January 12, 2024

This is going to be a noodling-around kind of post.

It’s January. Google announced layoffs, again, day before yesterday. I wasn’t laid off. Some people I knew were. It’s painful. The pain is of a different quality & kind than last year.

I have some personal goals going on that I’m feeling pleased about. And I’m getting better at setting myself up to actually, you know, do them. The layoffs-pain is a wildcard this week, both emotional and schedule-wise – I’m aiming to a) acknowledge that and b) not let it derail me too much, simply by continuing to follow my plan and c) also channel the angst into nice physical activities like a more-hardcore-than-usual workout this morning, and pruning the apple tree and the roses this weekend.

I’ve been reading a lot lately, with lots of variety too:

• Viking history! Children of Ash and Elm is absolutely great, and it feels appropriate to read about something so northern while it’s gray and wintry outside. I’m about halfway in and the momentum is pulling me along in a truly delightful way.
• A Scientific American article about women, endurance sports, and hunting. Summary: we’re built for it. This absolutely matches my personal experience – although no, I do not hunt – the endurance part, I mean.
• Some short stories by Eve Babitz. I started reading her stories maybe … two years ago? three? when the Lili Anolik biography came out, whenever that was. Babitz’ writing blows my mind absolutely, every time, in the best way. Such gorgeous prose. Such a gorgeous way to capture how things are. Or were, anyway: the collection of stories I’m reading is set several decades ago. I try not to read Babitz too fast, because after all, there’s not going to be any more.

I’m thinking about planning, gardening, schedules, and vacations. I’m thinking also about blog design, Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, Discord, where to post things I write, different kinds of social networks, and which things to try to publish rather than post (stories, maybe? poems?). I’m writing about goals and planning, and going through nearly a thousand files of writing-projects-in-various-states-of-completeness (or incompleteness) on my computer, to see what I’ve got and what I might want to do with it (if anything; I’ve also got ‘Archive,’ ‘Reference,’ and ‘On ice’ folders for things that are either not at all, or not right now).

January twelfth, in the year 2024. Same degree of uncertainty as every year! Just slightly more visible than sometimes. And so far, less rain.