yesterday did first outside run in a long time. Finally decently warm. 5/4's x 6. Did the first half mile (slightly downhill) of the last rep in 3:12. Have some soreness the next day. Muscles opposite calves.

Writing: what is something I wished existed? Is a question to ask but, must include in the answer sentient creatures. Can't just be an empty place or places. Or one single shard of a character feeling one emotion.

I dream of logical people. Openminded people. Emphathetic people. Vegans. Of socialism. Of massive greenhouses. Of endless castles. Of people in general who create more art. Instead of 1 person for every million producing some mass produced thing (exaggeration). Of people more connected to growing food... not saying growing food isn't largely automated... But a smaller scale automation. Not all done three hundred miles away by one guy. Something more self sufficient. Where we're not in such danger of starving soon. Where we're empowered and aren't so dependent.

The thing is, not the societal changes but the kind of people it would take for such a society. The current one isn't it. But what is? Simply me. How can I dream of me? Seems meaningless.

My red plain story. Sort of got to 7000 words... But there aren't characters really. There are the mostly mindless demonic things on the red plain. (People who've gone insane from endless torture, endless dying and reborn and dying, but whom weren't really such good people to begin with...) And a main character who is driven by what really? Who is special why?
Never truly answered that question. And what of other characters? What of actual interaction? Of course story is not working out.

People have to come first. Alas they don't. I make them all the same... Or the ones who are different are just stupid.

Mystery. Why is this person so mean? Why do they have it in for me?

The experimental cook. Throw elements together (characters/shards of actual humans) and STEP BACK and see what happens. Works pretty well when writing music with a midi sequencer, Possibly nonsensical to apply to writing.

To me everyone can easily be everything. There are no meaningful boundaries of one character versus another. To me, people are constantly changing. To me.

Must understand that, although yes, people are often highly interchangeable, they certainly really aren't all the same. It is an oversimplification on my part to think otherwise.

Oversimplification results in boredom. The categories are too few. And ultimately everything is the same.  The same thing over and over. Such oversimplification and having so few categories is most likely the result of stupidity on my part. And through this stupidity, I have so far failed badly as a writer.

Perhaps first and foremost I need to stop oversimplifying. I need to see that people very clearly aren't all the same and that they aren't all different simply as a result of more or less intelligence. People have a wide assortment of different qualities.

For what it's worth though I would like to qualify that this "oversimplification" maybe ultimately has some real basis other than stupidity. Ultimately we're all organisms trying to find food, shelter... safety. There are of course many things that are universal. But I have a habit of glossing over the differences because I'm afraid I'll get lost within them. To think that we're all ultimately the same is a positive thing to say, in a sense. It's a recognition of some common ground. As opposed to viewing others as utterly foreign. But it's possible to think we have common ground at the same time that I still really Note differences. Not managing to do both is a failing on my part.

And of course in most stories, characters are just shards. Differences are exaggerated. Hmmpf. Which is the exact opposite of what I do in general I suppose...? Somewhat. Perhaps.