update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<p>“The <em>work</em>, Codrin. It’s a very singular work. Both me and my counterpart are writing the exact same work, and the only difference is the circumstances.” He waved off any reply before continuing. “Though imagine that our two takes will begin quite similar, and then start to diverge further as time continues, such as a fork might diverge from its down-tree instance. How interesting! A work that, in some core mechanism, follows the exact same path as our daily existence.”</p>
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<p>“The <em>work</em>, Codrin. It’s a very singular work. Both me and my counterpart are writing the exact same work, and the only difference is the circumstances.” He waved off any reply before continuing. “Though imagine that our two takes will begin quite similar, and then start to diverge further as time continues, such as a fork might diverge from its down-tree instance. How interesting! A work that, in some core mechanism, follows the exact same path as our daily existence.”</p>
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<p>“And you have an editor who is merging these two threads? Are they planning on doing something special with the presentation of it?”</p>
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<p>“And you have an editor who is merging these two threads? Are they planning on doing something special with the presentation of it?”</p>
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<p>“Yes. Yes! Of course, what is a book but an experience? A book should be delightfully difficult to read, if it is to be enjoyed to the fullest. You are engaging with a topic, you must — <em>must</em> — put in the same amount of effort that the author has! We have plans to arrange the two texts side-by-side, locked together at the points specified at the outline, as well as any similarities that the texts share. Imagine, Rankin#Green writing, “And so, in my heart of hearts, I knew the truth among the stars” while Rankin#blue writes, “And so, in my heart of hearts, I know the truth among the wheeling of the stars.” From there, we can have the texts line up on the page, and perhaps even highlight the similarities. My editor promises that he won’t send me any of the result until it’s complete and ready for manuscript sign off, lest #Blue’s writing influence my own.”</p>
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<p>“Yes. Yes! Of course, what is a book but an experience? A book should be delightfully difficult to read, if it is to be enjoyed to the fullest. You are engaging with a topic, you must — <em>must</em> — put in the same amount of effort that the author has! We have plans to arrange the two texts side-by-side, locked together at the points specified at the outline, as well as any similarities that the texts share. Imagine, Rankin#Green writing, “And so, in my heart of hearts, I knew the truth among the stars” while Rankin#blue writes, “And so, in my heart of hearts, I know the truth among the wheeling of the stars.” From there, we can have the texts line up on the page, and perhaps even highlight the similarities. My editor promises that he won’t send me any of the result until it’s complete and ready for manuscript sign off, lest #Blue’s writing influence my own.”</p>
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<p>Once ey had finished jotting in eir shorthand, Codrin asked, “Do you have any idea on how the work will be received?”</p>
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<p>“Ah yes, the problem of reception.” Rankin smiled sourly. “Our works have inherent worth, and yet we must, at some point, rely on the readers for their validation. I hope that it will be received quite well, though I know that it will go over the heads of many. Such can’t be helped, though, for even in this world of leisure and ease, many still claim that they don’t have time to read. Time! We have all the time in the universe, if we try hard enough, and yet here we are, spinning our wheels on whether or not there’s time enough to read a book!What rubbish.”</p>
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<p>“Do you often fork to read books?”</p>
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<p>Rankin frowned, at which Codrin took secret pleasure. “No. There are some aspects of life which must be experienced singularly and without the dreary experience of reclaiming memories from a dying mind.”</p>
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<p>“Dying?”</p>
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<p>“What is the act of quitting but that of death?”</p>
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<p>Codrin withheld eir thoughts on the matter, asking instead, “Perhaps there’s a story there, too. Read a book, quit, and then write about the experience of only having the memory of reading that book. It seems to fall in line with the scope of your current project.”</p>
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<p>Rankin’s expression grew colder. “An interesting problem for you to tackle, my dear Codrin. I look forward to your monograph on the subject.”</p>
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<p>That secret pleasure grew warmer. Ey suspected that Rankin would have enjoyed such a project, had the idea come from within, rather than from someone else. “I’ll have to give it a go, sometime, though I suspect my writing will fall short of yours.”</p>
