So, it’s obviously not Sunday, but I need to take a few minutes to check in and make sure I’m actually thinking about what I’m doing this week otherwise it’ll be another week gone in a blur.
Last week, I did pretty well. I did review that one chapter bit and even did some thinking about the next steps that story will take. I *also* (more importantly) re-implimented the age-old plan of writing 500 words a day, no matter what, no matter weekends/weekdays. So far, I’ve stuck to it since last Thursday, so if I can keep it up, I’ll be rocketing towards the rough draft of a new short story by mid/end-of the week, which would be fantastic. But I do need to think about when I’m going to make the time to start (the dreaded) Draft 2, and what that’s going to entail. I know I won’t be writing anything at all this coming weekend due to a short travel stint, but next week may lend itself to some good opportunities.
What am I working on this week?
This week, I’m going to try to finish the started short story draft. If I can get it wrapped up by Wednesday or thereabouts, I’m hoping I’ll have time to start a bit of an edit on it–or at least get it off to my beta readers for a quick review prior to next week.
And if I can come up with a date to sit down and punch out Chapter 1 of Draft 2, that would be stellar, too.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I started listening to Writing Excuses again recently, and somehow through the magic rabbit holes of the internet, found these seriously cool sounding free MOOC (massive online open courses) classes available from University of Iowa’s Writing Program. They’ve got a bunch on fiction and on poetry, and since I know so very little about poetry (much less than I’d like anyway), I started listening through a class yesterday, and am pretty fascinated. I’m not sure how long or how regularly I’ll be able to work through them, but they seem like a cool place to self-educate for the time being.
Also, that article on saturation diving is A.MAZ.ING. (It’s here: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver). Thank you so much for recommending it, @writing, writing, words words words! It’s exactly the kind of thing I’ve been looking for!
I’m also getting sucked into Riverdale again, because it hits that drama button so well, and because the soundtrack is aPOPcolyptic, and I love it. Kind of rings with EmpathyTest or “Acid Rain,” by Lorn or even some of lowcityrain‘s stuff, which my husband introduced me to, and is totally unnervingly fitting to these times.
What action do I need to take?
I did better about reading this past week, so I’m hoping to continue the trend. The key so far seems to be getting to bed early enough to read before sleeping, and even a half-hour can be incredibly fruitful in moving forward on various reading objectives.
Maggie Slater 