Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
29 June 30 June 1 July* 2 July	First draft of “Memorial Garden” * Also, lounging for Canada Day	6 manuscript pages.	Pelikan 140 Lamy 27 Waterman Executive Jinhao 159	Edelstein Olivine TWSBI Sapphire Blue Herbin Lie de Thé Diamine Syrah

 

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
22 June 23 June 24 June 25 June	First draft of “Memorial Garden”	4 manuscript pages.	Jinhao 159 Pelikan 140 Parker Arrow Waterman Executive	Diamine Syrah Edelstein Olivine Jentle blue-black Herbin Lie de Thé

It’s not that I’m unenthusiastic, I’m just tired. Whoever turned the volume knob on Regular Job way over back in May hasn’t put it back yet.

Vacation time impends. Ravelled sleeves quiver in anticipation.

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
15 June 16 June 17 June 18 June	Bloody nothing on Monday First draft of “Memorial Garden”	10 manuscript pages.	Montblanc 32 Jinhao 159 Waterman Executive Pelikan th.INK	Diamine Bilberry Diamine Syrah Herbin Lie de Thé Herbin Poussière de Lune

I think henceforth we might take it was given that Monday’s are unproductive, thanks to the thing I mentioned at the end of last month. It wasn’t an issue last week because, as it was a new thing, I forgot about it entirely until the next day. For the foreseeable future, though, Mondays are going to be opposed to writing.

 

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.

 

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.

 

It’s Like They’re Twins

Joy and Terror, that is.

I just put in the order for the new computer. I know that for some a new computer is a trivial expense, or perhaps a minor inconvenience. I’m not like that. Three people, one paycheck (plus the vast wealth which writing short fiction generates); it’s not an arrangement with a lot of loose cash. So, the strange fluttering in my chest at the prospect of a new, fully-functional computer arriving on the doorstep soon is… hard to ascribe a genesis to.

Oh, look; it’s next month’s credit card statement.

Let’s put terror aside, now, and consider horror. Fun horror.

Had I a little thought to spare at the moment, I might do my own suggestions in this style, but for the moment– that’s a pretty solid list.

Today’s pen: Pelikan th.INK
Today’s ink: Herbin Poussière de Lune

 

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.

 

Where DID the Time Go?

Oh… look… it’s Friday. Well, let’s pop out the thing that SHOULD have happened yesterday, for a start.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
27 April 28 April 29 April 30 April	Third draft of “In Loco Parentis” First draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title). “Self-Policing”	A couple of typos and the tactical redeployment of a clause. 2 manuscript pages (and napping). 1031 words, all in a tumble, and up on the other site.	Pelikan P1 Parker 75 Pilot Vanishing Point That Majestic thing	Diamine Midnight Edelstein Olivine TWSBI Blue-black Edelstein Topaz

As the pace of work on “Ancestral Curse” suggests, I’m still having snoozy issues which may be related to the stresses of the current plague. I know that failing entirely to post the preceding is down to that stress, atop extra month-end stress brought on by the departed co-worker, about which I have previously whined.

Also, I got into a small creative froth, which I explain the genesis of in a post on my writing site, and so my whole attention yesterday was given over to frothing.

Um.

No, actually I’ll leave it. Anyway, it didn’t really strike me until I was lowering head to pillow that yesterday was Thursday. I can’t really blame that on COVID, since the ticking of my weekly clock goes on as ever it has.

Let me not break with Friday tradition, however, now that I’m aware it is Friday. I know a lot of the home-stuck are looking for projects to divert themselves, so here’s one.

Back in the late 1980s, when the interwebz was hardly even present in the fiction of William Gibson, I tried to do this following instructions in books. Now that I see, in motion, how it’s done, I realize how close I was to accomplishing the goal. I was, alas, even closer to losing an eye through the failure of the not-quite-really-a-bow.

Today’s Pen: Sheaffer Balance Statesman
Today’s ink: Skrip Black (which, by pure coincidence, is what I loaded it with when I last used it, somewhat more than a year ago).