Spotlight on Writing
Image of the storm pond, with some animal tracks going across the thin ice.

Sometimes, things start well. They seem promising. And then the ice you’re skating on seems to get thinner and thinner until suddenly it seems like there’s no where to go.

That’s where I’m at with my writing at the moment. Although, to be fair it’s more because, once again, I’ve had to stop and research things before moving forward. This time? The National Archeological Museum in Athens. Of all things, I was trying to work out the flooring situation, which actually is quite complicated. Some of the floors are marble, some are a gray (stone?) tile, some polished wood, or at least this is what I can determine from a variety of images I’ve pulled from the internet, since I’ve never actually been there. Hopefully, I will be able to get past this brief hiatus, and I’m confident I’ll be away laughing very soon.

But on the bright side, our protagonist Simon has kept me very amused with his antics. Within minutes of sitting down and typing, my brain already knew exactly what Simon was like. This is partly because we already created his character, several years back. But I’m pleased to find that with all the changes we made to his character whilst recreating the outline for this book, it hasn’t taken away from our idea of who he is. It seems his personality has rooted firmly in my brain, and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. This is a bit of a relief, because it makes things easier when you’re jumping between character perspectives, to know that at least one of them is willing to cooperate. His flaws are already peeking through, and despite a healthy dose of arrogance, a certain magnetism for awkward situations, and some questionable morals, I quite like Simon. Perhaps because of all this, it makes him a superbly fun character to write.

Personal Update

After our podcast on injuries, it seemed a timely coincidence that I injured my finger. Not badly, exactly; I can still do most things. But I haven’t played the guitar very much, because that’s how I did it, and I’ve been waiting for it to heal. I was trying barre chords, and I must have been fretting them too hard, and I think I’ve crushed a nerve in my index finger. It’s mainly just annoying, because every time I touch it, I get pins and needles and sharp pain from the distal joint to the tip. No biggie, but considering it’s been two weeks with no improvement, I’m slightly concerned I might have actually done permanent damage.

Shame, because I was actually for once getting a hang of the barre chord thing (asides from clearly doing it wrong and injuring myself, the sound seemed good). Ah well. I guess I’ll give it a few more weeks and see what happens. And after that… I don’t really know. It’s not like my GP can do anything about it, and it definitely seems too insignificant for surgery. One of those injuries where you’re like, this is a pain, but it’s livable, you know? Just rather hinders my guitar playing.

But, on the bright side winter has been pretty mild here in Calgary at the moment, and so we took the chance to get outdoors and went for another casual stroll around the storm pond. Most of the snow we had back in October has melted away and left behind a thin layer of ice in shady areas, despite the temperature being a balmy fifteen degrees Celsius, and the storm pond is frozen over. Don’t worry though—we stayed safely at the edge despite how it might appear in the photos! The tracks across the ice are made by wild animals (which prompted me to to ask Dan if they ever fall through the ice by accident. Apparently, the occasional wayward squirrel probably does, and I immediately felt sad for the squirrel’s family).

Image of a mural painted on a rubbish bin. A deer is poking its head out of some icy water, with reeds in its mouth.