Fragments Against My Ruin Wednesday, August 27, 2003

I stayed up late, and made myself furious, trying to fix the archive links at left. Finally I punted and put in links manually. So they work, but they take more work.

An active evening. Finished up (I think) the editor queries on Black Sails. Finished up a story for work, with a reporter based in China. Negotiated more changes with reporters in Los Angeles. The result: a lot of half-assed work got done, and I exchanged maybe fifty words with my wife, even though we were sitting five feet away from each other the whole time. Something must change here. But, as my mentor said (see below), I may just have to tough it out for now.

Finished up book two of "Sword of Honour," began book three. Waugh has a real gift for the casually terrifying; he'll be steaming along, describing the boredom of army life, and then begin to follow a narrative thread. You'll wonder why the story is going on so long, and then as you get near the end you realize: Oh no; something terrible is going to happen to these guys (I should say "chaps"). My one complaint is that book two's climax depends upon two characters doing very similar things but in slightly different contexts. One character ends up praised for his actions; the other disgraced. And I can't for the life of me figure out why. Even the sum-up at the start of book three doesn't help.

At any rate, a nifty paragraph at the start of "Officers and Gentlemen." It doesn't mean much out of context, but it's good food for thought nonetheless:

Mr. Crouchback regarded his son sadly. "My dear boy," he said, "you're really making the most terrible nonsense, you know. That isn't at all what the Church is like. It isn't what she's for."

Off to sweat and labor.

@ 6:35:00 AM,

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