Big Girl Underpants
Mar. 14th, 2014 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feldman Things I've done so far in 2014 instead of working on the novel:
1. spent many hours fiddling with my BPAL spreadsheet wherein I review the twenty-seven imps I have (analysis tab), filter and sort my wishlist (survey tab), and compile my next parsimonious order of imps (specimens tab).
2. knit two slouchy hats and a sweater, crocheted the components of a small afghan, and a net bag to hold the pieces until they're put together.
3. read "The Fourth Turning" by Howe and Strauss, which is an intriguing narrative. I can see how seasonal generational temperaments could be a thing, but it's also a precious time capsule of a retro-future envisioned before 9/11. I want to put the book into a cage match with Taleb's "The Black Swan". I think their angry-sex lovechild spawn could be the closest we come to Asimov's impossible 'psychohistory'.
4. watched a fair amount of "Good Eats", "Parks & Recreation" and Sophia Loren movies.
One the plus side, I have a sweater and I smell interesting. Also, I've made it once again through the depths of winter without going off the rails or losing steam entirely. And I've mostly avoided the head trip of guilt and recrimination about the Important Shit I Should Be Doing. So I'm calling it a win and deciding to move on.
Things I need to change wrt writing:
1. thinking about the hot mess of a first draft I have so far (with occasional forays into the other first drafts also moldering on the shelf), which only engenders a daunting despair.
Solution: Don't look down.
2. expecting quality to come without making the effort of quantity.
Solution: Shut up and climb.
Sometimes the first step is simply owning the fact that you haven't been walking lately, and that's okay, and then getting on with it.
1. spent many hours fiddling with my BPAL spreadsheet wherein I review the twenty-seven imps I have (analysis tab), filter and sort my wishlist (survey tab), and compile my next parsimonious order of imps (specimens tab).
2. knit two slouchy hats and a sweater, crocheted the components of a small afghan, and a net bag to hold the pieces until they're put together.
3. read "The Fourth Turning" by Howe and Strauss, which is an intriguing narrative. I can see how seasonal generational temperaments could be a thing, but it's also a precious time capsule of a retro-future envisioned before 9/11. I want to put the book into a cage match with Taleb's "The Black Swan". I think their angry-sex lovechild spawn could be the closest we come to Asimov's impossible 'psychohistory'.
4. watched a fair amount of "Good Eats", "Parks & Recreation" and Sophia Loren movies.
One the plus side, I have a sweater and I smell interesting. Also, I've made it once again through the depths of winter without going off the rails or losing steam entirely. And I've mostly avoided the head trip of guilt and recrimination about the Important Shit I Should Be Doing. So I'm calling it a win and deciding to move on.
Things I need to change wrt writing:
1. thinking about the hot mess of a first draft I have so far (with occasional forays into the other first drafts also moldering on the shelf), which only engenders a daunting despair.
Solution: Don't look down.
2. expecting quality to come without making the effort of quantity.
Solution: Shut up and climb.
Sometimes the first step is simply owning the fact that you haven't been walking lately, and that's okay, and then getting on with it.
