My secret (Swedish) project has been found out, I suspect by more people than I know of. This has put the project on hold, at least temporarily, because its contents are meant for anonymity.

I started said project with three potential outcomes. First, it’d just be weird and uncomfortable for me personally, making me quit early on. Second, no one would give a damn and that’d make me quit. Third, it’d take off and I’d feel compelled to carry on. I ended up with the third route, which means new problems. I haven’t covered my tracks particularly well, because it was never meant to be a secret project in the long run. But now it’s being read and reacted to, and it’s out of my hands.

As a writer, I can’t control what the reader thinks of, and feels about, something I’ve written. I’m well aware of this. I’ll take the day to think about where to go from here.

This is probably the most meta journal entry yet. Sorry about that.

Snow has yet again claimed Stockholm, I have an early (sort of) morning meeting, and I didn’t sleep enough last night. All in all, I’d like to tell this Monday to go fuck itself, but I’m not going to do that. It’s so easy to just dive into negativity, and then that’ll shape the rest of your day, possibly leaking into the people in your surroundings.

So I’ll trick my brain into happiness by smiling like an idiot. Then, in a few minutes, I’ll step out into the snow, and take it from there. Have a good one, people.

My ears are ringing this morning, through the familiar cotton-like feeling of a head bombarded by heavy bass. I was at The Killers concert in Stockholm yesterday, and today I’m paying the prize. Tinnitus is a bad thing, don’t get that, kids. Protect yourselves, use earplugs and the like. I didn’t, once, when I was young, and now I have to live with it.

Concerts always leave my ears ringing nowadays, so I pick and choose carefully. Glad I saw The Killers though, such a Las Vegas inspired show. Brandon Flowers is a great entertainer, and Wonderful Wonderful is album of the year 2017 if you ask me.

Saturday mornings in the Stockholm apartment are always a bit weird. I don’t have any routines for that. That’s nice too, I guess. I’ll sit down with a newspaper (!), and some coffee soon, before starting the day proper.

Writing and a concert is on today’s agenda. Back home, this little guy gets spoiled because it’s his fifth birthday.

I’m finding myself behind on everything this morning. After a fruitful and productive week, yesterday proved anything but. I’m glad that my weekend is all work and (almost) no play, there are things I want to tick off on ye olde todo list.

The thing with days that are, or at least feel, unproductive and thus wasted, is that they generally aren’t. Often you did get things done, you just wasn’t at your best. We tend to compare with ourselves at the best of times, rather than our median performance, which would be more fair. Aim for the best, but don’t expect it every time. No one’s that perfect.

Spent most of last night discussing… stuff. There might’ve been whisky involved.

Friends have been snowboarding in Chamonix. I miss doing that, so I’ll leave you with a photo from one of those trips. A younger, less destroyed, version of yours truly.

I have my morning routines in Stockholm. For some reason, they don’t stick when I’m home, in the house, but here they work like clockwork. Unless I have early meetings, in which case everything is upside down. I’m really not a morning person.

Get up, bathroom etc. Glance at the feeds, mark stuff for later if necessary. Exercise for 15 minutes. Take vitamins. Shower, brush teeth and so forth. Write journal entry. Work on secret Swedish project. Plan daily writing and/or editing.

Then it gets muddy. The normal day starts, which – at the moment – hopefully means that I’ll make some coffee for the Ashen Sky translation session, before leaving for the office.

Nothing fancy, nothing special, but it is a routine, and I’m healthier for it. Or at least I’m tricking myself into believing that, which is almost just as good.

I just stepped through the security checkpoint at the airport. My flight is due in 30 minutes or so. I’m heading back to Stockholm today, for work, and then I have things planned, culminating in a trip to Oslo to speak at a WordCamp there. That means I won’t be back home for two weeks, something my family isn’t thrilled about. I mean to make the most of it though, wrapping up the Ashen Sky translation and finish a few small projects.

As my friend Jesper would say: Let’s do this!

They say it’s Monday today. Seems unreal to me. Much like the calm sea outside my window. Next to no wind again. Also unreal, two days in a row. The apocalypse might be upon us.

Played some guitar yesterday. It’s been way too long. I need to get me one for my Stockholm apartment, that’s something to do in the evening. I don’t have a TV or anything, it’s just books for me. That’s not so bad, on the contrary, but every home should have an instrument.

The wind is almost not present today, which is rare where my house is. Started the day with coffee, and then a long walk. It was pleasant. The sea is beautiful today, as it is almost every day. I don’t get to see it as much as I’d like. It’s a view that calms me. Precious moments, got to hold on to them.

Long day yesterday. It started with a troublesome meeting that turned out great, continued with lots and lots of work, and finally ended with interesting conversations. A pretty good Friday, all in all, but I’m feeling it today, as I’m typing this from the airport. A very empty airport, I might add. Traveling on Saturdays has its merits.

Looking forward to relaxing with some good music, and possibly a snifter of whisky, tonight.

I’m out of coffee, it’s snowing, and the meeting this morning will be a trial of fire if there ever was one. I’ve slept too little, got too much to do, and they say it’s Friday but it feels like an unknown weekday very far from any kind of weekend.

In other words, everything is fine here. Carry on.

The somewhat extreme workload is ruling my days at the moment. Sometimes that’s the case, and you just have to live with it. That would’ve felt stressful in the past, but these days I just go with it. Maybe that’s what growing up means?

Nah.

Have a great day, and remember to breathe.

I don’t celebrate holidays created for commercial reasons, which means that I’m completely non-plussed about Valentine’s Day. It has always felt like a scam to me, much like when they introduced Halloween in Sweden (which wasn’t a thing when I grew up), for the money obviously. If you need an excuse to take a loved one to a romantic dinner, or to dress up like a slutty ghost clown for that matter, then you’re doing it wrong.

That said, have fun tonight, kids. Remember to protect yourselves. There are werewolves out there, after all.

Heading to Stockholm for a couple of days, the start of a very busy couple of weeks. I’m not fully recuperated from whatever bug I caught, but I’m well enough to be among people. Otherwise I’d stay away, I hate it when sick people are out and about, or at the workplace for that matter. Wouldn’t do that myself, it’s disrespectful.

My secret Swedish project is taking off, that’s more than I expected. It’s a bit scary actually. If this continues there’ll be no backing out. I’ll decide if I should continue or not at the end of February, I think.