Two weeks after returning from my three-week break, and I feel like I need another three-week break. Or a three-decade break. I feel like somehow the pace of my job has, over the past year, slipped into Red Queen Syndrome territory, where I continually need to run faster and faster just to stay in place. Once upon a time I was interested in going for a promotion, since I am still at the same level at which I was hired in twelve years ago. But given the amount of work and level of responsibility I have now, and understanding that those levels would increase significantly were I to jump to the next level, there is no way in hell that the money or other benefits would be worth the effort. I would need at least a 100% raise, guarantee of not less than 10% raises a year in addition to any raises based on actual merit, and a guarantee of annual bonuses equal to not less than 10% of my salary, after the raises. And since capitalism is feudalism with the serial numbers filed off, any extra labor value is always funneled to the top, and then mere crumbs occasionally flicked back down to the people who do the actual work.
Reading
I decided to take a brief break from all of the heavy nonfiction and picked up Matt Dinniman‘s Dungeon Crawler Carl, which was the exact opposite, and exactly what I needed. It was fun, light, engaging, and though not the most well-written of books, I can see why it is so popular.
Now I am about a quarter of the way through Robert Jackson Bennett‘s City of Stairs, which is very good, and giving me a couple of ideas for some of my own unfinished work.
When I have the emotional fortitude I pick up Ibram X. Kendi‘s Chain of Ideas, an exploration of the origin of the white supremacist Great Replacement theory, which has been espoused by conservative white Christians and members of the Epstein class (but I repeat myself) like Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, JD Vance, Matt Gaetz, and Donald Trump.
Writing
Much to my surprise, when treating myself to an hour at a cafe yesterday morning, I re-wrote the opening scene of my unfinished novel Cacophonous. Rather than typing, I wrote it by hand, in my journal.
I quite enjoyed the experience! I felt much more connected to the words on the page than in the previous iteration of the story, which I wrote during NaNoWriMo about five years ago.
Weekly Writing Prompt
Subject: Environment, Dreams
Setting: Labyrinth
Genre: Procedural
Listening
Kirsty MacColl, “England 2, Colombia 0”, from her 1999 album Tropical Brainstorm. With the 2026 World Cup recently concluded, this song has been bouncing around in my head.
Interesting Links
- “Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain – Here’s how to do it” (Neal Stephenson, Graphomane)