17 thoughts on “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”

1. I think I’ve said this before, but I appreciate that you post your wordcounts and process and stuff like that. It helps me think about my own stuff in the same way instead of procrastinating. I’m writing a blog entry of my own right now, as a matter of fact.

   If you haven’t already addressed this ad nauseum elsewhere, I would be interested in how you approach revising and editing. I don’t even think about word counts on my rough drafts because my editing process is really intensive and often changes the whole story. Thinking about how long the story is (or might be) just seems premature when I’m still concentrating on how to stick this sentence together with that one.

   Anyway, thanks. I look forward to you taking over my RSS feed for the next 29 days. 🙂

2. If I could come up with a cure for writing run-down, I would have MANY nickels in my pocket! Whenever the words I am writing start to sound too good to be my writing, chances are it’s gibberish! I learned the lesson all too well when I decided to self-edit my first book. Never again!

3. Hey Wil,

   You’re going to guilt me into trying to post in my blog once per day this month. Damn you. 🙂

   Good to be hearing more from you. I’m processing my rage and grief as you are; trying to keep all the OTHER plates afloat since the big one is heading for a big rock for at least two years.

   Take care! Hi to Anne and the menagerie.

   Craig

4. The world is definitely not on fire. Hooray!

5. Thanks for this and for your post about the Haunted Bunk Bed. A lot of things have been so bleak lately that I’ve been resisting silly, fun things that bring me joy – like the world will end if I am not perpetually serious. I appreciate the reminder that things like ghost stories, Choose Your Own Adventure Novels, and general geekery still count.

6. I am soooooo looking forward to reading your new stuff!

7. Have a great weekend, Wil !

8. Incidentally Kickstarter “This is fine” plush dogs are shipping!

9. You were doing so well with your reboot but now giving yourself a ‘C-‘ has just created drama and tension and now I want to know why you did so poorly. Now there’s a story!

   1. I said ‘now’ three times 😐 I consider today’s attempt at ‘surfing the world wide web’ to be an abysmal failure.

   2. Nothing fancy or complicated. I just got super depressed after the election, and didn’t do much other than write. I’ve only run a few times, and I’m sleeping like shit. There’s not much more to it than that.

      1. As someone who has lived with clinical anxiety and depression literally since I was born into this world, right now, where we are in time, doesn’t feel like a very good time to be alive. This election cycle corresponded with the meds I’d been taking for a few years pooping out which resulted in two trips to the doctor in two weeks in November. I thought I had this mental illness thing totally licked – life was great, wife and I were healthy, no financial woes. Then, boom. We’re getting Dorito Berlusconi as our next commander-in-chief and racist shitheels are popping out of the woodwork.

         I’ve been consoling myself with what the next four years are going to bring by putting together a core manifesto for myself:

         I live in the heart of Trump country and while there’s definitely racists, the majority of Trump voters in my neck of the woods are desperate people who need help that Washington DC isn’t giving them. I work with Trump voters and I’m casual friends with Trump voters, despite being a huge liberal in a sea of red, and they’re misguided but not Nazis. They’re desperate. If I drive an hour north, there are towns that literally look like the sets of post-apocalyptic zombie films.

         Yes, these people got conned. They will be very angry when they find out that trickle-down economics doesn’t work out so well for them. What they aren’t going to do is go into a violent, murder rage targeting minorities. A few might but definitely not the majority. They’re not animals, just like urban poor aren’t animals. They’re still human beings with empathy, compassion and all those other traits that we on the left assume only the left is capable of. Most of them, when exposed to racial minorities and LGBTQ people are actually just fine with the minority community when they see they’re people, not stereotypes on TV. They’re more likely to do what a lot of black communities do – rightly assume that our existing political oligarchies don’t have their best interests in mind – and retreat into their communities and not bother voting again until something changes. Believe me, I’m NOT asking the oppressed to hold the hands of the oppressor but openly being afraid of these people is a waste of energy and creates paranoia.

         Also, a lot of these folks are old and their antiquated attitudes are dying with them. Progress often happens one funeral at a time.

