It’s a beautiful fall day in Chicago. The kids are playing with their friend from up the street, and the Mrs. and I are about to put up some Halloween decorations.
Overheard from the kids:
Junior: “This is Mommy’s Rubik’s cube.”
Boy from up the street: “What do you do with a Rubik’s cube?”
Junior: “You try to get it right.”
Boy from up the street: “How do you get it right?”
Junior: “…”
Miles run today: 8.58 miles, in 1:17:10. That’s a 9:00 minute/mile pace; the first half was at 9:21 and the second half was at 8:39. Not as slow as my creepy crawly half marathon last weekend, but not fast. I didn’t run at all during the week, again, in significant part because it took me so long to recover from last Sunday’s half marathon. I learned my lesson, though, and kept today’s run relatively short, so that I won’t be in so much pain in the next few days. My running has really gone to shit in the last few weeks, and I’d like to pick it back up before the weather really turns. There’s maybe another month of crisp fall days, which are perfect for running; then I have to break out the serious winter running gear. Today was ideal — around 50-55 degrees, sunny, and not too much wind. I couldn’t ask for any better weather. In any case, I’m done racing for the year now; I don’t have anything on the calendar until the Shamrock Shuffle next March.
What I had on my iPod during the run: Phedippidations # 157 (“The Third Annual World Wide Festival of Races”), and Seventh Son OBSIDIAN #32 (Final Episode, including “Eusocial Networking,” a short story by Scott Sigler, the founding father of podcast fiction).
Writing update: I’ve managed to keep my hands off of Meet the Larssons for another week. I wrote a 599-word flash story and submitted it to an online fiction site (guess what their word count limit is). I put together a three-page summary of one idea for my next novel (and damn, that feels weird to type: “my next novel”); call that one “Project Downhill.” Today, I started a summary of another idea for a completely different novel, a comic urban fantasy; call that one … I can’t think of a cool code name for it right now. Just call it “Project L,” until I think of something cooler. There’s one more idea I may try to hash out before I make up my mind, but I think I’m likely to pick one of these two. Once I make up my mind, I’m going to try the Snowflake Method of outlining the novel; I wrote Meet the Larssons by the seat of my pants, and it needs major restructuring. As unnatural as it feels to think about preparing increasingly detailed outlines before doing the “real” writing, I would really like to avoid having to do this kind of major work on the second draft next time; I hope to limit the revisions to touching up the paint and banging in a couple of loose nails, instead of building an entire addition and moving a number of load-bearing walls.
I’m starting to see other people blogging about doing NaNoWriMo, which starts in a couple of weeks. If you’re doing NaNo, then best of luck to you, and have fun. I know I made the right decision not to do it this year; I want to get back to MTL before December, and I want to have an idea of what the next novel will be as well. I’d also like to finish one or two more short stories by the end of the year. All of that means that NaNo would be a bad idea, and an unnecessary one; I don’t need the kick in the pants to write, I just need to keep doing it. Still, though, it looks like fun, and I like the community (and competitive) spirit that imbues the venture. It does feel weird not to be in the middle of a major writing project. I know I’m going back to MTL soon, but until I do I feel a little at loose ends. I’ve been reading on the train instead of writing, and it just feels wrong, like I’m slacking.
I’m enjoying telling callers and doorbell ringers that I’ve already voted — there’s nothing more I can do for them. I encourage you to vote early if that’s an option for you; here in Chicago, at least, the lines are much shorter than they are on election day, and it means you don’t have to worry about something unexpected preventing you from voting on November 4.
The Unfocused Life 