Daily?

Why not? I'm always thinking of something. Often journaling it. Why not here?

This isn't to claim anyone would be interested. But I would be. If y'all did. I think. Maybe. Maybe not. Okay.

Getting together with old friends on Saturday. We were quite the directionless unsocial young men at nineteen. All that has changed, but it's changed differently for each. They are married men, first or second doesn't matter, but happily and well-behavedly. We might go see a local R&B cover band, and I keep thinking it would be fun to use social media and my horde of party friends to instigate a dance party, see what kind of trouble I can cause. There wouldn't actually be any trouble, but it would be fun to pretend to try.

That wasn't very interesting. What's next?

My current mental obsession is a novel under way. Sort of under way. I don't have much time so I've written notes, mostly, interspersed with what might be called content. It's a way to proceed: Describe what you mean to happen in the chapter and fall into conversation or description or whatever as you go. This feels new somehow. There was a time when I tried to write the book I wanted to read. This resulted in slow progress as I tried to make what I was writing nearly perfect. But today I'm writing as if every word will be discarded anyway. My goal is simply to lay out the skeleton and some of the flesh and be open to new ideas as they pop up. It seems to work. This current chapter has more and more going on in it as I rake over the ground, and a time will come when (other than the actual words) it will be quite good: A good introduction of strong characters driven by events that set in motion more events to come later.

So, character -- the main one in this chapter being, as I said in a Facebook comment, so far removed from my own experience I should get a medal just for considering it. I don't mean for my book to center on some white dude nor on some collection of white dudes. We're talking California in 1855: There was more than enough diversity available to satisfy a real storyline.

So, character -- the largest has to be San Francisco herself, a place undergoing constant and rapid change. It's a challenge to get a fair idea what she looked like at any given moment in those days. I'll do what I can, try to be accurate, try to be interesting, try not to overdo it.

Is it a bad idea to converse like this about a WIP? It probably is. I'll stop here.

Job search? Not yet. One last project for the temp position. I'm taking a break from it now. Then? I dunno. I have different moods about it. I need to work but I don't have a clear feeling for what the world is like outside the corporate castle walls. Cold and harsh, no doubt, but there is growth and buzz in the tech world and while I'm not a programmer and indeed hate programming, I still feel like there's neat stuff to do. And there probably is, I just haven't prepared for it by building 3D printer hoverboard drones or whatever. But no, as mentioned below, there's a qualification for doing fun and fulfilling things, and I don't meet it, because I can't afford any risk. A rise in compensation would be great, but it's highly unlikely. The more fun a thing is, the less likely that rise. It really is better to stay safely within the stronghold if I can.

Soon, soon. Let me get this project knocked out before I go massaging resumés.