Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Huh. Who knew that a) putting attainable plans into action and b) finding that sweet-spot level of productivity that c) isn't just me trying too hard and overworking myself and d) keeps me just enough from distraction would actually, y'know, work? Heh. 

It's been a surprisingly productive week here in Spare Oom. I got more submission work completed (including a complete query/synopsis package for In My Blue World and a few submission emails), finished off the synopsis for Waystation Project, made a to-do short story list for College Campus Project, continued rereading and synopsis for MU4 Project, and somehow decided that maybe playing out a synopsis for In My Blue World Sequel Project wouldn't be a bad idea either. Oh, and maybe Best Laid Plans for Oh Hey Remember That One Project I Keep Untrunking Well Maybe It Still Needs A Crapton More Work So I'll Put That One Aside So Forget I Said Anything Project has been put aside.

So in short, I put aside the Ooh Shiny Best Laid Plans Project that should maybe stay trunked (and locked, let's be honest) but opened up a Pandora's Box of SO MANY OTHER PROJECTS in its place. And I don't actually mind this, as this is the level I want and need to be at, where I'm most comfortable creatively. (Side note, I still have that other synopsis I wrote a few weeks back of a completely new story based on a dream I'd had, so we'll add that to the list.)

ANYWAY. Other than that, I've also been busy elsewhere as well. I've been doing a bit of drawing in the afternoons and picking up my guitar to play along to a few songs at least once a day. I've been good with my daily stretches. And I've been keeping up with the blogs. Keeping super busy but a GOOD kind of busy!

My schedule may be a bit wonky starting next Sunday, however, as A is on vacation and we'll be traveling for a few days (for the first time in over a year), but I'm sure I'll continue to keep myself busy and up to date. We'll see where this all leads us...!

A few days ago I woke up super-early in the morning from a dream and had that classic OMG this needs to be story!! moment, so of course I made sure that I remembered it after sliding back into slumber for a few more hours. And yes, somehow I did in fact remember it! So before it went away and before I distracted myself with any other internetty things, I logged onto/dusted off the 750 Words site and hopped to it. I'd originally meant to just work out the bare bones of the idea, but before I knew it, I was writing a full-on synopsis and an hour or so later I had a full novel's worth written out!! 

That NEVER happens. So I didn't question it...I just kept working at it until I had it done and finished! [And the wild thing is that after I finished that, I spent the next several hours finally finishing the Diwa & Kaffi revision. I of course then wanted to Do All The Things after that, but reeled it back a bit. Two major milestones completed in one day is successful in my book.] I figured, I'm not exactly sure when I'll work on it, as I had some other things to do, but it's good that I have it on hand so I'll be prepared when I do get to it.

I spent the next day or so revising the Diwa & Kaffi synopsis and cover letter for when I send it out, but after that bizarrely productive day, I was hankering for a repeat. So a few days later I opened up the 750 again and played around with a synopsis for another book -- this time with one that I've already started/stopped/trunked/revived several times over the years and could never quite let go of it. This time out, however, I just focused on creating a tight synopsis with the ideas I did have without the issue of sliding into the meta details. I think it worked out, because in the process I figured out why it hadn't worked in the past, and how I could approach it. So yay me, another future project!

Which leaves me with the current two front-burner projects, both of which I'm still feeling a bit tetchy about. The issue with both is, you guessed it: lack of direction. I know where I'm going, but there's still a high level of flailing on both. SO! This means that what I'd like to do in the next few days is give them that 750 synopsis exercise and see if I can tame them some.

Funny how it all falls into place at once when you least expect it. Heh.

Whoops! Forgot to post here yesterday -- and forgot to write and schedule a WtBt post as well --  so now I'm doing doubletime this morning to get caught up. New month, new attempt at Staying On Schedule. And of course I started with my PC acting up a little bit so I had to close everything and reboot. May as well do it now before I get too bogged down with everything else, yeah? [Looks like I still have to reboot one more time to install an update, but it's not critical so I'm not worried. I'll do that later this afternoon while I bake some beer bread!]

