The grimmest month. Because today, post-Death-Flu and post-recovery, I have to start living like a mindful adult human again. Eating mostly plant matter, and drinking it, and doubling my water intake, and walking at least three miles a day. I am tired and puffy and have the skin of a Biblical leper. I’ve closed my newsletter for the rest of the year, planning to resume on January 3. This site still posts to Twitter, but I don’t. Various friends have been emailing or DMing or Snapping to tell me that they’re bailing out of Twitter and locking down their other social network services. One writer friend said he’s going “the full Franzen,” which I presume doesn’t mean he intends to write a book as bad as The Twenty-Seventh City.

Mindful living makes the quiet times. But I still need a place to get thoughts out in front of me where I can see them, so here I stay.

Maybe, after a few days of drenching my system and gnawing on leaves and dirt, I’ll have an actual thought again.