Just a quick check-in today, since I have to get ready to head back to ReaderCon in an hour (hopefully to see Kathleen Jennings in person at her reading! Woohoo!)
What am I working on?: Pulling myself back together after several weeks of travel & holiday weekends. I’m thrilled to say I finagled my own first “Write Club” get together with a friend last Thursday at 9PM-11PM (which is when the little guy is asleep) and made a major breakthrough with the novel WiP outline, which is hugely relieving. This week, I’m going to continue to flesh that out and determine what needs to happen before I can sit down and start tackling the prose draft.
What’s inspiring me this week?: Amazing ReaderCon panels, particularly the one on writing while parenting. I think it’s given me some realistic expectations of what writing with a 2 year old looks like, but also some hope that things may get a bit more manageable (if always chaotic). Also the ReaderCon interview with Catherynne M. Valente was enlightening. Just getting a little glimpse into her writing process and the way she approaches stories (she often treats her short stories as labs where she can experiment with elements and see if there are novels in there, though she’s proud when she writes a short story that is self-contained and doesn’t need more). I also got to meet the wonderful Samuel R. Delany and he very kindly signed my old Triton and Nova copies! *fangirl squee!* I think I managed to keep it together sort of… Very cool. Got lots of great reading recommendations, too, though I need to compile those somewhere…. Looking forward to a few more panels today, too, though boy am I out of socializing shape. :)
What am I avoiding?: Short story edit. I reworked the ending, which needed to happen, but UGH, it’s so not right yet, and I can feel it in the gut, and it’s driving me nuts, because it’s just…eluding me right now. But I need to do a full read-through again. Maybe that’ll show me a holistic sense of what the overarching emotional/tone arc is and where it needs to land on that final note.
And look for a Notes from a Poly-Reader coming soon! I’ve got it about half-composed at this point…