Village shop, Moalboal, Philippines

The only way to take a month off is not to take a month off. Today was a work day. Tomorrow is a diving day. So writing resumes on Saturday.

Still, the ocean is just over the lawn and I saw a ray leap out of the water a few metres out.

Words completed: 20,969 and 5,482 written on Wednesday, including a re-edit of work to date.

Some influences for this work include Italo Calvino (If on a winter’s night a traveller), Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) and Alan Paton (Cry, The Beloved Country). They’re an odd mix for a near-future science fiction story. I love the tone of Paton’s book, the timbre of the conversation. I love the gentleness of McCall Smith’s work, the care people have for each other. I love the post-modern exuberance of Calvino, the patchwork-quilt that is a story.

I don’t have any books with me. I haven’t read a fictional work in months. Clearing my head. That doesn’t mean I’m not reading, but I’m taking care to keep an aesthete’s approach to fitness.

The clearing is important because only a week ago I was doing this: Open Knowledge Conference – Gavin Chait

Suit-to-surf in three days and then leaving the complex world of open data, metadata standards and such behind is a culture shock.

Tomorrow I go diving. That should help.