Days 21-26: Well, that was quite a week

Restarting the day job is always a tough moment in the year. The months of setting my own schedule quickly fall away to the knowledge that I have to get to work in the morning and that's all I'm going to be doing for the balance of the day. Then there is the rush to get home and do the other work that needs to be done before collapsing in a heap, ready for bed and to do it all again.

So, there's not much to report on the whole entertainment/hobby/personal life front from the past week. I zoned out to some tennis (Australia is warm this time of year and that's nice to see when the temp doesn't get above zero), a couple of TV shows and not much else. I believe I read about 20 pages total in Knife of Dreams over the week, about half of that in the minutes before the opening curtain last night at Johnny Baseball.

And the weekend? A bunch of appointments, an opera (oooh!) and plenty of writing to get done to be ready for next week. I know that after a couple of weeks, I'll have made my adjustment to the work schedule. The start of "scoring" helps as well, as it's a job I've done for years and know very well the kind of mental energy it takes to complete. Answering phones? Not my bag at all.

In other words, nothing to report, except that it's cold and busy and I just want to sleep for a long, long time...

Day 20: Anniversary

The homestead. Just add some more trees and gardens to the front (and snow right now).

Four years ago today, I spent a couple of hours signing my name on a massive pile of documents, finished arrangements for a down payment and got the keys for my house.

I drove over that evening to bring the first of many carloads of stuff over. The water hadn't been turned on. The garage door didn't work and the lock on the front door wasn't particularly secure (I put full paint cans next to it to keep it somewhat secure until my brother was able to fix the lock). There were no appliances, no furniture and it needed plenty of work, but it was mine.

Four years later, the spaces have become as familiar as the back of my hand. The living room is almost overstuffed with furniture, while the debris of my everyday life threaten to spill over into every nook and cranny. We've survived a burglary and a tornado and a cat intent on making every space his own. There is still painting to be done and the garage needs to be cleaned out and there are a thousand other things that should, but it's a little more mine every month.

So happy anniversary house. May we have good times together long into the future.

Day 19: Fringe goodbye

Saturday after a long week. A few things of note from today.

I watched the series finale of Fringe this morning, as my evening at the Guthrie Friday stretched too long to catch yesterday evening. It was a fitting end for the series, full of the oddball science and outsized familial emotions that have marked the show through its five-year run. This season felt like an odd coda, as the creators wrapped up the major storyline at the end of last season (a smart choice, as a fifth season for the low-rated show was a nice surprise, not a foregone conclusion).

There were some twists along the way and plenty of references back to earlier episodes, including a raid on a bad-guy facility that included nods to the very first episode. It ended with another time-bending reset - essentially where we left the characters at the end of season four - but one that indicates that happiness may finally be in the cards for our heroes.

After flailing around with book ten of the Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight, throughout the week, I decided to take some drastic action and skimmed a huge chunk of the middle of the book (about 400 pages in all), not restarting to fully read until the central character, Rand, made his first appearance. That it happened around page 650 (!!!) says about everything you need to know about the book. Knife of Dreams, the last one Robert Jordan wrote before his death, is proving to have a stronger spark in the early going, so hopefully something more than chess-piece moving is going to happen here.

And after reading an interesting article on the Van Halen song "Running with the Devil" on the AV Club, I ended up listening through the David Lee Roth albums. The band was big through middle and high school back in the early and mid 1980s, with 1984 absolutely dominating the hallways of my high school during freshman year. I had moved on a bit musically by then, so I didn't indulge in a copy. I do remember one of the girls in my class (one of those who usually sat in the back of the room and likely spent the time before school in the smoking area in the parking lot; ah the '80s were a lot different) saying that the rest of the album wasn't going to be as wimpy as opening single "Jump."

Other thoughts? There's a lot of filler on these records, which usually don't last much longer than half an hour. Diver Down is the worst. There are only four fully fledged Van Halen songs here, the rest being covers or little instrumentals. 1982 wasn't a good year for sleazy hard rock (see also Aerosmith's drugged-out tragedy Rock in a Hard Place.)

Day 18: Here comes the cat

Nothing much to add to anything today, as it's basically been a long day at work, followed by Long Day's Journey into Night. After three hours of watching men drink bottles of whiskey down, I definitely need a drink.


For you, here's a cat discovering snow for the first time. Enjoy.

