Wonder Rooms

February 5

Greetings, all!

I'm at work. There is no one else here. No one. Even the cat is in another building. The phone hasn't rang since about 10 a.m. I've been entering data, which is easy and mindless and just exactly the kind of work I like to do at a day job, if I have to do any work at all.

Well, that's not true. Editing manuals can be fun, and requires a bit of thought. But while entering data, my mind occupies itself by spinning off story ideas. There's an article about natural history and museums on Strange Horizons this week that I really liked. It talks about the symbolic power of animals and objects in various cultures. That's a subject that comes up, in various guises, throughout my fiction. The article also deals with categorization, how things are organized, and I love that stuff--the arbitrary boxes people draw around things, the way people group certain things together to help make sense of them. I love me some taxonomy. The article also mentions Wunderkammar, "wonder rooms"--private collections of strange things from far places, arranged for maximum weirdness and wonder value. I love stuff like that.

As a poet, I'm always trying to find concrete, specific things that can stand-in for abstractions (because abstractions are boring; I'd rather read about the lint on your Uncle Otis's funeral-suit than about capital-D-Death). Maybe it's that impulse that leads me to invest objects with such power in my writing. I really don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if a story idea accretes around my thoughts about Wunderkammar-- it wouldn't be a "Boy, this artifact sure is mystical and cool" story, though. It'd be more about the impulse to collect, and to classify... that's what interests me.

Back to the work-subject, I've been reading Patrick's archives lately. Currently reading two-year-old entries about how he hates his university job because it's boring, and there's nothing to do except surf the internet. His boss doesn't have more work for him to do, there are no crushing deadlines, it's just vast stretches of free time and occasional small tasks.

He hated that job? I would love that job! In fact, since wherever me and Meg move is going to have a major university, I'm going to be applying for that job! When I thought I had to leave my current job, that's the kind of job I applied for elsewhere here in Santa Cruz!

I love a job with minimal responsibilities. My puritan work ethic only applies when there's work to be done; if there's really nothing to do, I don't mind surfing online. Or, more to the point, writing-- or reading, or researching markets. My job is only the bill-payer. I'm a good employee, but I prefer to be a good employee who doesn't have too awful much to do. The only downside is that such jobs don't pay very well. But they pay well enough for me to get along cheerfully, right? My current job can be stressful at times, and I don't like that. As for fulfillment--What? Fulfillment from a day job? Not likely. Not necessary, either.

In a way, I feel like I'm just twiddling my thumbs with silly little jobs until I can write full-time. And yet, when I think realistically about the chances of being able to support myself writing fiction, I get a little panicked at the thought of doing admin work for the rest of my life, and that's when I start to think about freelancing, or going to grad school (both of which are still tempting me sorely).

For now, though, for the next couple of years... I think I'd like the kind of job Patrick hated so much. Something that I don't have to worry about at all after the end of the day. Something that causes me very little stress, and yet pays the bills.

Patrick was looking for a job that fulfilled him, that made him excited about work--I'm not looking for that. I already have the work that fulfills and excites me. All I need, for now anyway, is a bill-paying-job that doesn't interfere overmuch with that work.

That said, I should probably do some more day-job work, now.

Total Word Count: 7263

Today's Word Count: 0 (so far)

The Daring Darlings:

Jim C. Hines

Hilary Moon Murphy

Nicole Montgomery

Melanie Miller Fletcher

Karina Summer Smith

Anne Hutchins