headphones, and a fresh perspective. Not that I was holding on to any excuses still – the last week and a half I’ve been grinding the axe, spewing out words both useful and trashy. A lot of what I’ve churned out lately is destined for the bin, but the gears are now primed and ready and I can feel good things vibrating through my finger tips.
Mostly, I’ve been working on the novel at large, seeing what pieces fit together in my story, where they almost fit but need some mending, and where I just need to chuck them off into the pile of “save for later.” I’ve also spent some time tweaking Scrivener (because tweaking is what you do when you’re brainstorming and looking for a distraction, but know that the x-box’s lure is hollow). My knuckles are cracked, my neurons are pulsing, and the music has a good beat. I’m ready.
I don’t know, though, what the frequency of posts (at least “meaningful” ones) is going to be like in the oncoming year. I really want to get this novel off my chest, and that doesn’t leave much time for frittering away on a blog. Not that I’ve been the best blogger these last few months, I know, but still. So just in case – Happy New Years! And Valentines, and maybe even St. Patrick’s Day, though if you don’t see me on here by then you might want to check local hospitals because there’s no way I can keep my mouth shut for three months, is there?