Monday, July 20, 2009

Revisionista: Update & Goals

Bonjour SWIMmers!

I'm coming up for air 2800+ words richer after today's research writing session, which was more like a deep sea dive. Last week I was feeling a little impatient and bored about the rsch chapter but now that I'm writing about the sexy stuff, it's all fun. Let's hope this enthusiasm will flow into tomorrow's research time.

So how'd I do last week?
  • YES! Continue morning pages each day
  • Given all the ennui & impatience I was feeling last week, I'm happy with the 5 pages I did manage to write Freewrite 10pp of CH 1 (try to end week on S's novel)
  • J's pov chapter took a while to finish, but now I'm into M's which is fun since he's being all broody at the moment. Write from each novel character's point of view (my brain hasn't really been motivated by thinking in terms of pages/chapters, so I'm going to see if writing from the characters' povs will help me make more progress. I do love my characters so I'll just think in terms of hanging out with J or L or M to see what they're up to)
  • Nope Type up some of novel
  • YES! 2 blog posts
  • Only a couple more stories to go Try to finish Caitlin Macy's Spoiled
  • REWARD: hmmmm, maybe a matine although I don't know if there's anything playing that I really want to see. Or, maybe treat the novel to another afternoon out or maybe a cd or movie on itunes....I'll see what's most appealing at the end of the week. No specific reward this week as I didn't quite meet my goals, but I did manage to work some general fun (ie bubblebaths & reading) into my days.
For this week, I'm going to scale down my goals/expectations so I can maintain momentum. I think I started out last week on too steep an incline....there's much more writing to be done so I don't want to wear myself out.

  • Continue morning pages each day: I'm spicing mine up with markers, drawings, paint & glitter in an attempt to tap into my right brain first thing.
  • Write on CH 1 at least 15min FIRST thing after breakfast
  • Finish M's pov, paste in L's pov from previous draft, figure out what's next
  • 2-3 blog posts
  • keep reading each day; choose a new book
Reward: Artist Retreat Weekend (Saturday) ~~ I'll post more about this on my blog. It's basically an all-day Artist Date with lots of fun treats mixed in.

I'll respond to the group brainstorm & all the other fab posts in a bit. Right now, I think it's time to soak in a bath with a yummy book! (oooo, and maybe with some chocolate....)

Au revoir for now, SWIMmers! :)

4 comments:

  1. An Artist Retreat Weekend sounds like an absolutely divine reward. I cannot wait to hear more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How wonderfully lush and decadent your rewards and mini-rewards are! Tub-time with books and chocolate...do I scent a glass of wine in the mix as well?

    Your point about not going too far, too fast is well taken. Obviously we're all close friends with ambition, otherwise we wouldn't be here holding ourselves publicly accountable. Although not making our goals in a given week is an important lesson as well - especially if it teaches us we need to scale back. Thanks for the reminders!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the idea of tapping into the right brain thing first thing in the morning. And your artists day sounds divine :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Even though you say you didn't meet your goals, it seems to me you are actually getting so much done! It's impossible to keep the same rhythm every single week. We are human!
    I am saying all this and I am saying it to myself too. How should we find the balance between being considerate,compassionate, realistic and flexible about ourselves and our work and this tendency (I have) to want to do everything, and to do it fast and perfect and beat ourselves up when we don't meet our goals? Your artist's date seems like a really good way to put everything back into perspective.
    I'm really intrigued about this exciting new chapter you are writing! It sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete