Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
3 May 4 May 5 May 6 May	A very little work on the website	Most of the stuff I’ve been saying I’d update.	OMAS Arte Italiana Sheaffer Balance Craftsman PenBBS 500 Sailor Pocket Pen	Diamine Honey Burst Diamine Writer’s Blood TWSBI Blue Jentle blue-black

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Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
26 April 27 April 28 April 29 April	“Willful Murder” (working title). Something I’ll present tomorrow	4 manuscript pages (again?!). Simultaneously more and less effort that you’d think.	PenBBS 500† Pelikan 140 OMAS Arte Italiana Sheaffer Balance Craftsman	TWSBI Blue Monteverde Malibu Blue† Diamine Honey Burst† Diamine Writer’s Blood†

† So, clearly I didn’t get any updates on the site on the weekend. I got distracted by the possibilities of…

OK, it’s a little circuitous. My wife acts, and since the provincial government chased film production out of the province a few years ago, she’s been concentrating on the stage. This outlet to her creativity was somewhat stifled by the current plague, since live theatre is exactly the sort of thing the phrase “super-spreader” was invented for.

The theatre has decided to push on with the new season, though, and my wife has been cast in a leading role. How this? They’re presenting Sorry, Wrong Number in its original format– a radio play. I will, of course, offer a link when the play goes public; the “no public gatherings” command has been turned into a disadvantage, as local theatre goes online and global.

I’ve been on the fence about getting a (somewhat) decent microphone, and this has pushed me over the edge. Our Yeti Snowball arrived this week… but that’s just the catalyst. Since I’m having trouble wringing words out of my head, I’m spreading out into other media.

…and I’ll roll some of that out tomorrow.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
19 April 20 April 21 April 22 April	“Willful Murder” (working title)	4 manuscript pages (like pulling teeth, it is!).	Sailor Pocket Pen PenBBS 500† Pelikan 140 Sheaffer Balance Craftsman	Jentle blue-black TWSBI Blue Monteverde Malibu Blue† Diamine Writer’s Blood†

† I am going to try to get a load of updates to the site complete this weekend, because this is getting silly and I really want everyone to see what Writer’s Blood looks like– it’s an amazing dark burgundy. I say “try” because a large chunk of my Saturday is taken up with a meeting of the Sask Writers Guild board meeting.

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
8 June 9 June 10 June 11 June	First draft of “Memorial Garden”	2 pages.†	Waterman Executive Pelikan th.INK Montblanc 32 Parker VP	Herbin Lie de Thé Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Bilberry TWSBI Blue-Black

†Two pages? Two?! In a whole week? Well, not really. That’s two pages today, while the rest of the week was spent trying to build up enthusiasm for any of the stories in the idea hopper.

I’m not particularly happy with that. I am absolutely putting it down to work stress; the volume of work has somehow kept rising throughout the COVID period. There’s supposed to be a slack tide in the middle of the month, damn it!

I was also dilatory on my Magic Brain Pills a couple of weeks back, and have perceived maybe not the black dog itself but certainly the smell of its cold, damp fur. A better effort at periodic swallowing since should see the chemistry back where I’d like it.

Comfort Eating

I was thinking of putting up some socially conscious material today, because what’s going on across North America is very damn important and I haven’t mentioned any of it here.

BUT

I haven’t mentioned any of it here because I’ve been attending to it elsewhere. I have a sufficiency of privilege that I am able to withdraw  when it becomes too much to bear, keeping this space as one of my redoubts. Frankly, watching a 75 year old man getting what might be a fatal head injury and then be studiously ignored by those who gave it to him… yeah. I need a little break, and I suspect others do too.

Thus, a retreat into childhood.

I bless him for using butter rather than margarine. I don’t know that I’d brown it, though, and that seemed like an awful lot of salt. I do absolutely agree that making marshmallow is over the top (and, to be honest, it’s sort of like playing with lava– I want to make treats, not engage in the less fun aspects of glass-blowing).

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to contemplate what I might get up to this weekend.

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Balance Statesman
Today’s ink: Skrip Black

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
1 June 2 June 3 June 4 June	Third draft of “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless”† Submissions. The extended whine below.	Three very awkward sentences shown the error of their ways, and some other polishing. The barrel of the launcher grows perilously hot. Yes, I’ve got something to whine about.	Parker VP Fuliwen 2024 Montblanc 32 Pelikan th.INK	TWSBI Blue-Black‡ Diamine Oxford Blue Diamine Bilberry Herbin Poussière de Lune

‡ A note not about the ink, but about the absence of a link to a profile. My new computer arrived!

Yay!

I still can’t update the site effectively!

Ya… wait, what?

It’s the sort of thing that will rise up like a patch of cursed bog to confront you when you don’t replace your computer for a decade or so. That program you like? The one that you’re very familiar with?

Yes, that’s right. It’s not compatible with the new OS. One of the reasons for that is, as you’ll discover when you go looking, that the company behind the program stopped offering software at some point in the past three years or so, and now make sensor hardware.

This is deeply inconvenient when the program is question is the one that you… or rather I, have been processing all my images through. Cleaning them up, Trying, despite appearances, to get them to be consistent in tone and brightness. Editing out moles and other blemishes on the otherwise smooth skin of my models.

Which means that I have to both find a replacement and figure out it works before I can add yet more images to my image-rich site. And also resist the urge to play World of Warships, which is something the new computer can offer, unlike the previous one. I’m leaning towards something in the GIMP direction, and not just because that’s an unkind nickname I hung on my brother when I was about eight.

† This is a much more satisfactory title than “Ancestral Curse”. Trust me.

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May	A new problem† Shaving “Wilden Klausen” to fit a publication it’s thematically perfect for. Getting “Wilden Klausen” off on its way. Catching up on correspondence	More than I’d like 131 words removed and a pint of sweat. Bon voyage, monster-filled figment of my imagination! Half of it.	Fuliwen 2024 Sheaffer Balance Statesman Pelikan th.INK Montblanc 32	Diamine Oxford Blue Skrip Black Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Bilberry

† As we gear up at The Regular Job for post-COVID operations, there’s been some shuffling, and one of the effects this has upon me is taking both barrels in the face of this question: “You don’t mind covering the front desk over lunch, do you?”

It’s not a big deal, but the Selfish Artist trope who is among the multitudes which I contain is grumbling. I still have, technically, the full length of my lunch break, it just doesn’t start until 12:45. However, acting upon that seriously truncates the afternoon. I think I may have mentioned that I am extremely busy with Real Job lately?

This is likely to become less of a problem as we get back to more usual staffing levels (like many, I desperately hope that COVID marks the turn of an epoch, and the world will not simply return to status quo ante, but at a personal level… more people on-site to help with the lifting at Regular Job, please). It’s also not what I’m used to, and that is frequently enough to make a thing onerous.

What? Again?

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
18 May 19 May 20 May 21 May 22 May	Slothful Victoria Day Lounging Getting a submission out Second draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title). Another submission to prep This nonsense, and considering the next submission	Buckets of it One Away! 352 typed words, and ready for the next phase. Two Away! Standing by on Tubes 3 and 4!	Pelikan th.INK Montblanc 32 Pilot Vanishing Point Parker 75 Sheaffer Balance Statesman	Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Bilberry TWSBI Blue-black Edelstein Olivine Skrip Black

It’s Victoria Day that did it to me. On a count of straining effort for The Regular Job, instinct insisted yesterday was Wednesday.

And with that out of the way, let me now present today’s educational video– how to live in the future!

It’s 2020. That’s the future. Smartphones exist. FUTURE.

 

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
11 May 12 May 13 May 14 May	Second draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title).	1411 typed words (and that’s with a nap on Tuesday).	Sheaffer Balance Statesman Pilot Vanishing Point Parker 75 Montblanc 32	Skrip Black TWSBI Blue-black Edelstein Olivine Diamine Bilberry

 

 

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
4 May 5 May 6 May 7 May	First draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title). Rhymes with axes, starts with a T.† Second draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title).	3 manuscript pages. I’m getting a refund!† 538 typed words.	Parker 75 Sheaffer Balance Statesman That Majestic thing Pilot Vanishing Point	Edelstein Olivine Skrip Black Edelstein Topaz TWSBI Blue-black

† In any normal year, filing on 5 May would be disastrously late, even in Canada (15 April? Why that, US?). In this plague addled year, though, I’m three and a half weeks ahead of the deadline. This is mainly because the government agency tasked with scraping money off of us is also responsible for handing it out to the unemployed and underemployed; the plague has complicated the hell out of that side of their duties. It’s as much to give the employees of the Canada Revenue Agency some hope for bathroom breaks as it is for the rest of us to figure out what’s going on with our personal finances.

And because I don’t make a lot of money, and because Wife and Son make none at all, I am getting a refund on what has been skimmed from my pay and also on the Carbon Tax we’ve been put under, as an incentive to not use internal combustion transport and natural gas heating.‡ This will, hoorah, be about enough to buy a new computer, allowing me to maybe update my site.

Eventually. The CRA is quite busy, and delivering refunds is yet another aspect of handing out the money they otherwise draw in. I understand this. It’ll come in due course.

‡ I certainly would like to get my hands on an electric vehicle and a ground-sourced heat-pump powered by solar generation. Alas, the carbon tax rebate meant to encourage this (even if you’re not buying gas, you still get the rebate, so ka-ching!) isn’t anywhere near enough for that sort of thing.