For a while now, I've been posting the same content (at least mostly) to both this blog and my Livejournal. When it comes to comment traffic, though, this version of Writerly Wackiness has gotten rather quiet lately, so I'm going to put it to rest for now.
I'll leave this blog up, and I may even resume posting on it somewhere down the road, but for the time being, if you want to find out what's going on with me, come visit me over at my LJ: http://babarnett.livejournal.com
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Phew
Crazy busy week. But despite the craziness, I just have to say that my new employment gig is awesome.
Now I need to spend this weekend doing all the little things I put off during the week in order to get the not-so-little things done. I had been considering auditioning for a play for the first time in forever this weekend, but I don't know what the hell I was thinking given how much else I've got going on. So instead of working on a monologue, I used last night to recover from the big shift in my schedule with the relaxing combo of pizza, a bottle of wine, some Mythbusters viewing, and an earlier-than-usual trip to bed. Slept in this morning, and now I'm ready to roll...after the productivity report, of course:
Reading
Up to chapter 11 in The Dramatist's Toolkit, which I'm finding to be a good read. I've finally got some achievable-seeming play ideas percolating in my brain now, which means the book is the mental kick-start I was hoping it'd be. And while the timing was by no means planned, it's rather a fun bit of symmetry that I'm reading it during my first week working for a theater company.
Exercise
Except for Monday, exercise pretty much fell by the wayside this week. Something had to give amid the crazy.
Music
Except for Friday, I managed to stay on top of the practicing. Go me.
Writing
I didn't get a lot of writing done this week (I'm still slogging through the first scene of chapter 5), but I at least did a little bit every day on the train ride home from work.
In other writerly happenings, last Sunday Michael Swanwick came to speak to my writing group, which was awesome. We even ended up on his blog, Flogging Babel. If you care, I'm in the back row, first person on the left.
Now I need to spend this weekend doing all the little things I put off during the week in order to get the not-so-little things done. I had been considering auditioning for a play for the first time in forever this weekend, but I don't know what the hell I was thinking given how much else I've got going on. So instead of working on a monologue, I used last night to recover from the big shift in my schedule with the relaxing combo of pizza, a bottle of wine, some Mythbusters viewing, and an earlier-than-usual trip to bed. Slept in this morning, and now I'm ready to roll...after the productivity report, of course:
Reading
Up to chapter 11 in The Dramatist's Toolkit, which I'm finding to be a good read. I've finally got some achievable-seeming play ideas percolating in my brain now, which means the book is the mental kick-start I was hoping it'd be. And while the timing was by no means planned, it's rather a fun bit of symmetry that I'm reading it during my first week working for a theater company.
Exercise
Except for Monday, exercise pretty much fell by the wayside this week. Something had to give amid the crazy.
Music
Except for Friday, I managed to stay on top of the practicing. Go me.
Writing
I didn't get a lot of writing done this week (I'm still slogging through the first scene of chapter 5), but I at least did a little bit every day on the train ride home from work.
In other writerly happenings, last Sunday Michael Swanwick came to speak to my writing group, which was awesome. We even ended up on his blog, Flogging Babel. If you care, I'm in the back row, first person on the left.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Coughing in the face of productivity
It's been a weird week. And I start my new job on Monday, so next week will likely be even weirder.
Reading
Finished Bitterwood earlier this week. I really wanted to like the book, but alas. It's essentially post-apocalyptic science fiction dressed up in high fantasy clothing, which could have been fascinating, but for me, it never lived up to the potential of that premise. I have several quibbles with the book, but the biggest stumbling block to my enjoyment was the characters. They never came to life for me, and as a result, I just didn't care what happened to any of them.
For my continued reading adventures, I'm taking a short break from fiction with The Dramatist's Toolkit: The Craft of the Working Playwright by Jeffrey Sweet. I've been toying with the idea of writing a play for a while now, but despite lots of involvement with the theatrical world, I feel totally ill-prepared to write one. I was hoping to find a playwriting course I could take this summer, but no such luck. Most of what I found was for teens. The only local one for adults was an online course, but I'd really prefer something in person. So in lieu of a class, I thought I'd tackle this book and see if it helps jump start my inner-playwright.
Exercise
I've been saddled with an annoying cough since last week, so I've been taking it easy on the exercise front. A little bit of yoga, but not much else. And today's exercise will be helping my aunt move stuff.
Music
Coughed my way through choir rehearsal Wednesday night. Singing has been aggravating the cough in general, which frustrates me to no end. It doesn't hamper the piano playing, though, so I've at least been keeping up with that without a problem.
Writing
I've been productivity-challenged in the writing department this week. A little bit of slogging through My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel, but that's it. I'm hoping to achieve something resembling real progress this afternoon and tomorrow.
Reading
Finished Bitterwood earlier this week. I really wanted to like the book, but alas. It's essentially post-apocalyptic science fiction dressed up in high fantasy clothing, which could have been fascinating, but for me, it never lived up to the potential of that premise. I have several quibbles with the book, but the biggest stumbling block to my enjoyment was the characters. They never came to life for me, and as a result, I just didn't care what happened to any of them.
