Did 1045 words at Caribou Coffee today. A little bit of socializing, because who did I see at Caribou? Another RU student. This time, one of the MFA students (Katie.) This is a different Caribou Coffee in a totally different part of the Chicagoland area, but my vast network of peeps can find me just about anywhere. I’m starting to feel like a real Rader, actually, because this is a family trait passed down from my Grandpa Pete, who knew everyone in the general Central Indiana area. He was a mechanic, and he fixed stuff for farmers. My dad also has the talent. He can run into someone he knows no matter where he is. When we went to Walt Disney World in the late 80s, yes, indeed: Ran into some dude from Colfax, Indiana, in the—and I kind of wish I were kidding here—It’s a Small World area.

But on the way back to Indiana, we ran into someone I knew at a rest stop in North Carolina, so I believe I come by it naturally.

I think Mary Anne is starting to think I’m better connected than I actually am. Two days in a row! Who will I run into tomorrow?

Am hoping to get a few more pages done tonight if I can. I know I’ve worked out the thousand-word-a-day thing, but it isn’t actually very much writing to get done and I keep thinking of all these things I want to go back and fix in the first section. So the closer I get, the further away I am. Excellent. I keep thinking that at least it must be a good thing to KNOW how far you are. If I felt like every word I put down was a pearl and the whole thing hung together without any further manipulations, I think that would be a worse place to be.

In short, much of my work is still in the crap phase, but somehow I have turned that around to be a good thing. Doing my own PR!