Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

10 days on the road...

I'm currently in Burlington, Vermont for a packing job -- my second, with The Seattle Book Fair nestled in between. I like to travel but this time I was stupid and used my big suitcase because I thought I was only going to be gone 6 days instead of 10 and wanted to load it with all the things I needed along with the paperwork for the first job and the book fair, and not have to worry about laundry.

Instead, this job in Burlington got tacked on at the last minute so I'm lugging this beast of a suitcase around along with a briefcase, and I'm beat. And what's really irritating is, I wound up having to do laundry, anyway, since I won't be getting home till late Friday.

From now on, I take only what I need for 4 days and do what I need to do off that...along with just my laptop; no tablet or any extra electronic stuff. Especially since I'm probably heading to both Berkeley and someplace near Mt. Kisco, NY for more packing to be done, the beginning of November. Nothing settled on that, but they would have to be before I go to Hong Kong for this year's China In Print Fair.

What's been interesting is, through this whole trip I haven't been able to write. At all. I can make quickie comments on Facebook and Twitter and the comments section of news reports, but to actually hunker down and work on Place of Safety...or anything else, even? I zone. I've barely even written in my journal, and this is the first post on my blog in over a week. I don't know why...and what worries me most about the whole episode is, normally I go into withdrawal if I don't write at least a little every day. I've had none of that.

Haven't done any reading, either...outside of a book I read for a friend (and which I wound up not liking). I did think about some possibilities of what to do about my lack of success in writing and film...but haven't done anything about it. Well...made some notes and contemplated the ideas. A little.

I almost think I've tapped into a malaise crossing the country. Dealers I spoke with at the fair said people aren't buying like they normally do. Like they're waiting till after the election to see how things will go. Maybe this whole election cycle is finally getting to me and I'm just withdrawing from reality for a while, for self-preservation.

Because I'm at the point where even thinking about Trump becoming president sends me spiraling into despair. Too many people are beginning to assume he's self-destructed with his latest foot-in-mouth crap about sexually assaulting a woman and being able to get away with it. But I won't believe it till he's conceded or is dead...and right now, I don't care which way it winds up. I hate to say this, but I seriously hope his children have him committed or killed, if only for their own self-preservation.

He is the worst kind of animal.

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