After several weeks of high summer temperatures, the weather turned a bit cooler this past week. I'm very appreciative of the drop in temperatures as I prefer autumn and winter over summer. But the change has also put me in a mood to work on other projects, some old and others new. During the past few months, my focus has been on the work required to launch the first novel in my fantasy series which is geared towards a young adult/new adult audience. I have always been a fan of fantasy stories, particularly high fantasy adventures which introduce readers to new worlds and cultures and lore. But I have also been equally a fan of supernatural and horror-based stories and folklore, and I have several projects which lean more towards these darker themes which I want to spend time on this fall.
projects
The Editing is Almost Done; Now What?
So over the past couple of weeks I've had some setbacks in progress with my creative goals. Unfortunately, one of those setbacks involves the possibility of getting that separate personal workspace away from my family. But I am not letting that stop me from achieving my goals. I am still pressing forward with my projects and am still on target to have my novel manuscript self-published by midsummer. It's a bit of a surreal feeling, being this close to having this particular story out there and available for people (complete strangers as well as friends) to read. But the closer that publishing goal comes to being a reality, the more I feel like it's less of a big deal than I have made it over the years.
Claiming My Own Space
Despite inflation and high gas prices, I am currently preparing to go on vacation. It will be the first week-long venture I've taken in nearly a year and a half, and I am looking forward to having some quiet time to relax and recharge in the mountains. I've written before in this blog about how I use such vacations to get some work done on creative endeavors, and this time around will be no exception. I'll be taking my laptop along with me as well as my DSLR camera and some art supplies. I have plenty I hope to accomplish during the week, but also, I will be looking for inspiration for projects I won't be able to work on until I get back home again.
Are You Chasing Numbers or Chasing Progress?
When it comes to setting and tracking writing goals, many of the websites and apps I've come across allow writers to measure their progress only by way of word counts, and while numerical word goals may be useful to many writers, I find it very narrowminded to limit users of these apps and websites to measuring progress via only word count. There are many goals writers may want to set and many types of writing where word counts will not provide an efficient way of tracking progress.
Holiday Frustrations
I don't know what to write this week. At this point in the holiday season, I become frustrated and irritable as time grows short for me to complete preparations for various events and celebrations. My schedule is restricted by too much to do and not enough time for myself.
Too Much to Do
It's about one-third of the way through November, and I've already had a busy month thus far. Every year I know once Halloween has passed, my winter holiday preparations will begin and there will never be enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I wish to do. This is why I am disappointed in myself today. Instead of working on any of my many projects, I spent a lazy day in front of the TV and laptop and did quite a bit of pleasure reading too.
How do You do NaNoWriMo?
October is winding down and that means National Novel Writing Month is peeking around the corner. November can be a great month to be a writer, but preparing for the month-long writing marathon can be a bit daunting. Personally, I never attempt to achieve the goal of writing 50,000 words during November, not with Thanksgiving celebrations and prep-work for Christmas shrinking my free time during the month. But I do enjoy being able to connect with other active writers who chase that difficult goal. NaNoWriMo is a great time to discuss writing strategies, conquering writer's block, planning vs pantsing, and a wide range of plotting, setting, and character topics.
Building Dreams
We had another beautiful weekend in western Pennsylvania, and my family and I took the time to attend another history/craft festival. Unlike some of the other festivals we visit, Penn's Colony festival has multiple, small shacks which hold individual vendors in between the typical canvas tents commonly seen at other regional craft shows. These shacks range between 100 and 200 square feet of floor space and will have either shelves or hooks for displaying crafters' goods. Some of the larger shacks host food vendors as well. They're built of rough-cut boards nailed together vertically in the traditional American barn-style and are tall enough to hold a loft under their A-frame roofs.
Taking a Music Break
Today I decided to take a pause in listening to lecture series on my way to and from work to listen to some music instead. Over the weekend I got a song stuck in my head from one of the first CDs I bought as a teenager. It's from The Chieftains' "Tears of Stone" album, and once upon a time, I used some of the music on this CD to help inspire some character and world development in my writing. By listening to this music, I'm hoping to spur my desire to write and edit into action. Again I'm finding that long days at the office are killing my energy to do much of anything once I get some free time, and I want to put an end to this lethargic procrastination.
Rainy Day Pursuits
Over the weekend, we had quite a heatwave. Here in western Pennsylvania, that means humidity on top of the high temperatures, and while many of the communities around my area received afternoon rains to ease that humidity, mine did not. When I woke up this morning, however, it was to the sound of rain and temperatures more than twenty degrees (F) below what we had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Perfect weather to sit down with a large mug of tea and my laptop for an extensive writing session.
HLHumbert 