Mundane Haze

This one's about motivation.

When I'm not doing something new and interesting, I live in a haze of automatic action. (Being drunk just makes it Official.) That's why I write, because I have a million ideas and I can't put all of them into practice immediately. Heinlein invented the waterbed and the waldo just off the top of his head while pounding out thousands of words. I find myself doing the same thing, just coming up with Solutions to problems I don't have. Problems that I, in fact, made up for myself to solve.

All the while I have to cook, clean, walk, exercise, earn. I have to do all this random maintenance and monetization (m&m, if you will) just to stay alive and be able to do all this Creative stuff. It's mind-numbing and sometimes I don't even notice it. I have dreams that I can't distinguish from reality, so that I don't even know when I've even done all this m&m or whether I've just dreamed that I have.

But in the end, it Doesn't Matter, because nobody cares whether I cook, clean, walk, or exercise. The only thing that matters is what I Create. Why I write? Because writing is one of the few things that is permanent, it's a finished product that everybody can see and read...forever (give or take a few disasters). Even relative ephemera like this blog post is more permanent than all that m&m.

I live my life as if I will die before my next birthday, so I'm relaxed after January 4th but become frenetic and productive as December approaches. All this great stuff I'm pouring out needs to be available, just in case.

So, my motivation to write? Be Creative, Live Forever. In a ridiculously self-centered way.

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Wild. Anyways, I started (and finished) a fantasy short story today. Yes, with magic. I took Ty Johnston's helpful advice on my "Fantasy" post and ran with it. It's pretty interesting, and I think it works. Whether it's Great is up to the reader. We'll see what develops.

There aren't any Puritans in the story, but here's a picture of one for your amusement. Man, those guys knew how to dress. Barely.

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4000 words? Yes
Book "Lived Too Long To Die"
Short Story "Sorcerer's Hire" - finished, spell-checking
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Reading - ?

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