09.21.08
Posted in writing at 9:51 am by admin
This weekend has brought one of those rarities in upstate New York — absolutely gorgeous weather. Clear skies, slight breeze, cool (but not too cool) temperatures. After a very wet summer and a couple weeks of heat and humidity, the notion of a brisk walk to observe the changing leaves sounds divine. A walk followed by cider and homemade apple butter spread on fresh, warm bread. At most, we’ll get just a few weeks of this before the leaves drop and winter starts teasing its way into the Adirondacks, when the apple cider gives way to hot chocolate in front of the fire.
Thus the awful timing. I’m under deadline, working on a tech book, with chapters due every week. No time to enjoy the leaves, no time for apple picking, and certainly no time for making apple butter or bread.
I wish autumn would wait for me…
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08.29.08
Posted in writing at 5:31 pm by admin
According to Wiktionary.org, yak shaving is “any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you’re working on.”
For writers, yak shaving goes something like this: you’re under deadline and go into your office to write, but your desk is covered with the detritus of your life. You simply can’t work like this, so you decide to clear off your desk. While you’re organizing, you might as well alphabetize your magazines. And your spices. Which reminds you that you have a bunch of recipes on your desk, so back into the office you go. Where you make piles of said recipes and more magazines (oooh, more alphabetizing!), and books, and small pieces of paper with phone numbers for people you met once but now can’t remember. So now you’re ready to write, but your desk chair now holds a pile of books (alphabetized, of course). As you lift the books (to move them back onto your desk, natch), you notice that the cushion of the chair is pretty sparse. You simply can’t work like this, so you decide to make a new cushion for your chair. The best padding for a chair cushion is yak hair. Next thing you know, you’re off in search of yaks.
All in the name of getting your book done by deadline, of course!
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