Day 17: "Hi, this is Ed, how can I help... oh what have I done?"

Back at the day job, though it's not exactly the same day job. During part of the year, I work for a test scoring firm in the Twin Cities, working on projects for different states and different types of assessments. NDAs mean I have to be pretty vague about all of this, but it's not the worst work, the people are interesting to work with, and it helps to pay the bills.

I'm not doing a project like that this time.

Instead, I'm assisting a pilot project. And not the actual administration of said project, but in lining up schools from across the country to participate. The vibe is very different. The quiet, library-like atmosphere of scoring has been replaced by constant chatter and ringing telephones. It's like being back in a newsroom (except, ahem, it pays better than I ever made at a newspaper).

After one day - and the promise of oodles of overtime - I'm pretty sure that most of my plans for the next few weeks are headed out the window. The real challenge will be keeping to my eating and exercising plans.

I'm not going to have much idle time for entertainment or other distractions. That likely will make it easier to not spend, especially as it's going to take quite a bit longer to finish anything. Sorry Final Battle in The Wheel of Time, you're going to have to wait your turn. I've got some calls to return.

Day 16: Did I forget to do something... oh crap

It's a bit after 11 p.m. Wednesday and I didn't forget to post - not completely at least. It's been a busy day, with copy to write in the morning, a pair of interviews in the afternoon and a show for the evening. Oh, and I've been called in to the Day Job for something that 1) doesn't sound like a lot of fun but 2) will pay at a time I could use the extra scratch.

I'd actually spent part of the day yesterday organizing the notes and bits of writing I have done on my long-in-gestation novel and thought, "Hey, if I write a couple of thousand words a day I could get this done by the start of the next project in early February.

A few minutes later, the employer called with a short (two week) project to do. It isn't for the work I normally do - it's a little vague at this point, honestly - but I'll be there tomorrow morning for training.

Fiction will be off the plate for a bit while I reorganize. Hopefully, I can stay on my eating and exercising targets. We'll see how it goes.

Right. It's late. I'm tired and I actually have to get up in the morning. Gah. no fun at all.

Day 15: Here comes the hard sell

I finished Winter's Heart Sunday night and turned to the 10th book of the Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight. This is the book that, a decade ago, I read part way through and then decided I would wait until the series was finished before I read them again.

You see, there was real movement at the end of Winter's Heart. Main character Rand had finally cleaned the male half of the world's magic from the "taint" that had driven men mad for millennia. That opened the way for the serious business of preparing for the final battle against the Dark One.

Except it didn't. Instead, Crossroads of Twilight opens with a 100 (!!) page prologue, followed by a bunch of characters slowly moving around the world. Even the biggest Jordan supporter in the world could see that the series have finally come off the rails. I think the author (Jim Rigney) felt that as well, because he started to tie up loose ends and preparing for the finale with the next book. As I've noted before, he didn't get there, but the series has been completed.

All of this doesn't make the current volume all that enticing to read. It even opens with favorite character Mat on the run with the women who he knows will become his wife, even if she is 1) a prisoner and 2) a princess of an invading empire. Even that couldn't hold my interest yesterday.

I'm hoping that the energy left over from Winter's Heart, the fact that the final volumes are in sight and a desire to read something that isn't part of a 10,000-page-plus novel will get me through this. I'm still on schedule to finish the series by the end of January. I will do it. I will! I will!

Day 14: Inspiration from Doonesbury?

Monday is... yeah, Monday. I tend to work strictly from home on Mondays, because I'm really not in the mood to face the world. (This becomes a problem when day jobs start up, but hey, I still have time before that strikes.)

I have found the freelance rhythm: getting assignments, pitching stories, writing them up in time of deadline. I think today's Doonesbury strip (up above) says it well. Writers write because we have to write. Not just that soul-fulfilling stuff that we tell friends/family/college classes to try and justify what we do, but the "putting food on the table" side that keeps us from having to go into an office every day.

I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, the last seven on my own as a freelance writer. I don't have a pension. At least, I don't have a pension from an employer (I have my own investments that I tithe to every month in hopes that it will grow to be enough to allow me to semi retire - writers never really stop - before I reach 70).

So, I scratch and claw for every bit of work I can find. I don't mind it at all. I enjoy writing and I enjoy discovering new things. Sure, the time spent writing about my passions (theater, music, the arts) is more fun than some of the other topics I've delved into through the years, but I've also enjoyed my trips to places outside of my comfort zone. All of it helps.

