(As part of Peter M. Ball’s Sunday Circle found here.)
It’s been a very productive week. So far, the novel project continues uninhibited and I’m plowing into the lesser-plotted Act II without too much trouble. I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that worries that things are going so well thus far. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the whole draft is going to need a serious reworking from beginning to end to flesh out the world-building, which is pretty generic and sparse at the moment, but that may just be how I work out rough drafts. Until I hit a real stumbling block, though, it kind of feels like I’m cheating on the creative process somehow. But I realize, too, that’s more paranoia than substance, since inevitably it’s still most likely going to need plenty of revisions.
What I’m working on this week: Continue the trend of 1k/day on the novel project. If things keep clipping along like this I may very well hit my personal deadline of having this thing finished by the end of May. I do need to spend a little time this weekend thinking about what comes next and surveying the plot landscape between where I’m at and where the next major plot point comes into play.
What’s inspiring me this week?: Nothing terribly writing-creative, I’m afraid. I recently picked up an app called Stylebook, because one of my general goals in the coming year is to work on actually paying attention to what I wear and how I style it (for years, I’ve bemoaned that I’m not “stylish” per se, but I love the idea of being a bit more put-together on the day-to-day, especially after years of exhausted mom clothes). The app basically allows you to take photos of the clothes you have and arrange them into outfits. It’s been really eye-opening in showing me what I actually like to wear vs. what I thought I liked to wear (it tracks metrics for how often you wear an item, plus will even calculate the cost-per-wear if you plug in how much you paid for said item). The biggest benefit, I think, is that it’s helped me parse out what types of clothes/shoes/accessories I *actually* need/want, and what clothes I already have that I can use to compose some of the kinds of outfits I admire other ladies rocking. Before, my mother would always offer to take me shopping for a few things (she’s aware of my moaning/groaning/fashion-idealism), but I never knew what to look for, so would end up wasting the trip picking up shoes or tops I neither really needed or even ended up wearing that often. Now when I hit up our local thrift store, I’ve got some specific things to look for, which is giving me a great in-control high. :) Like I said, not really writing related, but damn, there’s some creativity in composing ones own clothing items into outfits that actually look good (rather than my typical just grab stuff off the floor/hamper).
What am I avoiding?: Ugh! *shameface* Reading, actually. It’s not even conscious so much as letting what used to be my reading time fill up with other activities like knitting, playing Minecraft, (rabbit-holing on Pinterest…) There’s no excuse besides absent-mindness about it, so moving forward this week, I’m really, really going to try to set some dedicated time aside to read.
1k words a day! That’s impressive. Keep up the good work. With first drafts I think the focus must always be on getting the words down on the page. Everything else can come later.
Indeed–getting it down is my top priority at this point. (And there’s no saying they’re a *good* 1k! XD Someday in the magical “future” when there’s more time available, I’d love to do 1k in the morning post-breakfast and then retype them from scratch in the afternoon to flesh them out. But for now, any words down I consider a small victory!)