Recently

Writing with another person can be a wonderful experience. Turns out that’s even more true when you’re actually sitting beside your co-author. And not just because they smell nice. I’m writing with my fiancé so that last part isn’t weird.

So far most of the work on our novel has been done over the internet, over distance, and asynchronously—each working when our brains felt capable. And that hasn’t been hard. The majority of our relationship happens over long distance so we’re used to that. And adding writing to that wasn’t too much of an ask. Actually, I was unsure how working in the same room would go. But sitting at the same desk and being able to simply point at things bought back the bounce and flow and fun that I didn’t realise had dissipated lately. So we’re excited again and the soft deadline of Christmas (2022) seems accomplishable (it’s a word).

Other than writing, I’ve been working a couple smaller projects. Over the last little while I’ve been putting together a collection of links for using Vim for fiction slash general prose. I’m hoping it will be a useful resource for beginners, like me, or at least someone. This is part of my ongoing wrangling with that text editor. And because collecting links will be an continuing thing, I’ve made work for Future Mike which I’m sure he’ll be happy about. Relatedly, I’ve been poking at a colorscheme for Vim inspired by Bob’s Burgers palette. It’s called No Pesto. For obvious reasons. This was harder than I expected. For a task many people have completed there’s a baffling lack of detailed docs. I’m letting this be perpetually work-in-progress.

Reading

I got burnt out on Ripley Underground and needed something different. And like the saying goes the opposite of Patricia Highsmith is Rick Riordan. So I’ve been making my way through the Percy Jackson series. I’m about halfway through book two, The Sea of Monsters, and I’m enjoying it. The series is in first-person which doesn’t always gel with me but Percy isn’t too annoying.

Watching

I think No Time to Die is probably the best of the Craig Bonds. It was more emotional than usual for a Bond but it was genuine and wasn’t out of place. Kinda hoping it’s the end of serious Bond for now though and they bring back some Roger Moore style wackiness with the next guy. Also saw Coco which is a bit darker (spoiler- there is a murder) than most Pixar fare. I loved it.

Listening

Almost caught up on my backlog of Richard Herring’s podcast. Just finished the one with Omid Djalili. It’s light and funny and inoffensive (to the ears) when I’m doing something else. And, because I’m writing more, and I’m a big nerd, that means Thelonious Monk Alone in San Francisco on repeat. Did you know his middle name was Sphere?