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cimoreneolindomolindompoliphilo
tamaranth
I sat in the corner and gazed through red throbbing eyes at the lurid pageant: drunks and punks and pimps and ponces; young farmers and old farmers; pool-hall hustlers and pick pockets; Vimto louts, card sharps and shove ha’penny sharps; sailors and lobster fisherman and hookers from the putting green; the one-armed man from the all-night sweet shop, dandies and dish-washers and drunken school teachers; fire-walkers and whelk-eaters, high priests and low priests; footpads and cut-throats; waifs, strays, vanilla thieves and peat stealers; the clerk from the library, the engineer from the Great Little Train of Wales … it rolled on without end. [p. 31]
Wales is independent, and has fought a colonial war in Patagonia: the veterans haunt Aberystwyth and its environs. The town is pretty much owned and run by the Druids, as corrupt and wicked a crew as any mob. Private detective Louie Knight is engaged by local chanteuse Myfanwy Montez to investigate the disappearance of a schoolboy -- the first of several to vanish without trace. Louie, with his teenaged sidekick 'Calamity' Jane, unravels a heinous plot involving an ark, an antique Lancaster bomber and a forensic knitting expert.
I'm not sure why this didn't work for me. ( Read more... )
icon_uk posting in scans_dailyalisxPeople watching and this grandparent-core Boomer couple walk past, walking their little dog, totally normie except for the fact that dude is wearing a freaking Slipknot t-shirt???
Like I dunno what the story is there but I am sure it is fascinating.
the_comfortable_courtesanDickie Smith was a little chagrined that his talents in surreptitious following had not been called upon in this most interesting case of Mr Taskerville. That had been conducting a liaison with Lady Whibsall, and she, most imprudent, had sent him letters, and he, even more imprudent, had kept 'em, and they had fallen somehow into the hands of one that was demanding recompense for silence in the matter. For Mr Taskerville had expectations from an exceedingly pious great-aunt, that was also wont to make him generous gifts, while there was a considerable fear that Sir Francis Whibsall had a notion towards bringing a crim.con. action did he have evidence on hand.
And here was Taskerville, already not entirely rolled up but in less than flourishing circumstance due to his ill fortune at race-courses – Dickie snorted to himself, for he apprehended that the gentleman had no great understanding in that business! Dickie had passed some months as a groom in Terence Offerton’s stables, pursuing a case on behalf of the Johnson agency, and had learnt a good deal about such matters to supplement what one that had been about the Jupp stables since childhood and was acquainted with The Lady – Mrs Penkarding – already knew concerning horseflesh.
Had transpired that the business 'twixt Taskerville and the extortionist was not conducted in person, but by means of notes left in certain places. At which Matt had frowned, and sighed, and said that argued one that somehow had the entrée to the houses and clubs that Foolish Phineas frequented – but could be a footman, or able to present as one – though makes one wonder whether 'tis one that he would recognize did he see him –
So Matt went about to persuade Taskerville to bring him the next note he received – lord, I had to assure him that just because it says Burn this! he is not obliged to do so.
But at the moment Dickie was engaged on the useful if not very exciting task of cutting out pieces from the newspapers that mentioned the work of the agency or touched on cases or individuals in whom they took an interest. And when he had done so, Miss Frinton, that would not entrust it to anyone else, would paste 'em up in the agency scrapbooks, and mark 'em down in her indexes so that they might be found when needed.
La, said a voice from the doorway, look at those dirty hands! All printers’ ink! Here – Leda Hacker tossed him a damp cloth – Matt has got the latest note Foolish Phineas received and we are convoking over it in his office. Come along.
Dickie jumped up. This was something like!
In Matt’s office, that was furnished in such a way as to communicate confidence to those that came seeking the agency’s services – no fly-by-night enterprize! – Miss Frinton was examining the letter and holding it up to the light to scrutinize the watermark.
