What I’m working on:
Thanks to a lovely writing friend of mine who prompted me to come up with some goals for June, I’ve settled on three things:
1) I’m translating all the scenes I’m keeping (and one-line page holders for scenes I need to write or dramatically reconstruct) into a new Draft 3 document. This will be the working draft I’ll be hammering away on through the summer. I’ve broken the scenes up into the month-spanning chunks they belong to, and I’ve rearranged the scenes where needed.
2) I’m going to fix seven “yellow” edits (these are easy new scenes I think will be fun to write or simple-ish edits like removing a character who isn’t pulling their weight/ fixing continuity bits)–I’ve broken up all my edits into red, yellow, and green edits (red being the most mentally complex/think-y work, yellow being semi-challenging possibly but not too hard, and green being stupid easy things like Michaels, the art store, doesn’t have an apostrophe (i.e. it’s not Michael’s) so take that out…).
3) I’m going to fix thirteen “green” fixes (like that Michaels one).
It may still be a bit of a reach to get all of this done, but I’ve been chugging away on the draft document, and I’m over halfway through that, so I’m semi-confident I’ve been reasonable in these goals. I guess only time will tell for certain!
What’s inspiring me:
This may be part of the brain-deadness I’ve been wrestling with this week (that, or the fact that this is the first post-preschool week and I’m still adjusting to the new normal). I’ve rediscovered The Sims 4, which I’ve got on my computer, so of COURSE I had to get sucked into that for a couple days. I think I’ve burned that fever off by now, but it’s left a rather listless feeling in its wake. Has that ever happened to you? It’s almost like one of Toad’s manias (Motor-maaaania!), where it possesses me for just a short time and then burns out.
Andy and I have also been struggling to find a TV show we want to watch. We finished Fall of the House of Usher, which was solid and enjoyable, if a *little* “writer-y” as Andy likes to call it (i.e. characters say thing that you’re kind of like–would they say that in real life?). Still, had some great jump scares, and some lovely macabre death sequences. I enjoyed it. We’ll probably continue watching Haunting of Hill House next (we’ve seen one episode, and while Andy fell asleep (not unusual for him on hour-long evening shows), I’m probably going to make him watch it with me anyway, because *I* don’t want to watch it by myself… The first episode legit freaked me out more than I was expecting.)
Movie-wise, we’ve been scratching around for new things to watch, since we’ve hit most of the films we’ve been dying to see, and now have a void there, too. We watched The Blair Witch Project for the first time last weekend (given it’s prominence during our childhoods when it came out, I think we were expecting it to be scarier, but compared to modern horror films, I found it pretty tame and a little frustrating–not bad, by any means, but less scary than I expected). I blame the historical hype from my memory.
We also watched 1917, which was ah-maz-ing, and can I just emphasize how much I love films that are actually two hours and STOP? Not one of those post-LotR director-fetish cuts that go three and a half or more hours? WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT? But beyond the length, it’s a horrifically beautiful film that really gets under the skin. It’s one of the few movies that I honestly LIKE the sound balance–when things get loud, they get LOUD and surprising, and that’d exactly what it’d be like to be there. If you’re looking for a solid war flick, check out 1917 if you haven’t already.
Yesterday, we watched House of Wax (1953) starring Vincent Price, since I’m not personally very familiar with his oeuvre, and it was delightfully campy. We enjoyed it! And my goodness, some of those 50’s actresses could scream, couldn’t they? We were hoping to watch The Abominable Dr. Phibes, but couldn’t find it streaming anywhere we subscribe to, so perhaps another time.
Reading-wise, I really need to do another Poly-Reader Notes, because I suspect I’m reading more than I think I am, though A Suitable Boy is taking up a lot of that time, which shouldn’t surprise me (I’ve passed page 400, so I’m officially a third of the way through!). I’m still really enjoying it. There’s something about epics like this that make me really feel the power of the novel as a form outside of and distinct from film–the sheer scope of human experience it can capture is breathlessly delightful, and no, I’m not going to watch a four and a half hour movie that still has to abridge 90% of it.
I’ve also been neck-deep in Tiny Habits, which if you know my obsession with Atomic Habits, you’ll know is absolutely up my alley. In fact, I’d even venture to say that if you’ve read and enjoyed Atomic Habits, you should check out Fogg’s Tiny Habits, because he focuses so much more on the implementation process of building habits in successful ways, and I find it incredibly actionable and inspiring. I’ve already picked up a few new habits (like flossing! HOLY CRAP, I’ve flossed for a WEEK already! Who am I?!), and it’s been surprisingly fun!
What’s been on my mind:
The thing that’s been just driving me crazy is this blog, honestly. I like it, but I hit a wall on its voice sometimes. It’s like being shy, I’d imagine (I am that cryptid known as “an outgoing introvert”–not shy, but drained of energy after about an hour of socializing): wanting to talk, but being unable to think of anything to say. It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s not like I don’t have opinions about things (I do, too many of them, probably), but when it comes to the blank page of a blog post I get hit with this panic that I just don’t get when I’m writing fiction.
It’s like I forget how words work, or what a sentence is even supposed to DO. How is that possible?! I don’t know if it’s burnout or creative exhaustion from working whenever I can on the novel or some deeper flaw in me that makes me seize up, but it’s really freaking annoying.
Anyway. That’s been this week’s brainworm.
>>o<<
A Reminder!
Also, I flubbed a detail in the last post! I’ll be reading for STORY HOUR on Wednesday, June 26th at 7pmPST/10pmEST, but the story I’m reading will be “The Showerlier,” currently up at Redivider! I really love reading stuff out loud, and I think “Showerlier” especially will be a great listen, so I hope you’ll consider checking in! They also record the sessions, so I’ll provide a link to the video after the fact, too.