Had an okay week this week, though I hit a wall that threw me for a loop on Thursday. Managed to pull myself out of that by recognizing some of the inherent strengths in the original version, and am plowing ahead on the word-cull to try to get the original version into a submittable form.
As for the yearly plan, I did manage to jot down a very, very (VERY) rough breakdown that I’m hoping will at least keep 2018’s goals in mind as I move through the various months. It will likely change as things either take longer (or shorter–it could happen), so it’s in no way hard and fast, but it gives me a rough idea of what to shoot for:
FEBRUARY – Submit one new short story
MARCH – Edit summary draft, make general changes to get in what needs to be there and what needs to be fixed, prior to:
APRIL – JULY – Prose Draft #2 of the novel project
AUGUST – Submit one new short story
SEPTEMBER – Submit one new short story
OCTOBER – Research and Reading for new project
NOVEMBER – Write Draft #1 Summary Draft for new project during NANOWRIMO
DECEMBER – Free month/Catch-up Month (Decembers are always trainwrecks time-wise anyway)
What I’m working on this week: Plowing ahead on the word-cull edit, though the hubby’s on vacation this week, so the likelihood of finishing the cutting edit is probably a long shot. If I can get a minimum of half an hour of editing work in a day, I’ll consider it a major achievement.
What’s inspiring me this week?: Well, it’s Winter Olympic week, so I’m all about watching people half my age do crazy awesome things with knives strapped to their feet. I mean, have you ever seen anything as crazy beautiful as the double-helix Evgenia Medvedeva does on that second jump in the solo short program?! I didn’t even know they could jump with their arms up.
And this weekend, the gift that keeps on giving struck again: my folks got the hubby and me a turntable for Christmas, and since then, it seems like everyone we talk to about it has a stash of records in their attic or in storage that they are only too happy to donate to the cause (aka: our building up our library). This weekend, we raked in a ton from my parents’ neighbors: Gladys Knight and the Pips, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry (Johnny B. Goode, of course), Blondie, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Willie Nelson, along with some Vivaldi and some Beethoven, among others. And we’ve been absorbing those bit by bit, which has been an absolute delight. I don’t think a day slips by that we don’t listen to at least one album.
What action do I need to take this week?: We’re gearing up to get all of our passports done/updated, which we’ve been talking about for (literally) years, but never quite make time for. So this week, we’re trying to at least get that tackled.
Maggie Slater 