The funny thing about New Year's Day is that it comes whether you want it to or not. And the more you don't want it to arrive, the more likely it is to get here sooner. Time works in mysterious ways.
I am both dreading and excited for New Year's Day. Excited for obvious reasons, as the start to a new year is always a good reason to be excited. So much can happen in 12 months and it's all before me.
Dreading because 2016 will start off no different than 2015 ended, and I'm not in a happy place right now. To be fair, I'm not miserable either, but this year is not ending as I hoped it would, and 2016 is not starting as I hoped it would. In fact, is starting very close to how I dreaded it would.
Hense my conflicted feelings on the matter. But 2016 will come, whether I wish it or no, and so, like most things in life, you learn to make the best of it.
On that note, I have certain New Year Resolutions. Though I hate that term 'resolutions'. I resolve to do this, this and this. Resolutions are about intention, not outcome, and by the definition far too easy to break. Like promises. I am resolved is a good turn of phrase, but it does not necessary mean follow-through.
Instead, I make determinations. I am resolved in decision yes, but I am determined in process.
So my New Year Determinations are:
Follow-through on the internship I created for myself. That means six months self.
Go to the gym regularly.
Eat fewer white carbs.
Eat less processed sugar.
See friends at least once a month.
Write a query letter. Send it out. [Freak out.]
Finish the novels that are in progress. To not start anymore.
Edit two novels. [Well, one and a half.]
Travel as much as your bank account will absolutely allow.
Walk camino.
Graduate.
Be excited about 2017.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Best Laids Plans of Writers and Academics
Let me just be honest: I gave up on December NaNo about December 3rd. I had the best of intentions, but like many things in life, even the best laid plans have to be sidetracked. December is the type of month that can either be great for me, or miserable, or both. This year, it's not been a particularly good month, and it never helps that I get anxious this time of year about the fact that another year is ending and I didn't do half the things I wanted to.
But that's normal. That's par for the course. But it makes writing hard. I also know from experience that I am much better in an empty house. I cannot write in public places. I also can't write very well in company. And I've had nothing but company this month, even more so than in November (and I managed NaNo with international travel!) It happens. I am slowly ploughing away at finishing the novel I didn't quite manage to finish last month (to be fair, 50k is rather short, and this one needs to be 70k).
That is my only goal this month. I am trying to be kind to myself and do only what I can actually manage each day, and not feel like a failure if I don't accomplish the To Do list. Or feel guilty for not being able to. I promised myself a year ago I would start doing this, and then life threw a loop-d-loop my way and this year has been full of (not always pleasant) surprises. Instead, I am making that promise again. Do only what I can. There are times to push oneself, and I'm generally pretty good at those, but for the rest of this year, I need to just be okay.
And that's enough for the busiest, craziest, most expensive month of the year. There is absolutely nothing wrong with baby steps. I think this might be what people mean when they talk about the year after the PhD.
But that's normal. That's par for the course. But it makes writing hard. I also know from experience that I am much better in an empty house. I cannot write in public places. I also can't write very well in company. And I've had nothing but company this month, even more so than in November (and I managed NaNo with international travel!) It happens. I am slowly ploughing away at finishing the novel I didn't quite manage to finish last month (to be fair, 50k is rather short, and this one needs to be 70k).
That is my only goal this month. I am trying to be kind to myself and do only what I can actually manage each day, and not feel like a failure if I don't accomplish the To Do list. Or feel guilty for not being able to. I promised myself a year ago I would start doing this, and then life threw a loop-d-loop my way and this year has been full of (not always pleasant) surprises. Instead, I am making that promise again. Do only what I can. There are times to push oneself, and I'm generally pretty good at those, but for the rest of this year, I need to just be okay.
And that's enough for the busiest, craziest, most expensive month of the year. There is absolutely nothing wrong with baby steps. I think this might be what people mean when they talk about the year after the PhD.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Two for One
This year I am doing back-to-back NaNo, although it remains to be seen how December will go, with family commitments and such. I aim to try, at least.
I am writing two very different novels. This is the only way to do it, I feel, much like reading two books at once. If the books are similar, you may confuse the plots if you go back and forth between them. With two very different stories, that becomes less of an issue. And so too with writing. I chose two plots that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, in two different genres, for different ages.
The first novel I started at the beginning of November got me through 19000 words, before I hit a block. It's okay, because I'll get back to that one in December, and if I manage a full NaNo I will have completed the necessary word count.
The other novel that I started in on when I hit writer's block on the first will be longer, but I've been 'cheating'. That is, I've been writing the required 1667 words a day, but several days a week I've been doing extra words. It means I'm at about 45k now, which is where I should be for a NaNo novel if I'd started it on November 1st. I'll hit 50k for this month, and then will have to write another 15k or so to finish it off. Perhaps between writer's blocks in December. I may just spend the first week of December finishing this one off so I can focus on the other one (and not get distracted). We'll see. It's only the 28th.