So I try not to dwell on the negative (a shrinking saving's account, which is typical for this time of year for me) and look to the positive (a chance to pick some of the winners for City Pages' annual best of issue). And at least it's sunny out today.

Day 13: Maybe a nap is in order

Sunday afternoon, feeling drowsy. Could be the weather. Could be the fact that football tends to put me to sleep. Could be that I was up late last night watching an uneven horror movie (V/H/S) and a documentary about professional wrestler C.M. Punk. (Hey, I have layers.)

Maybe it's because Scoob has found a new sleeping spot that is out of sight - he has taken refuge beneath one of the comfy chairs, right by a heat register - but still in the living room. That means his nap-inducing powers (all cats have them) are still in order.

Whatever. Work is at least done for the day: a review of a tough-to-watch play (Thom Pain) and a couple of likely not-frothy-enough promo pieces for Lavender. The later two, innocent seeming at the outset, ate up a good chunk of the morning as I tried to be clever and informative on subjects that were dictated by those above me. It's not the easiest way to write, but bills have to be paid and I'd still rather write than do a day job (note, day job starts is 25 days; bugger).

I continue to soldier on through Winter's Heart, which has at least gotten to a more interesting space and introduced a character that was prophesied five or six books ago. And the end is in sight. I keep telling myself that, and looking forward to short novels that aren't part of anything epic.

Oh, oh, the Trap Door cat has emerged from his hiding spot. Here comes the hard sell.

Day 12: Reach for the skies

After attending the City Pages "holiday" party (tradition dictates that newspaper Christmas fetes happen after the new year; a relic from the time when the weeks leading up to the season were particularly busy) Friday night, I ended up home a bit earlier than normal on a Friday night and not sure what to do with myself. I ended up playing through the last few hours of Halo: Reach, one of the non-Master-Chief editions of the series.

If you want my review of a more-than-two-year-old game (I'm slow, and I didn't replace my stolen Xbox 360 until the fall), I thought the actual game dragged a bit near the end with a lot of missions (including flying a helicopter around a bombed out city for what seemed like hours) lacking the tight focus of the best moments of the series.

What made the game interesting - and worth looking at considering yesterday's rant - is the ending. In the game, set in the weeks  before the first Halo game, you play as Noble Six, part of a team of Spartan super soldiers in the face of a massive invasion. That Master Chief is known as the "last of the Spartans" doesn't bode well for your team. One by one, they die - sacrificing themselves for the mission; cut down by Covenant missiles - until your character is the last one left. He (or she, it depends on choices you make at the start of the game) stays behind to defend the last ship out, which contains the information that will spark the following games.

The game ends with Nobel Six staring at the war-ravaged landscape, waiting for what will come.

Except it doesn't end there. After the credits run, we come back to Nobel Six. We can see hordes of Covenant heading his way. We go back into the game and are given one final mission: survive.

Survival isn't possible. You can take out the bad guys for some time, but eventually the shots start to get through. Ammo runs low and and bullet holes appear in the HUD, where your helmet has been cracked.

Eventually, Six is overwhelmed. Removing his helmet, he makes his land stand. He falls and dies, his smashed helmet the only remain.

And the cut scene jumps forward a few years, to a point after the war. The smashed, aged helmet is still there, but Reach has returned to the green. A voice-over talks about the importance of the sacrifices, but we can see it right there on the screen.

That's what makes video gaming a unique art form. Watching these moments would certainly have crafted an impact, but these weren't just characters we watched over the past 10 to 12 hours. These were ones we fought by. The writing - both of the cut scenes and the game design itself - is strong enough to make us care about the other members of the team. Our own interactions with Six, of course, make him considerably special to the person behind the controller.

That's the power of interactive entertainment. It rarely reaches this level, but when it does it makes for a unique experience that other areas have a difficult time replicating.

Day 11: I've had better days...

There was a lot of flailing around yesterday, as I tried to work on several stories that are due in the coming days, but had little success. That, in turn, deepened my depression. That, in turn, made it harder to work. Agghh. Brain, please help out. (I can say that this morning has been better: both stories I needed to complete are turned in. Deadlines can be your friends.)

