Celebration of Discipline

I hate to sound like one of those writers who complains about how it's hard to get any writing done, but is it too much to ask that this three-month old, very expensive laptop could successfully run Microsoft freaking Word without crapping out every thirty seconds? MAN. It's enough to make a postmodern young person such as myself envy Wendell Berry his 1956 typewriter.

Starting my first piece for the Times-Standard, which is turning out to be really fascinating -- it's on Kirk Joseph & His Backyard Groove, a band from New Orleans that was on tour when Katrina hit and hasn't been back since. They've decided to remain "on tour," temporarily operating out of San Francisco, until they're able to get back. They are coming up to Humboldt County on November 5. Joseph is a founding member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and the Backyard Groove is some seriously joyful, well-wrought music. Plus he plays wicked sousaphone basslines.

Regardless of whether I manage to track this guy down for a phoner, it feels really good to have an assignment, and one that I'll be paid for, and to have some sort of assurance that this will happen regularly. My goal is to do 2 pieces a week for the paper, though I think one is more likely. If I can line up another similar gig, I'll be set. Though this sort of writing involves Discipline.

So, for my own benefit:
Deadline: Tuesday, October 25 at noon
Word Count: around 5oo words.