Is it 2009 already?

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Having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that it's been almost a year since I decided to write a novel.  Okay, so maybe I can't be called a novelist until it's done, and maybe only ONE person out there has an idea of how much work I've put into it -- though I have no permanent text to show...

Should I make a resolution?  FINE.  I will make just the one this year, to finish this thing.  I think that ought to be enough.  It's not like I'm a natural storyteller, or an accomplished liar, used to making shit up -- if I can finish this at all, it will be an accomplishment.

Things keep coming to me, that alter the overall story enough to keep me thinking the time is not yet right to begin the actual writing.

Virtual Dreamer is a work of near-future science fiction.  I just about have to finish and publish it within the next year for it to mean anything -- plus there's the expectation that print will cease to matter, even within the timeline of the novel itself.  If I'm to write it at all, yes, it needs to 'drop' before the end of 2009.

Within the next 2 weeks or so, I have to make sure I have half a dozen spoons ready for oil.  The plan is to use a friend's video camera to capture the moment of first oil on several carvings, on the weekend of my 42nd birthday.  Each of these carvings takes more hours than I can count, from raw hunk of wood to finished piece, some more than others...

At some point I need to pick up my bass again and work on my technique -- and find time to jam...

Nothing like the beginning of a new year to make you examine your work.  I look back at 2008 and realize I've been slacking, even more than a confirmed slacker should.

By the way?  The SLACKER button I have as my profile image was procured for me by a friend who has now passed.  I don't have the actual button, probably never will.

Like many others, I guess, often I find myself in front of a monitor and keyboard, wanting to express myself -- and sometimes there's no one specific to e-mail...  Here's hoping I get 'into the groove' enough with the novel, over the next few months, that my blog posts will become sparse...

Phil Smith

January 1, 2009

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