Where There's Smoke

Didn't turn the television on when we got home from work tonight. Finished chapter 1. Coincidence?

"It's easier to sustain momentum than to build it." Full time job (gotta pay the man), family, obligations...a million competing demands for time. Time that could be spent writing. It's easy to succumb to the excuses, so it's nice to show forward progress, however slow and halting it might be. I finished the prologue of my novel, "Dead Drunk" over the weekend. I've also got most of the first chapter written and have the outline done. So I'm making progress. Most of my writing time comes on the weekends now but I'll take what I can get. Really I should make what I need instead of taking what i have but it's all about progress. Baby steps. I've also got a short story -- "Love Stinks" -- submitted and should have a response by the end of next month. I found an iPhone app for blogging so even when I can't take (don't make) time to sit down at the computer, I can still manage to pound out a few words while...well, while I...

I spoke with a friend last night.  He's going through a difficult time, facing all measure of uncertainty in his life.  "Once you've lost everything," he asked, "what do you do next?" I answered his question with a question:  "What do you  want to do?" Ay, indeed, my friends.  There is, in fact, the rub. To know what you want to do requires knowing oneself.  To know oneself requires introspection, a practice many avoid for fear of the dragons and demons we are almost certain to find there.  Going forward on an ill-conceived journey seems the easier path, easier than looking backward and confronting the worst in ourselves. Of course this is not the easier path.  Until we face, confront, and conquer (or at least reach an armistice) with our past, our present it haunted; our future clouded.  Our walk is labored and weary-making. My friend is an artist.  A damned good one.  So I encouraged him to look inward by seei...