Updated on 2023-07-26 Wednesday from Tokyo, Japan
Reading ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson. Bought this paperback more than ten years ago but it sat ignored in a closet (sorry, Bill!) until now.
Added wall squats and a longer plank (from 45s to 60s) into my isometric stretching routine.
My Christmas-themed novella is now going through a copy edit. Newsletter subscribers will be the first to know when it is released (and at a special price for a limited time.)
Rainy season’s over, athough we had less rain than usual. Now it’s high temperatures (mid 30s Celsius) but below 50% relative humidity most days. I can stand the dry heat; it’s the stickiness (to come) that gets me (and most other Tokyoites too.)
Visit my NOW archive
And here’s my “Now” bio page - inspired by Derek Sivers and too many others to mention.
Some more about me and my life journey so far.
Below is an edited version of the email newsletter I sent to subscribers on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. (The newsletter (‘McClure’s Monthly’) is normally sent on the first Monday of the month, while the NOW post is posted here online on the 28th every month.) Links to expired offers have been removed. Images used in the newsletter have also been removed.
This is sff (science fiction and fantasy) writer Mark McClure’s August 2023 newsletter*.
I’ve been good so far this summer in not running the air conditioner most days. An electric fan works well enough for daytime temps below 30C and 60% relative humidity; it’s also cheaper to run.
However, anything above that combination of heat and humidity makes it’s hard to sweat and stay cool, and I’ve used the air-conditioning at night several times this month. (People, mainly older people, have died of heat stroke at night in Japan this summer.)
Getting up at five o’clock is one way to ‘beat’ the dog days of summer. It’s cooler and quieter and I can exercise, shower, and then write for a couple of hours, plus have the important tasks all done before mid-morning.
Started Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’. I remember buying this at Heathrow airport over ten years ago, planning to read it on the night flight to Tokyo. Alas, that never happened (probably due to a few beers and a wee bottle of wine during dinner.)
It’s a big book (over five hundred pages) but I’m already on page three hundred and seventy; now there’s an endorsement!
So many fascinating anecdotes are woven into this tale of humanity’s drive to understand how this world works.
Well, that’s it for this month. (Apologies for sending a week late on the 15th, instead of on the 7th.)
Typhoon season will be upon us soon.
Take care, dear reader, wherever you are in the world.
The next newsletter will be published on Monday 4 September, 2023.
Browse my books for sale from my own publishing site: https://jfrpublishing.com/
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