I am feeling a lot better now.

Sorry for the Xmas Eve venting last night. A lot of things came to a head in me, no doubt shepherded together by the unique loneliness of the loner on Xmas Eve. And I figured, might as well write it all out and get it out of my system. After all, that’s what a diary is for, amongst many other things, right?

Plus, it seems only prudent to get into the habit of trying to solve my emotional issues via writing. It seems like that is what a lot of authors do, and it could in theory lead both to writing which has a deep emotional resonance that reaches into the reader’s heart and connects then with the rest of humanity, and maybe even helps them with those same issues…. and, of course, gives me something to write about when I am bored.

Of course, it’s a little weird to be turning your personal psychotherapy into cash via the quill, but then again, being a writer is pretty darn weird way to live your life anyhow, and so what’s one more weirdness?

Turning pain into art, and art into money… that sounds like the kind of scribbler’s alchemy I might just be able to pull off.

It’s not like I am cut out for the normal world, anyhow. Hi all you nice people in the normal world! Don’t worry, I won’t be coming in. I will just peek in from time to time from my writer’s garret and make my observations and move on.

Hopefully, I will even make money at it eventually.

Bound to happen sooner or later, right?

I have been pretty lazy about sending stuff out lately. My self-discipline usually goes all to hell this time of year anyhow. So there has not been a lot of the non writing but still writerly stuff happening lately.

In theory, I could have things really whizzing about. I have at least six short stories I could have in circulation which are currently just sitting in a directory on my computer not being rejected or anything. Plus I still haven’t finished even the first pass at my book.

Remember that? I wrote a book? Did it in 25 days in November? Today is the one month anniversary of its completion. It feels so much longer than that now. I have been lazy and self-indulgent lately.

Well, it is but once a year, sir. (Poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every 25th of December!)

I will shape up in the New Year. Develop a list of markets and some way of keeping track of who I have sent which story to, so I can try each story in each market and not annoy them by sending the same story over and over again to them.

Although you never know, they get so many submissions, they might not even notice. It would be pretty funny to have the exact same story, no edits or anything, get rejected by the same editor five times before getting accepted. What changed?

And it’s possible. Maybe said editor never gave it a really good read until then, or said story just happened to fit in that issue of whatever, or they just decide publishing me is the best way to get me to shut up.

OK, that last one is not all that likely.

I am having a very modern Xmas morning so far, in that instead of unwrapping a lot of gifts, I have been spending the various gift cards I have received at various fine online establishments. So it’s a very shop it yourself Xmas, as befitting this on demand era.

So far, I have two pairs of jeans coming via eBay and a crock pot (slow cooker) coming via Amazon.ca, and I am not close to done yet. I have $40 left in my Gifts From Me To Me budget, $20 left on the Amazon card from my dear sister Anne, $50 at Future Shop from my brother Dave, and $25 at Best Buy from my friend Ray.

The Future Shop cash is likely to be going to Rayman Origins for the Wii. I was originally going to get Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword, but then I would also have to buy the MotionPLus addon (or as I like to call it, the “Motion How It Was Supposed To Work In The First Plus Ha Ha Our Bad Now Give Us More Money addon) and I was not sure I wanted to buy a whole other thing to plug into the Wii controller just to play a game I might not like.

So then I took a look at what else was hot for the Wii, and saw Rayman Origins there, and looked at some of the reviews, and concluded that when so many critics use the word “perfect” over and over again when describing a game, the game might just be worth a look.

No idea what I will do with the other giftable cash. Gift cards are a wonderful thing, as they give you a chance to get what you really want, but they are also tought on a fellow like me who has option overload issues and trouble figuring out what he wants when faced with an entire online department stores to choose from.

Remember department stores? Seems like such a quaint and old-fashioned idea now. But back in the day, they were the only place to go when you needed to buy a department.

So due to online shopping madness, I imagine this place will be a little busy with deliveries in the next week or so. Should be rather fun, I like having things to anticipate. The rest of the shopping will wait until I think of something else I want.

After all, tomorrow the “Boxing Week” sales are starting. Who knows, I might be able to pick up a bread machine to go with my crock pot!

To me, small kitchen appliances are toys that make food.