Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, January 14, 2023, or: And on the Seventh Day, the Writer Rested…(After a Trip to Market Basket)

Early Afternoon, Sunday, January 14, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. I am writing this, the 1,397^th post in A Certain Point of View, Too, later than usual. I needed to go to the Market Basket in North Conway because I was running low on groceries. If the weather hadn’t been so lousy yesterday, Marc, Patti’s husband, would have taken me then. This morning we got a break from the rain and snow, so Marc picked me up before 10:30 and off we went.

I’ve been back home for over an hour, but I needed to put the groceries and other purchases away. That took me a bit longer than I expected, but I got the job done, so here I am.

It’s been a nice day so far, if you put aside the fact that it’s winter, it’s chilly, and though the roads have been cleared, there’s a lot of snow on the ground. Currently, the temperature in Madison is 32°F/0°C under cloudy skies. The wind chill factor is 25°F/-4°C, and the forecast for the day calls for light snow and a high of 35°F/2°C. Tonight, skies should be partly cloudy; the low will be 16°F/-9°C.

On Writing & Storytelling: A Quick Update on Reunion: Coda

Yesterday was a “make up for a lost days’ worth of productivity” day. I usually avoid working on Saturdays and Sundays, but because Friday was not a good writing day – for many reasons – I spent several hours working on the epistolary chapter (aka Chapter 12, aka “The One with the Emails.”

Because I started writing not long after noon, and because I went into it with a sense of being on a mission, I was able to get one simulated email – from Jim to Maddie this time – done. It took several drafts to get the wording to a place where I was satisfied – even happy with it. But…I got it done, And that’s what counts – good results make me a happy man.

I don’t plan to tinker too much with the Reunion: Coda manuscript today. I’m still not used to New England’s wintry weather, for one, and for two, I do need to do other things than work on a novel, no matter how much I want to finish it by mid- to late Spring of 2024. I’m still grappling with the emotional consequences and practical realities of the Big Move North, and…I’m only human. As much as I love my work – and trust me, writing a novel is work, and hard work at that – I get tired and even discouraged…more often than you might imagine.

So, since all work and no play makes Alex a dull boy, I will avoid attempting to add another email – this time, one from Maddie to Jim – and go to my room and watch a movie or TV show on DVD or Blu-ray. I have enough – if not all – of my Blu-rays (2K and 4K) or DVDs in the partly-assembled media towers in the room across the hall from my office, and I also bought some snacks, so if I try hard to pull myself away from my desk, I can enjoy the second half of this January weekend.

Anyway, as the New York Times would say, this is all the news that’s fit to print, so I’ll close for now. Even though the heater is running, my hands are a bit chilly now, and cold temperatures, gray skies, and my moods are not always a good mix. Until next time, sayonara, folks!