Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

On Reading: Although I regret being harsh in my criticism of Cryptonomicon, I don't regret putting the book down. The irony that I was "let go" "laid off" "terminated" affected by a "Reduction In Force" the day I posted "I am not a quitter" is not lost on me. I've known for a while that my employer would have to give me the boot as I was too stubborn or lazy to quit and go through the job hunt. I didn't expect my ex-employer to be so good as to "transition" me to my next job. So...here I am. Since I put down Crypto, I read Compulsion, by Kellerman. I'm about to start Left Behind by LeHaye/Jenkins. I suspect that with the job transition, I will be blessed with more time to read and to write.

On Writing: I was humbled by the extensive rewrite of my story for Guideposts. The key takeaways for future submissions are to include dialogue and to be artful in the telling. My submission was a linear chronology of events. I definitely need to exercise my dialogue muscles. I will continue my discipline of daily posts. Perhaps I can find more opportunities to slip dialogue into my blog. More importantly, I believe in new beginnings and clearly I'm in a time of change and renewal. Monday I'll be relocating my cube to a lab (one floor up). I'm still not clear on the details or scope of my assignment. I do know that it will be a while before the new gig hits the level of "demanding" that typified the old gig. Seems like it's time to do more than blog.


On Arithmetic: If I write a page a day, 7 days a week, in 52 weeks I should have a 364 page novel. Or maybe 52 short stories. I have ideas for both. I have the support of my family. I have access to the tools I need. It's just a matter of math. And discipline. And commitment. And determination.