She snorted. 'Tis good enough writing-paper, but 'tis nothing very rare – a common enough make – widely sold about Town – one might find it in a deal of escritoires –
Hacker twitched it out of Frinton’s hand. Precisely, she said, and does it not look like a lady’s fist? She laid it down on Matt’s desk.
Matt nodded. Has that style, he agreed. Though whether that means our villain is a villainess, or whether 'tis one with a fine skill at counterfeiting hands – Hacker blushed a little, and Dickie wondered whether her childhood apprenticeship to the ken-cracker Laffen had included forgery among the skills she had learnt – or whether there is a female confederate in the business.
Whoever it is, said Hacker, is not very subtle and not playing for high stakes.
They all looked at her.
She shrugged. 'Tis not the like of Rathe, is it? That was playing a deep game with a long view and picking his victims with care, that either were in government offices or already had some kind of power and influence, or would be like to have in future. This one is choosing idle wastrels for small gains.
Matt looked at her with approval, and nodded his head. You sum it up very just. Mayhap 'tis an idle wastrel himself, finds himself pockets to let, goes poke about to see what he might find – one wonders has anybody missed small items of value of late, trinkets &C –
Hacker winked and said, would go ask in the usual quarter about that! For one understood that she had connexions in the world of fences, as well as pawnbrokers that did not make any searching enquiries concerning the goods they were offered.
– comes across compromising letters – or mayhap notes concerning gaming debts or such – and fathoms that he may turn these to profit. You might enquire of Dumaine, next time you go there as Babsie, whether he knows of any that might be in that condition.
Hacker wrinkled her nose, saying, would not be going to Dumaine’s very immediate, had this commission concerning Sir Hobday Perram’s precious Persian things –
Matt grunted. Was going to suggest, that you take young Dickie with you, as excellent instructive for him –
Dickie was unable to repress a delighted yelp.
– so I will go dine with Dumaine myself and sound him out.
So, there was his mother and father, looking upon him very serious and saying, trusted that he would do the family credit going out in the capacity of Miss Hacker’s 'prentice. For Timothy and Nell Smith might be the keepers of the Buffle Arms tavern, adjacent to her brother Sam’s livery stables, but these days 'twas a fine respectable place. And had they not expanded to open the Beaufoyle Arms Song and Supper Room, where Clo Marshall had made her name?
Did not Pa become quite the businessman these days, convoking with their relative Maurice Allard over whether one might go it even further and open one of these halls for music and entertainment that was springing up hither and yon over Town? For Maurice might have made his reputation as a modiste with the finest eye for ladies’ fashion, but was renowned throughout their connexion for his acuity in all matters to do with business.
So, here Dickie was, dressed exceeding proper, in a railway carriage with Hacker, that grinned at him and said that she hoped he had something more comfortable in his dunnage, for fancied there would be a deal of clambering about and mayhap crawling into attics &C.
Dickie grinned back and said that Ma had been very wishful that he should make a good first impression.
There was Hacker herself, got up as if she was applying for a post as a governess! Most exceeding meek and proper.
He was somewhat astonished at the condition of Sir Hobday’s mansion – brought up in a household under the hand of one that had been trained in good practices was almost shocked – but Hacker murmured under her breath, la, 'tis a sad bachelor establishment, and he supposed that must explain it.
Though indeed, once they came to convoke with the master of the house, came to apprehend that there had also been some matter of lack of funds – but here was Lord Sallington, what a fine young man was that, had remarked that certain old paintings acquired by Sir Hobday’s ancestors would be exceeding vendable by art dealers, and now he might mend the roof and spruce up the old place.
Matt had took Dickie aside and told him to study upon Hacker’s manner with clients.
