I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I would have sent greetings earlier, but yesterday the internet access went out, and oh, it was tragic.
I did, however, use the time to overhaul the Dirk & Steele site, which is now narrated by Roland, the agency’s foul-tempered and foul-mouthed boss. Be warned, though—there are some spoilers to EYE OF HEAVEN tucked in there, so if you don’t want to get clued into the plot, don’t read too carefully.
Took a drive around Shanghai tonight. Ended with a foot massage. Went to a new place and watched a fist fight take place out front. Two guys versus a girl and her husband/boyfriend. Police showed up before anything too bad could happen, but it was ugly, and people got hit.
Thing is, when you write about violence, it comes out all orderly on the page. Hero or heroine see it coming (hopefully), know how to defend themselves (maybe), and it turns out okay. And even if it doesn’t, there’s a distance that is inevitable, a sense of unreality that comes from such acts being nothing but words. In real life, though, violence is chaotic, unpredictable (up to a point), and visceral. It happens fast, too. If I had been in that fight tonight, I probably would have gone down. First of all, because I’m a weenie. But mostly because really being able to take care of yourself in a physical way requires a different kind of mindset than I—and likely a lot of people—do not normally live in. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.