This is one of those days when things aren't going so well and I'm complaining about the whole racket. I sit and watch my "dashboard" and nothing comes in. They don't want to read or buy my work? What's the problem?

One problem is that I'm checking it too much. Another is that I'm not actively creating something, which sometimes can take my eyes off of it for a few hours at a time. Finally, I'm full up on things to read so can't actually go out and create new reads myself by reading more, and if they aren't just coming out of nowhere to read my stuff then there just isn't going to be anything up there happening.

All of that is a little depressing. A Monday of reading a wide range of things, whatever I can handle, and trying to attend to other business, and coming back to find it all very slow on my own board. But I am making progress, albeit slow; I'm doing better this year than I was doing at this time last year; I can feel the progress and on some level it gives me encouragement to keep on going.

One thing that's discouraging is when the reading I am doing is difficult. Sometimes it's difficult because it's written in a literary way, with long sentences that require work to figure out. Sometimes it's difficult because it's just a little too shallow, or silly, or unbelievable. I have a vampire one right now that qualifies; I don't mind believing in vampires in the course of a book, but if their conversation is banal what's the benefit of living forever? I have one book that I would call modernist. I have trouble making sense of it. And I don't really like that; if I'm working to figure out what's going on, how am I supposed to enjoy the action? You can't do both at once.
br> Why not put it down and do my own writing? Well, I have John the Younger being born in Boston in 1662; somehow I'm stuck on that, right around the time of his birth (it's a matter of organization). Then there are the Disney stories; I have to read a bit to get the hang of Disney, but it's worth it. And I have half a dozen other projects, half-done. I should be able to do something. But I'm not.

A few other things hang over my head. I'm typing a son's novel. I'm making Quaker pamphlets and having printer problems. I'm getting the house ready for winter, I hope.

Mostly not. I've just had a bit of an earache and was in just enough pain to not even enjoy indie writing.