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I’ve slowed down on writing this, I know. I keep meaning to get something down and posted, but then I don’t. Just as well: I’ve been busy finishing other stuff and have done well without the distraction.

 

The big thing that I’ve done being finishing the second draft of that short story collection I’ve mentioned a couple of times. And it’s quite a bit shorter than I was expecting—250 pages, rather than 350—so I won’t have to worry about splitting it in two for publication, or anything like that. I just get to proceed. Which is a relief.

 

Only three (full-length) stories still rough enough that I want to do a total rewrite of them. Other than that, small tweaks. Then it’s ready to send out to Willow to get a look at, then I print it out, then I do a final draft after that. I.E. This is the slowest and most painful part of the process. But here I am.

 

Otherwise, I have time to work on some smaller projects. I have a handful. Finishing this and that. The Montreal entires of this here project being a big one. I’ll probably do that while I’m away.

 

On that note, enough writing about writing, and I’ll do some writing about something other than writing itself. The trip: I’m flying out to the Bahamas tomorrow. A friend of the family is renting a place there (I keep forgetting the name of the island, but its the thinnest piece of land in the world), and he invited all of us. I’m the only one going—because when am I ever getting the chance to go to the Bahamas? I’m not the type to go to the Bahamas; why not go when God throws them in your lap? Call it a sign—that sort of thing usually works for me.

 

I’m taking a couple of books, my laptop, so I’ll do some reading and writing—of course I will, I’m me—but mostly, I want to recharge. There is no project I am desperate to get finished as fast as possible—I have not been in this position for years. I have just finished a project, and am polishing a couple more—I have never been in this position before, period.

 

Here I am writing about writing again.

 

I’m sitting at a table in The Landing Pub (The ‘Ding) in Ladner. It’s drizzling out, and the sun is setting. Mark gave me a ride out here, because we were both at the same writer’s meet thingy earlier, but we got here a bit early so he dropped me off here, here being the place the Kyokushin fundraiser is happing in eighteen minutes now, and he went home to have a nap. I said that I would be happy to take the time to look at my writing and figure out what to do while I’m away, which is true, and here I am.

 

I’m not looking at what I need to do while I’m away, I’m writing this.

 

Which is getting something done. I’ve wanted to write an entry for awhile. It’s been a couple of weeks.

 

I feel almost like I have writer’s block. An absurd thing to say given that I’ve already written five-hundred-and-forty-five words, but every time I want to start writing about the world outside this page my thoughts seize up and the words stop. A kind of fatigue. This is why I need a vacation.

 

In the Bahamas, the main thing I look forward to is sleep.

 

There are many things I could write about, but then I’d have to think about them and for the moment I am sick of thinking.

 

I started reading the Torah the other day. Just on my phone. It’s such a major cultural thing and I’ve never read it all the way though, so I thought I’d go through it quick just to have done it. That, and I’m reading S.Y. Agnon’s Only Yesterday, so these things are on my mind. Plus, I’m reading a bunch of apocryphal and gnostic texts (book called The Other Bible), so I figured I might as well read the core. Numerous reasons. And I’m enjoying it. I like myths and folk tales. And if only because of the culture I live in, it feels like its momentously important.

 

Here I stop for a moment and do what I said, look at the unfinished projects lying around. I still have ten minutes. Don’t know if I’ll come back to write more of this and if not, thank you for reading.

 

The din of the pub is densifying. There is something behind that sensation that feels like depth.

 

Update later: did not have time. So much I would like to write about, perhaps tomorrow. Life is a full thing. This entry doesn't even feel complete; what's Kyokushin? How do I know these people? What happened at that writer's meet I mentioned but never elaborated on. Oh well.