Distractions

Distractions

Today I woke up early and began designing Farlup Junction, the small town I need for the new novel. I discovered a new outline process when I was writing Perfect Lingerie and I’m using it again. Incredibly time consuming, but it’s worth it in the end. I’m using the tiny Oregon city of Dufur as a template. My gal and I pass through there a few times a month on family outings and it has the right kind of feel for a strange crime. Most of those little towns do, I guess. When you pass through a small town in Texas you get the feeling that a crime is going on at that very moment, that everyone hid their guns when you blew through. Dufur has a sleepier feel, as if things are good there. A better stage. The map and all the notes took four god damned hours however. It’s almost 11 AM. I’m done, but here is the incredible amount of shit that happened while I was doing it.

-A collect call from prison. An old… I don’t know how to
describe this guy. Not a friend, exactly. One of the many strange people I met
in my years working in the tattoo world. Long story short, he beat up some kind
of Mexican wrestler (possibly a transvestite) with a stick in the parking lot
of a lodge run by his evil neighbor.

-A brief email (one of many) describing the misbehavior of some dork I know through the book world, describing his ‘unbalanced, bipolar rages’ and ‘shady ways’ and ‘suffering from depression’ bla bla. This poor little finger sniffing mama’s boy has upset so many in the last few weeks, but how can I care? Laughable, considering. See previous paragraph. The guys antics can’t compare.

-The movers showed up a day early (we’re moving) to measure
this and that and THEY’RE FRENCH. At least I think they are. This made me feel
like I was going crazy myself. The movers didn’t like me, either. Shorts and
flip flops, screwed up hair, furtive, worried expression, shit, all city
cartographers look like that, but to these poor guys I was obviously another
maniac.

Time for lunch. After that, back into the peaceful land of dreams. As I look at that sentence I can’t help but think of the difference between harmonious and obsessive passion. With harmonious passion you pursue an activity because you love it. It makes you feel good. Harmonious passion is associated with well-being. Obsessive passion is the opposite in many ways, all about validation and external rewards. Obsessive passion is associated with depression, anxiety, and unethical behavior. There may be a third kind of passion, one I think of as a horny cousin to harmonious passion.

Vacation passion.