There she was, most sympathetic – listening – asking the occasional question – lightly mentioning the certain collections they had already been about protecting – Mr Grigson, the wealthy China merchant’s wonderful things from the Celestial Empire –
La, perchance 'twas a strange occupation for a female, but had been taught by her foster-father –
No, they were not putting up at the Crown, though they heard it was a very comfortable inn, they were staying at Attervale –
Here Hacker looked at her most exceeding prim governessy and disclosed that upon occasion she undertook secretarial work for Dowager Lady Bexbury, that had very kindly put 'em in the way of Lady Emily Merrett’s hospitality – was an antient friend of that family –
Dickie, that had seen Hacker in her guises as Babsie Bolton and Larry Hooper, was hard put not to laugh at how genteel she showed!
She showed a deal more relaxed in the company of the Ladies of Attervale, Lady Emily Merrett and her companion Miss Fenster, that treated her entirely informal and on the level of a friend, asking after dear Lady Bexbury &C – supposed Mr Smith would find himself more comfortable in the kitchen –
Indeed he did, where there was a fine table set, and a deal of eager enquiry about certain recent cases of the Johnson agency that had been reported in the press –
Thatching, that was the groom, was in particular interested in that matter of underhand behaviour about racecourses, that Dickie had been so closely involved in investigating – as they pushed back their chairs at the end of the meal, and Thatching lit his pipe, said he dared say that Smith would care to take a look at their own cattle here?
Would I! said Dickie. Sure Lady Emily is quite renowned – The Lady, that is, Mrs Penkarding, that is a neighbour of ours, will ever speak highly of her –
All looked very gratified and nodded their heads.
So – at this time o’year 'twas still light – when all finally got up from table Thatching took Dickie over to the stables and sure that was a very fine sight!
Mentioned that his uncle – Sam Jupp – Jupp’s Livery Stables and Carriage Hire – kept his own cattle in fine condition – treated 'em well – sent 'em out to recruit at his farm in Berkshire, did not believe in working 'em to death – but they was working nags, not the like of this.
Then came in Lady Emily herself, that saw Dickie’s admiration and appreciation of her cattle and grinned. Fancy you would know what’s what! she said. Now, Miss Hacker gives you the name of a sensible young man that can move quiet and discreet – should you like to come look at my hawks?
Dickie was unable to find words to express how much he should. Oh, he would have so much to boast of to his brothers and Lizzie!
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farsidecomics_feedfarsidecomics_feedfarsidecomics_feedgreen_frcatpad задался вопросом, что такое идеальная платформа для блога? Мы там что-то набрейнстормили, и он что-то даже закодил — я снимаю шляпу перед catpad, но не могу не высказаться в совершенно другом направлении. Потому что для меня идеальная платформа ограничивается ровно одним критерием: чтобы был экспорт RSS.greenadine писали друзьям письма, но лично мне этот формат казался слишком интрузивным. Да, я хочу поговорить с человеком, рассказать ему свои новости, узнать его — но кто его спрашивал, хочет ли он говорить со мной? Я понимаю, что на фоне бумажных писем это кажется странным, но электронная почта сделала переписку настолько дешёвой, что появился спам, появилось отторжение спама, и мне не хотелось спамить моих друзей. Поэтому мы сделали что-то вроде рассылки, на которую можно было подписаться, и от которой можно было отписаться. Потом мы сделали сайт, на который выкладывали свои «новости». Это сняло проблему вмешательства в чужую жизнь, но у этого подхода был другой минус: практически отсутствие обратной связи.catpad, покуда у меня остаётся возможность подписаться на него и получать его посты в свою ленту? Ну да, в тот момент, когда я захочу оставить Мише комментарий, я нажму на ссылку и попаду на его сайт. В этот момент у меня, возможно, появятся какие-то пожелания к форме кнопочек и прочей эргономии. Но это детали, потому что лично я писать свой блог буду в том месте, которое удобно мне, и для того, чтобы читать друг друга, мы не обязаны с ним быть на одном сайте. Поэтому, каждый из нас выберет платформу по вкусу. Ему важна эргономия — пускай пишет сайт под себя. Мне комфортнее минимализм HTML 1.0 à la 90-е — я буду писать на DW.mbarker posting in wetranscriptsWriting Excuses 21.02: My Process is Not Your Process
From https://writingexcuses.com/21-02-my-process-is-not-your-process
Key Points: Barriers? Where do you start? Why am I not doing a thing? Stimulus! Patterns. Notice what you are doing, look for intersections, and figure out the ties. Observation and self-examination. What works for you? Lower the threshold, the friction. Give yourself permission to not do something, too. Then what? Link things together, make chains. Look for what you are eager to do. Pavlov dogging. Pay attention to physical, simple things. Be your own nice assistant! Give yourself good advice. Listen to yourself more than to other people.
