I spent a lot of yesterday driving to/from Connecticut, where I was giving a speech. I had debated taking the train, but I would have had to drive in traffic to the Philadelphia Amtrak station, and then it would have been at least a 15 minute Uber ride on the other end too (we weren’t right by a major station). So I just drove the whole way.
It was a reminder that traffic is no fun! I left the house at 6:10 a.m., and pulled into my venue at 10:15 a.m., so that’s 4:05 total time. I probably stopped for a total of 25-30 minutes as I stopped 3 times (getting on the road at 6:10 a.m. requires a lot of coffee…but then that creates its own issues). So a moving time of about 3:35-3:40. On the way back, I left at 12:20 p.m., and got home at 4:00 p.m., with one 30-minute stop for lunch, so my moving time was around 3:10. This is only a 25-30-minute difference and yet it felt so, so different being in stop-and-go traffic during the entirety of New Jersey on the way there and more or less moving constantly on the way home (albeit slower through certain parts). I took the TappenZee/Cuomo bridge both times and I definitely like that better than the GWB.
Anyway, I know some people have jobs that were supposed to be remote and which now feature long drives to/from the office a few days a week and…I know this is rough.
I mentioned last month doing a version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, when the goal is to write a novel draft in November). I outlined a story and started about a week before the beginning of November with daily writing. Then in November I made it to November 9 writing at least 1700 words a day but…then I ran out of story. I mean, I could go back and fill in some more stuff, but I’d just be padding until I figure out what else needs to happen. It’s currently about a 20,000 word novella (a terrible novella, btw) and the amount of plot just needs to be bigger. So I’ve stopped writing for a bit and will come back to it later. I think there is promise. There are some good characters and ideas. It just needs a lot more thought.
My Before Breakfast campaign with Daffy to support Feeding America continues. We’ve raised $4200, roughly, which currently puts me in second place behind Stacking Benjamins in terms of $$ raised for charity (in a little podcaster challenge). I’m not terribly competitive but…it is a good cause to make sure people have groceries and meals this holiday season. So if you’re inclined to donate to a food-related charity…please do!
Speaking of Before Breakfast, this week my interview episode features Christine Koh! I know a lot of my listeners/readers are also fans of hers, so please check that episode out. She talks about her routines, and also her recent birthday experience of trying to list and notice a LOT of small, good things that happened over that weekend. I love this sort of thing.