What am I working on this week? I threw my neck out last Tuesday, and it’s still tender and difficult to do much laptop work, so as you can imagine, this update will be brief. I finished the word cull last week, submitted a flash story, and started the out-loud read for the WiP story. I seem to be leaning hard on the cull-side of editing, but I’m finding it’s been rather too harsh in this case, and I need to add a lot of breath back into the text so it sounds like me. I’m still hashing out how I ought to best edit, because I definitely fall on the “too harsh/everything is crap” side of the editor eye, and I need to be a little gentler on my work. This week, I’m hoping to finish getting questions ready for an upcoming author(s) interview, breathe life back into this edited story, and maybe (maybe) get it submitted.
What’s inspiring me this week? I’ve been horizontal for a lot of this week, keeping strain off my neck (it’s almost entirely on the left side), which has made writing/reading very challenging. I’ve been dipping my toes into the Kanban productivity management system, but I’m not sure it’s for me. I’ve been playing some Stardew Valley on my side. I’ve been eeking my way through the latest season of Love is Blind, and mostly just enjoy hearing my own voice giving commentary on why X or Y are a bad match for each other, despite only having the data the show chooses to provide. I’ve started reading Annie Bot, which is great, and I’m tearing through Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is insanely good. I also started reading Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer, which is both interesting and stressful. I’m watching Michael Arndt’s video on story endings, which has given me some thoughts on the Novel Projects. I’ve got a bad case of March Notebook Fever (aka, time for a new notebook/my system needs a retool), and I regret to say, I’ve acted on it and a new notebook will be arriving shortly. The addition is coming along, coming along, coming along, but like Sisyphus, the job never ends. I’m trying to plant sprouted potatoes and onions. Oh! And we got a new vacuum, which actually WORKS. Our rugs have never been happier.
What’s challenging me this week? Being kind enough to myself to REST. The neck is moving in the right direction, but as anyone who’s thrown their neck out knows, this is the most dangerous time, because this is when we push it too much, and injure ourselves again. So I’m trying to go really, really slow, and give myself breaks. Driving, writing, reading, and computer work are the hardest on the neck, so that’s going to complicate my work week, but we’ll see what we can work out…