One way to start.

Wake up, feed the cat. Read Noonday Demon, by Andrew Solomon. Get up again, schedule everything in my day, trash, dishes, clean bathroom, write blog, write story. I have my first look at the Internet. A picture of a friend brings the bite of depression. For the next half hour, I feel trapped in my life. It's cold in my apartment, cold outside. Soreness, small pains, a cat scratch, an ingrown toenail, stiff muscles, all feel inflamed. I take aspirin to keep it from getting out of control. Inflammation can damage the heart. I take the rest of my medications and vitamin supplements. 

My cat had her morning manic and is now fast asleep on the bed, so there's amusement to be found there. I finish my breakfast, which is the same thing every morning, Grape Nuts. Breakfast isn't my fuss-about-it meal, it's my pour-it-in-a-bowl-and-slog-it-down- so-I-can-start-my-day meal. Internet suggests a half dozen things to read. I realize I forgot something important on my schedule, so it's obsolete before I get to the first item. Okay, that's why Desktop Notes is such a great program.



I hear Stan Ridgway on Pandora, Goin' Southbound. That makes me feel better. In fact I go to youtube and listen to it again. I think it's time I go somewhere today, get the hell out of this apartment, but when? I should call a few friends, too.

My mood lifts. The aspirin takes effect. I'll write a friend until 11:30, then I'll begin to clean this place up. I miss the dreams I was having, so I'll create some. I'm thinking of all I'm going to drop from the novel.

I had an epiphany about writing that should enable me to write on more topics. I don't have writers' block on some things, like say, my past. But some tie me in knots because I have so many directions to take it. What I do now is I just read what I wrote after 900 words, go through and block-cut whole paragraphs.

The speed-reading opens up more possibilities, too. I don't have to settle for my own prejudice anymore. In the Internet Age, the slowest thing in the process is the human mind. People need to take it up a gear or two.

These developments should really help this blog. The important thing is for me to have confidence in it.