I didn’t formally set goals last week, but I did manage to write the following on my whiteboard:
Write every day
#aStoryaDay
Um… neither of those things happened. I did manage to read 5 stories over the weekend, and have two more to read today to get caught up. I did not write every day but I did get a lot of outlining done and started in on one branch of the story.
Weekly Word Count: 47
That’s an abysmal word count, but there was a lot of formatting, assessing bits and pieces from previous attempts at this story, and a LOT of outlining. Work was done, it’s just not the sort that’s quantifiable. Hopefully that can change.
What’s Next?
Write every day
#aStoryaDay
That’s it. That’s all I’m striving for. I have a lot of household chores to catch up on and a hike planned for tomorrow, so it’ll be a busy-ish week outside of writing. Hopefully I can focus up and get some work done too.
All right. I’m not gonna waste time pretending I know what the hell happened in June. There were a couple of frantic work weeks and even more emotions. I numbed out with some serious video game bingeing and reading. So, instead of breaking down the goals from May, lemme just sum up where various projects are at.
Tavi is on pause. I have a lot to think about with this book. My mindset in regards to the entire project has done a 180 and I don’t really know what to do about that. So, until I’m feeling a little less shreddy toward it, I’m going to work on other things.
The Shadowboxer is back on the front burner. It’s an extremely ambitious story and it’s demanding a lot from me. I’ve maintained for a while now that every story requires something different from me, some more than others. This one wants me to basically re-invent the wheel when it comes to my “process” and I’m struggling with that. I’m going slow, climbing this story mountain one rock at a time and doing A LOT of outlining. The joys of non-linear narratives!
The Bahn Hexe has reappeared in my imagination, so maybe that will come next. I dunno and it’s silly to even think of “next” when I’m still hip deep in the rough draft of something else.
I also have a new novel idea (I may have mentioned that) and I think that will be my Nanowrimo project this year. It’s percolating.
Three short stories are currently out on submission. Fingers-crossed, as usual.
I’m reading #aStoryaDay in July and tweeting about them as a little challenge to myself. If you have any recommendations, please share them in the comments or @me on twitter.
The fact that I’m here, talking about projects and thinking about goals for July is a win in my book. This is the most work I’ve done since school “ended”, which I shouldn’t feel so bad about, considering it was only like two weeks of vacation. I seriously need to learn to chill.
But, since I obviously don’t know how to chill (yet), let’s talk about July!
July Goals
Write every day
Read a short story a day
Keep reading (novels)!
So, yeah. That’s where I’m at. The Shadowboxer is my main focus this month. I’d love to get the rough draft finished before August, but I don’t feel very hopeful about that. I’m grappling with it a little too much at the moment to feel confident about a completion date. It’ll get done when it’s done and not a moment sooner.
I’m reading The Stolen Throne right now, but think I’m going to put it down in favor of the mountain of new books I got from curbside pickup at the library. There’s some really good titles in that stack that I’m much more interested in reading. Besides, The Stolen Throne is a reread and it did not age well.
I’ll be back on Monday to talk a little more formally about goals and progress. Until then, Bloggos.
Just wanted to let you all know that I am still around. The last couple weeks of work/the school year were pretty ding dang intense. I’m sure I mentioned it (here and here). Rightly so, I’ve taken this first week of summer break to breathe, chill, and come down from the frenzy that was closing down my library for the summer. I’ve watched a couple movies, way too much Jeopardy, read a bunch, and have generally just pretended I’m on vacation.
But, y’all know me. I don’t sit still well. A week in and I’m all ready getting antsy. But, I’m doing some writing (fanfic) and some outlining (new short story) and I’m still waiting to hear about some stories that are still out.
Work has been crazy as we’re heading into summer. It’s my first school year and I had no idea what these last two weeks would look like. There’s a lot to do in a normal year, let alone one that was disrupted by a global pandemic.
Last Week
Tavi Revisions
HQR video
Read something
Write 800+ words
How’d I do?
Tavi Revisions
Nope. I’ve decided to press pause on this project.
HQR video
Nope. No time.
Read something
Yep. Over 100 pages of Priory.
Write 800+ words
Yes! My fanfic is moving forward. Finally!