Meanwhile, things are going well with the two writing projects. The only downside being that I now have two further project ideas that have popped into my head, begging for attention! I'm not going to drive myself crazy by working on four different projects, however. I've got enough that I want to focus on at the moment, and I know my limits. I could probably do three at most, but that third one will most likely be a renewed effort to see what I can do with Diwa & Kaffi. I'm on the fence with that one at the moment: I love the story, but I've also taken some writerly (and professional) advice to heart that maybe it really does need more work on the prose. On the other hand, it currently has a certain personal perfection to it that makes me wonder if I should follow up with the "this would really work amazingly well as a webcomic" idea that I'd had for it since I started writing it (and semi-proven to be a legit idea after drafting up a rough storyboard of the first couple of chapters a few months ago). All of this to say that I'm distracting myself from that by focusing on two other unrelated projects! Eesh.

Anyway! In more personal news, I am happy to say that I've been REALLY good with the stretches and exercises over the last month or so, and I can definitely feel the difference. I'm no longer slouching in the chair, my back and my knees aren't as achy, and I'm definitely not feeling as tired and cranky either. Our going for neighborhood walks is also helping, as I'm making it a point not to hunch or slouch like I used to. Now if I can only get rid of these extra pounds in the middle section...


Hope everyone has a good week!

One of those weekends where I choose to make it relaxing instead of trying to pack it with too many things. Saturday was nice and relaxing, as we were both able to sleep in until 8:30 (that's actually kind of late for me), did our grocery shopping, and then hung out until we met up with A's parents for dinner and the symphony. I didn't get any actual writing or art done -- I skipped the daily 750 and the Inktober meme basically to remind myself that it's okay to miss a day. [More on that in a moment.] Slept like crap for some reason last night, but we have no real plans today other than stopping by the farmer's market, so it looks like today will be more relaxation with a bit of football thrown in.

I get tomorrow off as it's a bank holiday, so I'm thinking another trip to the dollar bins at Amoeba is in order. As is a fly-by to the guitar store on Haight to pick up a decent capo (my current one is a dinky little contraption I've had for so long it's starting to rust), as is a fly-by to Japantown to pick up the last Naruto tankobon volume. There may also be some Halloween candy purchasing, but I'll try to be good and not pick up too much.

The writing is coming along quite nicely, thanks to adjustments in my schedule following through more consistently. Most of the major work is still line editing right now, so having an outlet for fresh words keeps me on my toes. Much needed and a good thing. I'm still attempting a more consistent blogging schedule, but as long as I hit both WiS and WtBT at least once a week, I'm happy.

So what was that about missing a day? Well, the issue was that, just a few days into Inktober (as well as doing the 750), I started to realize that I was paying more attention on trying to continue an unbroken daily streak than I was on the writing or the art itself. Day 5 and I was thinking, I need to get something done today, but I don't have anything to write about or draw! O NOES! And that's when I had to remind myself that's NOT what these exercises are for. And more importantly, on the whole I write a LOT more than I think I do. So yeah...if I miss a day, even on purpose, THAT'S OKAY. It's not the end of the world.

That said, it's not as if I didn't completely avoid any writing-related things. I actually spent a half hour or so in the back room digging through my files to find all the Walk in Silence and related notes and outtakes. [It's a good thing I did that major purge-and-sort sometime back, because I found everything quite easily.] I wasn't planning on officially starting the final run of that project just yet, but it didn't hurt to get myself prepared for it. The files are now in a single shoebox in a specific area. I should probably do the same with the straight-to-computer outtakes as well, do some printouts and get everything together. Oh, and yes, I am planning on using my nice camera to take local pictures during our trip back to MA next week, for reference as well as for possible cover art.

EEP! That's right, our vacation is next week! How did that come about so quickly?? I still need to make final plans to meet up with our western MA friends (and still have time to hang with the family). It's just a week, but it'll be great to see everyone again!


Hope y'all are having a good weekend! :)