Writing Miscellany--Six Months

I squandered a good number of hours yesterday.  It's been a long time since I've done that.  The upside is I decided I needed to structure my time much differently if I'm going to accomplish what I want in the coming year.  Some of it is as simple as when certain tasks get done.  Why, forex, have I been doing housework while Dev is at work, and trying to write while he's doing schoolwork?  If I flip the two, all the frustration/interruption factor is gone.  A fine Duh-Blair moment.

Writing time is set aside for the afternoon.  Woohoo!  I've heard from the last CHANT beta reader and have a wee bit of tweaking to do.  (I've been enjoying playing with covers and the like, but won't settle in to seriously formatting and preparing until the beginning of August.)

Late last night, I set out my writing schedule for the next six months, and decided I wanted to push rather than amble.  Here's the current schedule for completion:

August: Three wellness titles (final), CHANT (final)

September: Mouthguard (final), SAND (for beta readers), Outline of PAST

October: SAND (final)

November: 1/2 draft of PAST

December: STONE (for beta readers)

January: PAST (for beta readers)

That's one new novel (PAST), two novel revisions (SAND and STONE), and four non-fiction titles.  If I can't manage it--fine.  But I want to challenge myself.  I want to see what I can accomplish if I push.

We Are All Children of the Corn

The drought continues around here.  Officially, a corn crop loss of around 10% was being chatted up a week ago.  That's total bunk.  I'm hearing upwards of 50% from most farmers, with some concerned the entire crop will be lost.  Corn has a very small pollination window.  It's rapidly closing.  There may soon by acres and acres of earless stalks.

The commodities market has already seen a 30% price increase.  Food and fuel prices will soon follow.

Corn is a terribly inefficient crop.  Its water needs are high in proportion to the amount of grain it produces.  It sucks as a "renewable" energy source, because it needs a high amount of fossil fuels to grow and process.  It sucks worse as an "environmentally friendly" source, because of its need for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides.  The amount of land given over to corn productions have impacted local weather patterns in much the same ways as cities.  So while it might sound cool to say we can make plastic from a "green" source, understand that fossil fuels are needed to perform all stages of agriculture, and are used to produce all the "-icides" that eventually end up in the water supply.

In our food system, corn dominates.  If you eat industrially raised meats, you eat corn.  If you eat premade foods, you eat corn.  If you eat eggs, you eat corn.  Sodas?  Corn.  Farm-raised salmon?  Corn.  Cottage cheese?  Corn.  Ice cream?  You get the idea.  Corn is, in my researched opinion, a primary cause behind the rise in Type II diabetes, neurological disorders, poor LDL levels, allergic reactions, and endocrine disorders.  Backing up that opinion would be a whole 'nother post that would likely bore everyone.

Many of these costs are hidden in other places, but farm subsidies are the most direct example.  Most years, we consumers pay less for corn than corn costs to grow.  That's why it's so pervasive, like He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

My point in relating all of that is this: If you've been looking for a good time and reason to change eating habits, now is a good time.  If you want corn, eat it when it still looks like corn.  Otherwise, find places to remove it from your diet.  If dry cornfields are going to be the new normal, it will make an increasing amount of financial sense to make the change.  If you're looking to have happy health, it's made sense for a long time.