The sour mood wasn't helped by watching the first half of In Bruges, Martin McDonagh's film about hitmen waiting for orders in an idyllic Belgian town. As a playwright, McDonagh is a tough customer, merging black humor with even blacker drama, often centered on his native Ireland. I only made it halfway through the film, after main character Ray - minutes after it was revealed that his last hit included a priest (the target) and a young boy (an innocent bystander) - coldcocks a woman after she tries to defend her date.

Without an overwhelming reason for it, that kind of violence is a red flag for me. Actually, a lot of on-screen violence is becoming a red flag for me. Our culture is soaked with bad asses, vigilantes and those who think violence first. I'm not against the portrayal of this, but it often feels like the reasons are meant as a joke, while the consequences are shoved under the carpet. (And back to the movie: wouldn't a murder like the one mentioned above be international news? The murder of a priest and a boy in a church?)

Then again, I have to run these emotions against the type of games, video and "real," that I like to play. I do shy away from real-world depictions - I'm not a Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto player, for example - but I have certainly decapitated, shot, incinerated with magic untold hordes of creatures over the years. Is it OK because I am in control, and thus am making the decision, rather than being prodded by an outside writer?

Back to the movie. I think hitmen are going to join serial killers on my list of "stories I'd rather not watch." I've avoided most serial killer-centric movies and shows in recent years (which cuts off about 40 percent of broadcast television). Maybe I'm just tired of being force fed villains as my main characters. I don't mind journeys into the dark, but the glib banter and lack of consequences is grating on my nerves.

Day 10: Are we to the Final Battle yet?

As you can see, my copy of A Memory of Light has arrived. It's bright, shinny and thick (more than 900 pages in hardcover). It's also going to hang out on the shelf for a bit, because I'm still in the first half of book nine, Winter's Heart. My recollection is that this was the last book of the series I finished. I started reading book 10, Memories of Twilight, and thought it would be best to just wait for the series to be finished before I went back to the books. That was about a decade ago.

The one advantage to plowing through the Robert Jordan books one after another is that it makes some of the digressions more tolerable, because you know they will eventually lead to a resolution that is a matter of days (or weeks, depending on my speed) away. That's a lot different from getting to the end of a book, looking back at what little had transpired, and realizing that there was, at least, a couple of years before the next volume.

Along with the new Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson epic, I picked up a copy of the new Neil Gaiman picture book, Chu's Day. It's a fun little read and features some delightful illustrations by Adam Rex. It's about a little panda with a big sneeze... and well, it's a picture book. It's quicker to read than for me to describe.

Meanwhile, things continue on. The steady stream of work has finally solidified for January and into February, when the next headache -- working a day job and writing -- starts up for the year. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Day 9: This is a Low

Still working my way through assignments, but there were a couple of exciting musical announcements yesterday.

To celebrate his 66th birthday, David Bowie issued a new track and announced a new album that will be released in March. It's his new record in a decade and while Bowie hasn't been an A-list creative artist for many a year, he's still Bowie, and any new music is worth a listen.

Meanwhile, Duluth stalwarts Low issued the first song from their new album, The Invisible Way - their tenth - called "Just Make it Stop." It's a pretty tune, merging the chilly angst that has long been the band's calling card with an almost bright melody as a counterpoint. The band has been one of the most intriguing on the Minnesota scene for the past two decades and a new album is something worth celebrating.

Elsewhere, I spent most of yesterday on the job, so the distractions were few and far between. I did manage to make it through a couple hundred more pages of The Path of Daggers (lots and lots of talking to skim over) and oddly found myself fully engaged while watching the Timberwolves play. It's not that I don't enjoy basketball, but I usually can tune it out when I'm doing something else. Maybe it's the underdog aspect - the team is basically making a go with nine healthy players right now and their biggest star (Kevin Love) is out with a broken hand - or the back and forth was just hypnotizing for an evening. That they won helped. I don't expect the same tonight, as they run into the buzzsaw in Oklahoma City. (This has been your weekly sports report, now back to the regularly scheduled nerdage).

Day 8: Oooh, busy day ahead

Being an absolutely mercantile author means I'm ready to take on anything, including a pair of stories for Valentine's Day about in-the-area romantic getaways for Lavender. As is the way of publishing, these are due right now, so not much time to chat today.

