July Update
Clouds in the Future
Last month I said I wanted to send you a chapter from Clouds in the Future in July, but that’s going to have to wait. Last week I read what I had and decided that it needs work. Work that touches nearly every chapter I’d written so far.
Much of this decision came from reading the novel Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. After I wrote about the AppleTV series last month I picked up the book and read it in just over a day. Not because it's particularly short, but because it was one of the most compelling and addictive novels I've read in a long time.
I want to write like that.
I found a few interviews with Crouch, and he talks about how many of his influences are thrillers written by authors like Michael Crichton, Pat Conroy, and Thomas Harris. He also described what he tries to write as "big questions tied to a breakneck pace."
So, I'm revisiting my outline and my individual scenes with that in mind.
Sleeping In
One of the reasons this email arrived in your inbox later than normal is that I slept in today. That, according to science, is a bad thing.
They tested fitness on a graded wheel running protocol, assessed blood glucose tolerance, and measured muscle genetic clock mitochondrial functioning before and after a six-week intervention. The mice in the sleep-in group had impaired physical fitness, glucose handling, and body weight regulation.
Hmmmm. Maybe this is one of the times where I retort with "But I'm not a mouse!"
That's it for this edition. I have writing to do, and it's a safe bet you like short emails.
Have a great summer!
Talk to you in August.
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Eric Goebelbecker
Trick of the Tale LLC
25 Veterans Plaza #5276
Bergenfield, NJ 07621-9998
I agree about Crouch, though I think his Pines trilogy was his best--and better than the TV adaptation, though that was entertaining.
What do studies about mice being deprived of sleep say?
I'm going to read all three Pines books before trying to track down the series. I wish I had done the same for Dark Matter.
The mice are binge-watching Babylon 5 again. I'm sure they'll be up late again.
You slept in today. They "slept-in " for 6-weeks, you say. That's about 5% of their life, which might be like you sleeping in for the next 5 years or so. And what was done to ensure they "slept in"?
Then we can move to why you slept in: late night? illness? poor sleep during the night? lost sleep during the week? Lots of good reasons to make up sleep.
And, as you say, You Are Not a Mouse.
Those are some good points, although they slept for 3-day weekends for six weeks, which isn't really a stretch is it? If one was accustomed to sleeping in for a few hours on most weekends, that would be at least similar.
How they made the mice consistently sleep in is a good question. It would be good to read that they had stayed up late somehow the night before.
As for me, I had stayed up late Wednesday night for a podcast interview and it knocked me completely out of my normal schedule.