[Season 21, Episode 02]
[Mary Robinette] This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by our listeners, patrons, and friends. If you would like to learn how to support this podcast, visit www.patreon.com/writingexcuses.
[Season 21, Episode 02]
[Mary Robinette] This is Writing Excuses.
[DongWon] My process is not your process.
[Mary Robinette] I'm Mary Robinette.
[DongWon] I'm DongWon.
[Erin] I'm Erin.
[DongWon] This week, we wanted to start digging into one of our season 21 topics here. Which is, we're going to be talking about the barriers to writing. Things that get in your way, things that block you from accomplishing the goals that you set for yourself. Last week, we talked about intention setting and goals, and now we're going to start talking about ways in which you can start breaking down the things that stand between you and those intentions. To do that, we want to talk about processes. Last year, we spent a bunch of time talking about each of our individual processes for getting work done. For accomplishing your goals. And in this episode, we wanted to start shifting away from here's what we do to start talking about okay, if they do X, Y, and Z, how do I figure out what works for me? So when it comes to each of you in terms of building out what your process looks like, where do you start with that? Where do you start with the I need to figure something else out, I need to change something, or figuring it out in the first place?
[Mary Robinette] So I spend a lot of time, just in my own personal life, not just with writing, trying to figure out why am I not doing the thing?
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] Trying to figure out what my barrier is. Because the thing that I have found is that there's usually a reason that I'm not doing a thing. I've talked before about humans are mammals. And one of the things my dog trainer said about our dog was that when you have a dog that's reacting to something, that the first thing you should do is remove the thing that they're reacting to. It's not that they're misbehaving, they are having a response to a stimulus. And so that... What I... Like, when I am... When I'm doing avoidance reaction, when I'm doing things like that, I am having a response to a stimulus, and I need to figure out what that stimulus is and how to either remove it or to reshape my reaction to it. And so that's one of the things that I do when I'm sitting down and, like, trying to figure out, okay, the process is broken, how do I find a new process?
[Erin] I think, for me, I look a lot for patterns in my own life and figure out like, why is something happening? A pattern... I think I told you about this on the podcast years ago is that I discovered once that I would start buying lottery scratch off tickets when I was unhappy at work. And I didn't realize for a long time... I'd be like, I just feel like there's periods of my life where I appear to be buying all these lottery scratch offs, and then I lose interest. Like, what is that about? And so I started paying attention, like, when am I doing this? Is it certain days of the week? Is it when I pass a specific store? And eventually, I was like, no, it's every time I'm having, like, a really bad day, and so I'm in my mind envisioning that I will win the lottery and never have to go back to work.
[Chuckles]
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] This is like what's happening beneath the surface. But it required me to notice that I was doing something a bunch, think about where else intersected with things in my life, even things I would not have expected, and then try to figure out what's the tie between them. And so I think anytime there's something that feels like a barrier, I try to figure out what is that barrier tied to, where's the pattern? Because once you know the pattern, you can then... At least being aware of it, I think, sometimes does a lot of the work, and then you can also try to break it down.