Instead, I'll just drop in some material I cut from my Brandon Sanderson piece for City Pages. I asked a lot of questions, got a lot of answers and it ended up being more than I really could squeeze into one post. I snipped out some questions on the writing process, figuring that was something I asked more out of my own interest than general Wheel of time stuff. Anyway, here is the missing material:


 CP: As a writer, you have a style that is distinct from Robert Jordan's. How do you balance your voice with the voice readers expect to hear in their head?


BS: From the beginning of the process, I felt that to attempt an exact copy of Robert Jordan's style would be the wrong move. If I did it poorly, it would feel like an awkward parody. Yet at the same time, there are some very important reasons people love these books. Depth of setting, detailed descriptions, and complex and lengthy characterizations are all hallmarks of Mr. Jordan's style. So I set out to strike a balance; to adapt my style to the Wheel of Time without trying to write just like Robert Jordan. I needed to be more detailed in my descriptions and linger a bit longer on side characters than I did in my own work. My goal was to stay true to the themes, characters, concepts, and general stylistic choices that made these books so successful without trying to mimic the smaller details of his style. And judging by the comments I've received from readers, I believe I met my goal.

CP: On the other side, have you found that Jordan's style wants to creep into your own books?


BS: Since the Wheel of Time was an important series in my formative years, you'll find that my style already reflected his in many areas. But writing these three books and working on those issues I mentioned above has definitely had an effect on the style of my own books—for the better, I feel. If you pick up my first post-Wheel of Time novel, The Way of Kings, and compare it to my earlier novels like Mistborn, I think you'll find subtle differences, such as the detail of descriptions. These books are now a part of my writing history, so they will continue to affect my writing going forward.

CP: Were their moments where you felt lost in the writing? If so, how did you find your way out?

BS: There are moments in every book where you find yourself lost in the writing. I'm not sure what you mean by lost—if you mean that I was completely enthralled in it and lost in the world, which happens every time I write. That's basically how it goes—you dive in and come up for air three hours later and realize how much time has passed. Or if you're asking whether I was lost in what to do, that also happens in every book I've worked on. Another way to talk about that would be to call it writer's block. My experience with that is that I just write anyway. I write something that I often know will not end up in the final book, but I write my way through a tough part and sometimes it's like hacking at weeds, trying to clear them away so you can see the path that you want to travel. Then I throw those chapters away and write them again, or I write a different chapter. It's the act of doing it, the act of creating it poorly, that teaches me how to do it the right way.

CP: Now that this is out of the way, what's next for your own various worlds?

BS; My big project right now is the next Stormlight Archive book, the sequel to The Way of Kings. My goal is to finish the first draft in April, and if I hit that goal that means we can get the book ready for publication in November 2013 or so. I also have two young adult novels coming out this year—The Rithmatist in May andSteelheart in September. The Rithmatist is about the son of a cleaning lady at a magical school, who can't actually use the magic himself. When students start disappearing under mysterious circumstances, he gets involved in trying to solve the mystery. Steelheart is a post-apocalypic novel about what happens when people start developing super powers—but all the people who get powers turn out to be evil. The main character is the only person who has seen the weakness of the superpowered Epic who rules Chicago, so he seeks out a group of vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to discover the weaknesses of Epics, hunt them down, and assassinate them.

Day 7: Let's all talk in our 'Downton Abbey' voices

Ooh, aren't they pretty?

Whoo hoo, stiff upper lips, conniving servants and period costumes are back on PBS! Well, that's actually par for the course on public television, but in this case we're talking Downton Abbey, the monster hit that has returned to our shores. There was a time when I would likely have already seen the third season through, ahem, alternative means. I don't do that anymore, so I got to wait with the rest of the colonies.

It was mainly fun, in the show's signature soapy ways. There is financial, political and personal trouble up and down in the household, but all this likely won't make many changes, fundamentally at least, to the characters. In the time frame of the show, eight years have passed since the opening episode, but while there have been a lot of changes around them and to them, the people haven't grown that much. It's not really a show interested in delving seriously into the class divide of the age or the cracks in the class system. Those are mainly there to provide chances for frequent costume changes.

Oooh, and there are plenty of those -- and a wedding to boot. I'm only following a handful of shows into my entertainment divorce (Fringe, American Horror Story, Breaking Bad and Doctor Who are the others, mainly because they are either 1) nearly done with their runs or 2) Doctor Who) but in my circles, not watching Downton Abbey would leave nothing to talk about around the figurative water cooler.