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<p>A little bit of sucking up warmed Rankin again, and Codrin once again marveled at what an art conducting interviews was.</p>
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<p>“Writing is something that comes from much practice. I can do little but encourage you to practice, practice, and practice some more.” He laughed, jabbing a finger at em. “After all, we have all the time in the world, do we not?”</p>
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<p>Ey gave a hint of a bow, a moment of silence to show eir appreciation, and then continued. “Do you have any projects planned after this book? Perhaps something to work on alongside it?”</p>
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<p>“Of course! It’s important not to fall into the trap of working on a single project, otherwise you’ll feel obliged to refine and refine and refine! Keep it varied. I’m also working on a novel exploring income inequalities within the System. Or Systems, perhaps. This will hopefully be released concurrent with my main work. This is being done by a separate fork, and we merge weekly on the project. It takes no small amount of focused to keep either one of us from getting sidetracked, but it’s important that we continue our work at a good pace. We may have all the time in the world, but it’s easy enough to be forgotten in our current market if we don’t keep coming out with more and more works, eh?”</p>
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<p>“There is that, yes. At least there’s not a livelihood resting on it.”</p>
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<p>“Oh but there is! I’m sure that if my words aren’t read, that I’ll disappear into nothingness!”</p>
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<p><em>Ah,</em> Codrin thought. <em>There it is.</em> “Does this drive influence your writing?”</p>
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<p>“Oh, here and there,” Rankin said, waggling a hand. “Sometimes I’ll cut corners to ensure that I’m always writing something, or I’ll split off enough forks to work in shifts, ensuring that I’m always writing at all hours of the day, such as it is. One will work a shift, merge with the next to keep the momentum going, and go to bed.”</p>
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<p>“That must be a very productive experience.”</p>
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<p>“It is! It very much is. You should try it, my dear Codrin.”</p>
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<p>“I most certainly will,” ey lied. Ey was no stranger to modified sleep schedules and just how unpleasant that could be. “Do you have any last words of wisdom that you’d like to impart for the eventual readers of this project?”</p>
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<p>“I would tell them this: you are always dreaming, but you should always dream bigger. What but big dreams was it that led to these launches? What but big dreams was it that led to the System as a whole? Dream big! Dream your own dreams. Bring them to fruition, and bigger and brighter things will benefit us all.”</p>
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<p>Codrin finished eir transcribing with a flourish and bowed to Rankin. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Rankin. Is there anything else?”</p>
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<p>“Only to thank you for your time. Make sure you get me your notes, and I’ll make sure that you and Dear each get a copy of the upcoming book once it’s done. Do tell him hi for me.”</p>
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<p>“It, but yes, I will say hi.”</p>
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<p>“Right, right. Do tell <em>it</em> hi.” Rankin quit before, Codrin suspected, he could roll his eyes.</p>
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<p>Ey bit eir tongue until ey was back home at the house on the prairie. Ey stomped out into the grass until ey reached eir very first cairn, set eir paper and pens down carefully in the grass, and shouted to the uncaring sky. “What an enormous sack of shit, good lord.”</p>
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<p>Then ey picked up eir supplies and walked back to the house.</p>
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<p>Dear and its partner greeted em at the door, both looking winded and still laughing.</p>
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<p>“You heard, I take it?”</p>
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<p><em>“Tell us how you really feel, my dear.”</em></p>
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<p>Codrin rolled eir eyes. “Not a fan. Let me set my shit down and get a glass of wine or something.”</p>
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<p>Dear gasped, paw to muzzle. <em>“A curse! Codrin! I am shocked.”</em></p>
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<p>“I’ll get the wine,” its partner said, still laughing.</p>
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<p>They gathered around the table on the couch where Codrin could lounge against Dear with eir feet up in its partner’s lap.</p>
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<p><em>“So, how was it, really? Was he really that bad?”</em> Dear asked.</p>
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</article>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-01</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-01</p>
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