raybear | Solitary Man.

I'm feeling better. Getting work accomplished improves my mood (go figure) and makes the time go by quickly. Being able to chat with one of my favorite headquarters co-workers who's in town for the week helped tremendously. We have a date for fish&chips later this week. Soon I'll be eating lunch, which always cheers me up and I get to do it with

drinkasyoupour which is even better. At this rate, I'll be in a good mood by the afternoon. Hello, week of full moon!

I've been spending a lot of alone time lately which worried me at first, for some reason. I was concerned that I was hiding, holing myself up to retreat and avoid contact with people or dealing with others, that I was depressed about something I was ignoring. But no, I just have needed some me-time. As well as some reading and writing time. I think my perspective gets skewed because I spend time with

dommeyourass who has 12479038 hobbies and projects and meetings and groups that she participates in on any given day. Plus, my craft is a bit more solitary than hers. It's sort of a fine line I'm trying to figure out right now, the balance between being out in the world to absorb things to write, but also not spending so much time socializing or just thinking about what I could write and not actually doing it. I might become that weirdo who's constantly pulling out a notepad out of my pocket to scribble things down, because lately I find myself greatly inspired while out in the world but then drawing a total blank when I sit down in the lab (with a pen and a pad, trying to get this damn label off? I ain't having that, this is the millenium of Aftermath, so give me one more platinum plaque and fck rap, you can have it back...) Sorry, I digress, as usual.

There's more, including thoughts I've had since finishing Lullaby on Saturday about the difference between having a distinct, specific style versus being stuck in a rut and/or recycling the same techiniques, but lunchtime is arriving and I could probably just sum it up by saying the lesson I learned is I'm not sure one can write one novel a year and expect it to be groundbreaking and limit-pushing or even completely fresh. Next on my reading list: Mating.