Day 29: Waffling over combining volumes or not

-
Lately I’ve been frustrated that even when I go to bed early, I often can’t get to sleep right away and end up tossing and turning for an hour or two. Then I get up later, which cuts into my writing time. I really don’t know how to fix this. I had thought going to bed earlier would help me to get up earlier, but that’s turning out not to be the case.

Today I’m continuing work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 10. It’s looking like it’s a short volume, just like how volume 9 was short, so I’m going to spend time today trying to combine volumes 9 and 10 together and seeing how they are.

***

I finished Snowflake step 6 for the combined volume 9/10, which is now volume 9. I’m worried that volume 9 will be really long, just like volume 8 (which is what used to be volumes 8 and 9 combined).

What’s also worrying me is that volume 10 (the last volume) will be much shorter than any of the other volumes. I’ll have to think about if there’s anything in volume 9 that I can shunt to volume 10 to shorten volume 9 and beef up volume 10. I think I will continue to work on Snowflake step 6 for my new volume 9 to see how I can adjust it.

***

I didn’t quite like the new combined volume 9, so I actually split it up and revised the plot for the two volumes (9a and 9b), but then didn’t like that so I recombined it into volume 9 and revised the plot a bit more again. I guess I really can’t just write short novels, my brain doesn’t seem to work that way.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time waffling and trying out volume 9 as one volume and as two volumes, and I still haven’t finished the spiritual and romantic arcs for this new volume 9, they’re only half-way done.

***

I got some progress on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 9, but they’re still not quite done yet.

However, it’s nice to see I got in more writing time today! I even took an hour to read during lunch!

Time spent writing: 6 hours, 48 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 45 minutes

My takeaway for today: I need to figure out how to get up earlier. It shouldn’t be this hard!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 252: Evaluation 5

-
It’s been a while since I’ve done an evaluation, so I figured I was overdue. In no particular order: Good health = good work I had some really bad health issues lately that kept me from writing entirely. However, I found it strange that I’ve been feeling very creative and motivated yesterday and today, despite getting in a lot of work hours yesterday. I think it’s because I haven’t had any IBS issues for the first time in a couple weeks. Not even a little discomfort. This is kind of duh! in hindsight, but I think I underestimated how much my IBS was affecting my energy levels. I’ve been careful about what I ate, but I was also trying to figure out exactly what I could and couldn’t eat, so it resulted in some bad IBS bouts. So now I know I really need to be strict about what I’m putting in my mouth so that my health doesn’t adversely affect my energy for work! Sprints Another sort of duh! moment in hindsight, but sprints have been helping me with my productivity. At f
Read more

Day 21: Bullet journal, Surrender statement

-
Today was my writing Sabbath so I didn’t do any writing today, but I spent a lot of time doing writing-related things. I did some blogging, and I also reviewed my writing To Do list. I cleaned it up by checking off what’s been done, deleting what I no longer need to do, and making note of what I need to do this coming week. Before I started bullet journaling (in an electronic journal app, Day One Journal ), I had my To Do lists in a couple different places and I’d usually forget things I needed to do. Now I have them in my bullet journal, which combines journaling with task organizer, and I’m less likely to forget. I still set reminders for myself in my phone, but since I’m using my journal throughout the day every day, I’m more likely to see things I need to do. I found some of my old To Do lists today and incorporated some things in my bullet journal. One of them was my writing Surrender Statement, which is a prayer I pray before starting each day’s work. What’s a Surrender Sta
Read more

Day 104: More sick days

-
The haze from the California wildfires has been very bad lately, and yesterday and today, my allergies have acted up and hit me with a very bad sinus headache. So I am taking a couple sick days. Man, this is really very frustrating to be incapacitated this way. I want to write!
Read more