apocalypse whoa

i've been writing hard (for me) everyday (yes, including weekends, which should explain some things to certain people who will probably never read this anyway) from a little over a month ago (Liv informs me i created the file 16 August 2007) to get my first draft done running against a self-imposed deadline: i'll be flying out for work in a few hours, and will be pretending to be a real journalist with little time for anything else in Ha Noi til Sunday.

if Beijing and Jakarta are anything to go by, i'll most likely be taking nothing but exhaustion and a sense of not-having-been-anywhere-in-particular home with me. in short, something like a regular nine-to-five work month condensed into five twenty-four-seven days. yes, i'm probably exaggerating. but still. i most definitely do not thrive under pressure.

i'm still hoping for another San Diego, though that seems highly unlikely. oh, i never said anything about that, did i? the closest i apparently got to talking about it here was this. (the trip did, however, provide a lot of these photos.) well, it was crazy, but it turned out well in an 'i can't feel my face' sort of way; but again, highly unlikely. still, fingers crossed.

i was worried the interposition of all that work might kill the momentum; for something this long, i'm surprised it sustained itself as long as it did. to be honest, i probably needn't have worried: i started losing it about a week ago, and it shows in the last third of the draft; still, i'd have been rather more bothered by the 'narrative schizophrenism' having a gap in the process would most likely have produced, an effect i've seen before with another story i wrote a few months ago. it's an effect that can probably be useful for some things, but one i feel would have had no place in this.

as it is, the gradual loss of momentum took its toll; much work to be done. but at least i've got something more or less complete to work with when i get back; hopefully that will make it easier to maintain a consistent tone when i start doing revisions.

for those concerned, i'll probably not be in touch til i get back Sunday night.

right. i really need to be packing now. now...which hat to take to Ha Noi? hmm...