[DongWon] Yeah. Yeah. I think it really has to start with observation. Right? And self-examination. I'm in a moment right now where I'm, like, rebuilding a bunch of different work processes in my life for a variety of reasons. One of which is, I just moved again. And so I'm sort of figuring, okay, now that I'm in this new physical space, also in this different place in my career, also in this different sort of situation with various projects, what do I need right now and how do I assemble a process that works for me? Right? So I think starting with what are those barriers, like, or what are those patterns, at least, before we even get to the barriers? Or, like, what am I currently doing? Are these things serving me? I think is the first thing to start with. Right? In terms of, like, my day looks like this. What... My goals for this week were this, here's what I actually accomplished, here's the stuff that's a problem, here's the stuff that's not. And, like, at least starting with that self-assessment I think can be really, really helpful in terms of, like, figuring out do I need to change anything, what needs to change, and what even is my process right now?
[Erin] I think that can work both ways, which is that you can also observe the patterns that are serving you.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] In one of the process episodes, I can't remember which one, we talked about learning how you got yourself to do things, like, what gets you past barriers in other aspects of your life.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] And so, if there's something that's like a trick that you figured out that, like, get you to work when you don't want to work or get you to the gym when you're like, ugh, I'm not sure about this, then is there something there that you can mine and figure out, well, I'm not going to do it the exact same way, but there's something at the heart of what I'm doing here that works for me, and I can use it to push down the barriers once I figure out what they are.
[Mary Robinette] There's an essay, and I can't remember what the exact title of the essay is, but it's something along the lines of The Cab Is The Ritual. And the person who's writing it says that they go to the gym everyday. But going to the gym, that's not the thing, it's the ritual, the thing that gets them to the gym is getting the taxi. And so, if they think about all of the things that they need to go to do to get the taxi, and they've got all of that stacked up, once they get in the taxi, the ritual is complete, and now they know that anything that follows from that is something that they have previously done before that makes them feel good. But the... But recognizing, oh, okay, if I... If I set... If I set the once I do this, then that follows, and you set the once I do this at a lower threshold, then a lot of times... Obviously this is someone in New York who...
[DongWon] Yeah. Yeah.
[laughter]
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] But I... That's the kind of thing that I think about when I'm hearing you talk, Erin, about, like, what are the patterns, How can I... How can I find a thing?
[DongWon] Right. Right.
[Erin] And I really relate to that, because when I was actually trying to go to the gym or in New York, one thing I would do is always change into my gym clothes before I left the office.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] And I would tell myself, you do not have to go to the gym. All you have to do is be in gym clothes and walk past the gym. You can walk past the gym and go home. But you have to walk past it. And like nine times out of 10, it's like, well, I'm here, I'm in gym clothes, here's my gym. But sometimes I would walk past it. And having the permission to sometimes, like, not be at... Just because you figured out a pattern doesn't mean it works 100% of the time, or that sometimes the barrier is there for a reason. Sometimes you're exhausted, and you're like, my pattern is to write every day, but, like, I can't even keep my eyes open. Maybe this one time, like, I can let the pattern go and it won't destroy everything that I've built is something that I think is really nice, which is permission to yourself...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] To be human. Because I think sometimes when we think about barriers, it's like if I'm not slaying it every single time, then, like, I am a failure at breaking down barriers, and I might as well not try at all.
[DongWon] Yeah. This is where the idea of a practice comes back in for me. The difference between an intention and a goal, a practice versus a pattern. You know what I mean? And it's like having the permission to not do the things sometimes, at least for me, is very, very useful for helping me (A) not beat myself up the one time I do slip and I don't do the thing, but also to lower that initiation cost into getting... If I don't have to... If, for me, sometimes I feel oppositional to being told to do something. Right? A shocking surprise to everyone in my life.
[Chuckles]
[DongWon] But I think lowering that friction can be really helpful.
[Mary Robinette] And, on the other hand, if you are someone for whom a streak really works...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] And breaking the streak can cause that entire process to collapse, then... Then what I would say is find the smallest version of that streak, because if you say I always write 2,000 words, then... And you hit a day when you can't because you have the flu, then that process is going to collapse on you. But if you... If you're like I always open my document. That's like the lowest threshold you can possibly set it at.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] Then that's something that you can maintain. But, again, like, not everybody's brain works the same way. Some people, if it breaks, it doesn't... So looking at the patterns outside of writing...
