Distraction or Reward?
Look. Drafting Victoria has been very slow, okay? It’s just a weird book. It doesn’t call to me the way other drafts have. It makes no demands. When I do sit down to work on it, it flows out of me without much effort at all, which is amazing! But, with my delightful ADHD brain, sitting down to work on something that isn’t obsessing me is honestly painful. Once I’m there, it’s fine. I put on my headphones, jam out to my baller playlist (listen here!), and hammer out some words. But getting there is HARD. The other night I wrote in a whirlwind and wound up with almost 1300 words. A great evening of output, to be sure. So what did I do? Nope. Unh-uh. Not that either… What’s that? “Play Horizon Forbidden West?” DING DING DING! When it comes to my brain, rewards don’t really work. They become…
Monthly Recap – February 2022
Time is a construct, and nothing quite drives the point home like the shortest month of the year in the third year of a pandemic, with a highly anticipated game release capped off with the start of a war in Europe. God damn. And yet, here we are, living our lives and talking about dreams and goals. Call it futile. Call it resilient. Call it whatever, I guess. I’m just caling it past due. Let’s get this show on the road! February Spend at least 16 hours with Victoria Prep Tavi Query Letter and Synopses Read four books How’d I Do? Spend at least 16 hours with Victoria …. *sobs* Prep Tavi Query Letter and Synopses Yes! I’m doing some more revisions this week, but rough drafts were finished and even revised some in February! Read four books Close! Three books and most of a fourth. Not too shabby! Total Word Count: 3,541 Hours Check Here’s…
Goals Summary 2022 — Wk #8
Remeber when I said I didn’t have high hopes for my productivity this week? Ha. Ha. Ha. Last Week Tavi Query + Synopsis Revision Spend >2hrs with Victoria Write/Prep Newsletter Podcast How’d I Do? Tavi Query + Synopsis Revision Nope. Spend >2hrs with Victoria Nope. Write/Prep Newsletter Nope. I’m really sorry about this and will get it out sometime this week. Pinky promise! (Maybe sign up if you haven’t already? And if you do, don’t forget to check your spam box!) Podcast Yes! Recording went… slowly. there were a lot of technical issues, but we eventually sorted it out and got the show on the road! Weekly Word Count: 0 Well. I knew it was going to be a rough week for productivity. Mainly because I have no self control and I played over 50 hours of Horizon Forbidden West. I think at this point I’m just going to focus on finishing the game…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #7
I know, I know, this is late. But with the holiday and a highly anticipated video game released on Friday, my schedules and routines have been severely impacted. There’s lots I forgot to do, and the weekly update was one of them. Sorry. (ALSO, Horizon Forbidden West is amazing and I have zero regrets.) Last Week Send Query + Synopsis to Mentor Spend at least 2 hours with Victoria Read The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner How’d I Do? Send Query + Synopsis to Mentor Yep! This was a big challenge — synopses are not my fave — but I got it done. Spend at least 2 hours with Victoria So close! I spent about an hour and a half on Victoria this week, and I’m calling it a win. It’s output and it’s consistent. Win. Read The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner Yep! It was quite good, creepy in all the best ways…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #6
Hey Blogland. As of this writing, it’s Sunday night, post-Super Bowl. I spent the day lounging and eating tacos so I can’t really complain. Now there’s the steady hum-thrum of the washing machine as I prep for the work week. But there’s much more to think about than just laundry, so let’s get into it. Last Week Draft Tavi synopsis Spend three hours with Victoria Finish reading The Last Graduate How’d I Do? Draft Tavi synopsis Mostly? I have, like, a paragraph to go. It’s SO close. Spend three hours with Victoria Hahahahahahaha no. Finish reading The Last Graduate I have about 130 pages left. I’m hopeful that, if I get this blog post done and update my planner for the week in a timely fashion, I *might* be able to finish it tonight. Weekly Word Count: 1,022 It was a busy week. I spent an hour with Victoria and got through a bit that was feeling pretty…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #5
Let’s get right into it, shall we? Last Week The Lament of Kivu Lacus line edits Spend at least 2 hours with Victoria Send Tavi to Beta readers Read The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik How’d I Do? The Lament of Kivu Lacus line edits Yes! I dreaded opening this edit letter — my first professional one — for fear that it would be rife with revisions and basically confirm what I secretly knew all along: I’m a shit writer. Yeahhhh that didn’t happen. It was ten minutes worth of work, mostly adding commas (which made me proud — you usually have to cut those!), and changing a word here or there. So, that’s done, we’re all in agreement and now I just wait for the final formatted version. Spend at least 2 hours with Victoria Yes. But until now I thought I hadn’t met this goal because I wrote it down EVERYWHERE else as 4 hours… Send Tavi to…
Monthly Recap – January 2022
Well, damn. A whole month gone already? I always feel like time goes entirely too fast, but add in the pandemic’s particular brand of time blindness and realizing the date can be downright bewildering. I feel like January was an unusually good month for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this consistently productive. I don’t want to jinx it, but I think… I think I’m back! January Revise Tavi Write 5k words Read at least three books How’d I Do? Revise Tavi YES! YES YES YESYESYES! I did it! I not only finished revisions on time, but also got them entered into the computer, compiled in a single doc, formatted, and sent to my beta reader tribe! Write 5k words Nope. It wasn’t nothing, just not quite 5k. While I’m happy that I was able to get some words down, I’m largely disappointed with my drafting output…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #4
Another week, another blog post. It’s been so long since I consecutively posted that this feels… strange? And yet, familiar? Even before the pandemic, I wasn’t always the most consistent poster and I don’t want to make you think I’m entirely reformed — I’m sure I’ll fall off this wagon eventually. But the pandemic just really through a wrench in all my routines, like it did for everyone. It’s just weird to feel like I’m recovering when the pandemic doesn’t seem to be. I’ll not look a gift horse in the mouth — ADHDetour — That particular idiom comes from the practice of aging horses by their teeth. If someone gave you a horse and the first thing you did was check its teeth to figure out how old it was, that’d be hella rude. So we have a saying about not doing that — ADHDetour — For now I’m…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #3
Blogland, I’m tired. I’m writing this post after spending the better part of four hours revising Tavi. My brain is mush. In the best possible way. As far as the week went, it was mostly decent. I got to host a program in the library, which was relatively well attended, and I got to do my Pop-Up Library on Friday. The Husbando and I have been enjoying going out to eat again, and i spent an entire evening with my best friend. It was a good week for me as a person. But, was it a good week for my writing? Let’s find out! Last Week Revise at least 10 chapters of Tavi Spend at least 4 hours with Victoria Finish reading Things in Jars and read The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik How’d I Do? Revise at least 10 chapters of Tavi Yes! I actually binged and got 20(?) done. Something like that. Spend at least…
Goals Summary 2022 – Week #2
Hoo boy. It’s been a week. Let’s just jump right in, shall we? Last Week Revise at least 10 chapters of Tavi Spend at least 4 hours with Victoria Read Things in Jars by Jess Kidd How’d I Do? Revise at least 10 chapters of Tavi Yep! The revision process continues to go smoothly and make me very happy. But, we’re quickly approaching the middle, so we’ll see if that holds. Spend at least 4 hours with Victoria Oh… oh no. I spent about an hour on Victoria this week. I’m having a pretty hard time getting my butt in the chair for this project. Read Things in Jars by Jess Kidd I mean, I did read it, I just haven’t finished it yet. I’m planning to get some serious reading time in tonight, and might have to finish it on my lunch break tomorrow. Weekly Word Count: 1,045 So,…