first person; a chilly retreat; variable speed

hallo blog. so i’ve been trying to write this story in the first person. it feels like lying. see, this character is not completely unlike me. just mostly. i mean, yes, i’ve pretended before, and i can be quite good at it. but what i’m pretending to be is ‘myself slightly disappointed’ rather than spitting, crying angry. or ‘myself entertained’ rather than dying to be somewhere else. it’s still the way i would be, if i were entertained. and only if i have to appear professional, or… well, suffice to say, i’m usually straightforward. so writing in the first person as someone else feels very, very strange. yes, part of why i am not an actor. just need to sandblast a bit of rust off the old storytelling segment of the brain.

perhaps being in the cold, cold, and very cold mountains (well, valley, actually) will help me feel like the writers and readers of old, who had nothing to do in the cold dark hours but curl up with a story. it will certainly be the last hurrah of a fairly roaming summer-to-fall transition for me. in the midst of all this running around, i took today to get the car inspected and myself equally inspected. we are both fine. car needed some new tires. i could use a few plastic joints, but that will have to wait a few years. for now, hurrah to the mountains we go. more on that when we return, i’m sure.

variable speeds–and i’m talking about the people, not the cars. they worked in a chaos of bits and pieces moving with purpose. i sat and read. and sat. and read. for hours. i could very well have shuttled back and forth, but it was nice to have a forced quiet time. reading felt good. i’ve been nursing along this book (which i am enjoying) for almost two weeks now. today i got a good chunk into finding out what’s happening. only thing that would have made it better: non-fluorescent lighting. i can’t help it, the damn things are so bright, so cold, so glaring. give me the closest approximation to sunshine i can get. sorry, earth. i promise to be extra-nurturing to you in other ways.