Well, here's an update that will make all my geek pals cheer: I finally have an easystreet account. Not off AOL quite yet, but I'm entering the transition stage. I'm supposed to have DSL at this point, but ran into some trouble setting up the box. Ought to be worked out by this afternoon. G is helping me (thanx!!) -- and may even get the airport she donated running soon. I'm entering the modern age, boys!

Other than that, my brain is still in workflow mode, it seems. After about a six month hiatus, I'm picking up youthlib writing again. I'm about 20 long-hand pages into an essay working-titled "adult power in the family" right now. Hard to say how long it will take; but I'm very happy with the process that I'm engaged in. It feels like I've learned some new thangs about writing, and I'd like to capture them here...

1. compose long-hand. [it keeps things going forward, rather than getting recursive; it keeps successive drafts all in one place; you don't lose a word you've written to cutting & pasting]

2. keep a YL "morning pages" journal -- separate from the essay proper. [having a place to write off-topic ideas, and to write about "what it is that I want to write" cuts through writer's block]

3. write a practice essay first.

4. use stream-of-consciousness.

5. analyze the direction of ideas in mid-stream.

6. every level (essay, section, paragraph) should have a clearly identified guiding question.

7. upgrade the outline in the course of exploration.

8. don't finish a draft if the outline's bad.

9. don't edit until you actually have a solid first draft.

...I'm still not sure how well I'm going to do when it comes time to move from practice essay to final draft -- but at least I feel confident now that I can get a good first draft out without storm and stress. I'm fine at tweaking sentences, and I'm good at creating new visions (revisions) of the whole essay -- but "perfect is the enemy of good".