Quotidian be damned

I come to rehabilitate the reputation of our commentator who goes by CK. From the beginning, I saw this person as someone who is on my side, who warned me that my burst of creative inspiration upon finishing The Fountainhead would probably be beaten down by the quotidian - which, after consulting my dictionary, I interpreted as a friendly reminder that the day-to-day drudgery of earning a living in the Job Culture would tug unceasingly at my desires. This was a small splash of cold water, but I took it as helpful advice - better to hear it from a friendly voice in advance than to be surprised by it later on.

Or, to affirm that I understood the original intention, as CK wrote in response to this weekend's musing: "I was not intending to throw cold water or subtly shiv your aspirations; I was just giving a warning of what to expect when you actually go for it and start to succeed." And, in that context, it was a successful warning! And I would not second-guess yourself, CK ("I probably should have just cheer-leaded for you"), because that alternative would not have been as thought-provoking and (back to the 60s) mind-expanding as your actual response was.

Now in response to the follow-up question ("So you have had two weeks at it, how goes the effort?") - Well, that rascally quotidian has indeed gummed up the works, and the New Novel is not much farther along than it was when I first wrote about it a couple of weeks ago.

But on the plus side, my thoughts have been refined and clarified and my confidence rebuilt to the point where I am thinking, not in terms of producing one new book by the end of 2008, but four. Three (including the currently delayed but ready-to-go print edition of The Imaginary Bomb) will be comprised largely of work I've produced over the years and allowed to lay dormant, and the fourth will be the aforementioned New Novel.

The idea has been my Christmas present to myself. The execution will be my yearlong New Year's gift.