Get top wisdom teeth removed? Check. Have vacation time with fam? Check. Die a little on the inside due to current events? Check. Chewing real, crunchy(ish) food again? Check. Which means life starts getting back to normal, and making productivity plans is now a-ok!
What I’m working on this week: I went into the wisdom teeth/vacation flume a bit ahead of of schedule, and actually managed to squeeze a bit of writing time in this past week, so I’m quite ahead of my projected deadlines for the WiP. So this week, I’m sticking with each daily goal and just trying to be consistent with that.
What’s inspiring me this week: Just saw Arrival, the SF flick based on “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, and its beautiful. Still processing, but from what I remember of the story, it sticks fairly close to that. It’s thoughtful and inspiring (and I only leaked tears through most of it, no sobs! Quite proud of myself, since it touches some tender parenting areas, as does the original story), with a female character who isn’t a sex bomb, yet holds her own with colleagues. Like I said, still processing, as any Chiang story deserves. Really has me considering the basic story mechanics of effects->causation and the burying of a kind of key-to-understanding (as most obvious in mysteries, but clearly present in lots of fiction, regardless of genre).
And then, you know, that whole election thing happened… o_O Just…ugh… Still processing that and all the things it means… Definitely making me look at how to cope with anger through writing, and how to investigate power dynamics and manipulation of information (personally and on the national/worldwide scale) through fiction. :/
What I’m avoiding this week:Â Really just trying to get back into a regular routine, and the standard inertia required to get back on track.
(To learn more about the Sunday Circle, check out author Peter M. Ball’s blog.)
Maggie Slater 