What are the novels about, you ask? You didn't, but someone reading this is wondering. You'll have noticed I don't really talk about what I'm actually writing on this blog, and there are reasons for that. Until my stories are 'finished' they are very personal for me, and I don't like sharing something that isn't complete.
Still, no harm done in a short plot synopsis.
The first book I started was junior fiction, about a young girl who has to move to a new city when her mother gets a job transfer. She keeps hoping and wishing that her parents will decide to move back home. But then her mother is killed in a car accident, and the young girl blames herself, because she wished so hard that something would happen that would let her go home. The only person she feels understands what she is going through is her bedroom's resident ghost. A young boy named Timothy who died a 100 years before.
I've never written junior before, so it's been an interesting lesson in language and kids stuff. We'll see how it goes, but I wanted to branch out and see if I could do it. And also, the hook for it was brilliant.
The second book is a memoir and it is entirely a selfish pleasure. After I got back from Spain I wrote a guidebook for the camino, that was half guidebook and half memoir, but I've never been particularly happy with it. For one, it's not fiction at all. So I decided to try my hand at making it fiction. It worked for Cheryl Strayed. And it's kind of going alright, although it may be entirely unmarketable. It will certainly not be the first novel I query. But they say write what you know, and I know this more than anything, because I lived it.
If I can make 100k by the end of the year, I'll be quite happy. Since I finished That Winter Book this year too, and edited it. Not bad for 2015.
Oh yeah, and I got my PhD too.
I am writing two very different novels. This is the only way to do it, I feel, much like reading two books at once. If the books are similar, you may confuse the plots if you go back and forth between them. With two very different stories, that becomes less of an issue. And so too with writing. I chose two plots that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, in two different genres, for different ages.
The first novel I started at the beginning of November got me through 19000 words, before I hit a block. It's okay, because I'll get back to that one in December, and if I manage a full NaNo I will have completed the necessary word count.
The other novel that I started in on when I hit writer's block on the first will be longer, but I've been 'cheating'. That is, I've been writing the required 1667 words a day, but several days a week I've been doing extra words. It means I'm at about 45k now, which is where I should be for a NaNo novel if I'd started it on November 1st. I'll hit 50k for this month, and then will have to write another 15k or so to finish it off. Perhaps between writer's blocks in December. I may just spend the first week of December finishing this one off so I can focus on the other one (and not get distracted). We'll see. It's only the 28th.
What are the novels about, you ask? You didn't, but someone reading this is wondering. You'll have noticed I don't really talk about what I'm actually writing on this blog, and there are reasons for that. Until my stories are 'finished' they are very personal for me, and I don't like sharing something that isn't complete.
Still, no harm done in a short plot synopsis.
The first book I started was junior fiction, about a young girl who has to move to a new city when her mother gets a job transfer. She keeps hoping and wishing that her parents will decide to move back home. But then her mother is killed in a car accident, and the young girl blames herself, because she wished so hard that something would happen that would let her go home. The only person she feels understands what she is going through is her bedroom's resident ghost. A young boy named Timothy who died a 100 years before.
I've never written junior before, so it's been an interesting lesson in language and kids stuff. We'll see how it goes, but I wanted to branch out and see if I could do it. And also, the hook for it was brilliant.
The second book is a memoir and it is entirely a selfish pleasure. After I got back from Spain I wrote a guidebook for the camino, that was half guidebook and half memoir, but I've never been particularly happy with it. For one, it's not fiction at all. So I decided to try my hand at making it fiction. It worked for Cheryl Strayed. And it's kind of going alright, although it may be entirely unmarketable. It will certainly not be the first novel I query. But they say write what you know, and I know this more than anything, because I lived it.
If I can make 100k by the end of the year, I'll be quite happy. Since I finished That Winter Book this year too, and edited it. Not bad for 2015.
Oh yeah, and I got my PhD too.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Creativity Updates
Well now, it's passed the middle of the month. The good news is that I'm on par with NaNo's suggested word counts. The bad news is that neither novel is as far ahead as I hoped it would be. The good news is that Novel 2 is speeding alone admirably, though, and I don't think I will run out of ideas (though I might run out of plot). Novel 1 has stalled and I suppose it will be December's Problem To Deal With. How joyful that will make the holiday season.
[Good spotting, that was sarcasm. The things we writers do...]
I've been sick, a lot, the last few weeks, and when I haven't been I've been away. But I got back to painting today and it's coming along. I've done the easy bits now, though, so it's the near perspective that's left and that requires much more patience and determination. There are A LOT of red leaves to add in to this thing.
The entire left side is one giant maple in full brilliant autumnal red. Each individual leaf will have to be painted, after I finish filling in the details on the rocks, the leaves in the water, and the rest of the floating twigs and such. Oh, and the trees in the distant left too, though they are mirrors of the ones on the right.
Now that I'm looking at it...that water ended up much redder than intended. Might have to fix that. It's supposed to be muddy brown, but it could just be my iPhone too.
[Good spotting, that was sarcasm. The things we writers do...]
