January 2025 Update
No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change; Thy pyramids built up with newer might To me are nothing novel, nothing strange; They are but dressings of a former sight. Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire What thou dost foist upon us that is old, And rather make them born to our desire Than think that we before have heard them told. Thy registers and thee I both defy, Not wondering at the present nor the past; For thy records and what we see doth lie, Made more or less by that continual haste. This I do vow, and this shall ever be: I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.
— Shakespeare's Sonnet 123
There it is, a New Year's Sonnet. There is nothing new under the sun. It is only Time's continual haste that gives the illusion of newness. Who is to say the terrifying pyramids on our horizon are not simply iterations on a theme? All we can do is be true, despite the scythe and its schemes.
Writing
As I recover from vacation time, which was restful in many ways, I have begun to realize that there is no resolution or productivity plan that can help me. For one I have never been a planner, and for two the guilt induced when I inevitably fail my goals just slows me down. The only thing that can really help me is grit. Just keep picking up the pen and guitar, no matter how long it has been since I did it last. Build habits. I took a little hiatus for the holidays, but am now back to editing/rewriting book 2. It's coming along. I think I am going to have to add a lot at the end though.
Music
I only approached the guitar to unwind, which was fun, but I do really want to record some Lit Song demos that have been on the back burner for a while. Would love to try and jam with some people, but the scheduling for that is always the hardest part.
Audiobook
And here is where my New Year's grit talk is really going to come in to play, because I've been coming to the reluctant conclusion that if I ever want to build an audience it will probably have to happen on YouTube... And the audiobook is going to be the first step in that. I'm working on getting a regular time to plink away at it, which I think is doable. Hopefully I can get it done by the end of the year.
Reading
I finished my re-read of The Lord of the Rings and copied out over ten pages of quotes so that I can write an essay. I'm kind of terrified of the initial scope, but I'm looking forward to spending more time with Tolkien. It feels so good to revisit his world in his words. There are so many adaptions, and even the best of them are dull echoes in comparison.
In this read-through my heart was left on the Pelennor fields with King Théoden:
“Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! It shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.”
I also read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis and really enjoyed it. LOTR is long and deep, gathering force like a terrible thunderstorm until the climax flashes out and rolls over you. Perelandra was more like the lightning flash itself. I'd recommend it to any science fiction fan, because it is incredible how fresh the ideas are. I don't read a lot of modern scifi, but it seems to me the genre has become more about entertainment than experimental thought, at least in the mainstream, and if it is experimental then it is all experimental and there is little room left for the story itself. Perelandra is experimental, but C.S. Lewis doesn't let the idea take him over, he finds the moral thrust of it and builds the experiment around it without compromise. I am excited to record a podcast on it soon.
I also read some short stories by Dostoevsky, the most striking of which were Uncle's Dream, and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Ridiculous Man actually has some pretty striking parallels to Perelandra, and Uncle's Dream is one of the most gripping and entertaining short stories I have ever read. It is also perfect.
I also started reading Breakfast at Tiffany's. Can you tell I wanted to read a lot of short things after finishing LOTR? Now I am trying to figure out what the next long book might be, and it might well be non-fiction, which is rare for me. I kind of hate 90% of non-fiction, but I think, as I rewrite/edit my book I need to have space in my mind for my own story and own fictional voice rather than someone else's. But I don't want to stop reading. And I hope you don't, either.
Thank you for reading! I greatly regret that I will most likely never be able to meet you in person and shake your hand, but perhaps we can virtually shake hands via my newsletter, social media, or a cup of coffee sent over the wire. They are poor substitutes, but they can be a real grace in this intractable world.
Send me a kind word or a cup of coffee: