Not a bad concept for Wednesday morning. It will be 96 later today.
Here's my progress on this week's goals.
Completed:
1. Survive until Wednesday. DONE! Yippee! The Africa presentation went well last night. I'm guessing some 30 hours for prep. but it's done. Behind me. Finished.
In progress:
2. Keep working on Smashwords conversion. On page 39 of the Smashwords Style Guide. Making my own checklist that can be used again and again.
3. Reduce electronic clutter. (Spent 15 minutes x2 deleting e-mails). Why do I need copies of e-mails sent in 2010?
4. Read and comment on Gardner's poetry that he sent me in June. Started this morning.
5. Read Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish. Started late last night. Now on page 12.
6. Do another crit for NOVELS-L. Maybe later today.
Before Sunday:
7. Write a post for my travel blog (a little difficult since my travels are more internal). Posted Rachel's lovely poem on the writing blog. Will tackle the travel blog.
8. Start reading Standing Stones for final revision.
8. Cherish each day. <--My favorite ongoing goal.
This week, Eden Mabee's "Those (Five) Sentences" post challenged ROW80 folks to consider Kait Nolan's Test Mile, a way of not giving up BEFORE you get started. Run that 'test mile' and work through the obstacles, those 'I can't do this' statements that create barriers to writing (or doing any task we resist).
Eden's resulting 'test mile' is to write 5 sentences. So can I write 5 sentences daily?
This is pretty necessary since I've been immersed in revising so long I sometimes doubt that I CAN write at all. And the challenge for me would be to write something, anything, a piece of a story.
TODAY'S MILE:
She can't see
anything. The smell of wood is all around her. Her thumb brushes wooden
splinters from the tips of her fingers. She thought nothing would go wrong.
Nothing at all, once she was home.
Later the nurse would
say, "I didn't think she was dead."
Later the nurse would
awaken from nightmares. "Why didn't I say something?"
1902. Dock landing
near Paris. The captain. The doctor. The rush of passengers to finally
disembark.The unloading of a coffin. An inquest. A baby.
So, did you read Eden's or Kait's article? Do you have a daily 'test mile'?
" So can I write 5 sentences daily?
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty necessary since I've been immersed in revising so long I sometimes doubt that I CAN write at all."
This. This is how I feel at the moment. Sometimes it's difficult have faith in your awesomeness. :D To know, believe, that it's there even if it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes we just have to make us take that first step, and maybe those 5 sentences is that step.
Best of luck to you!
Beth, you are making awesome progress!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I use NaNoWriMo as my test mile. Maybe that's odd-sounding - but I have written every day, or nearly so, for a long time. So I'm more interested now in how much I can do in a month, and in improving my planning, so that I can write more, faster, and more directly.
It's not very concrete, maybe, but them, I'm more about flow than schedule, and it works for me.
I love your "cherish each day" goal. Today is bittersweet for me. I am happily at home, in cooling weather, tidying the house, hanging with the kids - and missing Elijah, who died ten years ago today. I guess today's test mile is to embrace whatever I feel, and be still with it a while...
Oops!
ReplyDeleteI meant to add that I loved your sentences. Intriguing. I want more!
Great update! I feel particularly inspired to reduce electronic clutter. I try to go through emails from time to time, but I haven't done it in a while.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely week! Keep making progress, Beth.