Throughout this past month, one thought kept nagging me: was it a long year or did the Internets just make it seem so? That thought and where the ice cream man goes until spring. It’s not like he can hibernate in the aluminum sided truck with a stack of push-ups resting his head on the freezer. And yet, maybe he can survive like that, which is even scarier than the original question.

The rest of the year aside, December was pretty crazy. At work, a really important server began a long and painful slide into goodnight. For the first time ever, I got a carpal tunnel syndrome, which traced back to texting abuse. Luckily, that fix was simple: less time at the cellphone, and more typing at an actual keyboard. Soon enough, the pain subsided.

In the downtime I read some good books, the best among them, The Adderall Diaries. If too many days pass between reading sessions, I forget how much I really enjoy it. Reading steadily helps writing, so it’s important on several levels to feed the habit.

Better yet, I’m almost done with the outline for The Cropsey Effect, so the actual writing will begin in earnest . . .