I’m traveling for work today. Just a quick trip, a quick meeting, but I’m in the midwest. Thinking back on other trips like this, I’m reminded of a passage from Fight Club –

You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, Mountain, Central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?

I don’t mean to say that all cities are the same, but when you fly into airports and drive to nearby hotels, there is a certain sameness to it all. To the airport gates and moving walkways and baggage claim areas. To the highways and overpasses and industrial sites and strip malls leading out of them. To the hotels. Even as we were driving into the city, it had a certain sameness to it. The skyline was different, the buildings in different shapes and configurations, but it still felt the same. Cincinnati, Little Rock, Baltimore, Columbus, and more all blending together. And I know there’s more to these places than what I’m seeing, these little glimpses, little slices, but for this small amount of time, it lacks any sense of being unique.

I’m not fond of airports, and these days travel seems even more onerous than it always did, but one of the nice side effects is that it forces you to slow down. There’s the trip to the airport. The lines through security. The waiting at the gate. Waiting on the plane. Flying. Waiting again. Then the trip off and to your destination. And while I listen to things when I can, and read when I can, there’s a lot of time. Time leads to thinking. Thinking leads to ideas.

This trip I came up with at least three different story ideas I want to write. One for a YA novel (that I now really want to write), one for a short story, and another for a short story idea I was trying to develop. As much as I hate travel sometimes, that almost makes it worthwhile.

In the meantime, I’m using my time in the hotel to get some more words down while I’m out of the house. Might as well make the best of it, right?

Yesterday was my birthday. And it was a good one.

I know a lot of people who don’t care for birthdays, but I do. My mum used to always make a big deal out of them growing up and I think that that rubbed off on me. Not so much for gifts or for the fuss, but just for the celebration and doing things with people you care about.

The last few years of birthdays are linked inexorably with my mother. Like one several years back where she was coughing and having trouble breathing, a sure sign that something was wrong with her lungs. Then the following year which is one of the last times I remember her being her old self with the family. And, of course, last year, which seemed so soon after she’d died and which lay in the shadow of that.

It’s not that I didn’t think of her this year, but it was of happier times, about how special she made those days, and this birthday was special as well due to the efforts of N and my friends and I am so grateful for that and for everything I have and, though I hate saying this as a writer, it’s difficult for me to express in words how much that means to me.

Now it’s over and there’s another year to come, but I start it with a feeling of being loved and cared for and appreciated and that’s a powerful thing.

Let’s see where this next year takes us.

So, yes, this is a test. I was clearing up files on my desktop the other day and came across this song I’d recorded on my phone. And while it’s rough, and the song really needs some rewriting, I thought I would test out posting music here.

Keep in mind that this is a crappy recording and the chorus needs work.

Hope it works…

Test Song

Before I get to my writing goals, I thought I’d mention one of my others. Last year, I realized that I don’t read enough. Which is a shame. Because I love it, and because I have so many books that I want to get to, too many, possibly, to get through.

Toward the end of 2010, I picked up the pace quite a bit with the help of technology. Ebooks have been a big help in the process, enabling me to read while I’m waiting for the subway or in line at the bank. Audiobooks have also been a big help. I’ve listened to four Dresden Files novels just walking around the city, for the most part. I also started a Goodreads account to keep track of books I’m reading, books I’ve read, and books I want to read. I figured it would help prod me in the right direction and it has.

So this year I’m committing to reading (and finishing) 36 books. That might not seem like a lot to some people. might seem like more than a lot to others. But at roughly 3 a month I’m thinking I can do that. If I can read more, great. But that’s my goal.

I’ll post updates here from time to time, but feel free to friend me on Goodreads for more regular updates.

Wish me luck…

One of the things I regret about last year is not managing to produce a holiday story for 2010. I’ve mentioned it before, but years ago I decided that sending out holiday cards felt too impersonal and instead started writing stories at the end of the year and sending those to my friends instead. They were early drafts, yes, and had problems, but they were something original and unique and personal and I felt better about that. Some of them even went on to become full-fledged submissions (one of which sold, but was never published).

I was hoping to do that again this year, but unfortunately I never found the time or the idea.

In years past when I’ve also missed my own deadlines I’ve tried to make it up. Frankly, with all the other things I’m working on, I might not have the time. The question is, do I let it go? Or maybe send something out for my birthday?

I’m still deciding…