Travel Log V

31Jan2011 [personal]

• Writing continues apace; I've so far killed off one character, given another depression that will likely kill her, and shown one's dead body before his actual introduction; I feel like I'm not really sure I'll be able to describe this book (is it a thriller or not? is it scifi/fantasy or just weird fiction?) until I've finished writing it, the way it veers around; I'm so far writing from the start of both the 21st and 19th century stories, swapping back and forth every few days, but still moving linearly rather than jumping around as much as I'd expected too; the two centuries have distinct voices too, which happened accidentally, and I'm enjoying just how organic the process is.
• It seems that writing is causing my brain to want even more reading done in return; I'm working my way through a couple of magazines (really enjoying Monocle, and wish it was easier to find back home; with their combination of business and current affairs and culture and design, and global focus, it's a fascinating read cover-to-cover; might need a subscription), and through a bunch of PDFs I downloaded from Tor a couple of years ago when they gave away a bunch of free scifi/fantasy; mostly trashy stuff, but I'm not sure I want to take on anything too serious, nor anything with too much crossover with my own writing.
• Tried the hypest local Japanese noodle joint (ie, the one with the massive queues every lunch and dinner) and was underwhelmed; decent enough food, but it doesn't feel right to pay so much money for udon taken at a counter or window seat; I've probably got to try Paris's Chinatown equivalent for the cheap eats experience; have also stocked up on dumplings and (Korean) chilli paste and noodles from the local Korean grocer for snacky food; had some Japanese and Korean "restaurant" food locally, and been reasonably impressed.
• It's been bothering me since writing it, and every time I run through there now, that the Jardin des Tuileries doesn't actually have anything to do with tulips, and I'm not actually sure how I formed that impression; the name just refers to a tile-maker.
• Trying to stray a little further and further through the city each day, though I'm so far just going everywhere on foot, rather than taking the metro, so I haven't gone that far, and aside from when I run, haven't yet crossed the river; I'm also hoping to dedicate a few days just for photo-walking, so I can get lots of pictures of the city beyond the basic sights, but the weather will need to warm up a little before I can reasonably achieve that.
• Le Monde, the local daily broadsheet, has a monthly magazine that gathers up essays and a news and photo roundup from the previous month; it's a great format, and genius on the paper's behalf, given they've already got all the material; something it'd be cool to see a few of the papers back home play with.
• Finally posted a bunch of photos from London — Contemporary Architecture 2011; Paris pics are so far just things I'm catching on the iPhone and pushing to twitter via Instagram; the links, if not the pics themselves, are streamed here.