My last 10 years

At the day job last week we were discussing an editorial looking back at the decade. The proposal was, essentially, that the Aughts, or whatever you call this set of ten years, has been a lousy one, but never fear. The next ten could be pretty great.

I was listening to this and thinking. I was also considering a couple of columns we'd run a day or two before. They both said that the last decade was lousy.

Everyone made a convincing case in a history book sense. But I don't look at things like that. I think many, if not most, people look at them more personally. We think of our personal milestones. For me, this has been a pretty great decade.

I started the Aughts working at a newspaper that no longer exists, doing a job that I didn't hate but didn't love. I ended the decade working for the newspaper that was always going to be my final stop, doing a job I love, and making more than double the money I was making when I started the decade.

I am ending the decade more productive(the last couple of months withstanding)as a writer. I have completed multiple stories this year and made good progress on the novel I've been working on for years. I still need to edit the things I have finished and get them submitted for publication. But that is great progress for me and I am far ahead of where I was 10 years ago.

But the biggest change in this decade is that I met and married Gina. Without her I wouldn't have bought a house this decade. Without her I wouldn't have seen the world. No Italy. No Mexico. This blog wouldn't be here without her. The writing I've been doing wouldn't be possible without her encouragement and support. She makes all of it easier, and not just the writing. I had prayed for someone like her to come into my life and this is the decade that prayer was answered.

The start of something

Something I banged out in a couple of minutes. Goes with an idea I'd had a couple of months ago. I just wanted to get it on "paper" while it was fresh. Whether or not this is how the story actually begins or not remains to be seen.

The Seventh Dallas was an aging beauty. A pot-marked and scarred cargo hauler, her heavy hull and and over-sized crew quarters made for an imposing figure when she was docked. But to Elias Kope she was anything but imposing. “My gentle beast,” her first captain had called her.

Seeing her tethered to the deck of the Crimeon like this, all polished and shining, pulled the captain, if just for a moment, from the funk he’d been in since receiving his notice three months ago. For a moment he was back on this same deck but forty years earlier, the Seventh Dallas shining behind him. He was being pinned a captain and presented with a certificate, signed by officers outranking him, that gave him control of his own ship.

He approached her from the front and let his fingers run along the length of her hull. He smiled and leaned in close enough o feel the coolness of the metal on his cheek. “The are putting you to pasture far too early, girl. Both of us. Far too early.”

A teaser

I have been thinking about it, and I believe I am going to write a wrap-up-the-year/decade post. Both have been big for me. Lots of milestones. I am not doing it here, obviously, but I will write one before the year's end.

So keep your breath baited for that one.

Finally, an idea

I think I have figured out a way to make our house hunt work in a story. It's another monster story. Still don't know why I am writing monster stories or having more ideas for them, but I am going with it.

This one could involve zombies or not. Haven't decided. This idea is still in it's tadpole stage so it could go many directions. I just know it involves lots of guns and a four-bedroom ranch that's fully furnished and fully stocked.

That's it for now.

A Sistine discovery

Gina and I honeymooned in Rome and it was amazing. Honeymooned? Can that be a verb? How about Gina and I spent our honeymoon in Rome. It was amazing. We were there for more than a week and got to take our time seeing the city.

On our first day we unexpectedly saw the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. It was easily some of the coolest things I'd ever seen. I wish I had known about this, though, before we went. Click the link to see a brain on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Just checking in

Hey, strangers. Here are some robots.