Back after a while.

So the past couple of years have been, as the Arab proverb says, interesting, but things are looking better now, especially after a court settlement going in my favor. 

I'd like to present at NecronomiCon Providence this August, but I need a topic and abstract by June, and, well, I'm feeling blanky.

I also need a new venue to which I can submit articles, and there are a couple at hand, but still, I feel tired and flat. I know I've been dancing around the edges of burnout for about a year. I've been through burnout twice before, in different areas, so I recognize the signs. Pushing is not going to help. If it did, I'd have made it through my doctoral program, so I'm something of an authority on this.

The #100DayProject is going on (it started 2 April), and I think I'll join in. 

Now to see what fuckery Google has applied to my blog after G+ was taken down.

Map of Sherlock Holmes's London.

A link on Pinterest got me wondering if there were a more authoritative map. Looks like this one is a nice start.

Time to revise.

I received news of provisional acceptance of my Lovecraft/detective fiction paper, which is good, and I have comments from reviewers to take under consideration. Everything is due to the editor on Hallowe'en, which is a nice touch.

Three months, shouldn't be a problem.

Too many things, not enough brain.

I'm done with the Schultz/Joshi text. Excellent read, informative and thought-provoking essays. Lots of notes.

Next: reread journals two through six; update the TOC for journal five; plan what to start working on.

Done with An Epicure in the Terrible (Schultz/Joshi). Quite useful to have read. Also, now on journal six.

A post shared by Heather Poirier (@mensan98th) on May 20, 2018 at 1:55pm PDT

How do I capture all this?

Getting it all down in a coherent way seems like it'll take a long time.

Advice given to me by one of my master's thesis advisors: "Just get the fucking thing written." She'd put that onto a banner in her dorm room when she was writing her dissertation.

“Repeat the mantra: Writing is when I make the words. Editing is when I make them not shitty.”
― Chuck Wendig, 500 Ways to Be a Better Writer

I've gotta figure out a way to shake all this stuff apart and use it. So much to say, and it's all running parallel. #100dayproject #the100dayproject #thekinginyellow #Lovecraft #writing #detectivefiction

A post shared by Heather Poirier (@mensan98th) on May 11, 2018 at 3:29pm PDT

Twenty-one years.

At age 26, Lovecraft observes:

If one must weave cobwebs of empty aether, let them supply a decorative element to those cosmic spaces which would otherwise be an ambiguous and tantalizing void. (SL 3.147)

Twenty-one years. That's all we got beyond this statement. He died at 47.

Catch-up on notes.

Stefan Dziemianowicz's chapter in Schultz/Joshi has been revelatory. I find that my thoughts run in similar ways to his, at least as captured in this article, and that's like an oasis. Many, many notes from the evening of 5 May.

I know I keep posting this, but soon I've got to review what I have gathered the past few years, then think carefully about where to go next.

Catch-up post on recent notes. So much to think about. #Lovecraft #detectivefiction #thekinginyellow #the100dayproject #100dayproject

A post shared by Heather Poirier (@mensan98th) on May 7, 2018 at 5:07pm PDT