Then again, considering my "divorce," the TV was on an awful lot Sunday. I managed to watch an English football match, two NFL playoff games, the Gophers basketball game and finally my two-hour date with the Abbey. I haven't thought too deeply on what to do with sports, but I'm thinking that some limits need to placed there as well. After all, I'm trying to avoid long stretches of passive watching - and I spent an awful long time on the couch.

Day 6: Look what the postman brought

The Christmas season book booty -- if only I had time to tackle them all right now...

There's not much to report on from Saturday. I spent the afternoon working my way through A Crown of Swords (which got stronger as it went along, including a couple of bona fide laugh-out-loud moments) and then started in on The Path of Daggers. Several characters finished a quest that has been brewing for several volumes. Not sure how much XP each of them got, but they should at least level up from that.

The evening brought the full return to work for my first show of 2013. At the beginning of the evening, I really wanted to stay home and watch the Vikings (the football team, not the invasive Middle Ages culture) play. As it turns out, going out was a good choice.

You can read about the show, Aida, later this week in City Pages. Walking into the Pantages was an interesting experience, as I haven't really been "out" since the last show I saw, also at the downtown theater, three weeks ago. Being around that many people again was a bit dizzying. Crowds and me: not the best combination. Things, I know, will get back to normal soon enough. (And the shows on tap for this week will be in much smaller spaces.)

The (almost) final bit of Christmas shopping arrived in the mail Saturday. The four books include the start of one epic-looking series and three volumes in another. I'm sensing a trend. Anyway, none of that or now. I'm on the back half of The Wheel of Time now, going downhill as it were. Of course, this downhill lasts for about two million words... so, it's not going to be finished today.

Day 5: Wait, are they still talking?

Michael Whelan's cover for A Memory of Light.

Over the past few weeks, I've been working my through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books in anticipation of the final volume, which will be published (at last) this Tuesday. It's been a long road for everyone involved. One that has stretched on longer than I think anyone would have thought.

My personal history with the series goes back to the mid-'90s. I had seen the books on the shelves for years, but wasn't in the mood for an epic fantasy series at the time. I actually checked out one of the middle books - A Crown of Swords - and read a bit of it. I had no idea what was going on, but I liked the style enough to head out and find a copy of The Eye of the World, the series' first book. (Interestingly enough, I started on George R.R. Martin's then-brand-new Game of Thrones series about the same time; epic fantasy is often about waiting as patiently as you can.)

I read it. No, I devoured it. I was living in a small Wisconsin town (Ashland) at the time, which had a nice library and a small book store. Neither had the next book in the series, and damn it, I wanted to know where the story went next.

I drove to Duluth (about an hour or so away), visited the Barnes and Noble and picked up the series up through Lord of Chaos, the sixth book. After I ransacked my through those, I was ready for A Crown of Swords again, eager to find out how close we were coming to the end. After all, how long could the series go beyond book seven?

About 15 years and seven more volumes, it turned out. The world that Jordan - the pen name of writer Jim Rigney - spun into an even-more complex web, with a dizzying cast of characters and oodles of events that threatened to overshadow the core of the series.

What is that? For me, it is the story of three friends from a small farming village who discover that they are three of the most important people in the world. What teenage boy doesn't want to be told that? Except, as they find out over the course of the books, that import comes with a tremendous price. At the center is Rand, a sheepherder who is the warrior savior of the world: the only person who can defeat the Dark Lord when he becomes free of the prison. That this event is known as "The Last Battle" doesn't bode well for Rand's chances. (Oh, and his ability to use the magic of the world means he may go mad before he even gets to that point.)

It's also about four young women we meet in the first volume: two from the village and two more they meet on their first journey. It's about an incredibly rich fantasy world that started out as a typical Tolkien clone (there are even the Mountains -- don't call it the Misty Mountains -- of Mist in the world) and quickly grew into something rich and complex, with a bevy of distinct cultures spread around the globe. It's even about stories themselves. The aforementioned Wheel of Time is always spinning, with ages coming and going, falling into myth and legend. There are relics throughout the world of past, great ages, and even the occasional hint that our history lies far in the past (or the future) on the Wheel.

The spinning plates started to wear down the series by the middle, however, as the initial energy of the first books wore off and readers found themselves in a seemingly never-ending middle. Some of it was fascinating; other pieces just dragged on and on and on (the detailed political machinations, for example, just wash over me without making any real impact).