I've been sick, a lot, the last few weeks, and when I haven't been I've been away. But I got back to painting today and it's coming along. I've done the easy bits now, though, so it's the near perspective that's left and that requires much more patience and determination. There are A LOT of red leaves to add in to this thing.
Now that I'm looking at it...that water ended up much redder than intended. Might have to fix that. It's supposed to be muddy brown, but it could just be my iPhone too.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
And good heavens, how time flies
The 11th already, where does the time go? Oh, right. [Never mind, I remembered what I spent the last week doing.]
But onwards and upwards are the mottos of National Novel Writing Month, and so we go on (unless you've given up already, which I wouldn't recommend). I've discovered a small advantage to deciding to do back-to-back NaNos. When you get stuck on one novel, simply work on the other. You still hit your word count, you still get further along in the plot, and you still contribute the success of both.
One of these is so much easier to write than the other, and there's a simple reason for that. They say 'write what you know' and I've usually taken that to heart. Or at least 'write what you love'. But this time, this time I'm challenging myself and it's not going so well. Oh, I hit 18000 words or so, so it's not a total disaster, but it's not been easy. I'm way out of my comfort zone here (a worrying fact, if you knew what my last novel had entailed). So, I went back to the 'easy' one. The one that's me. The one that's my story. This is literally writing what I know. And who I know. And how I know it. And, for now, that's just going to have to be good enough. I'll get back to the other one later, even if later is December.
But onwards and upwards are the mottos of National Novel Writing Month, and so we go on (unless you've given up already, which I wouldn't recommend). I've discovered a small advantage to deciding to do back-to-back NaNos. When you get stuck on one novel, simply work on the other. You still hit your word count, you still get further along in the plot, and you still contribute the success of both.
One of these is so much easier to write than the other, and there's a simple reason for that. They say 'write what you know' and I've usually taken that to heart. Or at least 'write what you love'. But this time, this time I'm challenging myself and it's not going so well. Oh, I hit 18000 words or so, so it's not a total disaster, but it's not been easy. I'm way out of my comfort zone here (a worrying fact, if you knew what my last novel had entailed). So, I went back to the 'easy' one. The one that's me. The one that's my story. This is literally writing what I know. And who I know. And how I know it. And, for now, that's just going to have to be good enough. I'll get back to the other one later, even if later is December.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Once Again...It's November
You know what that means. We've been through this before. Differently, I have nothing else to distract me this month (except Pinterest), and so I have high plans for National Novel Writing Month this year. High, high, plans.
However, I have few plans for this blog, beyond perhaps the occasional post that might give you some idea of the confusing pathways of my mind and how I create stories. Mostly, the number of these posts will be directly proportional to the amount of writer's block I suffer. Therefore, no promises.
Just...stay tuned! And wish me luck!
However, I have few plans for this blog, beyond perhaps the occasional post that might give you some idea of the confusing pathways of my mind and how I create stories. Mostly, the number of these posts will be directly proportional to the amount of writer's block I suffer. Therefore, no promises.
Just...stay tuned! And wish me luck!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
It's Over
A lot of people in Canada are very happy right now. I'm happy for one reason: it's all over for the next four years. Because I've had quite enough of politics to last me at least four years.
It's been an interesting insight into how things work, and how things do not. I have a lot of opinions on how our electoral system is run in this country, and a lot of ideas on how elections are run. And a lot of ideas of how we could do things better, because it can't get much worse.
So I've had an eye-opening experience, which for a contract job is, shall we say, quite impressive. I feel like I've learned a lot, both as a work experience, and also about myself, and those are things I can take forward. It will, at least, make for excellent answers in job interviews, if I ever get a job interview.
I am now going to spend the next month or so reassessing and readjusting, and resting. I feel like I barely recovered from the PhD before I got launched into election mode and I'm frankly exhausted again. There are some things I would really like to devote honest concentration and time to and I am hoping to spend the rest of the year in those pursuits. I feel like I've taken a step forward, and now I need to look around and make sure I'm on the right path, but continue to walk onwards at the same time; just with a bit more eyes-wide-open.
In other words, I hope to have more blog updates soon.
It's been an interesting insight into how things work, and how things do not. I have a lot of opinions on how our electoral system is run in this country, and a lot of ideas on how elections are run. And a lot of ideas of how we could do things better, because it can't get much worse.
So I've had an eye-opening experience, which for a contract job is, shall we say, quite impressive. I feel like I've learned a lot, both as a work experience, and also about myself, and those are things I can take forward. It will, at least, make for excellent answers in job interviews, if I ever get a job interview.
I am now going to spend the next month or so reassessing and readjusting, and resting. I feel like I barely recovered from the PhD before I got launched into election mode and I'm frankly exhausted again. There are some things I would really like to devote honest concentration and time to and I am hoping to spend the rest of the year in those pursuits. I feel like I've taken a step forward, and now I need to look around and make sure I'm on the right path, but continue to walk onwards at the same time; just with a bit more eyes-wide-open.
In other words, I hope to have more blog updates soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)