Whoa, again

Just before 10pm, the power flickered wildly for a minute or so, and then died again. This time it stayed out for about 90 minutes. I gave up and went to bed fairly early on, but I was still awake when it came back. If it died again overnight, I wouldn't know. (Battery-backed clock radios are a Good Thing.)

[edit] And shortly after I posted that, the cable light on the modem went out. I got it back after a few power-cycles, though. Let's hope it was just the modem taking belated exception to the rude interruptions earlier. (At least I have a spare modem now, though reinstalling it would involve dealing with the Nice Young Men again, and I'm not sure I want to do that for a while.)

Post-novel syndrome

No, not me, not now. (I can only wish. Maybe next year?)

But matociquala had a post about post-novel ennui, and I remembered something. I've finished three novel-length first drafts, and for the first two I definitely felt lost, drained, and slightly weepy the next day. One was a seven-year epic, the other an eight-month burst of creativity I've never been able to repeat since. The third one, though (which went fairly fast for the first six months while I was only working part-time, and then slowed right down when I moved to London), I don't remember having any particular effect.

That would be because I typed 'The End' in a Heathrow hotel room on a Friday evening, and flew to America the next day to start a new job on the Monday. I was definitely below par that week, but I put that down to jet-lag and culture shock, and if there were any post-novel effects they got swamped by everything else. I know I started writing again fairly soon after that -- within a week or two at most -- but the story that I started then is still lying around waiting for an ending and some bits of middle.

Friday Flower Blogging

It's not been a very photographic week, so here's another lotus from the summer.

Lotus Beijing, China, July 2006