I am the terror that reads in the night… I am the crusader that fights banned books…

It’s Banned Books Week, now through October 6th. It goes without saying that I am not a fan of banning or burning any tome. Any. I don’t care if the story is the worst piece of crap ever written, it has been written — and only through reading, discussing, and learning will we evolve as a species. Yes, I am fiercely on the side of pro-literacy. If ever there was an issue that I feel very strongly about, it’s this one. Books are printed recordings of our humanity and I cannot think of anything, save other artistic disciplines and interpretations, that’s more valuable.

Incidentally, there’s a comic about banned books that’s been tossed around a bit via e-mail and whatnot. It’s not getting proper accreditation, so I’d like to give a shout-out to Incidental Comics. (Sure, no one has used that joke before.) Why hasn’t this comic artist gotten a book deal or an invite to pen a comic for The New Yorker? There are some really insightful pieces in Snider’s collection that you can also purchase as a poster. Highly recommended.

The other day, I hinted I might share another horrendous draft with you. Still posturing that, if only because I would like to share more finished prose with you before I dive into the awful. After all, you want good stories from me, don’t you? 😀 I also embarrassed myself mightily by mentioning the mess of gigantic size in my office. Well, I have no shame. Here it is:

There are the remnants of miscellany and flotsam. Once I’m through that, I can finish reorganizing my art supplies, plant my terrarium, and dive into paperwork. Thankfully, I have a better space to work now.

Now that the room is better constructed, I have a place to do yoga and, if need be, set up a small table for additional art projects like painting and whatnot. I really needed the ability to shut my door and have my own space to be more productive. I talked about adding back in some discipline and, in a way, this hearkens back to when I used to practice piano for hours at a time. While I am hoping to shoot for a word count goal, to start with I am swimming back into blocking out chunks of time at a set period every day.

To help track my progress for my original fiction, I came up with this beauty.

Basically, it’s a weekly organizer in the form of a write on/wipe off sticker that I’ve decorated and stuck to my desk. Goals can change, but here this reminds me that whenever I’m penning “original fiction,” I have a goal. This is above and beyond what I normally write, edit, or blog. Right now, I need to separate that out because “on spec” isn’t pay-the-bills work and my freelancer brain sometimes has a hard time reconciling that. It’s a solution to my problem which is, if I don’t set time to work for myself, regardless of everything else I’m doing, then it’ll never get done.

I’ll post another picture in a month or so with the word count filled out. Hrmm… maybe even a graph, too!

Mood: Suck gas, Evildoer.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: The jig is up, you jaded, jug-headed, jack-in-the-box.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Sheesh. They ought to lock me up just for wearing this ridiculous outfit.
In My Ears: Let’s get considerate.
Game Last Played: Who, what, where, and sometimes why?
Movie Last Viewed: When there’s trouble, you call D. W.!
Latest Artistic Project: Clever of me to use my spine to break my fall like that.
Quote Attribution: Memorable Darkwing Duck Quotes courtesy of IMDB.com.