[DongWon] It's funny. I have this physical object that is a calendar made by the maker Simone Yurts or Simone Yetts. Yeah. And it's a board that has every day of the year on it. And when you press it, it lights up. Right? So all you do... It's called the Every Day Calendar, you just, like, tap it and it, like, marks that you did a thing that day.
[Mary Robinette] Oh, neat.
[DongWon] And it can be used for a variety of things. And when I've tried to use it for, like, I'm gonna like meditate for 10 minutes every day, or I'm gonna like go for a 5 mile run, or I'm gonna do XYZ. Those are the times when I found myself skipping often. I've started using it again recently, and all it is, is I open my notebook to look at my task list. It's not I did anything on that task list, it is not I rewrote, it's nothing more than I took my notebook, I opened it up, and looked at it. That's all I have to do to mark it. And so it... Having something that's very low friction, it is letting me mark the thing on the thing so that it all lights up and it looks pretty and I'm like, oh, there are the weekends I didn't do it, then... You know what I mean? That is really, really helpful, and sometimes, like, being that generous with yourself in terms of, like, what are the things I need to get me into the mindset? I think this is like my work version of, yeah, I put on my workout clothes before I leave the office. And so I want to talk a little bit more about what we actually do once we've, like, lowered that friction a little bit. But first, let's take a quick break.
[DongWon] Okay. Welcome back. Before the break, we were talking about sort of, like, how we manage to reduce the friction when we're building out our processes, when we're starting to figure out what are the things that we can do that make it a little bit easier to activate when whenever we need to do the thing.
[Mary Robinette] So then I think the next question is, though, okay, so we figured out how to lower the friction, what do I do next?
[DongWon] Yeah. Exactly. So once you've, like, lowered that friction, how do you start taking that next step? How do you identify here's the next thing I need to be doing in the chain? For me, it's often like, okay, I've opened that notebook, I looked at the thing, what are the useful steps I can take from this point? Right? And sometimes that is as simple as, okay, rewrite the list. Remake that list. Sometimes it is, oh, this has reminded me of this email that I forgot to send last night that I've got to send right now.
[Mary Robinette] I find that I have similar things where it's if I use my checklist, if I use my notebook, I'm much better. But what I also find when I'm trying to, like, figure out a process, a routine, a ritual, whatever that is, is that if I can link things together so that there's kind of a natural flow, that it is, again... It's part of reducing the friction.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] And that sometimes the way I figure that out is by doing what Erin talked about, just looking at patterns for ah, here's something that I'm eager to do, and look at the things that I'm eager to do, think about why I'm eager to do those, and then how I can either attach the thing that I... The next thing to something that I'm eager to do, or how I can re-engineer the thing that I don't want to do into something that has similar properties to the thing I'm eager to do. So...
[Erin] Yeah. I'm a big fan of, like, the what you're eager... Like, attaching things together that wouldn't otherwise be attached. Something that I will sometimes do is, not to make everything about working out, but when I get hungry, I think, like, the best time to have food, in my opinion, is right after you work out.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] Your body is like, this is delish. And so when I get hungry, I think, I'm hungry, this is a sign that I should go work out so that I can have the most delicious food. Ever. So I think I've turned, like, this one body signal into a signal to do another thing, as opposed to thinking, like, oh, when am I gonna work out today, it's like, oh, my gosh, like, beginning signs of hunger? Oh, yeah, baby, like let's go. And so that is something. And I also will cook food while... I have an air fryer... While I'm working out. And so, like, as I'm working out, the food, I can smell it and it's like, I'm Pavlov dogging myself...
[Chuckles]
[Erin] Into associating exercise with getting delicious food.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] And so therefore I'm, like, creating a way not just to, like, lower friction but to create some sort of, like...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] This tie between things...
[Mary Robinette] Yeah.
