And, of course, if you don't know, it's the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, i.e. NaNoWriMo.
I'm not in a place where I can truly do NaNo, in the actual sense of the thing. (The last thing I ever need to do is to begin a new project. My troubles always have to do with finishing--and revising--what I have already begun.)
And so I set my own NaNo goals. I'm going to try to set out three days' worth of goals tonight, to be accomplished, of course, before the end of Wednesday. If all goes well, at the end of Wednesday, I'll put up another three, and so on through the end of the month. Because this is also the middle of the semester and I'm teaching four writing-intensive classes, I'm going to try to be realistic, rather than over-ambitious. But here goes, anyway.
Monday, Nov. 1: Retype 2 pages of handwritten work
Tuesday, Nov. 2: Print & pencil-edit Story A
Wednesday, Nov. 3: Complete edits on Story A & draft submission plan
31 October 2010
27 October 2010
In times of cold, everything draws inward.
Well. Except for water. But I'm not here to talk about water.
In truth, I'm not entirely sure what I'm here to talk about today. I suppose I'll start with difficulty.
At this time of year, everything starts with difficulty for me. I am happiest waking up early--truly, 5:15 agrees with me. In August, that hour is tinged with gray, and the sky warms and warms (at least here in Wyoming, where our days are sunny more often than not), and by the time everything has lit and the world's begun, I'll have written, I'll have had breakfast, and I might even be clean and ready to start all of the other parts of my day.
Here at the end of October, in a week that's showcased our Casper winds, "early" means having to shed the blissfully warm cocoon of blankets for a chill, chill room and no promise of daylight until seven has come and gone. The clock changes in November will perhaps help a little, but December shortens the days more, and we'll be back where we were. This all translates to me abusing the snooze button, and I know that's not an effective or useful strategy for me. I feel like the trees, the sap in my limbs slowing and slowing, and then there's very little in the way of growth. This is all well and good if one is an Ent, but I am, alas, not.
So I'll be looking for solutions to this issue as we trundle forward into winter. It's the same problem, every year. It's high time to do something about it.
In truth, I'm not entirely sure what I'm here to talk about today. I suppose I'll start with difficulty.
At this time of year, everything starts with difficulty for me. I am happiest waking up early--truly, 5:15 agrees with me. In August, that hour is tinged with gray, and the sky warms and warms (at least here in Wyoming, where our days are sunny more often than not), and by the time everything has lit and the world's begun, I'll have written, I'll have had breakfast, and I might even be clean and ready to start all of the other parts of my day.
Here at the end of October, in a week that's showcased our Casper winds, "early" means having to shed the blissfully warm cocoon of blankets for a chill, chill room and no promise of daylight until seven has come and gone. The clock changes in November will perhaps help a little, but December shortens the days more, and we'll be back where we were. This all translates to me abusing the snooze button, and I know that's not an effective or useful strategy for me. I feel like the trees, the sap in my limbs slowing and slowing, and then there's very little in the way of growth. This is all well and good if one is an Ent, but I am, alas, not.
So I'll be looking for solutions to this issue as we trundle forward into winter. It's the same problem, every year. It's high time to do something about it.
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