Weekly Word Count: 880
So… Tavi. Here’s the thing. My main character is a cop. Her two best friends work for the Police Department. And she loves her job, but due to the events of the book, her job is in peril. Right now… it is very hard to work on a book that has any sort of positive outlook on police departments in America. It feels incredibly tone deaf at the moment and my feelings on the subject are incredibly tumultuous at the moment. If I continue revising the book I will gut it in fury. I need to cool down and think about how to more authentically handle the police as an entity in my book.
I’ve been working on fanfic while I simmer on all these feelings. We’ll see how long it takes to come back around to a place where I can work on the novel again. Regardless, it’s unlikely to be in the next two weeks.
What’s Next?
HQR episode
Read 100+pgs of Priory
Write 800+ words
That’s where I’m at. Right now, my library work is taking up pretty much every ounce of my brain so I’ll be happy to get anything on this list done. I also need to get my monthly recap post done. But… I don’t see that happening this week. Just sayin’.
This week went by pretty quick. Again. For a minute, I felt more normal. I don’t know if that makes sense, but we got out of the house for a couple of hours and I think that helped.
Last Week
Tavi revisions
Post another HQR video
Read 100pgs of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Write 800+ words
How’d I do?
Tavi revisions
Yep. Not a ton, but enough to count it as progress.
Post another HQR video
… No. This one’s intimidating. I don’t know how to talk about this book. I’ll try again this week.
Read 100pgs of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Hahaha, no.
Write 800+ words
No, but I did write a bit and finally finished that fanfic piece I was stuck on. So, hurray!
Weekly Word Count: 440
I’ve been all over the place this week. I seriously considered working out, but didn’t. I played more Dragon Age, which was nice and sufficiently escapist. I revised nine chapters of Tavi, but didn’t really read much and have a bunch of work work to do this week and the world’s on fire and I think I need to take a break. Specifically a social media break. But, this is important. It feels wrong to back away, feels wrong to press pause. But I’m sitting here on the verge of tears after a day of consuming videos and press releases and protesters’ comments.
It’s important. This moment, this movement is IMPORTANT. I am a middle class, CIS White woman. I am pretty damn far removed from the experiences that fuel these protests and still I am exhausted. I am emotionally shredded. And this feeling is a farce compared to what Black people in America face every day.
There’s a march scheduled for this Saturday. I plan to be there.
Besides blog posts, I am avoiding social media today. It’s not even 10am and already that’s proved a lot harder than it should be. This break is going to be good for me.
So, What’s Next?
Tavi Revisions
HQR video
Read something
Write 800+ words
You know. Lather, rinse, repeat. The day job is ratcheting up because there’s only two weeks of school left, I imagine that the first two weeks of June will be slow writing/editing-wise.
I just gotta stay afloat for 12 more days and then it’s summer and my time is officially my own.
I’m running out of ways to introduce this post every week. So, let’s just get on with it.
Last Week
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post another episode of Mrs. Harlow’s Quarantine Reads!
Read 100+ pages of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Write 800+ words
How’d I Do?
Tavi revisions cont’d
YEP! This was a major success for the week.
Post another episode of Mrs. Harlow’s Quarantine Reads!
Yarp. I hope you enjoyed it.
Read 100+ pages of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Yes! It’s moving along and pulling me in. I just forgot how… slow Epic Fantasy can be.
Write 800+ words
Maybe? Technically, I think yes, because of rewrites. But I don’t track those word counts… so no?
Weekly Word Count: ?/0
It was a very productive week. I finished the first round of revisions on Tavi, made a video, read a bit, and binged two seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender. So yeah. Life’s good.
Oh, and we’re still sheltering in place, despite the state entering Phase One of reopening. My husband and I agree that it’s a mistake to behave as if we’ve “beaten” this virus and are dreading that second wave in the coming months. But people can’t handle being cooped up for this long, apparently. After the restlessness of the first few weeks we’ve settled into an easy routine. I think it will take a long time to feel comfortable in large groups again.
So, What’s Next?
Tavi revisions
Post another HQR video
Read 100pgs of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Write 800+ words
I’ll be reading Tavi pretty much all day — ironing out the timeline, assessing pacing and structure, and continuing line edits. Barring any major revisions/rewrites, this round of edits should take no more than two weeks to get through. I’m feeling hopeful so far.
