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Weekend Update Midyear Review
Jul. 2nd, 2017 09:32 amThis past week I had the fun task of finishing up my mid-year self-review for the Day Job. I'm sure I speak for others as well by saying we all know what these reviews are for, but none of us really knows what the hell to say in the comments section. Do we celebrate the fact that we were able to avert a catastrophic system failure? Do we celebrate finally making a ridiculously complex process shorter and easier? I suppose so, but it always feels weird to talk about it, because more often I do those things because it's actually part of my job. Celebrating it seems just a bit...weird. I guess it's just me, though. :p
On a writing note, I think I've done pretty well in 2017 so far. Starting Meet the Lidwells in March, I'm already at the halfway point in the story, so I'm still relatively on schedule. I'm pretty sure I can hit the late September goal if I stick to it, but I'm okay with it being pushed to mid-October if need be. As long as it's going in the right direction.
The Secret New Proejct is coming along quite nicely as well. Working on two completely new and unrelated projects in tandem to this degree is a relatively new process for me. I don't count Love Like Blood because I wrote that when I put the trilogy aside. Same with the side projects recently, because those were more about writing new things while working on trilogy revision; those were distractions to keep me from going crazy, and to keep my creative (non-editing) mind moving. Regardless, I know I've been able to write tandem projects like this, given that I've been juggling projects and exercises for a good few years now...it's just that I haven't had the chance to put it in motion with two new projects.
So how does it feel? Well, it's definitely a juggling act. The temptation to work on the shinier one to the detriment of the less exciting one is quite high. Especially when the less exciting one is actually a lot of fun to write, but just needs some rewriting and revision. At the same time, the two projects are so different that it would be pretty hard to get them confused. The trick for me has been to assign specific times for working on them, which a) keeps them separate by a few hours, and b) gives me enough time to switch from one to the other.
So what about other stuff? What else has gone on in 2017? It's been a slow slog in some respects...a few non-writing things I've either put aside or pushed into the future that I really should get around to. Personal things that I really should get around to doing. Not a failure here, just a matter of getting these things up and running is all.
Other than that, I think I've hit a Meets/Exceeds rating so far this year. Can't complain.
On a writing note, I think I've done pretty well in 2017 so far. Starting Meet the Lidwells in March, I'm already at the halfway point in the story, so I'm still relatively on schedule. I'm pretty sure I can hit the late September goal if I stick to it, but I'm okay with it being pushed to mid-October if need be. As long as it's going in the right direction.
The Secret New Proejct is coming along quite nicely as well. Working on two completely new and unrelated projects in tandem to this degree is a relatively new process for me. I don't count Love Like Blood because I wrote that when I put the trilogy aside. Same with the side projects recently, because those were more about writing new things while working on trilogy revision; those were distractions to keep me from going crazy, and to keep my creative (non-editing) mind moving. Regardless, I know I've been able to write tandem projects like this, given that I've been juggling projects and exercises for a good few years now...it's just that I haven't had the chance to put it in motion with two new projects.
So how does it feel? Well, it's definitely a juggling act. The temptation to work on the shinier one to the detriment of the less exciting one is quite high. Especially when the less exciting one is actually a lot of fun to write, but just needs some rewriting and revision. At the same time, the two projects are so different that it would be pretty hard to get them confused. The trick for me has been to assign specific times for working on them, which a) keeps them separate by a few hours, and b) gives me enough time to switch from one to the other.
So what about other stuff? What else has gone on in 2017? It's been a slow slog in some respects...a few non-writing things I've either put aside or pushed into the future that I really should get around to. Personal things that I really should get around to doing. Not a failure here, just a matter of getting these things up and running is all.
Other than that, I think I've hit a Meets/Exceeds rating so far this year. Can't complain.