With no end in sight and an increasingly lengthy re-read needed with each volume, I decided around the turn of the century to just wait until Jordan finished it all. He was up to book nine by this time. How much longer could it take?

More than a decade, as it turned out. Some of this was just the sheer weight of bringing all of the stories to the conclusion. Much of it, however, came with the unexpected death of Rigney, who passed away in 2007 while working on what he thought would be the final book of the series. Team Jordan, led by his wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, brought in fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to complete the series.

In the end, it took Sanderson three volumes to complete the work, with book 14, A Memory of Light, finally ready to hit bookshelves.

I won't be reading it when it comes out Tuesday. No, not in some moment of pique. It's just that I'm not done with the rest of the series. Yesterday, I finished Lord of Chaos and started on, that's right, A Crown of Swords. This is where the sometimes muddled middle really kicks in. (The first half of Lord of Chaos was no picnic in that regard either.)

There are thrilling, game-changing moments in the first half of the book. There are nice character moments as folks are reunited or introduced. There is also about 100 pages of the Aes Sedai, the main society of women magic users in the world, sitting in camp and talking. Just. Endlessly. Talking. I understand that this inertia is part of their society, but they just won't stop talking for page after page after page!

Anyway, it's easier to deal with all of this now that I know there is an end, even if it is a couple of million words in the future. Speaking of which, I need to go. The back half of A Crown of Swords awaits.

Day 4: The Target Temptation

Circumstances - I was out of coffee - forced me out of the house yesterday and to a potential Waterloo: Target.

Sure, we like to say we buy local at funky shops that cater to our wishes for dolphin-safe coffee, but in reality it's often off to the local megacomplex to hunt down the endless asles of consumer goods. While buying smarter and more local is certainly a goal for the year, it's something that will come in time.

Instead, I found myself at the nearby Target, on a mission. I had a list (I had, in fact, checked it twice) with half a dozen or so items on it. My mission was to get in, buy those goods and get out. After a few minutes of hunting, everything was neatly crossed off. I could leave.

Oh, but I couldn't. Not at Target. Not the week after Christmas when there were so many highly reduced goodies to be found. I wandered to the electronics department, but nothing caught my eye. Other asles were packed, but held little interest. Then came the toy section...

Oh, so many brightly colored packages, with such highly reduced prices! Legos, figures, some of the Hexbug creatures I have collected on and off over the past year. In the end, none of it went in my cart. I even tempted fate one last time by checking out the collectible card area. Nothing.

A friend commented that my intentional temptation proved that I was a "born Catholic." While that's true (a quarter-century of lapsed attendance doesn't shake a Catholic upbringing), I at least was able to turn off the "buy, buy, buy" impulse for one trip.

I don't mean to pat myself on the back. One little trip doesn't change spending patterns built up over decades of use. And I know plenty make do with a lot less than I do (OK, that Catholic guilt is rearing its head again), but I think there is something interesting going on here. I know the pleasure of purchasing something new (or "new," I've got plenty of used items in the house) quite well. I love novelty, even if the only real satisfaction comes from breaking the seal and opening up the package. My question for myself now is: how do I find that pleasure, or a substitute for it, without a constant stream of fresh consumerism?

I imagine it will take some time to find out.

Day 3: Temptation by mail

Dystopian Legions, Arcane Legions and Star Wars, oh my.

Temptation comes in many forms, and it doesn't matter if you leave the house or not...

Actually, it was just a couple of packages ordered with Christmas money. They represent the tail end of the new "stuff" for the time being (there are a couple more orders yet to come). Then I can get down to business. Really.

What arrived, you - my likely mythical readers - ask? In perhaps the strangest combination I've ever received, one order contained a volume of the Annotated Sherlock Holmes containing Conan Doyle's four novels, and a package of 50 rare-earth magnets for some hobby-fu. I have a plan for them that I'll share once I get around to that particular project.

The other was a gaming mixed bag. There were a pair of boxes for Arcane Legions, a game that came out of the gate like gangbusters a few years back and then died a slow death. The remaining stock can be had for a song, and I liked the setting (ancient world that has been torned asunder by the introduction of magic; there are Romans riding bears! Bears!) and some of the miniatures, even if the mix of paint-your-own and pre-painted figures doesn't always look the best.