I’ve got another video ready to make tomorrow, one I’m pretty excited to talk about. So that’s good. I think Priory will be a slow and steady wins the race situation. If I read ~100 pages a week, I’ll be done in July. Probably. I should probably bump up that page count if I want to get through it… damn.
Writing is… what it is, right now. My focus is on Tavi and consuming media in my down time. I did play a little Dragon Age last week, so maybe I’ll get back to writing some fic, but the summers are typically a writing dry season for me. We’ll see if the pandemic has any effect on that. Or the whole not-working-in-the-summer, thing. Because that’s new.
Anyway, I’m off to eat something and start reading my book. Again.
It was another amorphous, intangible sort of week. The sun rose, rain fell, and the sun eventually set. Work was done, or not, and I floated through time and space ignoring it all.
Last Week
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post 2 videos
Read 100+ pgs of Priory
Write 800+ words
How’d I do?
Tavi revisions cont’d
Nope. I did brainstorm some titles, but still did not land on one. I wrote a (very) rough draft of my query letter, which was a fun exercise. So… progress?
Post 2 videos
Yep!
Read 100+ pgs of Priory
… No. However. I did read Network Effect front to back in about 24 hours. So, I’m calling that a win.
Write 800+ words
No.
Weekly Word Count: 324
There’s been an article floating around the internet explaining that COVID-19 closures have put us all into a state of grief. I read the article early into the lockdown and thought, “well that makes sense”. I didn’t particularly feel as if I was grieving, I was just a weird combo of bored and frustrated and vaguely anxious. But the last couple of weeks have been different.
First I was very restless, then I got some news that ratcheted my anxiety WAY up. Add that to all the people protesting to reopen and the general lack of consideration shown in public spaces and well… I was angry. I didn’t realize I was angry until a fairly routine Friday night conversation with my husband spiraled out into a mutual bitch session about the state of the world. I realized that this feeling, this anger and growing ennui was what my husband had been feeling for weeks (he has a public facing job and it sapped his limited optimism quite quickly). It made me feel bad for him, and for not recognizing it sooner, but it also made us both feel better, because we were finally on the same page.
We were in the same stages of grief.
The weekend was much better. I finished my second watch of Schitt’s Creek, read a book, made yummy food and helped bake cookies. I even snuck in a workout! It was very relaxing.
So, today I’m feeling better. Not 100%. I don’t think I’ll be 100% again until we’re back to “normal” — whatever that looks like in the post-COVID era.
So, What’s Next?
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post another episode of Mrs. Harlow’s Quarantine Reads!
Read 100+ pages of The Priory of the Orange Tree
Write 800+ words
Obviously I’ve fallen WAY behind on my proposed revision schedule. The good news is, I planned for this, and I still have time to get this rough draft wrapped by the end of the month. I only have 11 chapters to go and only 2 of those need major rewriting. If I can get back to my ~3 chapters a day routine, I’ll be done this week! And even if I don’t get back to that routine, I still have two weeks to do 11 chapters. Totally doable.
Wednesday morning are my video making time, and for once I actually have an idea of what I want to talk about! WHAT?! That never happens!
I picked up Priory again after I finished Network Effect last night. It reminded me that, while I love Epic Fantasy, it is such a different animal than the books I’ve been reading lately. I’m enjoying Priory so far; the prose is lovely, the characters and world are interesting, and I’m hooked into the political intrigue so far. But, man, there is so much foundational work that HAS to be done in the front half of books like this. No matter how much I want to read it, or how “fast” I read, it still feels slow. Not in a boring way, either. I’m still here, ready and willing to read, but the pacing is intentionally slow because there’s simply SO. MUCH. to talk about. The opposite of the Murderbot books in almost every possible way.
Writing is still slow. I’m wondering if that’s because I haven’t been playing Dragon Age… With this franchise, being distant from the original work doesn’t really matter for me. I’m pretty well immersed in it no matter what. I’ve spent too much time in the world to be anything else. But the motivation is… lacking at the moment. I’m avoiding some big feelings on the fictional horizon and I don’t think being mid-COVID is helping that.
Which is fine. Revisions need to be the focus right now anyway. Speaking of, I have shit to do.
In honor of reaching my ten episode milestone, I decided to compile something of a gag reel of some of the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I hope you enjoy it!
So… huh. I just discovered that, apparently, my Goals Summary post for last week never actually went live. So this is awkward. I’m here to talk about goals you didn’t get a chance to read about — hurray!
