Today, I’ve got nothing for you.
I didn’t even try to write a blog post yesterday. Did you notice? Today I have to write one, because I can’t miss two days in a row. It’s not good for me.
But I’ve spend the entire day either grading papers or working on my Folkroots column, which is due tomorrow. At the moment I have 2500 words, so if I write about another 1000, I’ll be done. I’m already written an introduction, and a section on monsters in myth and legend. Now I’m working on another section, monsters in the age of science. I need to describe the most important literary monsters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Then, I’ll write a final theoretical section on why we’re so interested in monsters, what they mean to us.
That’s what I’m working on.
But because I have nothing, you’re going to get two pictures of me, doing what I did today. Here you go:
That’s what I looked like for most of the day, although at the moment I’m sitting in front of my computer, typing this post. (You can see, in closeups like this, why I wrote an entire essay for the Weird Tales “Uncanny Beauty” issue on what a strange face I have.)
Is it all right for me to post something so inconsequential? I mean, it’s my blog and I can post what I want to, but you know me. I want to entertain, to inform, to enlighten. I don’t think this post does any of those things.
Except in this way: I’m a writer, and if you’re an aspiring writer, there is a lesson here. This is what some days will look like. You will be working on whatever it is you do to earn a living, and then you will turn to writing, and that means you will be working all day long. Looking rather the way I look here – pale, tired. The opposite of glamorous. But if you are a writer, a true dyed-in-the-wool writer, you will think it’s worthwhile.
Theodora Goss 
I would choose “unique” or “distinctive” over “strange”.
Maybe I’m easy to please, but I was entertained, informed, and enlightened by this post.
I say blog away. I’m dying to read the article now on monsters. So it works as a promo. I only get around to blogging once a week, so you’re over me on that one.
So true — I’m pretty sure more than half my pants are pajama pants and I’m proud of it — but your photos totally make tired look glamorous. 😛 Lesson well taken though.
If you want Monsters look to Islam, if you want literary monsters of the ninth through nineteenth and twentieth centuries study the Qu’ran And Haddis
Yes, those photos absolutely exemplify “working” to me. 🙂
Oh — incidentally, this makes me think of the process of knitting. Actually, since I’m in the middle of a long knitting project, a lot of things make me think of the process of knitting.
The beginning and end of a knitting project are the exciting parts. In between, you have hours (days… weeks…) of knitting. Which is boring to do, boring to watch. But that inbetween time, while unglamourous to document, is essential.