I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Mondays… Maybe it’s the hubby going back to MA on Sunday night. Maybe it’s the usually crappy Sunday-night sleep I get. Maybe it’s just knowing there’s a whole week looming and so much to do and so little energy to do it. Sunday nights, though, are usually pretty perky–hyped up and ready to take on the challenges–so I have no idea what it is about that Sunday night to Monday morning shift that twists the pro into a con. I thought it was a malady of the ordinary work-week, but am finding that even at home with management of my own time for a change, these Mondays are no easier. Interesting.
At any rate, it took a long, LONG while to get going today, and again MINDFUL BIRTHING was the book to shake me out of my nervous-ball-of-wire nerves and actually start making baby steps to move forward. Biggest discovery of the day? When I’m particularly stressed out, for whatever reason, deciding to think about only ONE thing which I will do next (and not the myriad of things I *could* do, but just that ONE thing I want to do) can get me gradually moving. Also, on particularly tough days, five minutes of seated, breath-focused meditation here and there is a lifesaver.
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WRITING/EDITING PROJECT: Far-future lifeforms! Pulsars! Sentient robotic trees! Seedling space-travel! Massive radiation poisoning! It’s all here, and being converted to flash fiction from 3,600 words.
Working Title: “The Miracle of Jane”
Added Words: N/A
Total Words (to date): 200
Happening Today in the World of Fiction!: Distant origins! Clones and AIs! Lost originators and millions of lightyears!
Notes: My goal this week, ideally, is to get each of the six 200-word scenes sculpted and organized, and from there, hopefully do a polish run-through and smoothing edit (with a few minor additions). Today’s section was “Distant Origins,” in which Mother contemplates her own genesis and Little Jane’s, as well as setting the lonely tone for the short piece. I was scared to death of approaching this rewrite this week, which was weird because last week’s planning of it was invigorating. But the time between planning and writing must have been too long, and I got the jitters at the thought of starting this monumental cut-back. Having gone through this section today, however, I’m feeling more confident. A lot of what I want to say is already in the first version, and I’m really just picking out the pieces that I feel have the most poetic and narrative punch and then transitioning between them as necessary. Still, it’s somewhat slow work, since it involves word-sniping at every second in order to keep it in the tight 200 word limit per section. I’ve got a bank of 200 extra words I *can* use if need be, but I’d rather not touch them if I can help it. The shorter this thing is, the better–in the end–I think it’ll be. But it’s not easy! Baby steps, baby steps…
Maggie Slater 