Last Week
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post bloopers video
Finish Destroy All Monsters
Write 800+ words
How’d I do?
Tavi revisions cont’d
Yes? I didn’t get as much done as I wanted, but I did get three more chapters revised.
Post bloopers video
Nope. So now I’m a week behind. Cool. Coolcoolcool.
Finish Destroy All Monsters
Yep!
Write 800+ words
Not even close.
Weekly Word Count: 0
So, yeah. As you can see, things sort of went off the rails last week. My energy levels are down, I haven’t been working out, and all I really want to do is watch Schitt’s Creek until I am fused to the couch.
Full disclosure, I have been rendered utterly useless by this show. I love it so much. In fact, I don’t plan on being very useful for a few days because I need to inhale the remaining episodes and avoid these revisions. I’m at a chapter that requires pretty major rewriting and I don’t have the attention span for it right now. I’m accepting that at the moment and trying to treat myself with some grace.
So, What’s Next
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post 2 videos
Read 100+ pgs of Priory
Write 800+ words
Yep. More of the same. Just like the days. Maybe that’s part of the problem… I dunno. I’m feeling pretty distracted and uninterested at the moment. I think this is about all the juice I’ve got for today. Not a great omen for the how this week is going to go.
Yep! As predicted I flew through this book. What I did not predict was that I would fly through the next book on my (literal) TBR pile The Wrath & the Dawn.
Write 800+ words
YES! I finally got some words down. Nothing too crazy, but enough to celebrate the small victory.
Weekly Word Count: 1,253
It was a good week. Productive in many (mostly writing) ways. I read a ton, made good food, edited a lot, and wrote a bit. I did not workout at all and I wasn’t very diligent with my household chores. Striking a balance in all of these things feels damn near impossible.
I’ve made a plan for revisions: 3 chapters a day, 5 days a week. If I follow it, I can take weekends off from revising and enjoy some free time. For instance, this weekend we made Hot Chicken Sandwiches, French Dips, watched lots of Bon Appétit, and played video games. It was quite chill.
I also attended a Zoom meeting for Willamette Writers on writing and publishing Flash Fiction. It was cool and nice to get face time with Oregon writers. Those are happening basically weekly, so I’ll be popping into more of those, to be sure.
So, What’s Next?
Tavi revisions cont’d
Post HQR episode
Finish Destroy All Monsters
Write 800+ words
I’m feeling pretty good going into this week. I have my Quarantine Reads video for this week more or less done already. Just needs a couple finishing touches. I’ll still make another one this week so that I have one in the hopper, since I read TWO books last week. I’m loving Destroy All Monsters so far. But, I’ve loved everything I’ve read from Sam J. Miller so this doesn’t surprise me.
I played a little bit of Spyro last week, then played all of What Remains of Edith Finch, a beautiful interactive narrative game. Then I started playing Vampyr. It’s a horror RPG about a London doctor during the Spanish Influenza (horrible timing on my part) who is attacked and left for dead, only to awaken as a vampire. I played a few hours last night and really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to more game-time in the evenings this week.
Revisions continue. I’m still feeling good about them, but this week will have me working on a couple of the “weak” scenes that need rewriting. We’ll see how I feel by the time those are done.
Submissions continue, as usual. And as usual, no news is good news.
I adore this movie.
Writing is a little all over the place right now. I’ve got fanfic to work on, but nothing terribly pressing. I wrote a 50 word story as an exercise in the Flash Fiction meeting. And I started writing a very experimental (for me) “mundane” fantasy story after a discussion on twitter with C.L. Polk. I’m approaching it COMPLETELY differently than I would another story. Handwriting in a notebook, first thing in the morning over coffee. It doesn’t come to me every day, and when it does come it’s just little snippets. We’ll see if it goes anywhere. Regardless, I have a quote from Kevin Hearne on my whiteboard that says, “Write more, write different, write better.” That’s exactly what this story is doing. I’m viewing it as more of an exercise than anything.
So, yeah, that’s what I’m up to. Reading, writing, and editing with some video games sprinkled in. And work. I mean, I still have responsibilities to the school, they’re just cut way back in comparison to my normal day-to-day.
I’ll be back soon to share another video and probably lament my idealism when it comes to revision.