Meanwhile, Spartan Games extends their steampunk Dystopian Wars setting with Dystopian Legions, a  Warmachine-scale game. I'm not sure if this is something I plan to play, or just have fun painting the figures. After all, the Britainnia starter I got included soldiers with jetpacks (wearing goggles naturally), so there's that to look forward to.

To finish, there were three figures from Fantasy Flight's X Wing game. Like MST3K's Johnny Longtorso, this is a game you buy in pieces if you want to have any real fun. Still, the game mechanics are good, the figures are nicely constructed (and pre-painted) and now I can revert to being an 8-year-old and pretend to be Luke Skywalker all over again.

Otherwise, the day was marked mainly by a slight return to work; working my way midway through Lord of Chaos; and watching more TV than I should. We'll see what today brings.

Day 2: Tanks for the Memories

The good news is that I did not ignore all of my plans for the year by spending the the entire day on the internet, ordering books, music and games off of various web sites.

Exercise was accomplished. I kept to my promise and stayed off the internet except for little bursts through the day. As was about 85 percent of the New York Times crossword and about half of the sudoko published in the Star Tribune. I read to page 266 of Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos, which keeps me on schedule to finish the series by the end of January. I also completed piecing together the Flames of War Open Fire! boxed set I picked up before Christmas. There probably was too much TV (a mixture of meaningless bowl games and the extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings films), but it was New Year's Day.

Originally, I had planned to finish the 13 published books in the Wheel of Time series before the publication of the final volume next week. That plan worked OK for the first few volumes, but I had forgotten how much of a slog the middle volumes can be, and I know the general aimlessness of the series continues through the next few volumes (though, at the very least, they are relatively shorter). Still, the first quarter of Lord of Chaos is generally OK, though the length means the usual slow start to the books in the series stretches out for an incredibly long time.

As far as Flames of War goes, I'm usually not all that interested in historical miniatures, but the game's mechanics lend to a pretty satisfying tactical challenge. The range is 15 mm (that's about half an inch), so each of the individual soldiers are tiny, not to mention some of the details that need to be added to the tanks. That's probably why there seems to be as much glue on my fingertips this morning as on the figures.

Goals for today? Well, I am "back" to work (or is that back to "work?"), and there are a few pieces that need to be completed between now and Friday. There is also monthly planning to finish to get an idea of where the next few weeks will take me. Beyond that: Lord of Chaos isn't going to finish itself.

2013: Some goals

Hey old blogging spot. I'm back, maybe for good this time (we'll see how it goes).

Anyway, the turn of the calendar calls for new plans and after consulting with the braintrust (er, that would be me) I have a few plans for the coming year. I never like to call these resolutions. That implies a major change that is doomed to failure. Think of them as goals.

1. An end to spending

Like an overstretched EU member, some austerity is in order for 2013. This isn't predicated so much on a lack of income, but a realization that there is just too much damn stuff in the Huyck household. A quick count of the bulging bookshelves of unread book resulted in more unread books (about 140) than I read all of last year (120). 

I can go down the list of my interests to find the same theme, over and over again. There are enough unplayed video games to more than keep me busy through 2013. Boxes of unpainted miniatures wait for me, not to mention fully exploring all of the associated games that go with them.

Obviously, there is plenty to keep me busy for the coming year. My first goal is to cut off my "fun" spending for the time being, while I draw full pleasure from what I already have.

2. A pop-culture diet

It's easy to get distracted by high-speed internet, hundreds of television channels and the allure of constant and consistent immersion of the endless steam of information. I'm exhausted by it all -- I honestly think most people are -- and want a break from it all. As I'm not spending money on entertainment for the time being, some of this is easy. 

It goes beyond just purchasing things, however. I'm cutting you off, new television shows and I'll see you again in 2014. A few current shows I've been watching will get a pass, but I can look at those as treats instead of the main meal.

Then there's the internet, the great time sink of our age. My goal here is simple: no more non-work related use than the amount of time I exercise. So, if I work out for 30 minutes or an hour, I get that much time to surf. If I'm a lazy slug all day long. Well, no web for me.

3. Why am I telling you this?

Well, I'm really telling myself at this point. (Growing the audience for this blog can be part of my 2013 professional goals). A record of plans is good. Seeing if there is follow through is better. I plan to be here everyday to detail what happens day to day. So, expect a record of what happens each day, and if it helps out as much as I think it will. If not, I can post some random cat pictures.