Realized my last journal was from early September, and decided I had to write an update about something!

Plunging headlong into my office renovation so I can finally get it over. I am leasing a fairly small, 300 sq ft office in a 79-year-old building as my "creative workspace." It has things no modern building has, like solid walnut crown moldings and floor runners, real four-layer plaster walls, and a "wet wall" with plumbing for the installation of a kitchen countertop and bar sink.

I had no idea how much work this was going to be when I started it, and so let it drag for four years now. The landlord is putting their foot down, so I'm plunging to get this thing done.

Hired a couple of staffers to do the stripping and bleaching of the wood trim after I stripped the gazillion layers of paint off of it. So, while they do the final stripping and bleaching, I'm busy finishing re-drywalling some walls and other things, so that beginning next week I can re-install the wood trim and get to where I can replace the carpeting and have my official "move-in!"

What is really exciting me, though, is my upcoming "research project." I'm working on my first Christian-oriented fantasy novel and there's a scene involving a transformation sequence. Rather than do the standard "abracadabra" nonsense, I decided it would make for far richer reading if I were to research transformation/metamorphoses and devise something that melds together the Christian faith movement with Tibetan mental concentration practices. So, starting in December I'm going to, as the Tibetans would say, "shut myself in 'tsalms'" for awhile to explore the transformation process using the New Testament teachings on faith while concentrating my focus into "one-pointedness" as greatly as possible. And, of course, take copious notes along the way so that when I write the actual transformation sequence I can do so authoritatively and in detail.