It's too Hot in Montreal. And I need a new schedule

The trouble with summer in Montreal is not the heat. It's not the humidity. It's the women.

Normally about this time of the year I can't take it anymore and, being too busy with too many things that interest me and not wanting to be distracted, I go become a hermit in my own town. No longer! The reason I decided to write is because if I don't start seriously writing now then I might never know what could've happened. The same thing is going to happen with romance and me, so I'm jumping into the pool on the ludicrously deep end, diving straight for the bottom.

So I've been busy figuring out what I needed to get myself out there and get something rolling. And it's going pretty damned fine, given that I used to be sure I couldn't get out there at talk with pretty women at all. I'm happy with my progress at least. The trick is that you don't can't care. Not that you can't like them, but you can't care if whether or not they like you, and you can't try to give them things to make them interested in you. I think I'm finally old enough that I can manage to date a woman without needing her approval, and that is a great thing to know.

In line with the above, I am both working hard on learning how to be relaxed and enjoy myself while meeting women, but also working hard to avoid making my life revolve around my search for a woman as I've done in the past at various times (because I find it easy to focus on any one thing at the detriment of all else). So I'm pushing myself to do the writing I need to do to potentially and eventually succeed in that sphere of my life.


Scheduling the writing has changed. I've decided I'll get more done if I write for an hour each morning before I go to work. This is because I can at least schedule when I get up, but if I have night classes or dates then I know that some things will break up my evening writing schedule - this has already lost me a week or two of productivity, so the new system should help. Working for an hour, instead of for 1000 words, also means I won't have to blather sleepily onto paper for pages just to fill my nightly word count. The scheduling thing just got started this morning - I'll let you know how it goes.

Moved! and Sold!

A few things have happened lately.

I got my move done, which was a bit of a trial but all-around a good thing. Now I'm a bit closer to some of my more favourite locations, and have a cool new roomie. It also gave me a chance to get out of my routine and review my life. Anticipating this move might have been part of the reason I started writing again.

I sold a poem to Star*Zone. It'll be published in the Jan '07 edition, under the title "Along An Edge". My first semi-pro credit!

And I've been hideously distracted by the summer. It's a crazy time, and crazier this year than ever before. I'm looking forward to fall, but I'm really liking the summer right now anyway.