Tinfoil on the Windows

91 words shy of 40k. Planned for 40-50k for this book, and I'm almost done with it as a first draft. Good feeling. Wary of being hijacked by research though. So far managed to avoid a Fateless. Good feeling.

Fingers crossed someone picks it up. I've got a lot of making up to do.

From the overheardinmelb community, something that happened this morning in Melbourne Central:

Beggar to a little baby strapped to a man's back:
"Keep your head up. You've got a lot ahead of you... Life is long."

2300 words or so. That's the value of research right there.

Everyone should be listening to the goddamotherfcking Felice Brothers.

Looks like it might be the first non-sucky Harrison Ford flick for a while. Shame about the title.

800 words. That's what late nights and booze get me. Might try and squeeze a few more in before bed.

I was wondering if I could write a review about seeing Leonard Cohen and a band comprised of both masters and people he's been working with for decades, and do it in such a way that it conveys not so much a setlist-driven breakdown but the feeling of being there for it.

Suffice it to say that watching good things happen to good people is good for the soul, and watching a man of Cohen's vintage sell out an arena in order to deliver poetry to music - and get four standing ovations - was pretty special. If there's something you'd have loved to hear him perform, odds are high he delivered it last night. He had me at 'Everybody Knows', but 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' (the only spoken word piece he did all night) was a kick inside the heart.

Got out of work yesterday, found a bar for an hour and went over the interview questions I had lined up. Moseyed over to Sahara and looked around for the guy from Cave Clan I was supposed to meet. I had a table booked by the window so got comfy. Some people came in, all in groups. Got texted five minutes later with "I'm here", looked around, and the two guys at the table across the way saw me looking at my phone and came over. That was about as cloak-and-dagger as it got. After that it was all smiles and enthusiasm.

They were great. The organiser was friendly, amiable and keen, and his laconic offsider had a good sense of humour and an encyclopaedic head for facts, history, stories and detail. I wound up taking about 15 pages of notes. It's going to completely refurbish a full third of the novel and provide a bunch of excellent anecdotal stuff - not the least of which is just how powerful the human fear of the dark is. Especially when you're underground. And especially when you're alone. No-one, they say, goes past the light. All the grafitti ends where the light ends. And once you're into the dark your senses are constantly being second-guessed. I'll save the rest for the book, but enough to say that it really got me thinking.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts rain for the weekend - again - so the newbie run's off. But I'll definitely be making the next one they do.

So tonight I'm taking one of the Cave Clan coordinators out to dinner as part of research for the novel. And this weekend I'll be getting my feet wet in a secret location. Which is perfect. A large chunk of the novel takes place in places subterranean and I'd much rather base it on fact than the kind of convenient settings and scenarios that you see in movies so often.

And Friday night it's Leonard Cohen. If I can I'll try and make it to Cahl's exhibit, but I've no idea when I'm likely to be in the area.

And as part of the 2010 overhaul I'm getting 'borged for a night as part of a sleep study. Mostly I sleep communally while away, and if I do wind up someplace volatile I'd rather not be the loudest thing in a three-mile radius. While unconscious. Also the energy boost will be fantastic. Downside is it's going to cost me almost two grand.

Going to apply to Queensland Ambulance on the weekend. Rob said he'd look into speeding me through, and my ex-supervisor from the cop days has a cousin who's with the SES and made the same offer. Hoping if the administration gets pincered over my application they might take a serious look at it. The idea of Brisbane is a major cramp, but I love the idea of being able to do this, paid, AND with enough time to travel. Even studying fulltime I'll get more writing done than I did over the last seven years, so I think this may be a good idea if I can get it happening.

I just found out that someone I know Stateside, whom I never met but was nonetheless brilliant, passed away from illness.

I'd really hoped to meet them. They were, genuinely, awesome. Brendan would have dug her. She'd been living the dream for about thirty years. Goddammit. Seriously, this is just the absolute fucking pits.