Category: Other

This is old, old advice, right? The more you know about where you are and how you got there, the easier it is to find your way elsewhere! I’ve recently had cause to consider that in combination with the strange, fuzzy way that stress muddles your sense of time. ‘Yesterday passed in an hour, but this week’s been a year,’ right? And it got me thinking about ways that I anchor my concept of normal and of movement – now, then, later – against the fact that everything I experience is, has been, or will be “now.”

I take a lot of notes. I’ve mentioned this before, mostly in the context of “nebulously in the future,” as is the case with my recommendation lists and to-write work – both in many ways the predecessors to this post. As part of my ongoing character arc from “I can hold it all in my head!” to “why, actually?” I’ve expanded that concept to include the near future and the past! I’ve taken particular notice to the visibility of deadlines. Coupon expires next week? Add it to the calendar. Crucially, add it to a calendar that I already look at. Make travel plans by this date, submit Hugo nominations by then… On the subject of the Hugos, I’ve also taken to writing down eligible material as I encounter it! No more mad scramble for what all I’ve done in the past year and which of it is relevant.

Of course, there’s also the broader matter of things I’ve gotten done – a sentence that has soured in other contexts, and proven quite useful in this one, especially for the odd little things that don’t seem like Major Accomplishments. I keep a container of them now, on paper, with things like “real food,” “phone call,” and “found something I was looking for”! There’s one that just says “put my desk back!” – I honestly have no idea where the desk was or why, but I can infer it was important. I mean… exclamation point!

Point is, when I ask “what has happened recently?” and my concept of time betrays me, I have answers. When I ask “what do I need to actively be working on?” and “what do I have to look forward to?”, I have answers. And as the rest of the world shifts beneath us, the value of that can’t be discounted.

Behold, floofs! That’s it, that’s the post.

It’s been unusually warm for “winter” these last couple weeks, in between drops below freezing. I very excitedly went to curate a plant photos post accordingly, and realized I focused all my pictures on the same plant, so I’ve expanded the criteria to “green things,” featuring: purple crocuses, pea soup, and Ramen Fury! (There are vegetable cards, it counts.)

And I don’t mean ergonomically, or keeping it low-distraction, though I’m not discounting either. I mean that I wrote my first book with a turkey hat on my head. It was a little thing, and it brought me joy, so I kept that turkey hat at my desk and I wore it diligently.

As it turns out, you never outgrow that: that joy of small absurdities. I keep a Writer’s Block at my desk, now, in case we need to have words. A toy crab, too, for my own spin on the Rubber Duck Method. Four different sound systems, which certainly feels gratuitous at times, and also makes it incredibly convenient to switch from wired headphones to wireless to speakers to the Box of Sounds. Whatever will best serve me, already where it will serve me best.

Invest in your workspace. That is to say, the space you do things in, whatever those things may be. Make it convenient. Make it comfortable. Make it fun! It makes a world of difference.

…with a purring cat in my lap. Thank you, Diane! I’m thinking cat photos. (You may notice the TARDIS comforter shows up a lot – that’s because it’s Diane’s favorite. She’ll file a complaint if I don’t have it spread out enough. She makes good use of it when I do.)

Happy New Year’s! It’s been a busy week, so I figured I’d keep it simple: food photos. Winter holidays are, after all, celebrated with food.

(That’s orange juice and cranberry juice combined. I like the way the colors mixed! And, of course, the flavors.)

It has, once again, been A Week, so instead of trying to get words in order, I’m just going to share some neat plants I’ve taken photos of. One had a guest!

Exactly what it says on the tin. Say “awww!”

Just our cats making me laugh! Especially the three paw pillow.

No words this week. My godmother’s internment was this Saturday, and all my words right now belong to her. To everyone else: be safe, do good, live a life that makes you happy, tell the people in it how much they mean to you. Be connected. She’d want that for us.