Michael Pickell

My company sent me and Amazon gift card. And for a while I couldn’t decide what to spend it on. I was thinking about getting a microphone for podcasting. But it will probably be a while before I do anything with podcasts. So I’m thinking about shoes. I’m sort of a fanatic when it comes to Birkenstock shoes. They are the most comfortable footwear ever. I have some rules about Birkenstocks. Mostly one main rule. Never ever let anyone wear them in the first three months. They have cork footbeds that conform to you foot individually. I believe that it takes three months of daily walking for the shoe to conform to your foot. In the three months, the cork under goes a process of shaping. If people must wear your shoes after that, I would still not recommend it. But after the three month period, their wearing it won’t ruin the shoe. I suspect that the shoes wouldn’t be as comfortable to another person as they have conformed to your foot. Birkenstocks are unique in the way that they are only u

Song mood: Spin by Lifehouse. Haven’t done one of these in a hot minute. I’ve been busy. Writing the novel. I went to Fargo to hang out with my mum on Easter. Currently listening to In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Down to the laste five hours. I’m learning more about Australia. It’s a fun book to listen to. I could learn a thing or two from Bill Bryson’s writing. I like his sense of humor. Currently I’m reading An Exquisite Corpse by Helen A. Harrison. It’t wonderfully written. Not perfect. It’s a good book to study for mysteries, that is. I’m at around 32,000 words for my project Eileen Dover’s Seattle Adventure . A few weeks ago, I changed things up for the story. Well, I was going to have most of the characters go to London. But then I made the mystery a two body mystery. Which meant I had to keep the rest of the story in Seattle so I don’t make the story any more confusing. And so that I don’t have to introduce new characters like new detectives and whatnot. Then on Thurs

Song mood: You and Me by Lifehouse. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. My focus has been on this novel I’m writing. So far I’m at 23,000 words with no sign of slowing down. No sign of running out of ideas. Which is good as my target is for 60,000 words. Sometime I will do some brainstorming to generate ways to connect ideas. I’m thinking of the project in two parts. The first part is when Eileen, the protagonist of the story, is in Seattle. The second part is when she goes to London. I finished listening to House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas today. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a bit tearful towards the end. I have a large list of books to listen to. I think my next listen will be On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Flemming and read by David Tennent. And then after that will be Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country . I decided that this month’s theme for my poems would be Art. Which is what I normally do for August. I’m not sure what August’s theme will be. O