notebook / @tww

Cue post-newsletter release haze/daze.

The week that was, the return of Daily (Micro)Informalities:

Leave it / Click (19apr2021).

Outgrown Collars / Focus (20apr2021).

THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE, Ep0003 - Elizabeth Joan Kelly (21apr2021).

Returning to the Depths, Mostly (22apr2021).

Of Deadlines and the Saving Grace of Puppy Puzzle Toys (23apr2021).

Modifying Time(blocks) (24apr2021).

April’s newsletter inbound; see you tomorrow.

April’s installment of my MacroParentheticals newsletter lands in inboxes tomorrow morning - and, oh, what a month it’s been: Puppies. Podcasts. Sleeplessness. Spark plugs. You can sign up here, if so inclined. (Hint, hint.)

While I don’t always agree with what Cal Newport thinks - for instance, I take issue with his assertion that literary fiction authors can spend all day in deep work when, in my experience as an actual practitioner of an approximation thereof, I can report that that is rarely the case (a dream, certainly, but not a reality), as well as his use of the term “winners” - I admire how and that he thinks.

I’ve also found his timeblocking method useful, particularly for the addition of intention throughout the day - especially in my afternoons of the nebulous drift. But, in applying these ideas to my day, I’ve also modified them to suit me a bit better: not necessarily “deep” and “shallow” work, but “solitary” and “open” work.

Blocks for my timed bits of solitude - writing, reading, running, yoga / meditation (yes, I’ve returned; I didn’t like how quick my temper became without it; I require daily training in pausing and space) - and lines for the open times, those times when I’m doing things for or with others - yardcare, housework, admin; I need my walls in the times of solitude, be it bookcases and the darkness of pre-dawn, or vast open swaths of me, myself, and I - but my open times are intentionally that.

The day, being then, the optimal interaction between intentional closed and open times, inhales and exhales - or something like that.

That particular flavor of joy when your puppy climbs the stairs - unprompted - for the first time, just to follow you.

Stairmaster.

Intense mid-day conversations.

FWIW, I’ve added the RSS feeds to both THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE and THE GROUND LOOP pod pages for your subscribing convenience.

Writing space / Sanctum, currently.

Mostly peaceful morning with the new feeding routine, mostly; not without hiccups (literally and figuratively). But it’s better than it has been and I can exhale again when I make my way to my office, a puzzle play toy filled with Kirby food in tow, an expectant puppy likewise, ready to eat and sleep and shit (outside, click) and whatever other puppy things happen as they are wont to do.

And then I write; I will be thanking these puzzle toys in any and all acknowledgement sections.

Thinking also of deadlines this morning - not, necessarily looming ones, but of their import: While they help me wrangle the brain chatter, they also seem to help otherwise uninitiated family members respect the boundaries of work time, the necessity of getting the job done. They add a needed corporeality to the otherwise nebulous and yet completely concrete and existential nature - to the outsiders - of the creative process.

ENCORE: Elizabeth Joan Kelly joined me this week on THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE to discuss the latest Orca, Attack! - punctuation critical - album, C.M.S.O., (and share a track), the existential dread of Philip Glass’s music, and doing the work.

“You will fill bowl with food yes.”

Latest additions to the endless unread stack(s).

Trio.

Though my perturbation over the four inches of April snow and cold is undeniable, I can’t deny my gratitude for it: it was the only chance I’d have to take a photo of Kirby as a puppy in the snow.

This morning: a joyous return to the Book, to the rhythm to the day in the process of rediscovery and implementation. Shock of shocks: feed the hungry puppy first, then write; reap the benefits, repeat - hopefully.

Taking one of my periodic pauses in my 20+-year meditation practice – whether it lasts for a day or forever, I don’t know and I don’t particularly care: at present, I’m capable of hearing what’s going on inside my head quite well, thank you very much, and I don’t need to hear more of it, more of the same (shit, different day), at least until it tells me something new. Preferring to write in my journal more often and to take small moments to catch myself throughout the day, bringing myself back to the middle of the braingauge.

Had a go at writing this while I toiled at the Book (thank you, I suppose, cheap Logitech keyboard with bluetooth switch wheel), something to do while I think of the unwritten. But it’s better to be alone with the unwritten; back and forth is one step too far into the drift. Will stick with writing elements/scraps of these either by hand in journal or on legal pad while doing The Work but not drafting on another screen. That remains for this post-breakfast, pre-run interregnum.

Kirby’s currently chasing his tail; the day awaits.

Listening: DRIFT 2 and DRIFT 3, by Hailen Jackson.

How spooks are turning to superforecasting in the Cosmic Bazaar, via The Economist.

‘Peaky Blinders’ Pays Tribute To Helen McCrory With Clapperboard, via Deadline.

Watch Four Short Films That Interpret Songs from Leonard Cohen’s Posthumous Album, Thanks for the Dance, via Open Culture.

Elaborately Constructed LEGO Universes by Artist Ekow Nimako Envision an Afrofuturistic World and Three-Dimensional Botanics and Insects Are Sculpted in Elegant Stained Glass by Elena Zaycman, via Colossal.

I can tell that my writing / reading routine has been out of whack for a few days: my “fit for human interaction” ranking is somewhere between “twitchy, neurotic wildebeest” and unmoored non-existence. Should get back on track tomorrow, mostly.

Nine hours later…

Update: we have climbed the stairs.

Thought about an Informality this morning, but it’s not going to happen. Will stick with Weds as audio days - Socialized Recluse / Ground Loop episodes - and Sundays as Proof of Existence / Newsletter days. Bandwidth / brainwidth and all that; Informalities on Mon-Tues, Thurs-Sat.