Even though I’m leaving the house in the wee hours, I’m still trying to get my run in. I?m still trying to cheat the 24 hour clock by getting up at 4am. Still, there’s something just not right with running at 5am.

At 5am, I run in the darkness and the cold. The Wantage roads are empty at this time. Occasionally I’ll think back to the books I’ve read back in high school about alien abductions. Aliens always strike in the middle of the night when no one is watching. Being the only one on the streets at this time, I would be easy pickings. I wouldn’t know anything about my abduction until I woke up in a field two hours later (late for work) with a feeling of missing time and a nagging suspicion that my anus was probed.

But eventually I will see someone walking into town. Usually, it’s an old man in a flat cap walking a greyhound to the newsagent. There are actually three of these guys. I wonder if they know each other.

A few weeks ago I finished reading a book by Stephen King on the craft of writing. I’ve never been a fan of Stephen King, nor do I plan on writing a novel, but the book was very insightful and I enjoyed reading about the “craft of writing” a lot.

I’ve read one or two Stephen King books and found them to be pretty boring. I think his books read more like television than books. That may be their appeal. After reading On Writing, I have new respect for the man and his craft.

I’ve read a lot of books on writing. It’s an invaluable skill that is worth getting a professional’s perspective on.

Another very good book that I’ve read many times is On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Zinsser focuses more on non-fiction, but his philosophy is very similar to King’s–you must master the fundamentals.

Creativity alone will not make you a writer, at least not according to these two professionals. You must be able to use the language. Sentences should be complete (most of the time), pronouns should be clear, and superfluous adjectives should be removed. I’ve worked with writers before (well, they weren’t writers in profession as I was working with them), and I would love to know what they thought of these books.

I had to get my photo taken this morning for my new railcard. The dilemma is always the same: do I smile or not. I smiled big.

I hate it when people don’t smile for photos. In high school, the tough kids used to make stern intimidating faces for their yearbook photos. Now, in business, it’s middle managers.

I’ve worked in a few places where the identification photos was featured on a directory on the corporate intranet. Too many people looked like they should have a number plate below their chin for their mug shot.

Strangely, this trait only applies to men. Real men don’t smile for security photos, I guess.