For my continued reading adventures, I'm taking a short break from fiction with The Dramatist's Toolkit: The Craft of the Working Playwright by Jeffrey Sweet. I've been toying with the idea of writing a play for a while now, but despite lots of involvement with the theatrical world, I feel totally ill-prepared to write one. I was hoping to find a playwriting course I could take this summer, but no such luck. Most of what I found was for teens. The only local one for adults was an online course, but I'd really prefer something in person. So in lieu of a class, I thought I'd tackle this book and see if it helps jump start my inner-playwright.
Exercise
I've been saddled with an annoying cough since last week, so I've been taking it easy on the exercise front. A little bit of yoga, but not much else. And today's exercise will be helping my aunt move stuff.
Music
Coughed my way through choir rehearsal Wednesday night. Singing has been aggravating the cough in general, which frustrates me to no end. It doesn't hamper the piano playing, though, so I've at least been keeping up with that without a problem.
Writing
I've been productivity-challenged in the writing department this week. A little bit of slogging through My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel, but that's it. I'm hoping to achieve something resembling real progress this afternoon and tomorrow.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Blah, I say. Blah!
Been feeling rather blah this whole week, and not even lovely weather and backyard chipmunk sightings seem able to cure it. It looks like I'm going to have to write off any hope of productivity and hand this round to the slug. I've kept up with the exercise and the piano practicing, but I haven't done any reading all week, and writing-wise I've only managed a sentence or two. I can't even use the excuse that I've been overly busy. I've just found it hard to get my brain to focus, let alone produce something useful. Doesn't help that I haven't been able to sleep for crap lately.
Also not helping is the fact that May seems to be turning into a month-long reject-a-thon. Since the beginning of the month, I haven't made it more than 3 days without another rejection arriving in my inbox. I even had an oh-so-lovely streak of 5 days in a row going on there. Hard to stay motivated in the face of that much morale bruising.
As for that sentence or two I've managed to write this week: I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize this, but one of the things I've finally learned about myself as a writer is that I really suck at starting new scenes. I'll spend forever agonizing over those first few sentences. Sure, I could skip the opening and continue with the rest of the scene, but that, I have learned, only delays the head-meets-desk process. Eventually, I'm going to have to write that opening, and since it's going to be just as painful later as it is now, I might as well be done with it.
Also not helping is the fact that May seems to be turning into a month-long reject-a-thon. Since the beginning of the month, I haven't made it more than 3 days without another rejection arriving in my inbox. I even had an oh-so-lovely streak of 5 days in a row going on there. Hard to stay motivated in the face of that much morale bruising.
As for that sentence or two I've managed to write this week: I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize this, but one of the things I've finally learned about myself as a writer is that I really suck at starting new scenes. I'll spend forever agonizing over those first few sentences. Sure, I could skip the opening and continue with the rest of the scene, but that, I have learned, only delays the head-meets-desk process. Eventually, I'm going to have to write that opening, and since it's going to be just as painful later as it is now, I might as well be done with it.
Friday, May 15, 2009
This week in productivity
Reading
Through chapters 15-18 in Bitterwood. Also finished the audio book of The Road, which didn't end as bleakly as I thought it would. I give it a thumbs up overall.
Exercise
It's looking like I'm going to slack today, but I'll make up for it tomorrow. Otherwise, I've been keeping to the routine.
Music
Keeping on top of my piano lessons and practicing. Monday was the last regular rehearsal of the season for the chorus I sing with. We have a dress rehearsal tonight and a concert Sunday, and then it's only church choir and some solo stuff on my plate through June.
Writing
I've been hit or miss with the writing this week. Some days I've been super productive girl. Other days, like today, a little tinkering is about all I seem capable of accomplishing. On the plus side, I finished rewriting chapter 4 of My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel. On the downside, that's only because I'm splitting what was originally one long chapter into two smaller ones. Either way, I'm about 11,400 into the rewrite.
Through chapters 15-18 in Bitterwood. Also finished the audio book of The Road, which didn't end as bleakly as I thought it would. I give it a thumbs up overall.
Exercise
It's looking like I'm going to slack today, but I'll make up for it tomorrow. Otherwise, I've been keeping to the routine.
Music
Keeping on top of my piano lessons and practicing. Monday was the last regular rehearsal of the season for the chorus I sing with. We have a dress rehearsal tonight and a concert Sunday, and then it's only church choir and some solo stuff on my plate through June.
Writing
I've been hit or miss with the writing this week. Some days I've been super productive girl. Other days, like today, a little tinkering is about all I seem capable of accomplishing. On the plus side, I finished rewriting chapter 4 of My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel. On the downside, that's only because I'm splitting what was originally one long chapter into two smaller ones. Either way, I'm about 11,400 into the rewrite.
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