James Carter

About

There is a small moment I look out for: someone mentions a plan for several months ahead without any hedging attached to it. For a long stretch every future sentence comes wrapped in conditions, and then one day a plain one arrives. That is usually the turning point. Whatever the next season holds, the first sign that you are actually in it is the return of ordinary forward-looking sentences, made without bracing. I watch for those, and I point them out when they arrive, because they are very easy to miss from the inside. This is a craft I have not finished learning, and this particular marker took me years to notice. Plain future sentences are data. If everything you say about next year comes with conditions, get in touch. Unhedged sentences about next year are the marker I trust most. I will point them out as they arrive.