…Oh no, wait. That’s me. I’ve been gone.

A while now.

Lots of reasons, thanks for asking.

Some of it was definitely depression. Seems I can’t ever get too far from that, not yet anyways.

Some of it was a six week course I took to get a certificate in technical writing.

(I see you, hoping that will improve my grammar and composition here. Don’t get excited. I’m not making any promises.)

Some of it was/ is the new project I’m working on.

I had two ideas fuse together into something captivating, late last year. I decided to give that a go for NANOWRIMO.

I wrote a bunch. (Around 7.5 chapters.) And the more I wrote, the more I found I needed to think things through. New threads always pop up when I’m writing. I try to follow them until they peter out. It’s worked so far.

My plan for that is to try to have the novel done before I turn 40 in June.

Yep, I’m getting old.

Better than the alternative.

There’s also this thing I’ve been planning for here. It started as one new “Putting the Civil Back in Civilization” post, and turned out that it needs to be two or three. Maybe four, but maybe I’ll get off light.

If you’ve been paying even scant attention to the interactions of the world around you, you’ll have noticed that we really don’t know how to interact anymore.

At least I’ve noticed it.

And, as per my rule with everyone else except the wife, if you bitch about a thing more than 5 times without trying to think up a solution, I just stop listening. I kind of want to keep listening to myself – I do so love good conversation – so that means I need to try, in my own small way to do something about it.

To that end, I’m creating a small series on how to Argue.

We, most of us, know how to converse (okay that one may be iffy, but still). We certainly know how to fucking emote. What we’ve apparently become absolute shit at – as a nation – is how to argue opposing views with respect and logic.

So, the next couple of posts in the Civilization category will be a sort of primer for how to argue. It won’t be a formal class and I’m not handing out ribbons or anything, but it’ll give you a good base to work from, if you want to argue a point, or points, and be able to feel like you’re not engaged in some kind of all out rhetorical war.

I’ll save the rest of that for the introduction post. Trust me, this subject needs one.

So, what else has been keeping me away?

Tell the honest truth, it’s also the cold.

I hate the cold weather.

It makes me sleepy and grumpy, and any number of the other dwarves.

What it doesn’t make me is productive.

Winter is a good time to dream.

And dreaming takes up it’s own share of time.

Here’s hoping your dreams are pleasant,

or at least forgetful.

Until next time.