[Erin] That may not be tied except I forced them to be.
[Mary Robinette] That's really interesting because you actually just reminded me of a thing that I was, like, I... That works for me, but I'd kind of forgotten that I did. Because it's been working for so long. Which is I realized at some point that when I'm writing or avoiding writing as the case may be, but when I reach for my phone, that it's because the task in front of me is hard and I'm fleeing...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] And so I can't... Like, that impulse is hard to break, so what I've retrained myself is that when I reach for my phone, instead of opening social media, I have an app called Sweepy, which will present you with one task which you should do around the house. And they're like 5 minute tasks. And so I go and I do the 5-minute task, and that gives me a little bit of time away from the computer. I've accomplished a thing, so I feel better. Something about my house is a little bit tidier. And also, because it's a non-narrative thing that I'm doing, it gives me time to kind of think about the thing. And then I can go back. And if I nope that again, that I will do sometimes two or three household chores, and then I'm... But usually that is enough for me to kind of get away. Whereas when I pick up my phone and I go into social media, I'm in there... Like, the rest of the day is lost.
[DongWon] Yeah. What I really like about both of your examples is when I think about getting stuck in process. Right? When I'm thinking about, like, oh, my process isn't serving me in some way, I think the physicality of it, the embodiment of myself in that process becomes really important for me to think about, too. And those are simple things, like, do I need water? Am I hungry? Right? Have I been outside today? Am I just like in my dark office staring at my screen, or do I need to get up and walk around? Should I go stretch or go outside? Like... Or even, like, do I need to change the setup of my office? Right? If... Is the problem that I'm not getting a natural light? Maybe I should actually open my curtains for once. You know what I mean? And I think those things and observing and thinking about those processes not just, like, as abstract work, but also remembering that you are a person who unfortunately has a body and has to be in the world.
[Mary Robinette] Yeah.
[Erin] Well, I think also I like to treat myself like I am my own, like, nicest assistant. Which, like, sometimes you're doing something and it's a small stress. So, like, I like to drink cans of soda water when writing. And for a long time, I would just, like, put them on the side of the desk. And then it's like they're messy and they're there and I thought, like, if I was a really nice, like, person for me, I would buy myself, like, a tiny trash can. So that, like, I could put all my cans in the recycling and they would be behind me. I wouldn't have to see them. And then when I took them downstairs, I would feel like, great, now it's not bothering me.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] And I think a lot of times, like, my instinctive response to a small bother will be like I should not be bothered by that.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] Whereas my lovely assistant version of me, like my, like, good partner version of me, would be like, well, how can we actually just not have that bother you at all?
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] As opposed to you becoming unbothered by it. And so now I... A lot of times, if something is like a very small thing in my space, it doesn't feel like it affects the writing, but it's like... Sometimes I'll be like, oh, there's all these cans here, like, oh, I should go... I should go do this, I should go do that, I'm such a messy person, and it like gets me out of the... Out of the flow.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] In a way that putting something in the trash can never does.
[Mary Robinette] You said something that I'm like, what kind of gift can I...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] Like, some... And that, I think, is one of the biggest things you can do. Because we give really good advice to our friends.
[Chuckles]
[Mary Robinette] Like, all of us do.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] You, listener, give really good advice to your friend. So one of the things that I was doing for a little while when I was at a point where I was... This was right after mom had died when I was trying to rebuild my process. I started writing... At the end of the day, I would write, Dear Past Self, here are all the things you did really well today. And when I got up in the morning, I would write, Dear Future Self, here are the challenges that you're facing, here are some strategies to help you get past those things. And that helped so much.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] So I think you can do that. That's a thing that you can do for yourself about your writing process, about anything else. Dear past self, here's the stuff. And the first time I did it, my instinct was, wow, you really messed up today. And I'm like, no, that's not how I would say this to a friend. How would I say this to a friend? Like, there were a lot of challenges, and you worked really hard to get past them, and here are the things you did anyway.
