October Mental Health Check-In
Mostly Harmless
Since this is more of a diary entry, I’m not sending it out to my subscribers. Hope you are all having a nice October so far!
If you had told this long-time political junkie that a month before the most consequential election of my lifetime, I’d be on a no-cable-news diet, I’d say there’s just no way.
But here we are, with the hint of fall in the air, and with one major work project (a training course) and one major personal project (a screenplay) reducing my daily media consumption to near-zero, and my weekly television watching to maybe two hours? In fact, I’ve spent more time at the movies in the last month than I have in front of the television.
Don’t get me wrong - this election is important. REALLY important.
So important that the guy who doesn’t write with a pen much these days because of some muscular and/or fine motor affliction that makes handwriting painful, asked for 200 postcards to fill out by hand and send to voters in swing states.
They arrived a week ago, and I have to get them out on October 17th. My wife said she’d help, so between the two of us, I hope we get a vote or two out of the effort. Are two votes out of 200 postcards a good result? I hope so.
Elsewhere, I just finished up the ISA’s 30-Day Screenplay Challenge, and my accompanying screenplay should be completed next week. I’m calling that a huge success. What was initially going to be a movie about a Sasquatch haunting a giant northeast exclusive game park turned into something much, much more.
I still have mild panic that I’ve chosen a story no one will want to read and/or watch, but I’ve rediscovered the joy of daily writing, which is pretty major as well (thanks in good part to Max Timm at The Story Farm).
A recent work setback has been much on my mind too, and I’m proud of myself that I haven’t let it derail me.
I also somehow finally found the time to fix the last broken vintage receiver in my house. I had been waiting for the amp transistors, which the previous owner had blown. Hooking it up to my recently re-capped Dahlquist M905’s gave me a good deal of joy. It sounds great. It’s on Facebook Marketplace and eBay, and I’m looking forward to getting it out of my office and onward to its new home.
Looking back at my post the day after the Trump/Biden debate, it seems like the right choice was leaving this all up to the universe. I’ll probably keep doing that, and do my best to trust that it will guide me wherever it is I need to be.
Right now, the goal is to come up with a few more ideas for the next script. I have some that might be fun to write, and a couple more nebulous ones surrounding more painful things that I might want to tackle when I have a little more writing experience, as I assume my first few scripts will have their share of issues.
In the midst of all this, I also have to figure out a way to get another episode of my podcast out as well before I head out for a week with my dad in the Berkshires the third week of October. Really looking forward to spending some quality time with him.
So, hanging in there, making progress on my short-term and long-term goals. That’s all I can ask of myself right now. I hope you are all doing the same, and an especially heartfelt thanks to all of you creators who enrich our lives and keep us sane during trying times.