At the day’s end, I usually ask myself “what have I accomplished today?” The answer is generally nada, but tomorrow I’ll get something of consequence done. Today was another day, just like yesterday, and the day before yesterday. I now have a long history of having failed to accomplish much of anything.

I did play with all the horses in the playground. And Pete and I took Hrimmi and Tyra for a ride. Then I took Raudi out and ponied Tinni. After that, I spread nine five gallon buckets of gravel in the horse pen. And after that I continued to clean off my email screen, a project that I’ve put off for several years.

It now gets dark really early. This happens this time of year. This year it crept up on me. I began taking notice of it when I realized that most of my evening is now spent indoors. I most dislike Wednesday and Thursday evenings, the evenings that Pete gets home late. The time between 5 and 11 p.m. just seems to drag on.

And this morning it snowed. It was just a dusting. This was nature’s way of saying that she has something in store for us, so we better make sure that we are ready for what’s to come.

Anyhow, I said I would clean the bathroom and clean the stove top. I did the latter – spent over an hour and a half on this project. This was not really an accomplishment.

The question that this all begs is, what is an accomplishment? For me, the answer is making headway on a writing project. I have resumed working on the Alaska State Fair eBook, and I am very pleased about this. Putting off resuming work on it was the hardest part. Then yesterday it appeared as though I had not saved the entire document. I envisioned having to reconstruct it from files, but thankfully I found a draft copy in a state fair folder. I will remain relieved about this for a long time.

After finishing this, I am going to finish working on my version of Raudi’s Story. In fact, I could work on the state fair eBook and work on it. But most likely I’ll just work on the former because, for me, working on two things is like patting my head and rubbing my stomach.

Yes, I get going on these projects and I think that I will again have a sense of accomplishment. It’s been a long time since I have had such a feeling. I think the last time was in the late 1980s, when I was finishing up my MFA thesis. And somehow, the time just got away from me.

I am (for sure) living the life of a writer. But I don’t have anything at all to show for it but numerous dispatches that have not yet been posted. That’s not my doing. That’s the doing of the guy who has too much going on to get them on-line. Imagine that.

Next: 288. 10/18/17: A Pretty Good Day. . .