         It really just dawned on me in this election season that our entire media culture – with the exception of a few outlets like PBS News – is simply yellow journalism gussied up in the guise of “infotainment.” When the left is getting its news from comedians, something is incredibly screwed up in how information is spread and, if we’re honest, the Internet only makes it worse. If the fact that Anne Coulter and Bill Maher are (were?) friends isn’t a big, obvious sign that we as a society are being conned into hating each other, I don’t know what is.
         I’m taking more time to build and strengthen flesh-and-blood relationships. No more yelling on the Internet; if someone wants to have a political discussion, they need to come to the have it to my face so I can read body language and intention. At the very least, use the telephone. This also means I’m going to put energy into protecting those who are most likely to be hurt by a Trump administration. I will use my position of white male privilege to help others. I’m already donating to the ACLU and considering turning a bedroom in my home into a place for people to crash if they are displaced for whatever reason. Part of my depression-coping strategy is weight lifting so if anyone needs a muscular male to walk them around so they feel safe, I’m always happy to help.
         We don’t live in Weimar Germany. If you look at a county-by-county map of what went red and what went blue, the map almost looks like 2008 and 2012. If we were in the middle of a Great Depression with 75% unemployment, I would have more cause to worry. But the DNC simply screwed the pooch in the worst way possible this election cycle. It was their election to lose and Trump only made his party’s nomination because everyone else was even worse. I would be extremely terrified if Ted Cruz had won. The pendulum will swing the left’s way again. It did in the mid-1990s and it did in ’08. The world will not end on Trump’s watch because all of his gold-plated stuff exists in the world.
         I can’t rely on the world being “okay” in order to be “okay” inside. Self care will be critically important in the weeks and months to come.
         Progress happens no matter who is in charge. That’s basic history. Otherwise we would have ended humanity decades or centuries ago. Sometimes progress hits a wall but eventually the wall falls and we keep going.
         I will never take anything for granted, I will not harden my heart, and I will not become cynical or jaded.

         1. Thank you for your words, Wesley. Sounds like we’re on the same page in many ways, nice to hear things put in perspective so eloquently. Cheers.

10. Wil, have you considered a running touchstone like a 5k or 10k. It’s a goal. It’s a very different running experience when 4000 other people are lining up to do the same thing. You get a shirt but it’s not schwag, you earned that shirt! (Okay, they give it to you at packet pickup but after the run, you earned it!). Running groups are fun social ways to crank out some miles. It’s also a different experience because both (or all) of you are sharing an experience. While a race seems social, it’s much more like a concert.

    After the election, I felt like the end was nigh. I deleted my news and social media app. Apparently, whatever huge thing happens still filters through to my Google now cards or Google search trends when searching. Ultimately, the message sucks but at least I can control the frequency I’m reminded.

11. Well, to begin with–I AM PREJUDICED!–I think you are amazing!!! Thank you for the sanity you write!!! I can’t say enough. You give me some solace in this difficult time! I loved the reading from “Pale Blue Dot”! I recently had to downsize as my life downsizes, and I had to give up all but one of my Carl Sagan books. :'( Mom died in August, and I have a modest inheritance. I’m going to go to the used book store and buy all by Sagan’s back!!! You’re great!

12. Since the world as a whole is getting an F- right now, at C-, you are still way ahead of the curve. Keep going. You are on your way to somewhere very worthwhile.

13. I recently signed up for the NY times and the Washington Post and all the news is simultaneously keeping me informed and ruining my life. I am not inviting any comments to the opposite, but the president elect really breaks my heart for everyone in my life, and everyone not in my life. I am not okay with this. In an effort to avoid the internet, I taught myself to crochet last week. Busy hands stop looking online. The end goal was to make twin A some slippers because she literally wore apart the ones I bought on etsy, and I wanted to be able to just whip up a pair when she wears them out (she never takes them off.). So, within a few days I had half a scarf and moved on to what she calls “my wippers.” She asked for one pink one and one purple one. Here’s the first pair I have ever made.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbecker70/31396338135/in/datetaken-friend/
    She was thrilled. “you made them! You made them!”
    I’m crafty as fuck.

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