Derik Badman's Journal

It's been over a week since I've gone further than my block (thankfully a big block so walking "around the block" is actually a nice morning walk) and probably multiple weeks since I've left the borough, not that the latter is that unusual, since I work here, shop here, have friends here, and have plenty of dining options. Does it feel different now? Yes, mostly because I'm not going to the co-op multiple days a week, and we're not going to our friends' house for Friday night dinner or Sunday morning breakfast.

I've been good this week about my morning routine. Walk around the block, eat breakfast and have coffee while either watching some tv (watch the new Westworld episode and the new Picard episode this week), sit a bit, write, then start work. My second story (same protagonist) is coming along pretty well, already longer than the first one. I'm actually looking forward each day to sitting down and working on it.

I picked up Walden again last night after letting it linger on the floor next to my bedside for quite awhile. It took me forever to get through the long "Economy" chapter so I had taken a break, but now I'm into the shorter chapters, which makes it easier to read and find places to pause.

On that subject, I also started Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport, which is a 1000 page long novel that decidedly does not have places to pause. I'm not sure there are any chapter breaks, nor have I found any paragraph breaks, nor even, I think, any periods. Stylistically, it's full throttle stream of consciousness. I started to get into the rhythm of it after a bit, but I fear it will be difficult without those places to pause. I find I really rely on that when reading, find spots to rest, places I can set the book down for the night. That's hard when you never even find the end of a sentence. We'll see how far I get.