[DongWon] It's like a thing I say about relationships sometimes. It's like your partner should treat you at least as well as they would treat a stranger. You know what I mean? In terms of like politeness...
[Mary Robinette] Yeah.
[DongWon] Consideration, and things like that. And you completely derailed me by being like you should treat yourself at least as good as you treat a stranger.
[laughter]
[DongWon] It's like, well, damn.
[laughter]
[Mary Robinette] Yeah, yeah.
[DongWon] I'm going to have to think about that one for a second.
[Mary Robinette] [garbled] A little uncomfortable there. So those are things... I think what we keep saying here is ask yourself questions, pay attention to patterns, like, trust your reactions. So if you're having a bad reaction to something, that's from a stimulus.
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Mary Robinette] So you have to reshape that, or remove it in some way.
[Erin] Yeah. I was just thinking that, which is that sometimes, like, a process like we may have said something during this podcast or previously where you're like, no, do not want.
[DongWon] Yeah. Yeah.
[Erin] Hate it for me, and I think, like, pay attention to that.
[Mary Robinette] Yeah.
[DongWon] Exactly.
[Erin] Just because somebody is not you doesn't mean that they know better than you. In fact, they probably don't. But I think sometimes we are willing to, like, listen to other people tell us how we should be, as opposed to listening to what...
[DongWon] Yeah.
[Erin] We know about ourselves.
[DongWon] I love that. And I think that's a perfect segue into our homework...
[DongWon] Which is, I want you to start taking these first steps towards listening to yourself. So, my homework for you is to make a list of all the steps that go into your writing process. Start small. Start with the little things and work outwards towards the big macro things that you need to keep moving forward in your writing. Right? Start with I like to write at this time... I like to use this keyboard at this computer, and use this program, and I need to write for this amount of time. Whatever it is. Just make a list. Free associate it, don't put too much stress on it, and then work backwards to the I need to feel a certain way, I need my environment to be a certain way. And once you've made that list, just go through and consider if each of those items is serving you in this process or not, and are they something you want to change? You don't need to know how yet. All I'm asking you to do at this point is observe and feel and see what your process actually is.
[Mary Robinette] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
green_fr
Полочка 021/120, книга Фабриса Каро «Le Discours». По этой книге я тоже видел фильм (писал о нём здесь, один из лучших для меня фильмов, есть на Disney+), видел неоднократно и наверняка буду ещё пересматривать. Книга оказалась похожей на фильм — точно так же натянута как струна, когда постоянно страшно за главного героя, что он или взорвётся или порвётся. Написана от его имени, единым монологом — ну, как и фильм, собственно. Длинные параграфы по нескольку страниц, непрерывный поток мысли. Наверное, если состояние героя не в тему — то это будет выглядеть ужасно занудно. Но если попадает в тему (мне однозначно попадает) — читается на одном дыхании. Увидел, что есть аудиокнига, начитал Alain Chabat — тоже один из моих любимых актёров.sovayswamijonathan in ru_pelevin - гулять, так гулятьcimorene - Radiatorsolindom - Анекдоты. 2026. 6.olindom - Мысли вслух.poliphilo - Ancestor Worshipcoshevka - Почистили парковкуtamaranth - 2026/007: Aberystwyth Mon Amour — Malcolm Pryceicon_uk in scans_daily - Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesdayalisx - Tuesday @ 7:50 pmthe_comfortable_courtesan - Choices (9)shewhostaples - Snowflake Challenge: day 6farsidecomics_feed - (no subject)farsidecomics_feed - (no subject)farsidecomics_feed - (no subject)farsidecomics_feed - (no subject)farsidecomics_feed - (no subject)green_fr - Идеальная платформа для блога? RSS!mbarker in wetranscripts - Writing Excuses 21.02: My Process is Not Your Processgreen_fr - Fabrice Caro, «Le Discours»sovay - Am I just a phantom waiting to be ripped around on shady ground?branchandroot