Today is the first time I’ve been on top of the leaderboard for any of the Lex.games, however briefly. I’m not signed in so you have to trust me, but I’m the “Undisclosed Strategist” with a time of 26 seconds.
Which will inevitably be beaten, and …
Reading
How to Take Smart Notes
Sönke Ahrens
versenotes
That was an exhausting study/writing session, but I’ve completed chapter 300 of 1189 (25.2%).
Only 54 more sessions that hard to go, and I’ll be done!
(Writing. I’ll be done writing. Editing and publishing are another matter.)
Since I now have an actual chapter-count target (1,189), I feel like I should build a Brandon Sanderson-esque completion meter somewhere. But that would entail more procrastination and less writing, and I’m trying to write more.
So I’ll …
versenotes
Things I never noticed: the night of the transfiguration is the first time we see Moses in the Promised Land. He finally made it!
(Via a post on r/Bible this morning)
After a hard weekend of drinking beer at the lakewriting and editing, I’m reasonably confident I have two books ready to go, of the nine whose contents are done.
But every little step makes the next one easier.
Writing an About the Author page is surprisingly challenging. How do you distill yourself into a hundred words that simultaneously introduce you, provide bona fides, amuse the reader, and point them toward your other works?
I’m pretty sure I …
versenotes
I am editing a series of books I am writing, and despite the fact that I typed every word of it, it’s helping me see and understand new things in the Bible.
Tonight’s example: the repetition of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12) to his …
books
Finished reading: Royal Assassin (The Illustrated Edition) by Robin Hobb
The world continues to intrigue me, and Fitz continues to be a great conflicted character. I do think Hobb delights just a bit too much in hurting him, and the ending was even …
Could hardly ask for a more perfect Saturday: football and beer with Meera at the lake.
Headed up to the lake today for some big weekend plans: food and football. And pumpkin beers.
Meera and I also finished the Harry Potter series, pretty much entirely this week. It’s part of the ritual of oncoming fall, which will continue this weekend with the first of the pumpkin beers (this year, they are Sam Adams and Dogfish Head).
Feel very accomplished tonight after wrestling with Python, pandoc, and make. I can now produce Jekyll posts and well-formatted PDF ebooks from the same source.
A Friday night well spent?
Tuck has found a new spot to sit while I’m working from home or writing for myself.
Tried to go out to dinner with Meera tonight. Unfortunately, San Antonio.
This ramen—from JY Ramen—was nearly inedible; Meera’s actually was, and therefore remains unphotographed.
Experiment failed.
Anybody have suggestions for actually good ramen in …
versenotes
Finished writing chapter notes on Deuteronomy last night, completing the Torah.
Today’s goal: editing. Then I can get them cleaned up for publishing.
Unfortunately, I had to change my YAML scheme recently to make Pandoc happy, so it’s no longer as …
The mornings have been blessedly cooler the past few days (although the humidity has remained in the high 80s) so I’ve been more willing to walk the whole neighborhood with the dog.
I’m amused daily by the variation in tempo he chooses, whether I …
books
Finished reading: 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron.
Picked this up off a Reddit thread. Good thing it was cheap, because it contains little advice a thinking writer doesn’t know (you should do some planning before you start writing!), and it needs editing …
I now have a new category, VerseNotes, to hold microblog-sized comments on the Bible.
I used to do this all the time on Twitter, but I don’t have a public place for it anymore. One day I’ll figure out how to get them all to appear on VerseNotes …
versenotes
My Bible reading plan today started three new books: 1 Timothy, Proverbs, and Ezra. It feels like they should be more connected, but I think that’s just how the timing worked out.
One observation is that they’re from three very different eras: Rome, …
Finished watching: Alien: Romulus. I’m not exactly a huge fan of the Alien franchise, but neither was this a particularly good installment. Parts of it were beautifully done, but most of it was unmotivated horror.
And the last conflict in the …
My daily exercise minutes reflects the season and the temperature somewhat cleanly.
The tall spikes are all ski trips—yes, even into April—except the most recent, which was a backpacking trip.
Relatedly, we’re less than a hundred days from the start …
Watched Borderlands last Friday thanks to the Alamo Drafthouse pass. Not remotely worth seeing otherwise. Kind of a fun bubblegum summer action movie though. 🍿
The saddest widget
And speaking of backpacking, I can now add a 🏕️ next to Wyoming for having spent the night outside (three nights, really), and I can justify moving Idaho to “visited” since we spent the night in Soda Springs on the way back (in a hotel). …
First day back at yoga 🧘 after a few days of backpacking 🎒 and camping 🏕️ was instructive.
I almost wrote “demoralizing,” but it’s good to know which muscles work just fine (legs) and which ones need more work (core).
Maybe “trail yoga” should be a …