Leaden

February 24

Mondays are so very much like lead -- heavy, poisonous. Also unlike lead -- they don't provide an efficient shield against radiation, and they don't contaminate groundwater. Still, on the whole, Mondays are more like lead than they are like, say, club sandwiches, which are almost unambiguously good things (once can argue that bacon and mayo are bad things, though I'd argue that the positives outweigh the negatives). Today was not especially bad -- in fact, the day was okay, and the evening has been downright pleasant/productive -- but the overcast sky, a persistent ache in my lower back, a sense of hopelessness at ever making headway through the piles of work on my desk (and, verily, piled roundabout my desk), and the mourning of a too-swiftly-gone weekend combined to give the day a heavy aspect. Leaden. You get the gist. I'm trying to shake it off.

As others have pointed out, Scott Reilly made a cool thing -- j-walker, a sort of meta-index showing most recent entries to several journals. Very handy.

Nick weighs in with some exceedingly well-turned words about the recent "Is there a movement?/ Your movement sucks!/ There ain't no movement!" talk on various journals, etc., and in the process makes some excellent points that I haven't seen made elsewhere. Go read it. It's a significant data point.

I got into editing-mode tonight and tore through my Star*Line snail mail submissions, and answered a few e-subs as well, and my Flytrap submissions. Now feeling marginally less buried. Why do I take on so many projects? Oh, yes -- because when I'm not busy, the chattering dark presses in, and fear of mortality rises to the back of my throat with a taste like copper. Well, not really. Though I do like keeping busy. I also submitted a story, because that's supposed to be the main thing I do, after all.

That's all, apart from late-night trips to buy french fries (or, as they're apparently calling them in parts of my home state, "liberty fries," sigh) and a copious amount of lolling...

Words written since February 1, 2003: 8,900

Words written since last entry:
0.

Stories written this month:

• "Living with the Harpy"
• "Helljack" with Mike Jasper
• "Winter on the Pyre"

Poems written this month:

• "Nidhigg" (Bestiary poem)
• "Ts'its'tsi'nako" (Bestiary poem)