Drunken Owls and Other Delights

It's Saturday morning and we're on our second pot of coffee while A. catches up on some Day Job work and I keep myself busy with things and stuff. Tonight we'll be heading to the Symphony again (another of $15 a ticket deal, this time featuring Thomas Adés and Dawn Upshaw). Tomorrow is...up in the air. A. may need to do a bit more Day Jobbery stuff, and if I've nothing better to do, I'll once again use that day as Errand Day. Such excitement, very wow. :)

Last night was spent writing query letters to potential agents to get A Division of Souls out and about! This will be attempt numbers 2 and 3 for 2015, as one of my primary aims for this year is to find a home for the Bridgetown Trilogy. [This does include indie publishing if it comes to it.] And speaking of the Mendaihu Universe, I will freely admit that my writer brain is absolutely clamoring to get another MU story up and running. Even as I'm attempting to work on Walk in Silence and Blogging the Beatles, the ache to return to that universe and start writing more stories within it has been nagging at me for quite a few years now.

It all boils down to tricking my mind.

On the one hand, while I can easily multitask, I don't always find multitasking an entirely positive thing to do. It comes from my Day Job: I hate having to stop in the middle of one method of problem solving so I can jump to another issue that has risen to Threat Level OMGWTFONOES. That is due to the fact that many clients have differently tweaked setups, so what might be logical for Client A may be highly illogical for Client B. I waste time and energy adjusting myself to a different situation which, in my mind, should be similar but isn't.

On the other hand, with my creative endeavors, I can switch easily from one to another without a problem. I can do my daily words, do some drawing or squeeze in a blog post, and work on my main project at the end of the day, with little frustration and not that much time in between.

I realized this was due to the number of things I was working on, and which kind of thought process I was using. I've a good analytical brain which helps me in manuscript revision and plotting, but gets rather annoyed when I have to stop on a dime and restart in a different direction. Or in a different light...I'm happy when I'm in charge of my thought process.

My point being, it's a matter of tricking my mind into switching from one writing project to another. This is why I have the whiteboard; it's a deadline schedule to make sure my multiple projects are getting done in a reasonable time frame. And from my point of view, I should have the time to balance WiS, BtB and the possible new MU story.

Now? It's a matter of getting and staying off the damned internet and DOING them.

I blame the cats, I tell you. Evil, cute furry things!

So how does my newfangled whiteboard schedule look at this time? Definitely a few rough patches remaining, but other than that it's working out just peachy.

I've been hitting my daily words consistently since Day One, but over the last few days I've fallen into the trap of doing those words after dinner, which is cutting into my actual writing session time. This is a problem I've had for some time, especially since I *want* to be hitting those daily words plus my regular work; if it cuts into my session time, that's less work I actually get done. Recommendation: do what I did in the first few days, sneaking those daily words in throughout the day and getting them done well before 4pm. That seemed to work out just fine. I'm well aware there may be work days where that won't be able to happen, but I can adjust when and where necessary.

The WordPress entries have been consistent so far, and I'd like to think that's because I'm actually starting them a few days early, well before the due date. That's part of the whole whiteboard project this time out--I'm trying to wean myself off the old school habit of doing my homework at the last minute and get it all done early. I have a Welcome to Bridgetown post due on Sunday, so I'll most likely be starting up something today so I have it ready for finishing, editing and posting then.

Monday's 'storyboarding' day worked out pretty well--I let my mind wander and come up with some new angles on the Mendaihu Universe that may be worth looking into. This has also leaked into my daily words, so all told I'm happy that the well has not in fact run dry, it was merely dormant.

Everything else has worked out pretty well so far, though of course I am being super hard on myself to get something of worth out of all this. I've been playing my guitars and trying a few different things, but no recording so far. I've drawn a few preliminary visual storyboards for a personal project (more on that sometime down the line) but they're pretty much remaining very basic pencil tests. I've gotten a good amount of word count on the Beatles book revision, but it still seems quite rough. Point being, it does feel like I'm flailing and getting nowhere...but that's just it: it's only nine days in. I'm just starting out here, and I've got to be a bit more patient.

Onward and upward!

Is it officially springtime yet? I don't remember. Then again, what with it starting to get sunny here on the west coast while the east coast gets hit with yet another snowstorm (as well as the time change that took place while we were on vacation in a state that doesn't observe it), I'm still a bit out of sorts there. I'm actually kind of surprised it's Saturday already.

So what's going on? It's been a while since I updated here, aside from the Scintilla posts. Been a while since I've posted anywhere, actually. My online presence has been sparse all around. Most of the time I've been working on the last stretch of the A Division of Souls revision, but I've just been tiring of online drama and trying to keep up with quick-witted Twitterings. In a way, I think I've just felt like living life at my own pace for awhile instead of trying to keep up with everyone else, and I'm feeling the better for it. Mentally I've been feeling a lot calmer and my thoughts have been clearer.

Now that I'm back on the mainland and back on track, I do plan on returning to my various writing projects this weekend. I need to continue working on the Blogging the Beatles posts, plus I have quite a few Hawaii pictures I'd like to put up on my Tumblr...I also want to work on Walk In Silence, as I've got a few ideas I'd like to work on.

I did manage to get a lot of cosmetic editing done on ADoS during my vacation (thanks to my Nook!), and hope to finish that up as well. I can see where I may need to back up and fix a few things from about halfway through and on to the end, but for the most part it's coming along well. I'm aiming for being done by mid-April and making the first steps for submission in May.

So! What are we doing this weekend? It's going to be a nice couple of days out there, so chances are good we may end up going for a walk in one of the parks. A bit of shopping (we emptied out our cupboards before we went on vacation), maybe a stop at Japantown (yay, manga and cupcakes!). It's been a crazy week of trying to catch up on sleep and get ourselves back on track, and I'm quite happy the weekend is here.