Waking up

I suppose the simplest thing would have been to just let the blog do the same thing as so many other blogs....just quietly waste away. The number of blogs that have started and died certainly far outnumber the ones still going. And I'm sure there will be a time when this blog will close up shop. But I like to think I'll actually announce it, rather than just stop writing for the blog and have people wonder what's going on.

Plus, there are a few other things...my work situation has...changed, which I may or may not get into. Regardless, I don't think I'm going to be doing as much writing with the current job. So I might as well use the blog as an outlet again. Plus, I'm hoping the new job allows me a little more freedom to discuss political matters, which I haven't had in quite some time.

And finally, this story tweaked a little something in me. I'm not going to claim I was Christopher Hitchens biggest fan. I don't own any of his books, although I read a lot of his articles especially since he was diagnosed with cancer. It was in this story, where Ian McEwan spoke about visiting his friend, watching his mind at work, and desperately trying to finish a piece of G.K. Chesterton before hitting up on the ultimate deadline...

...I'm just saying, if reading that doesn't put all of your excuses about why you're not writing into perspective, then nothing will. The man was half out of his mind with pain, and the other half under the influence of morphine to deal with the pain. And yet he kept writing.

I'm no Hitchens, not even close. The man was a singular intellect and writer. But if he could keep writing while nearly dead, then I have no excuse to pick up writing again. It's just laziness. So onwards.

I'm not going to try and write something every day, but I will try and manage at least three times a week. I'm also going to take another look at my much maligned and abandoned novel. I spoke with a friend of mine about it in October, who is a better writer than I am, and he gave me the succinct advice that was needed - cut the last three to four chapters that aren't working and start all over again, from scratch. That's a massive pain in the ass, because there's some decent stuff in there. But as better writers than I have said, writing is all about murdering your babies. It might be fun, but if it's not working, then it has to go.

Anyway, there will be stuff coming up - what's happened the last four months, a review of the Harry Potter series (I just finished a marathon of all eight movies), my favourite things of 2011 and anything else I can think of.

Last Five
1. Bad reputation - The Hit Girls
2. You wouldn't like me - Tegan and Sara*
3. Can't buy me love - The Beatles
4. Rattling locks - Josh Ritter
5. Does he love you - Rilo Kiley