Happy Friday, everybody! It’s funny, even not bound to the 8-5 workday, I still get so excited for Friday. My schedule on the weekend literally doesn’t change–Goldbug still lives by his routine–and other than other people not working (aka more adult conversation), Saturday and Sunday are technically speaking no different from Tuesday or Thursday.
But I’m still conditioned to FEEL like it’s a weekend! XD What a mad, mad world.
Anyway, this week chugged along. I’ve been setting a goal of 500/day on the novel to keep up with course requirements, and most days that’s been doable. I’ve only had to do it twice on my phone (blech!) stuck under a snoozing baby because I’m pretty sure he’s toothing again (yay!) so naps have been tough and unpredictable. My thumb gets tired. But other than today, when I added 400 to my current short story WIP instead of the novel (I got 1k+ twice earlier in the week, so no time lost, and I hit a spot I need to think about a bit before progressing), I hit my goals. I’d love to find a way to fit more short story editing into the weeks, but that’s still eluding me so far. :/
But I’m officially signed up for the Write Your Novel course at AWC that starts in March! I’m so excited. I’ve been banging my head against a wall on the continuing development of this novel, so knowing that I’ll have an experienced mentor kind of guiding me through the process is exactly what I need right now. I don’t want to waste years more trying to muscle through blind, so here’s hoping it offers some clarity. All the courses I’ve taken from AWC so far have been incredibly helpful, filling in a lot of gaps in my writing toolkit. So I’m optimistic. It took some thinking (and some humility!) to choose the 12-month course rather than the 6-mo. Originally, I’d hoped to get this draft wrapped up as fast as possible, but with the inevitable complications of having a 1yo and amidst the pandemic, and after experiencing the workload for the Novel Writing Essentials course, I realized there was no way I’d keep up with the 6-month workload. I need all the time I can get. But hopefully a year from now I’ll have a fairly functional second/third draft of this thing that I can finally focus on fine-tuning (rather than applying another Sledgehammer Special…)
Finished two books this week: a reread of Atomic Habits by James Clear (soooo good), and You Are Not Your Writing by Angela Slatter (chock full of no-nonsense, don’t-be-precious mavensense (yes, I just made that up: n. A specialist’s version of common sense, garnered through years of hands-on experience.). This week we’re giving some focused time to The Color of Magic by the inimitable Sir Terry Pratchett, and The White Mountains by John Christopher (with B-Bug). I’m also tempted to reread The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry, but weeeeeee’lllll seeeeeee…
Stay safe! Stay healthy! And hugs all around!
Maggie Slater 