Cutting chapters and starting later is always far more work than it looks like it should be, isn't it? You're making good and steady progress. Also, long hand writers unite!
RECKONING: Dive into research—check! Research trip—check! Reread my plan for the first chapter of part three—also check! I did NOT manage to reclaim my early morning practice or reward myself.
ANALYSIS: Morning writing aside, I did what I set out to do—research, research trip, rereading—but if I’m being honest with myself, I set low goals this week because I was drunk on a cocktail of excitement and terror about actually breaking ground on part three. While it’s understandable I’d be afraid of starting to write after the insane amount of work it took to unstick the widgets of parts one and part three—if this doesn’t work, then what??—I won’t make progress if I slow down every time I feel excitified (EXCITED + TERRIFIED = EXCITIFIED). Also I need to return to morning writing urgently and I need a better reward. Given how much fun I had researching this week and how much more of it I want to do because it’s fun, I think I should only let myself do research for a few minutes at the end of my writing time. On my trip I bought a most excellent book I want to sink into. I’ll let myself sip five pages a day.
PLAN: I will write a rough draft of chapter 26 by returning to my early morning schedule. Each day I write, I can read five pages in my new research book, nerd that I am, and when I finish the draft, I will take myself for a swim.
RECKONING: I made some good progress and did what I wanted to do this week. Got a lot of it done on Saturday when the rainy weather was perfect for that sort of thing.
ANALYSIS: I am facing a bit of a time crunch as two other projects are about to begin, so I need to ramp up my commitment while also paying attention to the possibility I'm rushing through the work.
PLAN: write up an entirely new chapter (short, though) and some new bits and pieces that need to slot into the other narrative line.
Congratulations on your good progress. It sounds like you're juggling quite the load there. It it possible to ramp up without rushing? And if not because of the new projects kicking into gear, what's more important to you--finishing or taking your time?
No worries, and welcome! My hope is people will keep jumping in! The micro memoir class sounds amazing. Let me know how THE 3 A.M. EPIPHANY is--it's not a craft book I've seen before!
RECKONING: I exceeded my goal of working on my newsletter for 30 minutes each of the 4 non-holiday weekdays last week (45, 45, 43, 34). Wrote 786 new words. Not much, but advanced the draft. More importantly, I wrote each of those days, not allowing myself to get lost in research.
ANALYSIS: I underestimated how long figuring out the newsletter flow and shaping it would take, even with an outline. Which of course means the outline was a good starting point but not a solid road map. But I'm still achieving my write-in-advance goal.
PLAN: Aim to finish my draft by end of day Tuesday, complicated by a client blog post I need to start and complete in the same timeframe. But still want to get things done early. In specifics, an hour on the newsletter Monday and Tuesday, to be realistic with the other piece. Then Wednesday, if the draft isn't done, write to done. Edit and prep for publication Thursday. Friday, start the next newsletter for 30 minutes to keep this going. Reward: shopping for my trip to Europe in 2 weeks, especially new pair of good walking shoes.
Thanks Cathy. I'm headed to Amsterdam and Paris. Plan has already experienced turbulence. Did not get to my newsletter yesterday but did order some walking shoes to try from Zappos because trial and error and time to break them in.
If you have any free time in your Paris trip, try to get to Ateliet de lumieres. This is where I saw the original Van Gogh and this space makes both Boston shows feel like student exhibitions by comparison. Also, it's in a cool area of Paris! https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en/chagall-paris-new-york
Cutting chapters and starting later is always far more work than it looks like it should be, isn't it? You're making good and steady progress. Also, long hand writers unite!
CATHY’S WEEKLY RAP FOR JUNE 5, 2023
RECKONING: Dive into research—check! Research trip—check! Reread my plan for the first chapter of part three—also check! I did NOT manage to reclaim my early morning practice or reward myself.
ANALYSIS: Morning writing aside, I did what I set out to do—research, research trip, rereading—but if I’m being honest with myself, I set low goals this week because I was drunk on a cocktail of excitement and terror about actually breaking ground on part three. While it’s understandable I’d be afraid of starting to write after the insane amount of work it took to unstick the widgets of parts one and part three—if this doesn’t work, then what??—I won’t make progress if I slow down every time I feel excitified (EXCITED + TERRIFIED = EXCITIFIED). Also I need to return to morning writing urgently and I need a better reward. Given how much fun I had researching this week and how much more of it I want to do because it’s fun, I think I should only let myself do research for a few minutes at the end of my writing time. On my trip I bought a most excellent book I want to sink into. I’ll let myself sip five pages a day.
PLAN: I will write a rough draft of chapter 26 by returning to my early morning schedule. Each day I write, I can read five pages in my new research book, nerd that I am, and when I finish the draft, I will take myself for a swim.
With you on needing to return to morning writing, which is my overall goal for the summer. You are not alone! :)
RECKONING: I made some good progress and did what I wanted to do this week. Got a lot of it done on Saturday when the rainy weather was perfect for that sort of thing.
ANALYSIS: I am facing a bit of a time crunch as two other projects are about to begin, so I need to ramp up my commitment while also paying attention to the possibility I'm rushing through the work.
PLAN: write up an entirely new chapter (short, though) and some new bits and pieces that need to slot into the other narrative line.
Congratulations on your good progress. It sounds like you're juggling quite the load there. It it possible to ramp up without rushing? And if not because of the new projects kicking into gear, what's more important to you--finishing or taking your time?
Jumping into this a week late, but...
PLAN:
1) Spend ten minutes every weekday writing a micro memoir (took a class on it yesterday and loved the idea).
2) I'm using the book "The 3 A.M. Epiphany" to work on my WIP. I plan on completing one exercise from it this week for my novel.
No worries, and welcome! My hope is people will keep jumping in! The micro memoir class sounds amazing. Let me know how THE 3 A.M. EPIPHANY is--it's not a craft book I've seen before!
Evelyn's RAP for June 5, 2023
RECKONING: I exceeded my goal of working on my newsletter for 30 minutes each of the 4 non-holiday weekdays last week (45, 45, 43, 34). Wrote 786 new words. Not much, but advanced the draft. More importantly, I wrote each of those days, not allowing myself to get lost in research.
ANALYSIS: I underestimated how long figuring out the newsletter flow and shaping it would take, even with an outline. Which of course means the outline was a good starting point but not a solid road map. But I'm still achieving my write-in-advance goal.
PLAN: Aim to finish my draft by end of day Tuesday, complicated by a client blog post I need to start and complete in the same timeframe. But still want to get things done early. In specifics, an hour on the newsletter Monday and Tuesday, to be realistic with the other piece. Then Wednesday, if the draft isn't done, write to done. Edit and prep for publication Thursday. Friday, start the next newsletter for 30 minutes to keep this going. Reward: shopping for my trip to Europe in 2 weeks, especially new pair of good walking shoes.
You sound like a product manager for your writing self! Go! Go! Go! And speaking of going, where are you heading?
Thanks Cathy. I'm headed to Amsterdam and Paris. Plan has already experienced turbulence. Did not get to my newsletter yesterday but did order some walking shoes to try from Zappos because trial and error and time to break them in.
If you have any free time in your Paris trip, try to get to Ateliet de lumieres. This is where I saw the original Van Gogh and this space makes both Boston shows feel like student exhibitions by comparison. Also, it's in a cool area of Paris! https://www.atelier-lumieres.com/en/chagall-paris-new-york