A BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Hello there! I’m Tess, and you’re about to read an experiment of mine. The experiment is to see how long I can keep a decent log of my writing life, and to see whether that log has any entertainment value. It’s sort of like a captain’s log, but almost definitely less exciting. Hope you enjoy!
9/16/2019
Checked in on the FB ads and added a set, which honestly took way more time than it should. But I do think I might be getting the hang of them? Ugh, I don’t want to jinx myself by saying it. But I think I’m getting there. Maybe?
To be honest, this was an exhausting day, so after ads and admin, I didn’t have it in me to do much else.
I’m thinking about writing an essay on Blade Runner. I have big and complex feelings about it.
9/17/2019
861
I was determined to get some words in today, though it was a little hard going. Got in a decent workout, which I feel good about. Re-watched some old episodes of The Vampire Diaries, which is a terrible show that I became deeply loyal to during my brief period of unemployment right after I graduated from college. I’m having fun rewatching it now and imagining a much better version of the show where Bonnie and Elena are both the main characters and their friendship is the central relationship of the show. I imagine Elena’s story turning into a corruption arc as she falls in love with two homicidal vampires, while Bonnie comes into her own as a witch and slowly realized that she must not only put an end to the men her best friend loves...but also to Elena herself.
Of course, this would have required the writers to actually care about the woman of color on their show, and I see absolutely no evidence that they ever did. (Also literally every black person who showed up on the show turned out to be a witch. Which, yes, directly implied that they were all related to each other, because being a witch is genetic, and witches can all trace their family histories to each other.)
So, instead, we got a trashy show about a love triangle, that definitely primarily happened because of the popularity of Twilight. And now I mourn the better show that never was. Alas.
9/19/2019
812
I’m in Port Townsend! My partner and I decided, several months ago, to take a mini-vacation in Port Townsend shortly after my birthday. We did a writing holiday together in the fall two years back that was very nice, and then we didn’t do one last year, and I just...really felt its absence. So I talked to the partner about it, and we both agreed that it would be worth it to try again, especially since I have two more vacation days now than I did then.
Of course, this was all planned well before my father went to the hospital. For a little while, I did consider cancelling it and possibly trying to find a flight back to St. Louis. But it’s been quite a few days now, and by all accounts, Dad is stable. He’s in pain, but the doctors don’t seem to think there’s anything life-threatening happening. So...we went ahead with the vacation.
I love riding on ferries, y’all. If I were the sort of person who regularly spent my Saturdays doing anything other than writing, I would definitely consider making every weekend a ferry-ride-to-Bainbridge weekend. There is just nothing better than the wind in my hair, a hot cup of vending machine latte in my hand, and the gorgeous Seattle skyline receding in the distance, framed by blue skies and blue waters.
I love me some blue.
9/20/2019
1387
Second day of vacation! I didn’t mention this yesterday, so I’ll talk about it now: I specifically picked out an Airbnb with a FANTASTIC clawfoot bathtub (like, literal clawfeet, man) and it’s maybe the best decision I’ve ever made. Here, let me show you the bath I took yesterday in this great tub, in this perfect goddamn bathroom:
The greatest bath there ever was.
It was a spiritual experience. I am born anew.
We started today off with a quick jaunt through the neighborhood--and I literally mean one square block from where we are staying--to pop by a fantastic local bakery, then through a local market to get some milk and cheese, and then finally a cute little cafe to get a latte for me and a hot chocolate for him. (The bakery actually did have coffee, but we didn’t see it until we were already out the door, and since we spotted the cafe half a second later, we figured we might as well hit up all the things.)
The whole excursion took 15, maybe 20 minutes. Am I starting to see why people like small towns? Maybe. All I can say for sure is that the scones we have had today have justified this trip all on their own.
Side note, this place is lousy with deer. As in, it sounds like they are a pretty legit nuisance to the locals--and we’ve already seen like 6, so, yeah, I can see it. Lucky for me, I’m a city dweller who loves beautiful creatures, so I’m guessing I’ll make it to the end of this trip without finding them too nuisance-like. (Yes, I have already had to slow down in the middle of a road for one.)
Will I take another bath today? Maybe.
Scones! The jalepeno was my favorite.
9/21/2019
1474
We ended up going for pizza last night--Port Townsend has this place that makes sourdough-crust pizzas, so I knew that had to be one of our stops while we were here. The pizza was delicious but crazy heavy; we ended up taking more than half of it home. We also took a lovely walk along the water on our way back.
Apart from the first day, when we both drove in and drove to visit a friend of mine who lives nearby, we’ve pretty much been walking everywhere. And it honestly doesn’t even feel like much of a workout...apart from the hill back home, of course. We are insanely close to downtown, but here’s the thing about Port Townsend--much like Seattle, it was built right on a big hill. So, we only walk a few blocks to get downtown, but the elevation on the way back is...a lot. Of course, this also means that Port Townsend is the rare place where the terms “downtown” and “uptown” make literal sense--downtown is at the bottom of the hill, and uptown is at the top. (I don’t know if you needed me to explain ‘literal sense,’ but I went ahead and did it anyway.)
We still had pastries and cheese leftover from yesterday, so we mostly ate that in the morning, wrote for a while, then went down for a late lunch...and some shopping. I spent an amount of money in a local candle store that I would prefer not to disclose. But hey, I am trying to build my Halloween shrine, so...these are the choices, ya know?
All right. Time for another bath. I think I’m going full witch with this one.
Full witch.
Weekly total: 4,534
-Tess
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